Twink Charter - Lets get this done

[Broken]

Hello everyone,

It's been a bit more than a month since talk of the Twink Charter first started. I talked to Myrm and we want to start finalizing it. Reason I'm creating a new thread is so that we can arouse interest once again.

We were hoping to hear more of your suggestions in the coming week, like in the last thread. And then when the new Mods are selected (also in about a week), the whole staff sits down, discusses and draws out a final new Twink Charter (CoC).

I'm quoting some of the suggestions for the Twink Charter from the previous thread (if I accidentally missed yours, PM me to add it or you can post it again). I didn't change words but shortened some posts so that they'd be to the point. Even then, the amount of awesome suggestions is huge. I apologise if anyone minded that.

I think 2 things should be enforced:
1) Respect for others
2) Being allowed to express one's opinion, regardless of one's popularity or standing in the community

Instead of changing up everything about the current regulation and CoC, why not spend some time trying to fix it instead?

There is no discussion of corrupt actions if the CoC clearly reads "if you do _____ you get ______" and that exact event occurs. Consistency is key as all of these subjective gray areas result in members receiving varried results. Cut out all of the interpretation.

My suggestion would be to make every suspension/ban enacted by a Mod to be public and the explanation clear and concise. I also would not be opposed to allowing community members to appeal the punishment, or at least express their opinion for or against it. Whether their argument is valid or invalid, I don't think it would hurt to have this option.

Minimalist boundaries allow for the greatest range of creativity. No gore/porn(sfw), no real world threats/spam(obvious). Give Mod to clowns and make intervention prominent. Give people a laugh out one liners and "memes" that should always highlight a Moderator's response. It doesn't have to be so bloody serious, this is a game, make the maintenance fun. You could even give people the opportunity to be Mod temporarily and gauge the reaction from their role. For fun! Hell, even allowing for a voting system for users to take action upon their own ranks could be utilized. Not so much reporting(tattling) as forming a vigilante mob. All in good fun of course. Just make sure you can trust the jokers you have running around with hammers

A containment board for free-for-all posting is an EXCELLENT idea. In the same vein, an option for uber G-rating enforcement also deserves a place. Both extremes have value and deserve respect. Make the structure fluid and harmonious. Allow for all personality types to be comfortable contributing. People will be less inclined to behave as busy-bodies sticking their noses in business that doesn't concern them if they have a sandbox to play in.

Things have improved dramatically, despite the complaints from those of us who are more sensitive than others. I agree with making the "rules" black and white and any disciplines clearly defined. There should not be any grey areas regarding lengthy/permanent bans. But the majority of pruning should be grey, completely discretionary and hilarious! Backing that up with gentle repercussions will nurture a healthy and cohesive community. Charisma, a sense of humor and common sense is what I would look for in your position.

Do not write another CoC that goes like "Breaking rule X gives exactly an Y-week ban", it doesn't work. There needs to be a difference between "idiot" and "kill yourself". You can't treat both equally as insults and hand out 2 week bans.

I also think that moderation should be as consistent as possible, but I don’t think we can achieve a system where all grey areas and all necessity of individual judgement are completely removed.

What I think is most important is transparency. I personally think the best system we can achieve with hobby moderators will be something like this:

People are able to see who decided something and why they decided that, because the rule is in the Twink Charter. People always have an opportunity to give their input on things. Mods regularly consult each other. Mods may pick up the input and adjust decisions to be as fair as possible. If something new crops up or people make a fair point for change, we amend the Twink Charter in a way that makes future decisions easier.

A code of conduct is good, a stringent list of things you can and can't say isn't. The most important things to have are an outline to guide the community and a competent group of moderators that can actually interact with people to support it.

There should be room for interpretation in the CoC. You're never going to close every loophole against internet shitposting, and trying to will only create a negative environment. This is a community site, mods and posters antagonizing each other works out poorly for everyone. Leaving some ambiguity gives space for mods to be reasonable about their decisions and talk to people about what they don't think is acceptable.

