The Topic of Censorship and Banning

I’m not sure if keeping the names red or blue is the correct path or not. It has both pros and cons involved, as do most decisions. Yes is would prevent many uncomfortable questions. It would also prevent distraction from the main purpose of this site, to explore and grow. Yes it is more secretive. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing and it could inspire more trust. Handling people issues with discretion and keeping the dirty details only to the relevant parties, in my opinion, is not a bad thing. Airing somebodies misgivings out in public as “evidence” against those why-questions creates a sense of shame that could be detrimental to further progress and reinforce negative behavior.

I understand people become curious. Whether it’s out of a sense of self-preservation, a pure intention to maintain accountability, or an emotional need can only be answered as individuals pertaining solely to their individual selves. This curiosity can create gossip which can have a similar negative effect if left to its own destructive devices. So the challenge lies in determining what information is best to keep private and what information should be relayed. In a more recent case it was explained that someone violated our rules. That said person was warned and then violated our rules further despite the warning. The exchange wasn’t small or slight and became a distraction for the conversation, thus the out of context conversation was removed via soft delete and said violator was given a temporary ban. To me, this explanation was sufficient enough. However it wasn’t for some of the members who wanted more details.

Where do we draw the line? Where is the middle ground between brutal painful honesty and corruption/secrecy? That line is different for every single person and for every single event.

Tellahane wrote:

Kit wrote: We need to start ‘rewarding’ what we want to see and stop feeding what we don’t.

Sorry this took so long. Been a crazy day

It's fine, and thank you for the exemplary reply, but the above caught my attention the most. Probably one that hasn't had much thought put into it but what would be a "reward"? perhaps that should be a discussion of its own thread. I think one would fine that especially those who kind follow a more taoist approach to jediism that reward is not needed, that one should do good deeds unnoticed, but for those who follow a more "balanced" approach, you can't punish the trolls without rewarding the non-trolls so perhaps the issue isn't dealing with the problems its the temple is not dealing with the successes? Maybe even that's why some knights leave rank, I may even have to put some thought into it on my own experiences...

Things to think about!

As ...demeaning as this sounds, it's very true. Like dog training, like toddler training, rewarding the behaviors you want to see you'll get more of those behaviors. Properly responding to unwanted behaviors helps to curb them. In the case of a forum, replying to threads that we want to see more of will bring about more of those threads and more people posting in those threads. I know several people who've felt they put themselves out there with a well thought-out post, and didn't get a single reply. It's disheartening and makes them less and less interested in interacting with the forum and eventually they wander away. While the drama-filled threads get pages and pages and pages of replies.

I think even PMing folks about posts or journal entries or just to say hi would help too. And for Knights to post in journal threads. And anyone to reply to intro threads. So it's not so much like handing out XP, or 'thank you's, but more interacting in the right places if that makes sense.

Actually this could be a good thread if we wanted to continue to explore it.

Kit wrote:

Tellahane wrote:

Kit wrote: We need to start ‘rewarding’ what we want to see and stop feeding what we don’t.

Sorry this took so long. Been a crazy day

It's fine, and thank you for the exemplary reply, but the above caught my attention the most. Probably one that hasn't had much thought put into it but what would be a "reward"? perhaps that should be a discussion of its own thread. I think one would fine that especially those who kind follow a more taoist approach to jediism that reward is not needed, that one should do good deeds unnoticed, but for those who follow a more "balanced" approach, you can't punish the trolls without rewarding the non-trolls so perhaps the issue isn't dealing with the problems its the temple is not dealing with the successes? Maybe even that's why some knights leave rank, I may even have to put some thought into it on my own experiences...

Things to think about!

As ...demeaning as this sounds, it's very true. Like dog training, like toddler training, rewarding the behaviors you want to see you'll get more of those behaviors. Properly responding to unwanted behaviors helps to curb them. In the case of a forum, replying to threads that we want to see more of will bring about more of those threads and more people posting in those threads. I know several people who've felt they put themselves out there with a well thought-out post, and didn't get a single reply. It's disheartening and makes them less and less interested in interacting with the forum and eventually they wander away. While the drama-filled threads get pages and pages and pages of replies.

I think even PMing folks about posts or journal entries or just to say hi would help too. And for Knights to post in journal threads. And anyone to reply to intro threads. So it's not so much like handing out XP, or 'thank you's, but more interacting in the right places if that makes sense.

Actually this could be a good thread if we wanted to continue to explore it.

I think you pretty much hit all the good points and ideas, my suggestion is take that topic into the knights forum and discuss it there, best place for it, and good luck with it