Disclaimer
I’m just sharing my thoughts here, not setting policy. I mostly stay out of moderation issues because I view my purpose as keeping this thing running. I do think this discussion is both important and productive, and I want this place to be somewhere we can all be proud to be a part of.
I kind of like the geometric progression idea, because math. It might also be a hassle to keep track of.
I agree with @waetherman earlier, that short-term suspensions should be left up to the moderators. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t actually any way to ban someone, although since the suspension terms can be set to an arbitrary date the distinction is largely semantic. I think it may make sense, when considering long-term suspensions, that a larger group participate in the decision making process. This could take the form of a executive council once we actually formalize into some sort of social organization. Another approach could be to form a jury and have them make a decision. It could also take the form of an at-large vote.
I’m generally of the opinion that hiding the post is usually enough. This happens automatically if a moderator agrees with the flag, or if a post is flagged three times. I think mods and admins see hidden posts by default, which can be a bummer, but no one else has to see them unless their curiosity gets the best of them. The author of the post can always delete it if they choose. There are definitely cases where deletion makes sense, but there are also cases where it may help the offender more than the offended (assuming the post is hidden, of course.)
On the surface, I agree. I do think we can make exceptions, though. There are definitely creative members here. I may one day grow up to be a creative person. If someone here writes a book, or a song, or paints a picture, or produces a video and wants to share it with the group, even if they may profit off of that work, I don’t think we should prevent that so long as the intent is clear. Maybe we can restrict it to a particular category or sub-category so that people can avoid it if they choose.
A few practical limitations to consider:
- Storage: It’s a little known fact, but naked pixels take up twice as much space than fully clothed ones.
- E-Mail: This is fundamentally broken as an unfiltered medium of communication. In order for this BBS to send e-mail messages and have any chance of them making it through to the recipients, it relies on a third-party service to send them. This service has its own set of standards (which we bizarrely triggered one time), and porn is likely against it. There are other services that we could use that might be more forgiving, but I am cheap and the one we’re using is free for the amount of messages that we currently send.
- TMI: I will not kink shame. I just don’t want to know some things.
All of that applies to visual imagery. The written word is likely another matter. If you want to post something of that nature, we may want to provide some guidelines around that:
- Restrict it to a single category/sub-category.
- Wrap it in a pair of spoiler tags, or in a collapsible section, with some preamble to make it clear what it is.
- Don’t make it creepy or illegal, there are probably better places on the internet for that.
- It might still get us in trouble with our e-mail provider, or our host, so we may not get to be as permissive as we’d like.
The only other thought I have is the same as others have expressed. It is absolutely worth discussing this and determining if we need to be more specific, but we have to be mindful that we leave enough room to avoid creating a playground for the rules lawyers among us.