I really do like Yde's first draft. I think it's important to have a significant amount of grey area because the fact of the matter is most infractions are based entirely on context. For example, the issue with profanity. I like to curse. I think cursing can help add emphasis and communicate passion. Say someone posts a video of a really intense last second win in the gulch. I would probably comment "Holy shit! That last second return was clutch as fuck!! Great match fellas!" and I don't think I should be banned for that. But if someone were to use profanity to incessantly berate another member of the community - that could be infraction-worthy. So, imo, putting an outright black and white ban on profanity, as with other things, is unrealistic.

Once the CoC has been decided upon, I have this to say with regard to avoiding further messes and disgruntled community members: The most important characteristics of the CoC and its implementation are transparency and accountability. Whenever a warning/infraction has been given, there should be clear and concise reasoning from the responsible mod - and this reasoning should be made public***. This way if a community member feels they have been unjustly punished, they can cite previous bans/infractions and their context to argue their case - just like lawyers do in U.S. courts. This will force targeted members of the community to build a factual argument rather than relying on the oh so typical "this mod has a vendetta against me QQ". For Christ's sake they might actually have a vendetta against you - now just prove it! If there is overwhelming evidence and support from the community that a mod acted unjustly or irrationally, an appeal should be considered and the mod scolded. At the end of the day we just need the mods to be accountable for their decisions, and then, hopefully, the community members will show more respect and be accountable themselves.

I think it was Pvv who said this earlier, or maybe Kekki, but the Veteran e-peen bullying of new members needs to stop. It's mind-boggling how unwelcoming, rude, and downright sinister some of our elder community members are to the new guys. I've said this before and I'll say it again: we were all stupid back-peddaling noobs at one point who didn't know the first thing about the meta. Give the new guys a fucking break. Older guys should be held accountable to a higher tier of maturity and professionalism in their posts. Imo, this kind of behavior should be considered a direct threat to Twinkinfo considering that it literally drives people away from our forum and brackets. As was previously stated, we need to do our best in distinguishing this kind of behavior from playful banter and jabs amongst friends and competitors. I know this is hard. But, if we were to adopt the transparency and accountability system I explained above, it's possible. For example, every now and then I enjoy poking fun at HB and other old friends with a smartass insult or profanity. A mod who doesn't know HB and I go way back might consider this warning or infraction worthy. If the mod goes through with it, so what? The reasoning would be posted, HB and I would both explain the situation, and the mistake quickly corrected. No big deal. Believe it or not, lots of people on this site are good friends, and playful banter can add flavour and fun to an otherwise dull thread.

TL;DR Transparency and accountability among the leadership will garner respect and accountability from those being lead.

*** I believe we already have a system like this for the infrequent instances of bans and permabans. All I'm suggesting is taking it a step further to low-level issues. After all, the vast majority of the agitation felt from community members results from arguments over minor infractions.

