Moderation and Security concerns

Hello temple, I’m writing this post in response to some concerns that were brought forward, and also in response to some post that have been made over the past week or so.

First I want to talk about bans. As you can imagine, we get all types of people who walk through our doors. The vast majority are here to train, learn, and better themselves. However that is not always the case. We occasionally get people who join to cause problems. The moderation team does a fantastic job weeding those people out right out of the gate. We have a new process for requesting an account here that involves 4 interview questions, and so far this seems to catch a lot of the trolls and spam accounts that would have banned pretty quick with the old method.

The second type of bans we have been seeing lately are bans for violation of our mental health guidelines. The temple has a zero tolerance policy on suicide idealization, or demonstrating extreme mental health behaviors. While this may sound cold or heartless, the simple truth is that we are a church and a place to learn. We are NOT a mental health clinic. No one at TOTJO is qualified or trained in psychology or is a licensed social worker. In the United States (where the temple is based) license and certifications are legally required to deal with people in a mental health crises. Our clergy members receive enough training to point these people in the right direction, and our FAQ has a list of resources for people in a mental health crises. Temple mods and security will only intervene when there is a pattern of this behavior. A couple months back, we had to remove an account of one such person who would log into our discord channel to talk about suicide pretty much every day. When it got to a point that he was messaging temple members he had never even spoken to before and sending them a “good bye” letter several days in a row, we had to intervene. He refused any help offered by our pastor and clergy members. This made it obvious attention seeking behavior. For legal reasons, we can not allow that behavior here. The other concern is that these behaviors are disruptive to the rest of our membership and require mountains of focus from temple leadership. We have thousands of members here from all over the world. When the actions of 1 requires the entire temple leaderships attention for days on end, the term disruptive becomes an understatement.

Disciplinary actions here are the next thing I want to discuss. TOTJO has rules just as does any other church or organization. If those rules are broken, there will be reprocussions. In most cases, the reprocussion is a ban of some kind. It could be a 3 day time out, all the way up to being banned permanently and excommunication. For privacy reasons, we do not announce to the temple when someone breaks a rule. We’re not out to embarrass the person. That said, the moderators keep a log that include screenshots of all rule infractions, and those logs are viewable to those with the roles of moderator and council member. Any moderator can place someone on time out. Permanent Bans are sent by me to council and council reviews each case before a permanent ban is enforced. In the event of a permanent ban of an established member (a member holding the rank of initiate or higher), a temple wide announcement will be made to inform everyone that the ban happened. Details of why may not be released as We are not out to publicly humiliate anyone.

Lately there have been people posting about “power” here at the temple. Let me reassure you that the ONLY “power” at the temple lies within council. Council votes on everything, majority wins. That includes ALL permanent bans. That all said, I want to point out that there is a major difference between “power” and authority. The key difference is that authority comes with responsibility. This temple has several officers who have authority over different areas of the temple. My office, for example, gives me authority to recommend bans, and to handle lesser disciplinary actions at my discretion. That authority was given to me by council for one purpose… to ensure that our members have a safe temple to learn and grow in without constant disruptions, Harassment, or fear. I take my job very seriously, and I execute my duties to the best of my abilities and Council is very happy with my performance. I may carry out those duties in a way that some may not approve of but the truth of the matter is that I don’t need your approval. My actions are always for the greater good of the temple as a whole, and there’s lots of discussions, posts, and screenshots that you don’t have access too that take place in secure areas of our temple just like every other church does. No one walks into a church near there house to hear the pastor start his sermon by listing off all the sins committed by its members. To some, that is being seen as me having “power”. As I said above, it’s not “power”, it’s authority and responsibility. The only real “power” I have is my vote on council. But I’m not sole decider on anything as I’m just 1 of 9 council members. I guess my point is a simple one. Everything a moderator does is seen by council. Every ban is approved by council. This same principle applies to every office at totjo. The ip team has private chambers, as does intake, clergy, council, education, membership affairs, and admin. That is the place these officers perform their duties.

If you have a concern about moderation, or temple security, please follow the procedures outlined in the FAQ. Those procedures exist for a reason. The temple chain of command is clear. If you are a knight and you receive a complaint, it is your duty to pass it up the chain as per temple policy and procedures.

As always, my inbox both here and on discord is always open. Please feel free to contact me if you have any moderation or security concerns.

FBWY