I am new here and therefore cannot speak for the management or their policies, but I used to run a similar sort of site on MSNand was faced with this situation. In 2002 I posted the following:
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function Help(){DoHelp();}
Flames, Snails and Puppydog Tails
by Tau_au
There has been a number of threads recently concerning flames - in fact these discussion threads have far outweighed the actual flames that occurred. There has been even more backroom discussion by the managers of the forum on this topic - it has been blown out of all proportion, and even with all the helpful suggestions posted, I wish to inform all - that while ever I'm a manager in this community, the way flames are handled is not up for negotiation! This community has grown from a few people who were totally pissed off at the way a manager censored discussions elsewhere - we grew from a few to 800+ members in just a couple of years. When bratty and I committed to building this community it was based on never introducing any form of censorship to limit the expression of opinions nor to stifle any discussion, no matter how heated it became. Nothing has changed!
There is censorship here - but one that is based upon the guidelines set by MSN for the category that we have placed ourselves. Anything that jeopardizes that rating will be deleted - other than that, the management here will not act as Gods to set some fine line between heated debate and offensive postings. We are all mature adults and are capable of resolving petty disputes ourselves. We don't need a management team to make evaluations of our postings.
I believe one of the main reasons that this community has been so successful is because we are realistic. We don't base rules around being politically correct and some silly netiquette rules to avoid offending someone's sensitivities - we have discussions as if they are among a group in real life. Occasionally something slips and hits a raw nerve, just like real life - and just like real life, we deal with it.
We have recently lost a few active members because they felt that management was making arbitrary decisions about what was and was not offensive. That is sad and a trend that I want stopped! Management of this community is here to welcome new members, give what ever advice and guidance they can, assist in facilitating problem resolution - but they aren't here to censor posts or take sides in a conflict.
This doesn't mean that I welcome flame wars - I just believe that we have a far better chance of resolving the rare conflicts that arise if we take a mature attitude ourselves and not impose our fine line on others.
I sincerely thank the people who offered lots of constructive ideas about how to avoid these wars - but occasionally they will still happen because when the raw nerve is really hit - emotion takes over and replaces all the logic that everyone agrees with in those suggestions. And when it happens - I want every opportunity available for the people concerned to resolve the conflict - not just get them pissed off even more by someone in management attempting to decide who it was that went too far and deciding to delete a post.
As I said at the start of this posting - this position is not up for negotiation!
As I say, this does not necessarily reflect the views of moderators for this forum, I am just expressing my $0.02's worth.
Brosco
