Consolidated Ratified Forum Rules

[MrWookie]

This thread is for consolidating forum rules that have been ratified according to agreed-upon processes. First and foremost, we have agreed upon a process for implementing and changing rules:

Rules pertaining to standards of user conduct or forum moderation, including selection, tenure and conduct of moderators, shall be introduced through the request for comments (“RFC”) process.

Any user may initiate an RFC for a proposed rule by creating a thread in the About Unstuck subforum.

The purpose of RFC threads is to facilitate community input on proposed rules.

The initial post of an RFC thread should describe the proposed rule. Any user may provide input on the proposed rule by posting in the RFC thread.

After an RFC thread has been open for at least 3 full days , any user can request a Forum Administrator to create a poll within the RFC thread to approve the wording for the proposal. Upon receipt of such request, a Forum Administrator shall use the Administrative Account to create a public poll stating the proposed wording of the rule with the choices of “Yes” or “No.” The poll shall remain open for a period of one week . If the poll receives support from a majority of voters , the proposal will proceed to a binding rule vote. Otherwise, debate on the proposal may continue and any user can again request a vote on wording within the RFC thread.

If a proposal proceeds to a binding rule vote, a Forum Administrator will create a new thread in the About Unstuck subforum with a public poll stating the proposed wording of the rule with the choices of “Yes” or “No.” The poll shall remain open for a period of one week . The proposed rule will be adopted if it receives support from at least two thirds of all voters for moderator appointments or if it receives support from at least 60 percent of voters for all other rules .

Until rules regarding the selection and tenure of moderators have been adopted: (1) the current moderators will remain in their roles; (2) the moderators will not permanently ban any user unless that user publicly requests such a ban; and (3) the moderators will not ban any user in a way that prevents the user from voting in an RFC poll or in a biding rule vote poll with the exception of bans issued in accordance with this section.

[MrWookie]

We also have ratified a rule for electing and re-electing moderators:

New moderators begin with a Request for Comments (RFC) thread in About Unstuck. These may be started by anyone to nominate themselves or someone else. These follow the ratified process for RFCs, including the timings and votes prior to going be fore the community for a binding vote, which must meet a 2/3 threshold to appoint the poster as moderator. Moderators serve terms of six months unless they wish to resign earlier.

If a moderator wishes to be re-elected to another term, then within the last month of their term, they may start a re-election thread containing a yes or no poll that shall remain open for at least one week in About Unstuck, and they shall solicit an admin to make a banner about it. This is in lieu of going through the full RFC process again, although users may naturally state their cases for or against re-election in this thread. The moderator is or is not re-elected according to the same 2/3 threshold.

There are no limits on the number of terms a moderator may serve or on the concurrent number of moderators.

[MrWookie]

This thread will remain locked so that only mods and admins can add new ratified rules. If you wish to discuss and/or amend any of these, please start a new RFC.

[MrWookie]

The most popular rules in this thread have generally been adopted as legitimate, but, having not been subject to a full RFC process, they could stand improvement or strengthening if the community deems it:

First Round Vote To Ratify Unstuck Posting Rules

So we moved out and got our own place—no more listening to the parents’ bullshit, man! Now we can do whatever we want–no rules! But it turns out, we may want one or two because not all the roommates agree on everything. [Malcolm in the Middle - Rule Number One: There are no Rules] Here we go. The process here is a vote on each of these proposed rules. You have the option of accepting it as written, saying no thanks–I don’t think we need that rule at all, or yeah that seems like a …

[spideradmin]

Updated rules for electing mods and tracking their terms, as voted on here:

Rule 1: A stickied and locked thread shall be created in the About Unstuck forum listing all current moderators, the date they were appointed, and the date their term ends unless they choose to resign early.

Rule 2: Moderation Terms. The forum will be moderated by a rotating team of moderators, which is intended to promote consistent change and a spirit of community moderation. Moderators will serve for a term of approximately six months. Moderators’ terms of service will be staggered such that moderator terms end on a “Rotation Date”. The first Rotation Date will be September 1, 2021, and future Rotation Date will occur every two months. On each Rotation Date, any moderator who has served in their current term for at least 6 months will rotate out as a moderator and take a mandatory break from serving on the moderation team until the next Rotation Date.

Nominations and Elections. Two weeks prior to each Rotation Date, a nomination thread will be created in the About Unstuck forum requesting volunteers to serve as a moderator. Anyone who volunteers in the thread and receives at least 10 likes to their post will be nominated. After the nomination thread has been open for 3 days, the nomination thread will be closed, and another thread will be posted in About Unstuck with an individual poll for each nominee, which will will remain open for 3 days. Any nominee who receives at least two-thirds approval will be added to the mod team immediately. This means they should be in place for roughly 1 week prior to the Rotation Date, and a moderator’s term will last approximately 6 months and 1 week. For the sake of clarity, if a moderator’s six-month term ends on a Rotation Date of July 1, then they would be eligible for nomination in the mod approval process that leads up to the next Rotation Date (September 1). This rule replaces and makes all prior rules regarding mod terms null and void.

[spideradmin]

Gimmick account activity for banned posters:

If a poster is banned via moderator action–either temporarily or permanently–any non-passive behavior made on another account will result in that account being permanently suspended. Non-passive behavior is defined as posting, voting in polls, and other actions determined to be hostile at the discretion of the moderators.

Approved here.

[spideradmin]

Moderators may not take action on a flagged post when they authored the post.

Approved here.