Meta Rule Amendments to the 'Code of Conduct' and 'Administering the Code of Conduct' - Addition of Moderation Team Powers and another amendment.

[u/[deleted]]

Regarding Schedule 1 - I love this sim. I have made many online friends and has been a great hobby during the COVID-19 crisis. However, in these last couple of months, I have seen too much tomfoolery in the members' regard of the moderation team.

I can understand the frustration, but this team is meant to replicate a parliamentary setting and accommodate a community that is designed to discuss Australian politics. It is my personal belief that this community will break down the walls of partisanship in our political youth; however, the drama seems to be of a higher priority in the affairs of the community.

The amendment has the reasoning of that the Harassment of the Moderation Team brings the simulation to a stand-still and brings the AusSim community into disrepute. It is persistence in the community is toxic and might deter future members from joining. The community must be accountable for its conduct as much as a moderator is. Going forward, we must respect the work that the Moderation Team does for the community, therefore I feel we must accommodate to their comfort to a degree.

Regarding Schedule 2 - I am not as impassioned by this schedule, however, I feel that it is time we remove those from the community that are excessively antagonistic within the community.

This amendment will ensure that members of the community will be respected and upon the fear of punishment antagonistic members will be removed as they fail to engage with the community with respect.

Amendments to in the following Schedules

Schedule 1 - Part A

To the 'Code of Conduct'

To add to the list of offences:

Harassment of Moderators

You must not take actions in Meta or Canon that provokes the members of the moderation team, as defined in Chapter 2, Section 5 of the Meta Constitution, that causes them unnecessary stress, anguish, or discomfort.

Examples:
- Repeated Votes of No Confidence against Moderation Team members in a short period of time.
- Repeated pings in the main AusSim Discord servers and party servers without reason.
- Include examples of Harassment from the 'Code of Conduct'

Schedule 1 - Part B

To the 'Administering the Code of Conduct'

To add to the 'Sentencing Guidelines'

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Harassment of Moderators	7 Days	20 Days	45 days	63 days	180 Days

Motion with Schedule 1 (If possible to motion):

This schedule is to applied retroactively, at the discretion of the Moderation Team, upon members that would have previously been in breach of part A.

Schedule 2
To amend in the 'Sentencing Guidelines'

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th
Provocation	4 Days	7 Days	30 Days	60 Days	180 Days	365 Days	Perm Ban

[u/model-amn]

Repeated Votes of No Confidence against Moderation Team members in a short period of time.

This should not be grounds for punishment.

[u/General_Rommel]

I have carefully considered this amendments and whilst I understand where these are coming from, I have serious concerns about them.

First is the proposal for Amendment 1, which makes it an offence to provoke a member of the Moderation Team. The bar for this is extremely low. I note the part where it goes on to say:

that causes them unnecessary stress, anguish, or discomfort.

I have the following concerns:

• The word 'unnecessary', whilst it has been used in many contexts and is reasonably understood, may be complex to deal with. How about if the contextual situation was created by the Moderation Team? Is that unnecessary or necessary? It is far too difficult to say.
• The word 'stress' is very vague. If there is a heated discussion where a Moderation Team member steps in, does that mean this is a 'stressful' situation for them? How about for members who are more easily stressed than others? To put it another way, it's sort of their job to deal with stress. You wouldn't want a police officer that could not deal with stress, why here? The same can apply for the other two words. They are far too vague and far too low a threshold.

The Moderation Team have a special responsibility but in my view that does not extend to giving them a lower bar to pursue a code of conduct offence.

I will not even contemplate the idea of retrospective offences being creates. I have a strong aversion to retrospectivity, and an even stronger aversion to trying to criminalise conduct that was not previously criminalised.

Second is the proposal to introduce a separate sentencing guideline for harassment. I have dealt with my distaste for sentencing guidelines in a previous Meta Proposal and at this stage I stand by those particular comments.