In this thread, originally pertaining to the Etc. forum, but having undergone some drift, Stellaloella (Etsy Admin) clarifies some points about how moderation will work. These are in response to various questions and requests for clarification; for the entire context, please read the thread.
stellaloella says:
As Rob pointed out, we’re still under the rules of the Forum guidelines, as posted here: http://www.etsy.com/forums_guidelines.phpOn April 22, when all the DOs & DON’Ts go into effect, we will abide by the section of the D&D for the Forums (found under Communication: http://www.etsy.com/dosdonts.php#a6 ). This will replace the other Forum guidelines.
The new rules of the D&D don’t really change much from the old rules; they just expand upon them a bit.
As for “Don’t be disrespectful of Etsy” — constructive criticism (including bug reports) is not disrespectful. We openly ask you for your input on the Forums. It’s when the line is crossed from being helpful to being rude, insulting or libelous towards the company that we reserve the right to take action.
All that said, we still have the same number of staff people monitoring the Forums. Yes, things might get past us sometimes. We’ll continue to do our best to keep the Forums under control. Muting people’s posting ability is one more tool for us to accomplish this task.
Posted at 10:20 am, April 10 2007 EST
stellaloella says:
What happens off-site is out of our jurisdiction as far as our site policies go. But just like any public figure, if someone off-site writes something publicly libelous against the company (and it’s super-bad), we might take the appropriate legal action.Snarkiness, while long-tolerated and often admittedly hilarious, can still hurt someone’s feelings. Exercise snark with caution.
Emc– Samepageness is a high-priority staff initiative right now. :)
Posted at 10:33 am, April 10 2007 EST
stellaloella says:
We give warnings. There will always be extreme cases that need to be dealt with swiftly that may not allow for a warning. But in general, we are pretty understanding and try to work with people to correct mistakes first.
Posted at 12:05 pm, April 10 2007 EST
stellaloella says:
As I said earlier, samepageness is a top priority.The warning letters are standardized and will include a specific reason.
Posted at 12:50 pm, April 10 2007 EST
Clearly, from Stella’s responses. you can see that people are concerned that the admin staff will all know and understand the same standards, and enforce them identically. Since uneven moderation and inconsistent communication are problems up to this day, in my opinion, this concern is warranted.
April 10th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Hello Admin,
You’re being hammered alot for not having enforced the rules all along. I would say that you were probably depending on real adults, not 12 y.o. to monitor themselves according to the rules. Well, that didn’t happen and so now the next step is to take stronger action. Good for you.
I’ve seen alot of not nice things said in the forums and some pretty gross things as well. What I worry about is the potential customer reading this mindless junk and leaving, never to return.
Admin, you have one of those thankless jobs but you’re doing great. Keep it up!
April 10th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
i’ve been tied up with other stuff all day so missed all the drama and haven’t read the original threads quoted above. so for right now, only have one comment after reading the quotes above.
re: the comment about legal action for allegedly libelous statements (not knowing if stella’s comments were general or directed to a specific example), i hope admin are consulting with their “legal department” and understand showing a statement of fact is truthful is a defense to so-called libel and opinions don’t really apply. i hope admin tread VERY carefully and not shoot-from-the-hip when raising the specter of legal action and understand how much time and resources (read: cash) it takes to engage in heavy legal battles.
that would not be good for the site which i would like to see grow, in a peaceful, smooth manner expressed by rokali at yesterday’s book club.
April 11th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Certainly no legal action would be taken for hurting feelings? It was weird to see hurt feelings and lawyering up in the same paragraph.
… Very interesting to all who post here.
April 11th, 2007 at 12:54 am
[...] On the other hand, if Etsy takes action against the writer of a particular comment (see reference here), UEN will not be able to offer any [...]
April 16th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
okay, so it still doesn’t make any sense….
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:51 pm
[...] This is a major change from the guidelines originally posted by Stella, reported by us here: http://etsynews.com/238/behavior-in-the-fora/ http://etsynews.com/48/some-clarifications-on-how-muting-for-forum-rules-violation-will-work/ [...]