RedAkston
Master of Shenanigans
Administrator
Moderator
Dungeon Master
Supporting Member
DP Veteran
Monthly Donator
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2007
- Messages
- 57,207
- Reaction score
- 45,882
- Location
- MS Gulf Coast
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
As we approach the 2024 US Presidential Election, I'd like to take a moment to remind everyone what DP represents and why things are done the way they are here.
DP has been around for 20+ years now. This isn't our first Presidential Election and I don't believe it will be our last. We've been able to exist due to so many great people that come here for a place to discuss, debate and argue over politics, current events and other subjects. We continue to exist due to the kind generosity of so many who donate their own money to keep DP afloat, as we are solely funded by donations (no advertisements - yay!). We have been approached by multiple political campaigns in the past who have offered a significant amount of money (for us) to run ads for them and we have turned them down every time. Why, you ask? Because we are dedicated to remaining non-partisan.
"Political bias optional, civility a must" isn't just a slogan we put on our logo, it's what we strive to be - a place to debate and discuss in an environment that encourages different opinions without attacks and hatred. Nobody is perfect, and that includes us, but we do our best to allow free speech (within reason) while enforcing some very simple rules that are designed to encourage civility. Do we get it right 100% of the time? Not necessarily, especially in the eyes of those who are warned or infracted for breaking the rules, but we strive to be as close to 100% right as we can possibly be.
The members of the moderation team are tasked with enforcing what we consider to be a pretty simple set of rules, rules that we ourselves are held to, and rules that we do break on occasion (I have the infractions to prove it). We would much rather spend our time here interacting with our users, but some people have a tendency to not follow the rules on a fairly consistent basis. So, since we are heading into what will likely be a very contentious election, the moderation team felt it was appropriate to go over a few things in an effort to try to maintain civility going forward into this election and beyond.
We've said this countless times, but I don't know if it's ever been posted in an announcement thread like this before now - attack the post, not the poster. This can't be stressed enough and this will lead to a lot less warnings and infractions if we all discuss the topic of the thread, can disagree with a poster's words and not attack the poster. Having a disagreement about one's opinions or their stance on a subject doesn't have to lead to a personal attack containing insults, over-aggressiveness or incivility.
We have a point system in place where we typically issue a warning for a first offense of violating a rule (there are exceptions in cases where the violation is quite egregious). Future violations of the same rule generally end up in an infraction being issued, depending on the rule and depending on if a significant amount of time has passed since the last infraction was issued to the same poster for the same rule violation. For some rules, such as rules 6a, 12, 13, 13a, 18, 19 and 20, we don't typically take time into consideration as these are considered major violations. The expiration date depends on how many active infractions of a specific rule the poster has currently. For example, if a poster has an active rule 3 violation (30 day expiration) and they receive an additional rule 3 violation, the expiration is extended by another 30 days for each subsequent occurrence. This is done in an effort to deal with what we call "repeat offenders".
On the evening of November 5th, 2024 (election night), we will create a thread for the election results. As we have done in past years, a warning will be issued to any poster who violates a rule in this thread. If that same poster violates another rule (or the same rule) multiple times in that thread, a thread ban will be issued and that poster will no longer be able to participate in that thread. In an effort to prevent trying to "work around" moderation, no threads concerning the election will be allowed to be created. Anyone trying to circumvent this directive will be issued an infraction and their thread will be removed from public view. This is being done, as it has in the past, to more easily manage election night and the day(s) after should their be a contention in a state or multiple states. By doing this, the onus is put on each individual to be mindful of the rules and civility and act accordingly. We will post more on this by election night.
The DP Moderation Team
DP has been around for 20+ years now. This isn't our first Presidential Election and I don't believe it will be our last. We've been able to exist due to so many great people that come here for a place to discuss, debate and argue over politics, current events and other subjects. We continue to exist due to the kind generosity of so many who donate their own money to keep DP afloat, as we are solely funded by donations (no advertisements - yay!). We have been approached by multiple political campaigns in the past who have offered a significant amount of money (for us) to run ads for them and we have turned them down every time. Why, you ask? Because we are dedicated to remaining non-partisan.
"Political bias optional, civility a must" isn't just a slogan we put on our logo, it's what we strive to be - a place to debate and discuss in an environment that encourages different opinions without attacks and hatred. Nobody is perfect, and that includes us, but we do our best to allow free speech (within reason) while enforcing some very simple rules that are designed to encourage civility. Do we get it right 100% of the time? Not necessarily, especially in the eyes of those who are warned or infracted for breaking the rules, but we strive to be as close to 100% right as we can possibly be.
The members of the moderation team are tasked with enforcing what we consider to be a pretty simple set of rules, rules that we ourselves are held to, and rules that we do break on occasion (I have the infractions to prove it). We would much rather spend our time here interacting with our users, but some people have a tendency to not follow the rules on a fairly consistent basis. So, since we are heading into what will likely be a very contentious election, the moderation team felt it was appropriate to go over a few things in an effort to try to maintain civility going forward into this election and beyond.
We've said this countless times, but I don't know if it's ever been posted in an announcement thread like this before now - attack the post, not the poster. This can't be stressed enough and this will lead to a lot less warnings and infractions if we all discuss the topic of the thread, can disagree with a poster's words and not attack the poster. Having a disagreement about one's opinions or their stance on a subject doesn't have to lead to a personal attack containing insults, over-aggressiveness or incivility.
We have a point system in place where we typically issue a warning for a first offense of violating a rule (there are exceptions in cases where the violation is quite egregious). Future violations of the same rule generally end up in an infraction being issued, depending on the rule and depending on if a significant amount of time has passed since the last infraction was issued to the same poster for the same rule violation. For some rules, such as rules 6a, 12, 13, 13a, 18, 19 and 20, we don't typically take time into consideration as these are considered major violations. The expiration date depends on how many active infractions of a specific rule the poster has currently. For example, if a poster has an active rule 3 violation (30 day expiration) and they receive an additional rule 3 violation, the expiration is extended by another 30 days for each subsequent occurrence. This is done in an effort to deal with what we call "repeat offenders".
On the evening of November 5th, 2024 (election night), we will create a thread for the election results. As we have done in past years, a warning will be issued to any poster who violates a rule in this thread. If that same poster violates another rule (or the same rule) multiple times in that thread, a thread ban will be issued and that poster will no longer be able to participate in that thread. In an effort to prevent trying to "work around" moderation, no threads concerning the election will be allowed to be created. Anyone trying to circumvent this directive will be issued an infraction and their thread will be removed from public view. This is being done, as it has in the past, to more easily manage election night and the day(s) after should their be a contention in a state or multiple states. By doing this, the onus is put on each individual to be mindful of the rules and civility and act accordingly. We will post more on this by election night.
The DP Moderation Team