A Code of Conduct and The Council

Processor · 2016-08-21 12:33:02

Community satisfaction is very important to us. So when a lot of people recently complained about poor moderation on the forums, we took the matter seriously and had a lot of discussion about how we could improve. Now we are ready to answer.

We've come up with two systems to improve consistency, transparency and verifiability of moderation on the forums and we hope to regain the community's trust in us.

Code of Conduct
The code of conduct sets up the principles on which moderation on the forums must base on. It lets everyone know which moderator actions are right or wrong.
Code of Conduct for the Everybody Edits Forum Staff wrote:
Every person doing moderation on the forums shall:
only judge by the rules and by the council's decisions, and do so in good faith and knowledge, never favoring or punishing users for personal reasons.
only issue warnings/bans for actions that take place on the forums.
respect other moderators' judgement and shall not re-evaluate matters that have already been dealt with by another moderator.
never encourage breaking the rules and never use their powers with malicious intent.
not accept or joke about accepting bribery.
The council shall resolve conflicts within the staff.
These rules must be followed by every staff member.

The Council
Most of the time moderators make trivial decisions, but some decisions can be tough. So whenever a moderator is unsure about something -, or when they disagree with another mod, - they will use the council to discuss and then vote on these controversial issues.
In the council, decisions are only made if the majority of staff agrees upon something. These decisions will provide a basis for future decisions and improve our consistency.
Of course, all this won't happen in secret. The council is open to all visitors at this URL: https://trello.com/b/4WLWCb1i/ee-forums-council

This is a meta thread, not a place to ask us to discuss something in the council!

Onjit, Prodigy, BuzzerBee, Napakeun, rgl32, Xfrogman43, skullz17, kubapolish, Pingohits, imgood9, Yandax, Badoosh, Anch, Minimania, drstereos, Koya, Bobithan, Kaleb, jonhvictor2004sonic

Schlog · 2016-08-21 15:06:06

why is diff not council this is bias you should all be demodded and slabdrilled

Helvi, drstereos

SmittyW · 2016-08-21 15:19:48

I'm sure the only 5 people who post on this forum are gonna search for a loophole, exploit it, and complain about it.

Processor

Processor · 2016-08-21 15:29:34

Ninja wrote:

why is diff not council this is bias you should all be demodded and slabdrilled

To keep the number of members in the council odd.

As you can see Diff is in the Trello board and he can still create cases and express his opinion. However because different is rather inactive compared to the other moderators he was left out of the council to prevent the need for yet another mod

Kira · 2016-08-21 15:48:42

I think this has won my cringe contest

>Council
>Game for kids

"Some decisions can be tough"
No. As a staff member you should know the rules and apply them directly. No need for useless talk.

skullz17 · 2016-08-21 17:54:13

I don't really understand rule #3 of the Code of Conduct. Surely if you were to re-evaluate an action, it would be because it broke the Code of Conduct (most likely rule #1). If you aren't allowed to do that, then what's the point in the Code of Conduct?

Different55 · 2016-08-21 20:19:05

why trello? make a forum that only staff can post in or something but there's no need to bring outside proprietary trashware into this. makes more sense to have a forum for this on the forums rather than a forum for this on some totally unrelated website for no apparent reason.

Ratburntro44, BuzzerBee, N1KF, AlphaJon, Jorc

Different55 · 2016-08-21 20:46:03

Kira wrote:

I think this has won my cringe contest
>Council
>Game for kids

>>no council
>MODS ARE OUT OF CONTROL
>>council
>LOL R U SRS

"Some decisions can be tough"
No. As a staff member you should know the rules and apply them directly. No need for useless talk.

Spoken like someone who's never had to enforce any set of rules for any length of time. Things are never black and white.

hummerz5, kubapolish, rgl32, Pyromaniac, AlphaJon, MartenM, Processor, Bobithan, drstereos, Jorc

imgood9 · 2016-08-21 20:53:25

I like this; it's a good foundation for more consistent moderation and will hopefully prevent another fiasco over Zoey or some other mod.

hummerz5 · 2016-08-21 20:56:51

Different55 wrote:

why trello? make a forum that only staff can post in or something but there's no need to bring outside proprietary trashware into this. makes more sense to have a forum for this on the forums rather than a forum for this on some totally unrelated website for no apparent reason.

That sounds promising. I think the attempted effect would be visibility but not allowing others to post. I imagine that's possible with the forum tech? A public-yet-private setup?

imgood9 wrote:

I like this; it's a good foundation for more consistent moderation and will hopefully prevent another fiasco over Zoey or some other mod.

this. And, #3 confuses me a bit as well.

Processor · 2016-08-21 21:00:29

skullz17 wrote:

I don't really understand rule #3 of the Code of Conduct. Surely if you were to re-evaluate an action, it would be because it broke the Code of Conduct (most likely rule #1). If you aren't allowed to do that, then what's the point in the Code of Conduct?

You may not individually overwrite another mod's ruling. If you want to have another mod's action be re-evaluated, you must bring it into the council and have all mods vote on it. This prevents fights on the same subject over and over.

Re-evaluation can be requested not because someone broke the code of conduct, but because even though they have acted in their best knowledge, you might still think that they have made a mistake.

Different55 wrote:

why trello? make a forum that only staff can post in or something but there's no need to bring outside proprietary trashware into this. makes more sense to have a forum for this on the forums rather than a forum for this on some totally unrelated website for no apparent reason.

Better overview (multiple lists), mentioning @people, a voting system. Trello is simply better suited than the forums.

skullz17, Bobithan

imgood9 · 2016-08-21 21:02:01

hummerz5 wrote:

#3 confuses me a bit as well.

