The Rules

[Belly Bionic]

As this is a new group, the rules of the group will be rather organic,
at least for a while. It takes time to figure out what works and what
doesn't. So, here's the bare-bones version that I've come up with so
far:

With the exception of spammers, we'll have a "3 strikes" rule in
place. Anyone who is engaging in unacceptable behavior will be given
two warnings with an opportunity to stop doing whatever it is they're
doing. The third strike is a ban, and the person in question can
petition the moderator(s) to have the ban lifted after a month. To
avoid the problem of someone being banned just because they slip up on
occasion and have been around for a long time, I'm thinking 3 strikes
in a 3 month period. Single strikes will be cleared after three
months.

Warnings will follow this format:
<mod hat>
insert warning here
</mod hat>
Anything that does not follow this format is not an official moderator
warning.

No one will be warned or banned for expressing an unpopular opinion or
disagreeing with a moderator.

Things that will earn warnings followed by bannings are personal
threats, posting other people's personal information without their
permission, and trolling. This is by no means a comprehensive list,
as it's impossible to predict what fresh hell people determined to get
banned will come up with.

If anyone has any questions, concerns, or suggestions, I'd love to
hear them.

[rappoccio]

How can we define "Trolling"?

Does constantly responding with off-topic commentary count? :)

[The Belly Bionic]

I think it depends on the commentary. If the commentary is mostly
innocuous chatter and the person posting it does actually participate in
on topic discussions, then no.

If the commentary is nothing but insults and/or attempts to piss people
off solely for the purpose of pissing people off, and/or attempts to
derail conversations just to make it harder for others to find the real
conversation, then yes.

And, of course, participating in the conversation and including a few
insults is not trolling, as long as the insults aren't making up the
bulk of your post.

"You're wrong for reasons a, b, and c. Furthermore, x, y, and z are
true. Also, you're an idiot." is not trolling. Consistently responding
to posts with nothing but some variation on "You're wrong. You're an
idiot. DIAF." is trolling.

Agree? Disagree?

[rappoccio]

Sounds reasonable to me. ;)

[Belly Bionic]

Also, I'd love to get the group announced in places where we might get
more members, like talk.origins or alt.atheism, but I don't
participate in those groups regularly and I don't want to just go and
spam other groups.

If anyone is a member of another group and would like to help
advertise, that would be great!

[Trance Gemini]

It's actually considered very bad form to do that in the NG culture from what I've been told.

Even to post and mention another group especially one that is a potential "competitor" for members is considered bad form.

AvC is pretty tolerant about these things but other groups may or may not be. It will depend on the group.

I've never done it and would never do it for that reason but it's up to you...

--
------------------------------------------------
Trance Gemini
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. --Voltaire

Which God Do You Kill For? --Unknown

Love is friendship on fire -- Unknown

[Belly Bionic]

Spamming is always bad form, which is why I'm not doing it. Whether
or not it's bad form for an established member to make an announcement
depends on the group. Some moderators have no issue with it at all,
and some like to act as though it were impossible to participate in
more than one group at once and view any advertising of other groups
as an attempt to "steal" members.

What I'd actually like, however, is for people who are interested in
helping get the word out to put a link to the group in their signature
line when they post to groups where they regularly participate. That
way, people who are curious can come look around without a hint of the
possibility of spamming.

On Jul 11, 6:18 am, "Trance Gemini" <trancegemi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It's actually considered very bad form to do that in the NG culture from
> what I've been told.
> Even to post and mention another group especially one that is a potential
> "competitor" for members is considered bad form.
>
> AvC is pretty tolerant about these things but other groups may or may not
> be. It will depend on the group.
>
> I've never done it and would never do it for that reason but it's up to
> you...
>

[Trance Gemini]

On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 12:16 PM, Belly Bionic <belly...@gmail.com> wrote:

Spamming is always bad form, which is why I'm not doing it.  Whether
or not it's bad form for an established member to make an announcement
depends on the group.  Some moderators have no issue with it at all,
and some like to act as though it were impossible to participate in
more than one group at once and view any advertising of other groups
as an attempt to "steal" members.

Exactly. Some are very sensitive about these types of issues.

 

What I'd actually like, however, is for people who are interested in
helping get the word out to put a link to the group in their signature
line when they post to groups where they regularly participate.  That
way, people who are curious can come look around without a hint of the
possibility of spamming.

The only other group I post to is AvC and as one of the new Moderators I don't think it would appropriate for me to do that.

And I can't speak for the group on whether adding something to the sig line would be a problem or not.

I wouldn't act on it unless someone complained and then I'd open it up to the group for debate.

You likely know the AvC culture better than I do.

I personally didn't have a problem with your post on AvC mainly because you were a member and this came up for a historical reason. 

If someone with no history on AvC did that I would consider it spam but I would probably talk to the other Moderators before I treated it as spam.

I guess each individual could probably decide based on the groups they post to and the level of tolerance on those groups since they're all going to be different.

Another option might be to find places where it could be listed?

[Trance Gemini]

BB.

It just occurred to me (sorry I was focused on some work yesterday and not our discussion :-() that I can help by attaching a link to the group on my New Atheism blog. I get a decent number of hits on it but naturally they're mostly atheists.

Anyway it might generate some interest.

On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 12:16 PM, Belly Bionic <belly...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Trance Gemini]

On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 10:28 AM, Trance Gemini <trance...@gmail.com> wrote:

BB.

It just occurred to me (sorry I was focused on some work yesterday and not our discussion :-() that I can help by attaching a link to the group on my New Atheism blog. I get a decent number of hits on it but naturally they're mostly atheists.

Anyway it might generate some interest.

Okay it's done. I've added a link for this site.

[The Belly Bionic]

Fantastic! That's just the sort of advertising I was hoping for!

Trance Gemini wrote:
> BB.
>
> It just occurred to me (sorry I was focused on some work yesterday and
> not our discussion :-() that I can help by attaching a link to the
> group on my New Atheism blog. I get a decent number of hits on it but
> naturally they're mostly atheists.
>
> Anyway it might generate some interest.
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 12:16 PM, Belly Bionic <belly...@gmail.com
> <mailto:belly...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
> Spamming is always bad form, which is why I'm not doing it. Whether
> or not it's bad form for an established member to make an announcement
> depends on the group. Some moderators have no issue with it at all,
> and some like to act as though it were impossible to participate in
> more than one group at once and view any advertising of other groups
> as an attempt to "steal" members.
>
> What I'd actually like, however, is for people who are interested in
> helping get the word out to put a link to the group in their signature
> line when they post to groups where they regularly participate. That
> way, people who are curious can come look around without a hint of the
> possibility of spamming.
>
> On Jul 11, 6:18 am, "Trance Gemini" <trancegemi...@gmail.com

[Trance Gemini]

Happy to help BB.

Maybe others will have some good suggestions.

I'll post anything else I come up with.

[Belly Bionic]

Addendum: There is a new page in the pages section, where I will be
keeping a public record of all official warnings and bans (other than
the standard hit and run spammer bans). The page is called
***Official Warnings and Banninations***. Any editing of this page by
anyone who is not a moderator will result in an instant ban. No
warnings and no second chances.

[Drafterman]

Is that a Homestar Runner (StrongBad) reference?

[Belly Bionic]

Good eye!

[Drafterman]

Correction: Great Jorb!

> > > warnings and no second chances.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -