Forum Rule changes/upgrade -proposal
In the thread - What the heck is going on here(see Off Topics)i was asked at one point by Meghan* (see post # 90)what would I change in the rules(to try to better the forum):
see:
What would you amend or change, gbk?
https://www.oodmag.com/community/sho...-Rules-Conduct
While i am ,as the next guy,just a regular member looking for improvements-took some time to address the request.
This in "my" take:
It is not targeting anyone,just the concerns repeated several time by many members: Forum could use some change(to stay diplomatic ).
Feel free to criticize/add/take away/modify.
My approach is based on:
This Forum is owned by ODD-but this is "our"Forum.
Lets see,if we can do something to save this Forum,from foreseeable demise.
Disclaimer: there is zero assurance,even if every each of the recommedations/amendements by me or others are implemented-would save the Forum.
At least we can say though-we tried .
Here is the Project ,see below.
Highighted and slanted are the "add ons"
FORUM RULES(as set many years ago),with recommended amendments:
The policies outlined below are strictly enforced and are there so that all users feel comfortable posting and interacting.
If any of the guidelines are broken, the moderators have full discretion to recommend suspending or ban any user without notice, depending on the severity of the infraction.
As both measures are impacting members-these decisions will be made in team environment ,with Mods and Admin team decision.
Thank you for using the Ontario OUT OF DOORS Community forums.
GUIDELINES:
Offensive language, including all racial, ethnic ,political or religious ,or sexual slurs, as well as personal attacks, including name-calling and insults directed at other forum members is prohibited.
Offensive language examples:____________
If you have any questions or concerns regarding any specific organizations including hunting and outdoor companies, please contact them directly. This forum is not a place to air personal grievances, speculation or defamation. Any posts that DO NOT meet the above guidelines will be deleted without warning and repeat offenses will lead to permanent expulsion.
MODERATORS:
Moderators are active members of the community and have been empowered with the ability to not only police the forums but to give guidance and help facilitate discussion. They understand our conduct policy and are able to enforce it, and what they deem inappropriate. However, if you feel that your post has inappropriately been removed please contact an administrator with the appropriate information about your post and your account.
Moderators diplomatically conduct their business .
They are not engaging in threads while taking sides, making comments on topic and/or individuals. Their general stance reflects neutrality /integrity and diplomacy.
COMMUNITY RULES:
The following rules will be enforced. Violation will lead to temporary or permanent expulsion from the site.
1. Any discussion and promotion of illegal actives or information that is deliberately misleading or any discussion of activities that are in violation of the Fish and Hunting regulations as set forth by the Ontario Ministry of Natural resources.
2. Controversial, religious or political threads deemed inappropriate or needlessly provocative will be removed without warning.
There should be clear definition what is inappropriate Or at least what is deemed needlessly provocative.
3(a). Personal insults, inappropriate or offensive content, the incitement of violence, or disrupting behaviours, which are detrimental to discussions in the forum will not be tolerated.
Personal -this must be clearly defined.
Example: Johhny is bad =personal attack..some people are bad(not a personal attack)
In case you are uncertain as to what defines inappropriate content, a simple test is to ask yourself the following questions when you make a post:
A) Is this message outdoor-related? (with the exception of the Off Topic forum)
B) Is this message something that most members would like to read?
Leaves open door for bias. Re wording can help.
C) Does this message add value to this forum?Leaves open door for bias.Perhaps rewording can help.
D) Is this something I would say to a person face-to-face?
Rewording can help/up to and including:would I like to be told this?
If you cannot answer yes to any of these questions, please reconsider posting your message.
Inappropriate and offensive : must be defined,to avoid bias.Examples could help also.
Please note that this also includes complaints about other forum users, question to site admin, etc. All comments of this nature are to be e-mailed to: [email protected]. As usual, we also encourage all users to immediately contact a moderator if and when they read an objectionable message or to use the report a thread option ( the exclamation mark icon on the left side below the user's avatar and post count).
3(b). Personal attacks on members, cyber bullying, libel comments or bashing/slandering of businesses, organizations, individuals or corporations will not be tolerated. Threads deemed to be an attempt to "stir the pot" or are looking for support on their attack will be removed. If you have an issue with a particular organization, business or corporation, please contact them directly. If you have an issue with a particular member, please contact the administrator or a moderator.
