where to find forum rules

[JoB]

click on add new topic

click on blue “the rules” above

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[JKB]

Nice find. Note to the site redesign that we’ve heard about for so long: this could be more easily discoverable.

I wonder if WSB would comment about posts that are designed to be controversial, or to make readers uncomfortable. And apropos that, the posts that respond.

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[JoB]

JKB

those rules were once stuck at the top of forum topics..

until even more egregious violations bumped them from prime time :-(

there have been a ton of abuses of what is basically a free space that allows this community to exchange everything from suggestions where to find the best pina colada to commentary on the political issues of the day.

considering the abuses, we are more than fortunate that the editors/owners of this space have allowed us to continue.

As for those “posts that are designed to be controversial, or to make readers uncomfortable”.. i am guessing i made one that would fit your definition minutes ago.

I posted a new topic featuring a youtube video that metrognome posted in a political discussion with an “inflammatory” heading … the unelectable emperor has no clothes.. or some such thing.

i hope it’s a catchy title and that the video’s content will spark substantive conversation… because substantive conversation from both sides of the political aisle about how and why we allow blatant lies to stand as truth in political discourse is long overdue…

but you never know. Some people find my sense of humor quirky at best.

I hope it sparks discussion because after participating in nearly a decade of conversations in the WSB forum i can tell you with certainty that these kinds of discussions are something we do well … even if the process isn’t always pretty.

You aren’t the first to want to sanitize the forum to your own standards of acceptability and you probably won’t be the last…

nor, by the way are you the first to have posts “arbitrarily” removed. I am sure there are regular contributors here that haven’t, but even I have had posts removed… and i am really really careful to stick to insulting ideas.. not people:(

bottom line.. WSB is a business that for whatever reason has opened a room in their store for us to sit around and trade ideas.

it’s their house. they get to make the rules. they get to decide when and how to enforce them.

that’s the price we pay for having this great place to play.

i think it’s worth the tradeoffs and i hope you do too.

it would be a shame to lose you before we get to know one another.

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[metrognome]

In my experience, Tracy generally does not remove posts from a forum thread or remove a forum thread without first posting a comment about why (except for ‘looking for work’ and ‘rant&rave’ violations, which disappear w/out notice.) Sometimes the thread is left up but blocked from accepting further comments.

Last I heard from TR, the ‘report this post’ function doesn’t work; you need to copy the URL and paste it into an e-mail to report potential violations, such as someone calling someone else an ‘imbecile’ as opposed to calling their idea ‘imbecilic’ (although I think ‘I disagree with your idea because …’ is a much more productive approach to initiating a dialogue.)

I do think the forum rules could be much clearer re: criticizing ideas not people, not blaming the person who is in a predicament rather than offering support, etc. I think the rules could be posted in a more obvious place; some sites require a potential commenter to check a box when they log in to indicate they have read and accept the rules. I would kinda hate to see it go that far on the Forum, but simply having the rules on the login page would make them more visible … maybe when the software is updated.

The wording by the OP (JKB) in the ‘disappearing posts’ thread seemed to indicate that the problem was with home page comments rather than Forum comments; it is unclear whether JKB actually e-mailed TR about this.)* The same ‘behavior’ rules apply to home page comments; the difference is that a) you don’t have to sign in to comment on articles; b) the home page comments are actively moderated before posting while Forum threads are only checked periodically; c) home page comments are stopped after 2 weeks; d) the home page attracts lots of comments from non-WSites and, on controversial topics, non-Seattlites (the vast majority of comments on a recent article on smoke in the sky were from outside WS.)

TR -sorry if I misstated anything.

*post 1 by JKB:

‘I’ve posted several times to a thread on the WSB home page. They disappear within the hour. Others have successfully posted.

‘Thread in question relates to somebody skywriting “Black Lives Matter”. My initial posts offered that all lives matter. Subsequent posts were about why my posts kept vanishing.

‘So I’ll ask again here in the forum – are we looking at editorial censorship, or repeated technical failure?’

https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/disappearing-posts

https://westseattleblog.com/2015/08/skywriting-seen-from-west-seattle-black-lives-matter/

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