Difference between revisions of "Forum Guidelines Reminder"

Revision as of 16:43, 29 July 2007

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Reminder about Forum Guidelines

Its usually a good thing, if the forum manager posts a quick reminder to the forum of the Forum Guidelines, from time to time. Here is an excellent example of such a post. Please, feel free to modify or adapt it to your own situation. [Posted on July 27, 2007] by Dan Randow.

Hi Folks,

I am delighted to see the increase in the number of posts, and in the number of people posting in the forum. The membership (http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/canterburyissues/members) is also growing steadily. Having once dipped below 150, it is now up to 174. Google Analytics (see link below) shows that views of the content on the Web have grown to around 200 page views per day.

I am also pleased to see the level of thoughtfulness, civility and relevance to Canterbury of the conversations here, and the diversity of issues and points of view. These things help this forum achieve its purpose

• to increase the opportunity for Cantabrians to participate in the local democratic process.

and goals

• to have active conversations about a wide range of topics that are relevant to Canterbury and Christchurch, and
• to reflect a wide range of points of view.

For the most part, people are observing the forum guidelines. As a reminder, or in case you haven't seen them, these are the main ones.

• Use your real name.
• You may only make two posts per day.
• Keep your posts relevant to Canterbury.
• Be civil.

These things are all visible on the Charter, by the way. (http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/canterburyissues/charter)

The guidelines in this forum, are actually the generic E-Democracy.Org guidelines. The rules, and procedures around breaches, and the Forum Manager's responsibility, are set out in full on the E-Democracy.Org site. (http://e-democracy.org/rules)

These guidelines have been thought out and refined over the ten plus years that these folks have been doing this. It's clear that people in this forum have strongly held and differing views. That's what we want. The more diversity the better, and the more compellingly stated the points of view are, the better. Following the guidelines makes it possible for everyone's voice to be clearly heard, in robust debate. It's classic "play the ball, not the man".

In normal circumstances, nobody except the sender approves posts before they go up, so voluntary compliance with the guidelines is what keeps things going. You can see in the full rules that the Forum Manager can moderate posts in certain circumstances. Posts can also be removed, but only in very particular circumstances.