Yde's first draft

Twinkinfo, November XX, 2015 A Twink Charter By the Twinks Assembled ​ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Twinkinfo Users are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Likes, Liberty to Post and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Moderators are instituted among Twinks, deriving their just powers from Myrm, That whenever any Form of Posting becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to bring attention to it in a respectful manner, and the Right of the Moderators to make Moderation decisions based on this Twink Charter and in such form, as shall seem most likely to effect the Happiness of all Twinks. We, therefore, the Twinks Assembled, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good Myrm, solemnly publish and declare, That the Rules outlined in following are to be adhered to by all Twinkinfo Users, and that by logging into and utilizing this Website, all Users agree to abide by these Rules: I. Twinkinfo reserves the right to edit, move, or remove any signature, post, thread, blog, or profile at any time with or without explanation. (We do need this clause, just in case. We promise we’ll always try to explain our reasoning though!) II. Every User is limited to only one account. Moderators may merge accounts if they become aware of one User having multiple accounts. The User may get a Warning or an Infraction without a Warning, depending on the circumstances. Users creating an account to circumvent a Temporary Ban will receive an added two weeks on their Ban, the additional account will be merged into the primary account or receive a Permanent Ban. III. Users should try to stick to the topic of threads. Off-Topic Posting may get the posts moved to a more appropriate place, or deleted. The User may get a Warning in a post in the thread or via PM. Doing this again after the initial Warning will lead to an Infraction. IV. Users should try to avoid creating unnecessary threads. Unnecessary threads may be threads that are duplicate / deal with the same topic as an existing thread, do not belong in the section they’re posted in, or contain next to no content. Unnecessary threads may be merged into an existing thread, moved to the correct section, or deleted. The User may get a Warning in the thread or via PM. Doing this again after the initial Warning will lead to an Infraction. V. Users should try to avoid double-posting and instead edit their posts. Double posts will be merged. Depending on the type of thread, the occasional “bump” may be acceptable. VI. Signatures shouldn’t be so large that they make reading threads bothersome for all. The size limit for signature pictures is 500x200 pixels and up to three lines of standard size text, and with smaller or no picture, up to ten lines of standard size text. In addition to the size limit individual judgement will be applied. Moderators will either ask the User to edit the signature, or edit it themselves. If they edit the signature, they’ll PM the user the content to reuse for a smaller signature. The User may get a Warning. Doing this again after the initial Warning will lead to an Infraction. VII. Moderators will try to recognize and leave alone (within reason!) any harmless banter or threads that belong to “bracket culture”. Users participating in banter signal that they find a certain level of sass acceptable. Recognizing “bracket culture” may sometimes be difficult. Moderators will tend to wait for reports in the case of dubious threads, but reserve the right to edit / delete anything they deem too toxic, or move / delete anything they deem too irrelevant to the section. Banter should be mutual, attacking someone in threads intended to be peaceful by the OP may get the posts edited or deleted. The User may get a Warning in a post in the thread or via PM. Doing this again after the initial Warning will lead to an Infraction. VIII. Encouraged insults when engaging in mutual banter are: tosser, scullion, rampallion, fustilarian, lubberwort, smellfungus, cad or braggard. Combine with illiterate or other fun adjectives. If the insult is amusing and clever enough, you might get away with it. Language that is exceedingly toxic is not allowed. To clarify, words like cunt, faggot or nigger are not to be used at all. Users should exercise their judgement and avoid words that are similarly crude. Hate speech of any form, including but not limited to race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, socioeconomic status or disability is forbidden. Any posts or signatures containing profanity or hate speech may be edited or deleted. Excessive profanity or hate speech may incur an Infraction immediately, otherwise the User may get a Warning first and an Infraction upon repeat. IX. New Users should never be treated with hostility. Treating new Users harshly when ignorance may be the reason for their posts may get the posts edited or deleted. The hostile User may get a Warning in a post in the thread or via PM. Doing this again after the initial Warning will lead to an Infraction. X. Real life threats or telling someone to kill or hurt themselves will lead to an Infraction without a Warning. Moderators reserve the right to hand out a two-week Temporary Ban or a Permanent Ban immediately, depending on the severity of the case. XI. Posting Prohibited Material will lead to an Infraction without a Warning. Moderators reserve the right to hand out a two-week Temporary Ban or a Permanent Ban immediately, depending on the material posted. The content will be deleted. Prohibited Material is anything that [ is / deals with / contains external links to information about ] the following: --- Exploiting, hacking, or defrauding Blizzard/Activision or its games. --- Cyber-attacking any website, online service, or individual. --- Graphic Material, like nudity, sex stuff, drugs, alcohol, graphic violence. --- Slander or malicious misinformation. --- Spamming --- Scamming: A scam is defined by TwinkInfo as any occurrence in which one party fails to abide by the original transaction terms that were agreed upon by both parties, or fulfill a refund or an alternate resolution agreed upon by both parties, within 48 hours of the agreed upon time of the original transaction. Twinkinfo reserves the right to hand out a Permanent Ban to any User participating in the carrying out of a scam, if Twinkinfo Staff can verify that a scam has happened. TwinkInfo also reserves the right to withdraw at any time from any mediation between parties in a legal dispute, and offers no legal advice nor takes any legal responsibility for transactions carried out between individuals through the site. XII. Three active Infractions will lead to an automatic two-week Temporary Ban by the system. Moderators reserve the right to make additional Temporary Bans happen to repeat offenders and eventually hand out a Permanent Ban, depending on the severity of the case. XIII. Moderators will always try to edit posts over deleting them to preserve content. Moderators will try to be available to discuss any decision in the Discuss Moderation thread, if it’s brought up respectfully. Moderators reserve the right to not be available if they really don’t have time for it, they’re volunteers after all. XIV. Black magic is only allowed for Shadow Priests and Warlocks. No threads on mantra tantra yantra may be created in the New User Forum. So very sorry.

