It's Hump Day and I thought I would drop in real quick to let everyone know about the new community initiative that has kicked off this week to battle some of the negativity, trolling, and personal attacks that can sometimes be found in the comments area. Ultimately the goal is to ensure that discussions remain respectful and improve the feeling of community found on CBM and its sister sites.
We're incorporating a 3-Strike rule for comments that violate the Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. Users who break the rules will get a "Strike." After three strikes, their account will be reviewed, along with what actions resulted in strikes, and the account will most likely be disabled, at least temporarily.
What will result in an instant strikeout?
I think most of these are self-explanatory and aren't new, but I'll share to cover all of the bases. There is a zero-tolerance policy for posting comments that contain:
- Porn
- Suicide (suggesting that a user take their own life, etc.).
- Spam (work-from-home job posts, etc.)
- Linking to pirated content (movie downloads, streaming, etc.)
Who's enforcing this initiative?
Some of you may have seen the user TwoByFour posting recently. While this particular username is new, TwoByFour has been a member of the site for a long time. They kindly volunteered to keep tabs on the community and lend a hand, reminding users to have fun but to do so in a respectful way. They will track and document strikes and let me know which users have crossed the line and should have their account access removed.
Note that they will also post when they see something that could get out of hand or is close to crossing the line. These will serve as a reminder to stay on topic and not let the conversation go off the rails.
Please be respectful and courteous when you see a comment by TwoByFour. They're doing this out of a love for the community and a desire for it to be a better place where we can all jump in and discuss our favorite nerdy topics. It's a volunteer position (meaning they aren't employees and are not compensated), and they have promised to be unbiased, regardless of their own personal opinions. Also, keep in mind that they're only human. We're in the early stages of launching this and there will be mistakes made. Please be patient with us as we get the ball rolling.
Who ultimately decides if an account will be disabled?
Accounts that strikeout will be reviewed before disciplinary action is taken. Ultimately, I or one of the other top-level administrators will decide to disable an account (currently, AngieB, who also happens to be my wife, is the only other admin).
In addition to "Strikes," the following will be taken into account when deciding upon disciplinary action(s):
- Age of account
- Comment/posting history
- Returning user (i.e., a user that has already had an account or accounts disabled in the past)
Does this mean I can't share my opinion?
Opinions, regardless of their popularity, are ALWAYS welcome! We ask that you be respectful when sharing them. Attacking other users by calling them names, insulting their intelligence, etc. is not allowed and never has been.
I hope this initiative will improve the community as we share what we like and what we don't like and have fun discussions as we do so. Feel free to let me know your thoughts and concerns below and I'll do my best to keep tabs on the discussion!