Hey everybody,
A month or more ago, I put up the broad outline of the comment policy thinking at the time, and we asked for your feedback. I think you’ll find a fair amount of that feedback reflected in the comment policy below.
Please share your thoughts, as we plan to finalize this on Friday.
An old boss of mine was known to say that he always wanted our input, and that he would take our input under consideration, but that it wasn’t a democracy, and decisions weren’t made by majority rule.
For 20+ years, Balloon Juice has had an open door policy. It’s been a place where you can disagree and fight and get over it. It’s still that place. The place where we can agree, or not. To fight and get over it. Or not. Not to worry, I’m pretty sure we will all still be able to tell people to fuck off, when needed. Cole certainly will.
We don’t have to be nice, but we can’t be evil.
The comment policy was created in the first place so people would understand the rules of the road and wouldn’t be randomly banned. No one is supposed to get banned out of the blue.
We’re not abandoning that. But nothing good comes of things when the rules are different for different people. Or when the rules are enforced differently by different people. Now, for real, no one gets banned until John says so.
New commenters will be pointed to the comment policy when we approve that first comment. No one will be banned or given a time-out without knowing why.
Balloon Juice will still be a place where people can disagree and where we welcome new people. John wants new people to be welcomed as part of Balloon Juice. Guessing that most of us do? But we’re no longer open for business to people who are of ill intent.
Not that we ever were before, but our process allowed some of those people to do damage on the way out, as we worked through the steps.
Why have a comment policy?
The goal of a comment policy is to preserve the community; it’s about identifying those people who seek to disrupt or tear the community down – and removing those people so the community stays healthy and can thrive. We need to have rules, so we write rules that we think will prohibit behavior that would tear the community down.
But in reality, there is no set of rules we can put in place that assholes will not try to twist or game.
To a certain extent, it’s like pornography. You know it when you see it. But of course we all see it differently!
That’s why only Cole decides whether someone gets banned or not. Only Cole.
If WaterGirl a hothead and Betty Cracker is less intemperate, then Cole always making the decision helps keep this consistent, at least. No one wants to feel like the dog who is hit at random.
New Rules?
Our comment policy has mostly served us well. We’re not throwing it out. But now it’s time to refine it.
So this time around, let’s see if the rules can be less prescriptive, and more results oriented instead. If your presence is clearly disruptive to the community, then you’re not going to have 4 chances to do the same kind of thing over and over before you’re out. We’re no longer going to grit our teeth and bear it, waiting for that person who upends the card table – time after time – to finally get their 3 strikes and be gone.
Do you need to worry about the new rules?
Overt racism, sexism, ageism; flagrant antisemitism, dehumanization of Palestinians, and attacks on Jews; homophobic outbursts, targeting of marginalized groups; trotting in here with intentional disinformation campaigns and spewing pro-Putin or pro-authoritarian garbage; personal attacks beyond a joking nature, targeted harassment of commenters or front-pagers; direct, actionable threats or calls for violence; divulging personal information about a commenter or front pager – none of that will be tolerated.
If your goal is to derail a thread, or even if your actions are repeatedly derailing threads, regardless of what your intentions are, you will be up for banning consideration. If your apparent goal is to be hurtful, that’s when you will be up for serious banning consideration. If your aim – or the repeated result of your comments – is to disrupt, you’re not going to get a step-by-step process of warnings.
To reiterate: in reality, there is no set of rules we can put in place that assholes will not try to twist or game.
If anything in that list of offenses above is in your wheelhouse, take your shit somewhere else. Extrapolate from the list above, and if you can steer clear of anything at that level, you shouldn’t even have to think twice about this policy.
There will be gray areas, which is the one thing that is less desirable about this new policy. We’ll just have to deal with them, and it will help if we all assume that John’s decisions are being made in good faith.
To help clarify where the edges are.
- Having an opinion that is different from most everyone else is not ban-able.
- Vehemently disagreeing is not ban-able.
- Having an opinion that is not just different but is the exact opposite from most everyone else is not ban-able.
- Holding an opinion that is unpopular is not ban-able.
- Being regularly annoying is not ban-able.
We’re basically talking about the equivalent of changing the laws for how we handle serious crimes. If you’re the blog equivalent of the person who sees a cop and thinks “oh shit, was I speeding?” I don’t think you have to worry too much about the new rules.
Just don’t be a dick.
Let’s talk about trolling.
Trolling is a behavior pattern. It is not a disagreement, no matter how forcefully stated. Being an asshole does not make you a troll. Being wrong does not make you a troll.
There can be an unfortunate tendency to call people trolls when they are just “wrong on the internet.” We can do better; we should do better. Sometimes this happens with new commenters; let’s give them a chance. Maybe the idea of calling out racist behavior rather than calling someone a racist could come into play here. Maybe tell someone they seem like they are trolling and see how they respond rather that jumping to a conclusion?
In Summary
Balloon Juice will still be a place where people can disagree and where we’re open to new people. John wants new people to be part of Balloon Juice. But we’re no longer open for business to people who are of ill intent. Not that we ever were before, but our process allowed some of those people to do damage on the way out, as we worked through the steps.
Process for Bans and Timeouts
If you as a commenter see a comment that you think violates the rules, send email to WaterGirl and John Cole. If the comment appears to be in violation, we’ll mark it as SPAM (which removes it from view) as we consider the situation.
If you as a front-pager believe a comment violates the rules, mark the comment as SPAM (which removes it from view) and immediately send email to John Cole and WaterGirl. Let us know whether you think there should be a time-out or the person should be banned. For an egregious first-time comment, just mark it as SPAM, rather than Trash & Ban, and we’ll see it.
If you are a person who has potentially violated the rules, your comment will be marked as SPAM (which removes it from view) as the situation is considered. Assuming you have supplied a functional email address for Balloon Juice, WaterGirl or John Cole will communicate with you about the situation by email.
If you appear to have been banned and have not received communication by email, please send email to WaterGirl and John Cole. You may have been banned by mistake, which occasionally happens!
What happens from there?
After a comment has been marked as SPAM, John Cole and WaterGirl will duke it out, I mean, discuss it. John will decide whether someone is banned, will be given a time out, or decide that the comment, while perhaps unfortunate, did not violate the policy. Cole is the decider.
Have at it!
Balloon Juice – New Comment Policy – Sept 2024Post + Comments (78)