#3 is two rules in one:

Code of Conduct wrote:

[Mods will] respect other moderators' judgement

Effectively stating that mods will listen to and respect other mods' opinions on a controversial topic.

Code of Conduct wrote:

[Mods] shall not re-evaluate matters that have already been dealt with by another moderator.

In other words, mods will not reverse or edit or revisit a case that a different moderator has already settled.
So for example, if person A posts an inappropriate link and gets banned by mod B, mod C should not (at least without discussing with mod B.) go back and reverse the ban or add a harsher punishment.

Different55 · 2016-08-21 21:19:29

hummerz5 wrote:

That sounds promising. I think the attempted effect would be visibility but not allowing others to post. I imagine that's possible with the forum tech? A public-yet-private setup?

Yep. Same way no normal users are allowed to post in the topic graveyard or create topics in the 2 Business forums, it's possible to make a forum that only staff can post in.

Processor wrote:

Better overview (multiple lists)

forums have better overview

topics with subjects

easily see at a glance which issues are active and under discussion.

no need to leave to go to some random third party site

just look at the most recent posts search page and bam there it is

Processor wrote:

mentioning @people

yes how useful this is amazing how did I never think of this wow.

Totally. Useless. If they're not already looking at the council posts without having to be notified (which is easier when they're, you know, actually on the forums they're moderating instead of hosted on some random third party site that the mods need to add to the list of websites they need to check and I guess just hope that they don't forget) then there's an issue.

Processor wrote:

a voting system

You guys literally just have a list of checkboxes. Anyone can check anyone else's checkboxes. That's not voting, that's a list of checkboxes that you repurposed to be voting. You can repurpose the forums exactly the same way just by saying "I think that ____" but for some reason you favor the system that discourages discussion by just offering a checkbox like literally what. Discussion should be the main point of the council, not "DAE ___??? check box and reblog ro else you hate puppies and sunshine"

Xfrogman43, Ratburntro44, N1KF

skullz17 · 2016-08-21 21:40:10

I get the impression you guys didn't include diff when you discussed the creation of The Council

TaskManager, Ratburntro44

Different55 · 2016-08-21 21:47:24

I was around for talking about the council, but not for this dumb implementation of it with trello

AlphaJon, Ratburntro44

Kira · 2016-08-21 22:55:11

"mods out of control" its your job as an admin to control them \(6-6)/

"Spoken like someone who's never had to enforce any set of rules for any length of time. Things are never black and white."

I was a main owner of a xat chat for over 1 year with 20-30 members always active, rules were simple in it, respect the rules else you get banned forever. To be honest it was quite working decently.

Pyromaniac · 2016-08-21 23:04:45

^in all fairness, I bet the patrons of your xat chat weren't as volatile and whiny as the people we have here.

SmittyW · 2016-08-21 23:19:10

Kira wrote:

...
I was a main owner of a xat chat for over 1 year with 20-30 members always active, rules were simple in it, respect the rules else you get banned forever. To be honest it was quite working decently.

chat conduct =/= forum conduct

Kira · 2016-08-21 23:42:12

Pyromaniac wrote:

^in all fairness, I bet the patrons of your xat chat weren't as volatile and whiny as the people we have here.

Right on the spot.

SmittyW wrote:

Kira wrote:
...
I was a main owner of a xat chat for over 1 year with 20-30 members always active, rules were simple in it, respect the rules else you get banned forever. To be honest it was quite working decently.
chat conduct =/= forum conduct

Im aware of that, im just showing an example discipline. We don't need a council and a public trello is even more useless.

Different55 · 2016-08-22 00:09:27

Kira wrote:

"mods out of control" its your job as an admin to control them \(6-6)/

If you would read the rest of the post:

Different55 wrote:

>>council
>LOL R U SRS

The council is exactly that: an attempt to control out of control mods.

Ratburntro44

TaskManager · 2016-08-22 12:09:42

not sure whether this will turn forums into something better or into stalin's USSR, i hope its the former

Processor · 2016-08-22 15:44:06

Kira wrote:

"mods out of control" its your job as an admin to control them \(6-6)/

> be admin
> write rules for mods to follow so they stop getting out of control
> called out for not doing my job
ok

Kira wrote:

We don't need a council and a public trello is even more useless.

Then don't look at it. The council is going to exist no matter if you care about it or not (!) and is a tool for mods only.

Different55 wrote:

I was around for talking about the council, but not for this dumb implementation of it with trello

Alright, we will consider it! https://trello.com/c/MyyfoxrT/10-query- … the-forums

TaskManager · 2016-08-22 18:02:54

its kinda amusing how youre trying to prevent mods from getting out of control but as soon as this gets implemented theres a fight between 2 admins

Different55

N1KF · 2016-08-22 18:05:15

maxi123 wrote:

its kinda amusing how youre trying to prevent mods from getting out of control but as soon as this gets implemented theres a fight between 2 admins

Well, I mean, it's not like their "fight" is out of control yet.

TaskManager · 2016-08-22 18:09:53

N1KF wrote:

maxi123 wrote:
its kinda amusing how youre trying to prevent mods from getting out of control but as soon as this gets implemented theres a fight between 2 admins
Well, I mean, it's not like their "fight" is out of control yet.

yeah but they instantly ran into a disagreement over a thing that was supposed to set agreement amongst mods

Different55

Official Everybody Edits Forums

#1 2016-08-21 12:33:02

A Code of Conduct and The Council

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