Additionally, I propose a Discuss Moderation thread.

Conq's suggested draft

Twinkinfo Code of Conduct V4 (as suggested by Conq)***Please edit this to any format desired***​

Infraction/Ban Method - Before an infraction a user must receive three verbal warnings from a moderator

A Temporary Ban- Will occur if an individual receives 9 warnings, and three infractions.

Warning Worthy Offenses - These posts will be completely removed and not edited, with no disciplinary action against the offender.

1. Racial slurs
2. Deaths threats and faking deaths
3. Discussing private servers
4. Linking or discussing exploits/abuse of game mechanics/hacking
5. Excessive targeted flaming
6. Posting nudity/gore
7. Discussing real world monetary sales on the forums in return for In-game items/services

In Regards To Bans - Any time a user is banned it is the duty of a moderator / admin to consider the nature of the offense and the offender- Including intent, overall harm caused, and the best way to mitigate further harm to the culture and quality of the entire XP-off Community.

Permanent Bans - Are reserved for any of these offenses for people whose intent is to deliberately harm Twinkinfo.com

Lets hear your ideas, people. Lets get this done!

 

[Dorigon]

There should be a list of actions that will result in a warning, and a list of actions that will result in a ban. A warning should persist for some time, and during that time a further warning should result in a ban. Don't currently have time to read all the stuff above, but there should be a clause about posting others' personal information (including photos, address, name, whatever) without their consent.

To add more, I believe that banned users should have an avenue to gain clarification for why they are banned, but I don't believe the moderation team should be at the mercy of the entire community in having to explain every little thing about bans. There isn't time in the day for that.

 

[Arkant]

There should be a list of actions that will result in a warning, and a list of actions that will result in a ban. A warning should persist for some time, and during that time a further warning should result in a ban.

So, infractions?

 

[Nodoka]

Rofl.

 

[Denurd]

So in short , fun is killed ?

 

[Patrol]

From [MENTION=10938]Broken[/MENTION]'s quotes:

I agree with [MENTION=6085]Laurasia[/MENTION].

I'm not against [MENTION=11882]Chantale[/MENTION]'s suggesion.

I don't agree with [MENTION=6446]Mocha[/MENTION]'s suggested black / white CoC, because the gray arises when that CoC gets processed and applied by a moderator.

I agree with [MENTION=9950]Drugs[/MENTION]'s suggested Warning / Infraction Appeals, in [MENTION=10336]Yde[/MENTION]'s Discuss Moderation thread. Mods can just type whatever 3 words they'd put in the PM, and the offended member will be the one to take time with refutation, [MENTION=2555]Dorigon[/MENTION].

I don't agree with [MENTION=13519]Activate[/MENTION], but I think that sort of noggin ought to be given a shot at moderation.

I actually don't agree with [MENTION=4377]Arkant[/MENTION], and I think all non-banter name-calling ought to be moderated (when reported) in favor of legitimate censure.

