285Bound Policy - Member Input Requested Please

After some disagreements as to current policy here on 285Bound, we've decided it would be constructive to have everyone offer input concerning the policy about posting nics from other sites here on 285Bound. Let me state upfront that this is not about personal names, or personal names that are nics. Our policy is the same whether the nic is anonymous, or we know who they are because it is their actual name.

The question arose as to why we don't leave nics/usernames from other sites in posts, but star them out for anonymity (see this thread in the Ring, Pages 77-80, for more info). The reason is simple: we are here to protect the members of the community and make them feel as if they are safe to post here without fear of harassment. Keep this in mind: If new posters come on, and start seeing threads in which people are named and bashed, they are going to be turned off (thinking it could happen to them) and not come back (which was what I meant in my Ring post on Pg 79 about "taking the high road"). We have been fighting the unfair and unvalidated reputation that we are "nasty" and, in my opinion, by going down this slippery slope of referencing people directly, it will not help change that perception by others - we know better, but we have to convince those who look at us only briefly (and/or focus only on the political forum and not everything else that we have to offer!) or haven't checked us out yet at all. You are free to disagree with me here, but be prepared to provide a good rational, logical argument as to why!

So the big question is: when is it okay, and when is it not, to reference a nic. The instance today involved quoting a post from Pinecam with the originator of the post quoted. The nic was pulled because our policy has been to pull nics, even from public posts, if that member has not participated in that 285Bound thread and doesn't know that they are being talked about. Yes, they could join here, and respond, but many don't ever intend to, so it's not fair to create that situation in which they feel forced to. Conversely, if we open this up to talking about their members, then they are game to talk about our members by nic, and their posts, and as many on here have been banned, they will not even have the option of going back to Pinecam and defending themselves. Please keep that in mind too.

One of the other instances in which nics have not been left up is when the poster is only being derogatory, belittling, and harassing. We will not allow threads to be started with titles like "jmc is an @$$hole" (even if he is at times! ), or posts along the same lines. If the user being harassed in this manner is here, and posting in that thread in which that happens, and wishes to respond personally they are free to do so. However, we would pull nics called out like that about even our own members if requested to do so, so this isn't because we're treating Pinecam members differently. Harassment is something that hurts our business and must be dealt with. As I also explained earlier .

Up until now, we haven't been permitting posts to be copied over from Pinecam either, per a previous agreement/refusal from Pinecam to cooperate, and I am open to changing that as well as they are a public site. However, we do not have time or the manpower to check copied posts (links must accompany any posts) so if they are altered from their original version, or not quoted following Fair Use Doctrine (see here for more info, and I will add that I'm not 100% sure about whether community forum posts fall into the same category as blog posts, but it's always safer to err on the side of caution when posting), please understand that you the poster, not 285Bound, may be liable by the person whom you quoted (as I explained in a previous instance of discussing why we have some of our policies, and, coincidentally, Joe provided an excellent article on free speech on message boards on the previous page of that thread, and also here when one of our members did it to another member - it's impersonation and not acceptable). Here's a site that goes into more detail about that.

We don't necessarily need to call out specific posters, or how any other site runs its business, in order to make ourselves look better - we already are better by how we operate and what we offer our members and businesses. They may have 11 years content on us, but we've got harder working volunteers, more active posters, an open and honest atmosphere, a desire to adapt and improve, a better vision for and more effort spent on our business partners, and, in the future, a national network of sites that will be linked together providing even more content, advertisers, and resources!

The big difference between us and PC is intention - we don't intentionally try to make posters feel bad about problems that need correcting, we just ask them to correct it, or correct it ourselves and PM them to let them know it was done and explain why. Nor do we do it in order to stifle speech from those us referees don't agree with - our policies are applied to everyone equally and fairly. Removing the nics from posts has been done consistently across the board and no one is exempt from this policy, not even me. If you think it should be modified, please let us know and state why.

If you think we should copy posts from Pinecam, rather than only link to the threads as we have been doing, please let us know that too.

As I stated when I took over 285Bound,

I am open to change, no matter from whom or where it comes, if it will improve the site, how our members interact, and how we receive and disseminate information.

and re-affirmed a week later that this is a member-driven forum:

we value your input and try to run it as best we can that benefits you the most...If you have suggestions for how we should run it differently, more or less moderation, then let's discuss it, pros and cons, adult-to-adult.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter, and your shared viewpoints - we truly appreciate them!

Nic is nickname, or user name on the forum. Yours is cydl, mine's Science Chic.

No worries, my fault for not being more clear!