Personal attack-needs clear and simple definition.
Stir the pot could use clear definition(while for some it can seem as interesting point for debate-for some it may seem stirring the pot)
Note-Especially the Off Topic section by desing is prone to be site for Contarversial topics.
4(a). Images cannot contain overtly sexual or violent content, and must not violate copyright laws. Any images deemed inappropriate will be removed without warning. This includes avatars and profile pictures.
4(b). We love to see your photos, but these guidelines must be followed. Members posting photos of their success in the field or on the water, please note:
* You represent ALL hunters/anglers with material you post on this public forum.
* Post ONLY photos of tagged big game if the tag would normally be visible.
* Exclude "celebration" drinks from photos.
* Tastefully display your harvest (no excessive gore).
* Do not post photos of fish caught in catch and release-only seasons.
Partly for your protection, and because we want to uphold the highest standards, photos that fail to meet these guidelines or are deemed inappropriate by the administration will be removed.
Deemed is a word prone to bias-there is already clear definition of photo posting. Edit t definitions if more clarity is needed.
5. When posting articles or news stories only the URL to the article, the title of the article and the source will be accepted. Due to copyright laws we cannot copy and paste the actual content of the story into our forums.
6. Multiple accounts or identities are not allowed. If you are caught using more than one account/identity, you risk permanent expulsion.
7. Swearing is prohibited.
8. Advertising the sale or promotion of commercial goods and services, illegal or questionable merchandise or the solicitation of business is strictly prohibited.
Clear definition can help.
Example:while saying: gun company makes the best guns,would recommend them to anyone can be deemed as much advertisemet,as much as posting links to the same company,saying good things about them.
Posting links to news channels/Face book addresses/newspapers etc are not advertisement.
If Forums thinks we should not have them links-they can be simply banned all together.
9. All items posted for sale in the For Sale By Owner must include a price. This is NOT an Auction/bidding site, and linking to off site auctions is prohibited, "Make me an offer" with no posted base price will be summarily deleted. You may post for trades only without a price only if you are looking for specific items in trade. The item / items being sought must be listed in the post.
The Ontario OUT OF DOORS Community does not endorse or validate any buyer or seller.
10(a). If you have multiple items up for sale, PLEASE put them in one post (where possible). This keeps the posts of others from being pushed further down the page. There are to be only SIX current listings per member in any of the Forums at one time. Any listings in excess of the six allowed posts may be deleted without warning.
10(b). The For Sale by Owner section (Hunting Equipment, Fishing Equipment and Other Equipment forums) is for active community members. A minimum of 50 "quality" posts is required to post an item for sale. Abuse of the forum via quick threads/posts seen as a means to quickly reach the 50 post minimum will result in denial of access to this forum.
Giving notice perhaps would entice some innocent culprits to modify their stance ,and stay off harsh penalties,thus encourage active status and contribution.
10(c). ALL items for sale must be posted in the For Sale By Owner section after the user has satisfied rule 10(b).
11. If your item has been sold, or a deal is pending, please edit or delete your ad to reflect this. For sale threads older than 60-days without a reply or bump will be removed.
12. Please be an active member of this forum community and alert us to any posts you deem inappropriate by using the report a thread icon or contact a moderator or the administrator.
13. Website links, selling of items, solicitation of business and photos are prohibited in signatures.
14. Threads, signatures, images or albums that advertise your company or product are strictly prohibited. If you would like to advertise your business or product, please contact our advertising department and purchase a classifieds package. This includes website links, photos, telephone numbers or your company name in threads or signatures. ( please refer to this thread for more information on classified ads). Anything deemed by the moderators as free advertising will be edited or removed without notice.
Friendly Notice would be promoting open channels of communication.
15. Website links to other community forums are permitted in threads but NOT signatures. Threads or PM messages soliciting new members to their forum will be edited or removed.
16. Please use the PM feature to send links not permitted in the threads to members requesting them.
17. Respect of the moderators and administrator's decisions and policies is a must.
This is definitely important. However ,respect could be also earned ,not just enforced.
