User blog:Drew1200/Inappropriate Chat Conversations

For the past several months, some of you may have noticed a negative change in our chat conversations. Lately, suggestive, and even on occasion, explicit comments will appear in chat. Very rarely have we dealt with these comments, which has allowed it to become worse and worse.

Finally, yesterday there was a highly inappropriate chat conversation. There were several users, and even moderators involved in this chat. After reviewing the logs multiple times and having discussions on what to do with this situation, we've decided to temporarily become much more strict on specific rules which concern the types of comments that have been made lately.

All of the administrators will, from this point until the poor behavior ends, be much more strict and far less tolerant of all suggestive comments, conversations, or any other form of communication. We also ask all of our moderators to do the same, although we do recognize this as the primary responsibility of the administrators. There are a few specific changes I’d like to highlight.

1.
 * If something inappropriate does happen to come up in public chat, any user who asks for a link in PM, attempts to continue the conversation through PM, or participates in any other abuse of the private messaging system will be treated as though it happened in public chat. Our policy makes no distinction between public and private messages. Thus, the policy will be enforced in all private messages just as it will be in public chat. An example of this would be as follows:
 * Drew1200 - "Oh, I just thought of a really bad joke, but I won’t say it because I don’t want to get banned."
 * Bot1200 - "tell me in PM"
 * In this case, Bot1200 would be treated as though he's demanding for the link to be posted in public chat.


 * When a situation like this occurs, it shows a real indifference towards the policy, and a total neglection to follow it. This is not only a direct violation of the policy, it is also a poor example for everyone, especially those who may potentially be naive towards the topic.

2.
 * The same enforcement as described in the previous point will be placed on references to other sites where inappropriate chats are being held. We do not attempt to enforce our policy on other wikis, but we will not tolerate any type of "recruiting" for any type of questionable conversation on another wiki. This means that if someone says “Hey, this is getting out of hand, let’s continue it at my test wiki”, then that user is responsible for everything that is said on his or her test wiki, which means they will likely be banned if anyone chooses to say something against our policy. That’s a very dangerous spot to be in, so I sincerely ask you to please not direct conversations to other places. We want bad conversations to be ended, not moved elsewhere. We will not try to prevent users from having conversations on other wikis, but we will not allow them to use our chat to find people to join their conversation.

3.
 * All moderators who directly violate any policy like this will only receive a single warning before demotion. If it’s questionable whether or not the moderator broke the policy, we will give more than one warning. However, if this was a direct violation of our policy, and for that matter, common sense, then we will have an extremely low tolerance level. We make it clear that we do not like demoting users, but when our moderators are breaking rules, and even encouraging others to break rules, then we will not hesitate to demote that moderator. If there is any chance that something you’re about to say is a policy violation, then please just do not say it. Not only are your moderator rights at risk here, you may also face a ban just like any normal user.

4.
 * The final thing I’d like to point out is that we do not accept excuses for policy violations. Here’s a couple I hear a lot:
 * "Anyone who’s on this site is supposed to be 13+ anyways. We’re not kids."
 * "People should be able to handle this kind of stuff, or else they need to learn how."
 * "The [suggestive] comment was very subtle, most people wouldn't even get it."
 * Our policy is clear on this. The wiki is designed for all audiences, and that’s what we will enforce. Just because someone is over 13 does not mean they enjoy listening to constant inappropriate comments. It’d be really nice to see a little bit of respect for those who do not want to participate or spend their time in chats filled with conversations of which their parents wouldn't approve. This wiki is designed to be a site for people like that. We’re supposed to be a place where parents don’t have to worry about their kids hanging out. If you want to spend all your time having chats like I've talked about, then there’s half a million websites out there that are specifically designed for you. What is more rare is a wiki like what we have here that is safe for everyone. That’s the goal of this site, that’s what our policy wants, and that’s what we will be enforcing. There is no valid excuse that exists which can justify these types of comments, and we will, in no way whatsoever, make an exception to our policy based on an excuse like this.

Many of our members here, including the administrators, have been very surprised by these recent actions. I personally would like to ask you to please avoid any conversations like this. If you feel as if you can’t resist, just close chat. However, I think you can resist. There are millions of other things we can talk about, and many of them are much more fun than these types of conversations. We can be funny without being inappropriate, and we can have a good time without breaking any rules. I really don’t want to see anyone get permanently banned or demoted, so please try to do that.

As for the conversation yesterday, the appropriate disciplinary actions have already been taken. Two users have already been banned, as well as one of the moderators being given his one and only warning. Please let this show you how serious we really are - if anyone else does this, we will be taking more action. This kind of behavior must end now.