Board Thread:Wiki Discussion/@comment-1073312-20190128230733

Since the beginning of 2019 it has become apparent that tensions are emerging on the SporeWiki Discord server. Some arguments have been of a politically charged nature and other problems have resulted from poor conduct. This post is aimed at every member of the community, be they contributors, mods and administrators. I think it is appropriate that we all take more responsibility in preventing possible arguments and to stop them when they occur.

Incidents of particular note: If there's a current conversation that is channel-hogging or repetitive, you may politely ask the users to discontinue or move their topic to another server, or ask a mod to do this on your behalf. All users should be prepared to move a topic. It is permissible to ask an admin or mod to review and possibly end topics that are harmful or offensive, with explanation. This is immature and normalises bullying and exclusion. Furthermore it's uninteresting and unnecessary to keep banging on about blocked users or past dramas, they have been dealt with but remember such users may yet be permitted to return in the future. This in violation of our rules as written in the SporeWiki:Rules and SporeWiki:Discord pages. They state clearly that users must be courteous, refrain from personal attacks and insults, and avoid flame wars. Antagonistic posts have a potential to cause arguments and normalise exclusionary behaviour. If you have a problem with the conduct of an admin you can raise the issue with another in private or on SporeWiki's talk pages. Remember to assume good faith (don't presume ill-intent unless warnings are ignored). Users with additional rights must be upstanding in their manners, and minimise the damage caused by enforcing policy. Mods and admins should not use their powers to seek arguments and have no additional right to cause flame wars. Warning users does not require engaging them for argument's sake. Block warnings should be posted to user talk pages on the wiki.
 * Deriding comments targeted at topics or people's fiction; intentionally disrupting conversations based on personal opinions or taste.
 * Using the non-confrontational environment to mock current or past users (even in the ban list), or other communities.
 * Harshly criticising a user's character or behaviour impolitely or aggressively in public, using slurs or other insults.
 * Casual use of slurs, antagonistic parodies and usernames, potentially offensive stereotypes and memes (some aimed at users).
 * Starting public arguments over decisions made by moderators and administrators.
 * Moderators and administrators have reportedly acted aggressively in their enforcement policy. There have been incidents of mods and admins engaged in arguments amongst themselves.

Every incident could have been avoidable if users had moderated themselves according to SporeWiki's standards (including those that led to blocks). These standards exist not just to satisfy veterans. They are not just the admin's rules. The reason standards exist is to satisfy everyone: namely, to maintain a constructive space. This requires minimising disruption. The discord server exists for SporeWiki so we can maximise our enjoyment of it, and our ability to cooperate and contribute to its various projects; maintaining the wiki; or as a place for new users to learn how to be good contributors. Ultimately we're all in this community to have fun and chill out, not to spoil it with drama.

SporeWiki has a diversity of people with different backgrounds and beliefs. We want to avoid political and social conflicts altogether, not push a political agenda or seek some higher ethic. These minimal standards are simply there to support cooperation on SporeWiki. People are free to make their own unendorsed servers that are ruled by different consensuses and social norms.

Final word. Remember you are representing the SporeWiki Community, which has had high acclaim with Maxis (in the early days), the Spore community, Wikia and MediaWiki because of it openness, creativity and talent. The discord server is now probably the first place most people discover the wiki with. Behave in a manner that doesn't spoil the community for others, or puts people off from joining because they feel excluded or bothered by immature behaviour. 