I agree with the lovely [MENTION=10336]Yde[/MENTION], except that the Twink Charter can be the mindset of those entrusted with moderation, as long as decisions are public. You might say, "We can't read moderators' minds, so the CoC isn't transparent!" but there's already opaqueness when they process the CoC, so the transparency is in public explanations & appeals.

I agree with [MENTION=13341]Swoops[/MENTION] when the "outline to guide the community" is each poster's courtesy and common sense.

I agree with [MENTION=9950]Drugs[/MENTION], round 2, especially that bullying new members is a direct threat to the community / TI's longevity. Here's an example.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [MENTION=10336]Yde[/MENTION]'s First Draft

I. Why do we need this clause?
V. Personally, I think the previous bump ought to be deleted by the poster before a thread is bumped again.
IX. For the sake of TI's longevity, I think harshly treating a new member ought to result in an infraction, no warning.

I don't see anything in [MENTION=189]Conq[/MENTION]'s suggested draft which isn't included in Yde's.



This tl;dr includes only my suggestion, which is public explanation and appeal of moderation, with no CoC outside of moderator judgment, since they're trustworthy enough for the promotion and can be demoted.

 

[Nodoka]

So in short , fun is killed ?

Yes _< need to find another forum

 

[Hamcake]

Cut out the bit about private servers and it's much better~
~

~

 

[Barbarous]

To stop the spam guys you can put a mod verification needed to make threads after a new acc has reached the post required cap

!

"Don't be a complete cunt"

My coc, I think it's a good contender

 

[artonkn]

Bring back private servers and account sales. Blizzard will never support the site like Myrm dreams.

 

[Nodoka]

To stop the spam guys you can put a mod verification needed to make threads after a new acc has reached the post required cap

Made a thread about that a month or two ago. [MENTION=5141]Myrm[/MENTION] does not give a shit.
A simple capcha code would solve the spam issue. But yeah its Myrm we're dealing with and not some serious owner.

 

[Drugs]

Yde for president. Make Twinkinfo great again!

 

[Alex]

Thank God, lets hope this turns out well.

 

[Yann]

I nominate Tacocat for Prime Minister.

 

[Arkant]

Bring back private servers and account sales. Blizzard will never support the site like Myrm dreams.

Apparently people think that Blizzard would shut down the Twink Cup if TI doesn't play by their rules lmao

To stop the spam guys you can put a mod verification needed to make threads after a new acc has reached the post required cap

!

"Don't be a complete cunt"

My coc, I think it's a good contender

You don't need a specific amount of posts to spam in that section, though.

 

[artonkn]

Apparently people think that Blizzard would shut down the Twink Cup if TI doesn't play by their rules lmao

What are they going to do? Ban all the players?

 

[Arkant]

What are they going to do? Ban all the players?

Sue the organizer =^]

 

[Mocha]

Respect:

I don't care how strict the CoC is. All I care about is that moderators need to respect what the CoC says. Not completely disregard it on a daily basis. Why would a community follow the CoC if the moderators don't take it seriously? If you do x, you get y. If the CoC reads "if you do x, you get y." and if only one moderator is moderating the way it's written, the entire site won't give a fuck about what the CoC says because clearly the moderators don't either.

Consistency:

Also, results should not vary from moderator to moderator. If the CoC reads "if you do x, you get y." then no matter which moderator reads the report, they should get y. It shouldn't be a luck of the draw on which moderator reads the report. There shouldn't be a different result on the same offenses because the reports were received by two separate moderators. Again, I don't care for how strict the CoC is... all I want is consistency with its moderation.

Special Treatment:

Members should not receive special treatment no matter whom they are. The argument of "unban x because he's important" is the most biased corruption there could be. Why should x be unbanned because he's "important" when y should remain banned because his name isn't as large? The CoC needs to apply to every member on the site equally. Even if you're friends with the offender, they need to be held at the same standard.

Momentum:

Bans should only be given when more moderators agree to it or if there's a direct IP infringement. This is going unchanged as this has always been the case. The staff chat ban reasoning thread should always be updated as well.

