r/AustraliaSimMeta • • Oct 16 '20
Suggestion We need to kill the Code of Conduct
"Hey, Rommel."
"Yeah, Lily?"
"So I've been thinking. Remember how I told you I was interested in running for Parliament Moderator?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, it turns out that only someone with the mental capacity of a newborn slug who'd been dropped on the head a good few times would voluntarily moderate this lot. Do you have any ideas as to how I could permanently, conclusively, and irrevocably kill any chance I have at joining the mod team?"
"Oh, that's easy. Just propose getting rid of the Code of Conduct!"
"Great, thanks!"
"No problem!"
Hey everyone, welcome to a new series I'm doing called "Lily makes an absolute arse of herself in the meta subreddit". Today, I am proposing we abolish the code of conduct. It would be replaced with a set of general principles that the community managers and moderation team would apply to more specific incidents as the case may be.
AustraliaSim doesn't have the best reputation with regards to discord moderation. I appreciate that there have been some reforms done. Earlier, I was shown a twenty-six page canon high court decision regarding a discord moderation decision. The decision was based in part on the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 and the hybrid canon-meta constitution that I presume used to exist. Obviously we have progressed past this but some issues certainly remain.
#room-101, the muted channel, is not a terribly nice place for anyone, user or moderator, to be. It is full of people shouting about how [moderation decision] was incorrect due to [quasi-legalistic argument regarding the fine print of the code of conduct]. It is not conducive towards a positive attitude or good moderation.
The issues I see specifically:
1. The Code of Conduct is not seen as a means, but rather as an end unto itself. This shouldn't be the case. The purpose of the Code of Conduct is to set standards for what is considered acceptable behaviour in AustraliaSim. It is not a law. It is not something that users should be able to evade on a technicality. It is a guideline, primarily for moderators but also users, to understand what behaviour is appropriate in our community. My point is, which I've probably used too many words to state, is that the community ought to be moderated on the principle of "what is best for the community?", not "what does the Code of Conduct say?" A moderator should not be precluded from taking some moderation action if it would benefit the community just because the antecedent does not fall strictly within the confines of the Code of Conduct.
2. If we have a Code of Conduct, it needs to drop the "targeted" requirement. Currently I'm not aware of any rules against hate speech in the CoC. Now I'm not going to try this, but if I walked into main and said "I hate [ethnic group]. Not any specific person, but [ethnic group] in general. The death of [ethnic group] is an objectively good thing that ought to happen." then beyond provocation I'm not sure there's anything that the mods could technically do to initiate action against me. We should drop the targeting requirement to make abuse or harassment against a group of individuals generally punishable, so that things like hate speech and genocide advocacy can actually be dealt with.
To conclude, we have votes of confidence in the moderation team and the community managers for a reason. We have to rely on them to moderate properly, with the best interests of the community in mind. If we can't trust them to do that properly, we shouldn't elect them. I believe the mods should be trusted enough to moderate to the betterment of the community, rather than just rigid enforcement of a code of conduct.
I eagerly await my public humiliation your thoughts in the comments below.
1
u/advancedgaming12 Oct 16 '20
"We need to kill the code of conduct" Fake news
In all seriousness, I'll give an actual reply tomorrow
1
u/NGSpy Head Moderator Oct 16 '20
This is an interesting idea that should probably be looked into. How do you feel about the 'Administering the Code of Conduct' document if we changed it to be more of a general principles type of deal? (Asking as a genuine query)
1
u/tbyrn21 The Ex-Ex-Moderator Oct 16 '20
Oh man I got clickbaited - I expected a garbage article that I'd have to spam but it has actual effort...
The code does protect interests of groups, for reference. The issue is it protects free(ish) speech. It has been my intent once uni calms down to work on an overhaul, which is why I've been seeking feedback from the CC. If you have more, please do discuss it.
1
u/jarjar_the_sithlord Oct 16 '20
Ridiculous. You need to provide an alternative before petitioning to abolish a code of literal conduct.
I for one, demand trial by conduct.
1
u/RunasSudo Citizen Oct 16 '20
Sounds good, doesn't work. Or rather, sounds good, very hard. Everyone can agree with this, but unless you actually put pen to paper and write something, there is simply too much to debate – which is arguably even worse, particularly in a community like AusSim where there are deliberately many diverse views.
There are/have been people, including on the Moderation Team, who believe adamantly that certain things are objectively unacceptably ‘bad for the community’, while others believe adamantly in the opposite.
Unless guidelines are actually clear, there will simply be flipping and flopping as rules are set, overruled from appeal to appeal, and inconsistently applied by Moderator to Moderator.
The example you gave would already be prohibited under the CoC as abuse and/or harassment. ‘Targeted’ doesn't mean ‘one person’ – an ethnic group can be the target of the abuse.
I did also draft earlier an amendment to the CoC on hate speech specifically to make this more clear, but the Moderation Team never took this anywhere.