[Ferretlover]

The following clause has been added to the COC:

5.3 The staff of this site reserves the right at all times to permanently rescind the posting privileges of any member who, in the sole judgment of the staff, consistently exhibits a posting style that is not in keeping with the general spirit of the site; that appears calculated largely to sow discord among members, or otherwise draw attention away from material more consistent with the overall theme of the site

[vision-master]

So why not just get rid of all the other rules?

[Ferretlover]

If we did that, we wouldn't be able to nit-pick when we want to point out the error of someone's ways.

[Sixstrings]

The following clause has been added to the COC:

5.3 The staff of this site reserves the right at all times to permanently rescind the posting privileges of any member who, in the sole judgment of the staff, consistently exhibits a posting style that is not in keeping with the general spirit of the site; that appears calculated largely to sow discord among members, or otherwise draw attention away from material more consistent with the overall theme of the site

The CoC contains a process that involves warnings which lead up to suspension levels and then permaban seems to be the last recourse.

Does this new policy include the warning levels and degrees of ban, or it is just outright permaban?

[Schmuto]

Seriously, I have no issue with this new "rule" at all, and ban me when you feel yuh gutta dew it.

But this new "rule" is equivalent to an Amendment to the Constitution that says, "all of the foregoing can be superseded by the President as he sees fit."


What this new rule does, essentially, is add a "kill without objective reason" power. The old rules are now nothing more than various admonitions that posters can take to be things that, if done, may lead to execution ( ) of the new, bigger and better rule.

[Sixstrings]

Seriously, I have no issue with this new "rule" at all, and ban me when you feel yuh gutta dew it.

But this new "rule" is equivalent to an Amendment to the Constitution that says, "all of the foregoing can be superseded by the President as he sees fit."


What this new rule does, essentially, is add a "kill without objective reason" power. The old rules are now nothing more than various admonitions that posters can take to be things that, if done, may lead to execution ( ) of the new, bigger and better rule.

Yeah that's my concern, that it seems to negate the rest of the CoC. Doesn't the CoC already prohibit disruptive posts? If I understand correctly, this new one paragraph CoC seeks to enforce style and content rather than just disruption.

In any event, I just hate to see the old CoC be swept under the rug -- the way its written is very fair, and somebody obviously put a lot of thought into being fair when they wrote it.

Off the top of my head, I can think of only two people who occaisionally make blatantly disruptive posts. I would think these two could be dealt with under the old CoC.

Edit: And what exactly does "appears calculated largely to sow discord among members" mean? Does that mean that the peak oil naysayers are going to be banned?

[davep]

5.3 The staff of this site reserves the right at all times to permanently rescind the posting privileges of any member who, in the sole judgment of the staff, consistently exhibits a posting style that is not in keeping with the general spirit of the site

Has the "general spirit of the site" been defined? Does that include some moderators wading into debates to gush forth their racist bile, yet silencing those who vociferously pursue more progressive agendas?

I'd be interested to know what this spirit is meant to consist of, and why this nebulous new rule is deemed necessary.

[Sixstrings]

5.3 The staff of this site reserves the right at all times to permanently rescind the posting privileges of any member who, in the sole judgment of the staff, consistently exhibits a posting style that is not in keeping with the general spirit of the site

Has the "general spirit of the site" been defined? Does that include some moderators wading into debates to gush forth their racist bile, yet silencing those who vociferously pursue more progressive agendas? I'd be interested to know what this spirit is meant to consist of, and why this nebulous new rule is deemed necessary.

Indeed, the site already has forum categories for the several different "spirits" of the site -- there's out of this world, open, hall of flames, doomers only, moderates only, etc. etc.

So which spirit of the site is now the general all-encompassing spirit?

[cipi604]

As a dictatorship, the good going of this website will be a lot easier.

[Schmuto]

PO.com is awesome, and I love it.

Now if a bastard like me loves it, that tells you how good it really is.

I mean, they let me stick around, and I'm the biggest asshole I know, so be happy you have a site that allows this much latitude.

[eastbay]

Oh for goodness sakes calm down. Sheesh. I've been participating here for nearly five years including serving as a moderator and as far as I know there wouldn't have been a single case of someone getting nailed due to this added clause.

