A general point, if I may: The energy and attitudes in this endeavor are, IMO, to be commended, and should encourage effort to support them. Somewhere back in some thread I earlier commented on a (perceived) “infection” of unskillful behavior creeping into some discussions here, as is already a problem in many, yes, even Buddhist forums; and added a note of hope or confidence, looking to SuttaCentral to be able to handle this better than other forums.
0: A minor point: “space” is interestingly more apropos in cyber-space (internet) than “place” – the latter connotes a delimited locus, as in a physical place/location, where the former includes expansiveness, boundarylessness (to borrow a term from Steven Levine) of the mind, especially the awakened mind.
1: Peter_Durham 2017-05-08 19:58:55 UTC #13
“Accept admonition gracefully”
A subtle but crucial point – recognizing, and deepening with equanimity, the limits of one’s own viewpointedness, and the willingness to restrain, or better, relinquish it. People might offer testimonials of instances where they’ve learned by this.
c.f. Also below (4) on correction procedures being carried-out off-line
2: Peter_Durham 2017-05-08 19:58:55 UTC #13
“I also think there should be an explicit statement regarding racist, sexist, homophobic speech etc. …”
That list of hot-topic areas (racist, sexist,…) has become sort of standard, in many countries, conditioned by law. Practically speaking and on the basis of experience here (and in other “Buddhist” forums), I believe it may be worthwhile to extend it (perhaps as it may relate to “racist”) to include speech that may be offensive or inflammatory with regard to nationality, social, cultural or political systems. Especially the politics, with its flaming hot-button issues around the globe. In “international” forums culture-bound beliefs can collide and trigger unskillful re-activity. Though serious Dhamma practice should mitigate this, many of us are not that highly developed, and conditioned latent-tendencies (anuseti) still powerful.
3: Linda 2017-05-09 04:05:03 UTC #18
I liked the following ( #14 old guideline), and wonder if it or something similar (perhaps added to #19, new guidleline)
(#14. The topics discussed here matter to us. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.)
(#19. You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it …”)
(I noted also, s/w puzzled, that deletion. ) All too often a reaction is to not only disagree, but also to “hijack” the thread. Other times there may not be disagreement, but someone may just steer the whole discussion heavy-handedly in the direction of their own take on it or s/w related pet interest. The following does appear to address that:
#106 Rather than taking an existing topic in a radically different direction, use Reply as a New Topic (found under the share a link icon).
Is might be perhaps also worthwhile to allow OP authors (the ones who initiate threads) some right to invoke this to defend their topic against hijacking?
(from another thread: “Sujato: “And yes, ‘off-topic and redundant to the point of drowning threads’ is clearly flag-worthy!”)
4: Linda 2017-05-09 04:05:03 UTC #18
“…helpful when the moderators explicitly mention something in a discussion such as posting a ‘warning’ or friendly reminder or other things like saying they’re moving the discussion to another category or asking people to start a new discussion, etc.”
This overlaps 3 above, but also brings up the possibility, when the moderator is challenged and multiple back-and-forth posts ensue, that such elaboration be quickly taken off-line, to a PM thread (like happens with a formal flagging). There have been times when such discussion has occurred, and it seemed like a moderator was getting sucked into “feeding” a trolling outbreak by trying to reason with someone who was a just further stimulated by the attention.
5: Not being timid about flagging.
When the issue is taken off-line (PM thread) it allows the “offender” a hearing in which to perhaps justify their actions without that discussion tempting others to pile-on (the contagion of troll behavior as in the scientific study cited above). But it also allows moderators to perhaps help the author of a somehow unworthy or misled flag to better understand and adapt to the perceived problem, without having to be dressed-down in public.
6: Working the moderators too hard? When done well, and after a period of adaptation on the part of posters as well as moderators, their workload could actually become easier over time.