Phirate - Entrecard Rules

12/19/07 04:50

The basic truth is that we don't have a set of rules about that kind of stuff because we would much prefer that we all to behave like rational, sensible human beings and simply get along to everyones benefit.

I can't speak for Graham, but it is my personal opinion that for every Rule, there is a loophole, and thus by a strange twist of logic, the only way to have no loopholes, is to have no rules.

Instead, we replace it with an expectation. We expect you to behave sensibly, to act in a manner that is rational and social, and to avoid behavior that is counter-productive to the network as a whole.

The punishment for failing to do so is, for the most part, not even in our hands. A classic example is that of late rejections - it became a problem, however rather than create a Rule, or even a technical solution, we instead implemented a system that allowed those acting in that manner to be easily identified.

In essence, we enabled the community to act to display tangible disapproval of certain behaviors.

Some things, we have created a "Rule" about, but it's almost a joke in a sense. While I'm totally serious about not talking about the forum on the forum, you'll never lose your account or find yourself penalized for it. I have plenty of non-penalty mechanisms for dealing with people who break that kind of rule, simple things like closing the conversations - consider it part of the terrain.

There are a few areas where this "laxity" does not apply - anything to do with the "infrastructure" of the system the code and the security mechanisms - but other than that we will, where-ever possible, create mechanisms for the community to make its own judgments, rather than imposing rules from above.

This does add an element of uncertainty to everyones life, but hopefully everyone has come to trust that we are not power-mad capricious admins. We maintain the lightest touch be believe we can while still having a smooth-running, functional site.

If rather than this essay, you were simply asking what you can Report people for, the answer is, report them for anything you seriously believe is inappropriate. We'll make a judgment call based on the situation and act accordingly. Usually, where possible, this involves dialog with the accused party until an acceptable resolution is reached, and may include unilateral action to correct the issue (poor category choice for example).