The point is that as we grow (30,000 members now, and wait until the next serious oil price spike!!) there is the real possibility that we'll attract someone intending harm to the site. It's just a self defense move by the site owners because it's impossible to predict what kind of malicious and destructive nonsense might arise down the road.

This website attracts and welcomes all perspectives. All opinions. As long as these opinions and perspectives are presented and shared in accordance with the COC, of course.

[vision-master]

Oh for goodness sakes calm down. Sheesh. I've been participating here for nearly five years including serving as a moderator and as far as I know there wouldn't have been a single case of someone getting nailed due to this added clause.

The point is that as we grow (30,000 members now, and wait until the next serious oil price spike!!) there is the real possibility that we'll attract someone intending harm to the site. It's just a self defense move by the site owners because it's impossible to predict what kind of malicious and destructive nonsense might arise down the road.

This website attracts and welcomes all perspectives. All opinions. As long as these opinions and perspectives are presented and shared in accordance with the COC, of course.

Like messageinabottle.

[Daniel_Plainview]

I would make some minor edits for clarification:

5.3 The staff of this site reserves the right at all times to permanently rescind the posting privileges of any member who, in the sole judgment of the staff, consistently exhibits a posting style: (i) that is not in keeping with the general spirit of the site; (ii) that appears calculated largely to sow discord among members; or (iii) that otherwise draws attention away from material more consistent with the overall theme of the site

[Ferretlover]

Thank you all for your comments; however, please be advised of the following:

1) The announcement of this addition is just that-an announcement.

2) Yes, this enables the staff and/or management of this private site to permanently ban an unsuitable (for this site) poster. (A rare situation, but, it does occur.)

3) As for the content of the clause, we have determined that this tool is needed to give our quality posters a better environment in which to share their ideas and thoughts.

Finally, if it has been awhile since you registered:

Peakoil.com – Registration
You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-orientated or any other material that may violate any laws be it of your country, the country where “Peakoil.com” is hosted or International Law. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned, with notification of your Internet Service Provider if deemed required by us. The IP address of all posts are recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. You agree that “Peakoil.com” have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should we see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered to being stored in a database.

[jasonraymondson]

This is aimed completely at me.

Of course I have violated enough of the COC to have been banned long ago for a million other reasons.

[Ferretlover]

This is aimed completely at me.

Close, but, don't light that cigar--just yet.
Actually, I would hazard a guess that about 99% of the posters here will never come close to activating that clause against themselves.

[eastbay]

This is aimed completely at me.

Close, but, don't light that cigar--just yet.
Actually, I would hazard a guess that about 99% of the posters here will never come close to activating that clause against themselves.

FL, hate to be contradictory with you... but it's closer to 99.99%.

One out of ten thousand. And you, Jason, ain't one of 'em. Not even close Jason... lol. With the exception of the cussing, your (sometimes) comedy is often refreshing, in fact!


And thanks for your kind understanding everyone!

[outcast]

The following clause has been added to the COC:
5.3 The staff of this site reserves the right at all times to permanently rescind the posting privileges of any member who, in the sole judgment of the staff, consistently exhibits a posting style that is not in keeping with the general spirit of the site; that appears calculated largely to sow discord among members, or otherwise draw attention away from material more consistent with the overall theme of the site

Just out of curiousity what prompted this addition?
Though I do think the "general spirit" is a bit too vague and should be a little more clearly defined.

[Ferretlover]

FL, hate to be contradictory with you... but it's closer to 99.99%.

I yield to your math, EB, since my math skills are somewhat lacking. 99.99% it is.

Just out of curiousity what prompted this addition? Though I do think the "general spirit" is a bit too vague and should be a little more clearly defined.

Several things/posters over the life of PO.com. "General spirit" covers every situation that could arise, along with keeping up with the morphing atmosphere of PO.com. It will also allow for speedier resolutions to problems not covered elsewhere in the COC.

[MD]

Just out of curiousity what prompted this addition?
Though I do think the "general spirit" is a bit too vague and should be a little more clearly defined.

It's simply to deal with the occasional poster that proudly and deliberately demonstrates their ability to hang on the edge of whatever Code of Conduct is in place.

We've actually had posters give us the "nyah nyah" approach in saying "I can stay right at the limit and irritate the hell out of you and you can't stop me."

blah blah.

no more!

I call it the "professional troll" clause.