Unbiased approach ,clear communication of actions,neutrality in threads ,diplomatic approach,why and why not will healp earning respect.
18. The Ontario OUT OF DOORS Community does not endorse nor is it responsible for the content of any external websites that are posted within this site.
19. Any user name deemed offensive by any of the staff will be changed without notice.
Deeemded word opens door for doubt.Offensive is offensive(perhaps example would help)
20. Bumping of posts is not recommended but will be allowed at this time. Please make sure to wait a MINIMUM 48 hours from the time of your last post before you bump your thread. Please not that this rule does NOT apply to the For Sale By Owner section ( that section is a minimum 7-days from last post date ).
Removing -allowed this time would clear things up.After all -temporary things should not last 8 years.
21. If you have an outdoor event or dinner, etc that you would like to let the community know about please post it in the Outdoor Events & Meetings forum (threads will require administration's activation before going live).
Any member that uses the forum as an advertising platform for their event by spamming the forums with threads about their event will have those threads removed immediately and may be issued infraction points or a ban from the site.
Friendly Notice would be promoting open channels of communication.
22. Any threads that attempt to solicit our members to join a particular organization or community forum will be edited or deleted without warning. The OOD Community staff do not use other forums to solicit members for our community and we ask that the same be done here.
Need some clarification-in today's world ,links provided by members to improve quality of their post may be judged as soliciting ,thus opening door to heavy hand.
23. The above rules apply to all aspects and sections of the community. Any listings/posts that DO NOT meet the above guidelines may be deleted or edited by the moderators or administration without warning.
MODERATING:
Would recommend few sentences devoted to the otherwise thankless and much needed job of moderators.
To address concerns about : heavy hand/bias/personal involvement in topics by taking sides/pushing personal opinions/unneeded and uncalled for comments/lack of consistency ,etc :
Moderators are either members-either moderators!They can not ACT as both.
CONFLICT of interest!
While they contribute to any thread-it must be done with high level of professionalisan/Diplomacy/unbiased / not targeting any member,regardless if the moderator likes the topic-post ,or the member,and regardless how subtle those actions against memebers may seem.
This is very important to save integrity of the moderators/administrator and the Higher Ups in the Forum hierarchy.
Moderators are working in team environment,and every punitive measure is decided as a team(except friendly notice).
Friendly notice is mild,acts as heads -up,and gives no feeling of heavy hand.
Friendly notice CAN not be stacked up for different infractions.
Grievance against actions of moderators shall be addressed to, and evaluated/follow up actions taken ONLY by the Administrator.No team work in this subject,to save integrity.
Warnings and points are awarded ONLY by the Administrator.
Point must have a clear expiry date-communicated to the member.
Clear feedback to the member/members -in the case of dispicplinary action is a must,to maintain integrity and to serve as lessons learned for the member/members.
This shall be done without exposing the culprit way to much,or at all.
ENFORCEMENT OF RULES:
We will use an infraction system to warn users that break the forum rules. If members are caught violating any of the forum rules, or there are any complaints of disruptive behaviour by members, an infraction may be issued. Points for infractions are awarded by the moderators and administrator to those that break the rules and each infraction has a set value and expiry date.
Infractions range from warnings to three (3) points depending on the severity of the incident(s). Once a user reaches the 3-point mark their account will be disabled and access to the site will be lost.
This should be reviewed in a face of the current crisis-and softened up a bit.It needs to suit dispcipline as much as diplomacy.
PM as friendly Notice-warning-points.
Also include open communication to other members as case study-which may help understand the application of rules and the enfrcement better.
Members that disrupt or hi-jack threads may face permanent expulsion from a thread or, for repeat offenders, the particular forum.
This is a serious statement-needs definition and perhaps cases to demonstrate. Disrupting can be interpreted many which ways-flavour of the month/approach by the judge.
Hijacking threads may be a mild offence -especially if it is not repeat or innocent.
Definition would help.
( These rules are subject to review and may change in the near future without warning - changes will be posted in this thread )
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Last edited by CalTek; November 9th, 2014 at 11:23 PM. Reason: Added 4(b)
