@PhoebeWallerPalladino@monads.online Whenever I've been in charge of community spaces I've made a point of not having a set of explicit rules, but rather a set of guidelines and values and the warning that being seen as compromising those guidelines and values in the eyes of the moderation team would be what gets you banned, not whether or not you break the letter of some rule. The reason I have taken this approach is simple: Fascists abuse rule systems. They will ignore the spirit of any rule that doesn't suit them but use the letter of the law to escape punishment for bad behaviour and bad faith behaviour and also to persecute those who are in your space in good faith.
Remember that the modern conservative movement is centred on the idea that the law should protect but not bind the in-group and bind but not protect the out-group.
The hypocrisy is the point. They can't be trusted. Trust yourself, your gut, and your humanity.
@ash @PhoebeWallerPalladino Years ago I ran a discussion mailing list as a 'salon'. "This is my space, don't annoy me." Helps that it was a small group who knew me from a different mailing list.
@ash @PhoebeWallerPalladino
This makes a lot of sense. Making a set of rules that actually does what you want, even in corner cases, is very hard. Most attempts to do so fail. Choosing to adopt general guidelines is often better, both for the reasons mentioned but also because some people will find themselves in one of the neglected corner cases and the written rules won’t give the right answer.
@ash @PhoebeWallerPalladino I feel the problem with so many rules is that people don’t (or can’t) think them through in a black hat or disaster-planning way. How would this policy be implemented by a disgruntled bureaucrat? What would a vengeful ex be able to do with this rule? Etc. This approach sidesteps that. You’re not bound to honor the clever lawyering of the bad-faith actors.
@ash Thank you. A good approach.
@ash @PhoebeWallerPalladino
Makes a lot of sense; this way, you can weed out the bad actors.
I was moderator on a forum where we had clear rules, and there were always some people who would keep within these rules but be a nuisance nonetheless. Took ages to get them banned, because we wanted to keep to our own rules.