Reports:

Reports need to be handled by all moderators. There shouldn't be 8 moderators and only one answering reports.

Pruning:

The TI staff shouldn't be so large if there's no purpose for having such an army of a staff. The number of moderators should directly reflect the atmosphere of the CoC and each staff member should pull their weight in some way or another. If you have 8 moderators and no CoC, well that just comes off as an admin giving his friends a special title. I guess he's free to do so, but that's not something that has happened in the past and isn't something that should happen either. In times where people are extra angsty, there should be more staff members than in times when people are chill and activity is low. You don't need 8 moderators to handle the 3 reports of "close my thread" or "move my thread" and that's about all that is probably being made right now.

Standard:

@Broken Myrm Superstylin should all vocally agree on what standard they want to set the community on and their opinions should all be equal. Sure, Myrm bought the site, but Broken and Superstylin should be held no lower than Myrm. Those three should decide on if they want swearing / bashing or if they want to cut down on stuff like that. I know the previous admin put a high value in content and if a thread did not aid in the creation or relay of information, it was not to be made simple as that. If a post did not aid in discussion or bring new information or debate, it was simply spamming the site with 0 content and removed.

My Opinion:

Now my opinions on the standard are pretty simple and have gone unchanged since 2010. I don't like seeing important content being buried on the daily because some kid wants to show off his muscles instead or some kids want to post @ threads with youtube videos or some ms paint pictures. That is bullshit. Content should be preserved and rewarded. People should WANT to contribute information to develop the community and the standard that the admins desire should reflect this. Content should be valued higher than activity. TI shouldn't be some lounge to just chat when you're bored, it should be a valuable information resource. New twinks should be able to find TI and should WANT to join the community. They should be able to approach the developed community with questions and should receive the answers they're looking for. This site has NEVER been as cluttered and inefficient as it is now. The only thing a new member will learn from visiting this site consistently for a week is that people are assholes. Unless they ask for information, they will absolutely never even come across it. Hell, most of them don't even see the guides section / stickied threads because there's just too much clutter for them to click on instead.

I know as a community the majority of the users left on this site get more enjoyment in calling someone a faggot cunt to their face than they would enjoy helping a new member gear up. With that being said, most of the constructive users of the site are long gone so my opinions are heavily unfavored to this remaining community. I'm not going to let that stop me from vocalizing my opinion as I still believe that growth as a community should be much desired and the site in its current status is completely hindering on that. My opinions may be "wrong" to the current community, but I do believe my goal of aiming for content over bloat is in the right. Sadly, more people would be more interested in vocally going against me even when they agree with the content in my posts. I'm not going to let that stop me from voicing my opinions and continuing to aim for my goal. Everyone is free to express their opinions on the new CoC.

Twink Cup should be a different website. TI should reintroduce account sales / private server section.

 

[LennywBT]

My suggestion :

A place that allows trolling and spamming of millions of threads is definitely not a serious page, and requires administration and moderation, which at the moment are lacking. Lets consider the Code of Conduct - it did not get respected enough by the upcoming administrator so he is looking for a change, even though that change is taking over 2 months now, we will see where it takes us. We also have individuals sharing different opinions that trolling and spamming should be allowed, at some point it is agreeable, but when the bracket says " Level ------ " It is supposed to be information / ideas about this section, not trolling in every post and making sarcastic jokes, even offending. This website has been led to chaos, by the lack of administration, which definitely leads to lack of moderation.

Quoting myself on a good topic to discuss, there are some points you may find.

What i do suggest, if there is content that is irrelevant to the section (Level Twenty Twinking for instance), should be Locked, given the reason that General Talk exists.

 

[Dorigon]

So, infractions?

There are too many steps now. I amassed a collection of 17 infractions and warnings before getting a temporary ban a year ago. The ban itself was petty, as were the majority of warnings and infractions, but it still shows how ineffectively the system has been used.