Entry tags:

admin: mod post

Anti-Racism and the Golden Rule
x-posted to NSD

Dear members of Scans_Daily and NoScans_Daily,

One of the things that we love about scans_daily is that we don't shy away from controversial subjects. This is a good thing, and one of the many things that make our community great. Subjects like race, gender, sexuality, or even your favourite comic or character, can spark passionate discussion and debate.

But in order to maintain our community as a place where people feel comfortable having these discussions, we all must adhere to our community ethos: Criticize arguments, art, writing, but do not make insulting, offensive or passive aggressive remarks to or about people. This includes people both inside and outside of the community.

To quote from our userinfo:

ETHOS.

1. The golden rule, also known as the Thumper's Dad rule: All posts and comments are to maintain a respectful tone towards fellow Homo sapiens. Posts or comments making rude remarks about other members of this community, their expressions of fannish enthusiasm, comics creators, or even people not remotely associated with comics will not be tolerated. It's perfectly fine to disagree with others and to express your own opinions, but if you can't do so without making it personal, then that's probably a sign that you should take a step back from that conversation. We don't accept passive aggressive or even just aggressive comments with a smiley after them. We don't accept being insulting to fans or to creators personally. You should all be able to separate the artist from the art.

Note: if you see someone making insulting comments, do not respond in kind. Contact a moderator to let them know about it.

2. Scans Daily was founded by girl geeks, and members of slash fandom. The moderating team strives to maintain the community as a LGBT-friendly, anti-racist, anti-ableist and woman-friendly space. As such, hate speech, discrimination and harassment will not be tolerated. Democratic dialog and friendly debate however, are more than welcome.

3. SD respects our members' rights to privacy and control over their online identities. As far as we're concerned you are your pseud. Trolling and attempts to dismiss other posters on the basis of their 'hiding behind a fake name' will not be tolerated. Unauthorized public release of a fellow member's contact information will result in immediate banning.

The mod team hopes to maintain SD and NSD as spaces where anti-racist conversations can take place, but this requires finding a balance between the golden rule and the imperatives of activism. It is absolutely okay to call out comics creators, or your fellow members on racist actions or statements. However, we would ask that you do so in a manner that conforms to the golden rule.

We recognize that in discussions of racism, asking people to adhere to a certain form of discourse can be interpreted as asking them to "watch their tone." We also recognize that "tone" is a loaded term with a loaded history. We are not seeking to silence people of colour and allies. Nor are we asking people of colour and allies to stop being angry about racism. If a member is showing their privilege, or exhibiting unconsciously racist attitudes, it is not only okay, but good and healthy for the community, for you to call them on it. However, we are asking you to refrain from using someone else's behavior as an excuse to engage in trolling, flaming and pointless flamebaiting.

Some examples of acceptable criticism:

"This art is racist."
"Your words are verging on racist territory..."
"You should take a step back and examine your privilege..."
"This story is drawing on racist stereotypes."

We realize that opinions differ on whether saying "you're racist/being racist" is merely a statement of fact or a personal attack. This is one issue on which we would welcome your feedback.

The mod team has not, and will not always get things right. We would ask that you join us in striving to get up when we've fallen down, and striving to do better. Anti-racist (and for that matter, anti-sexist, and anti-ablelist) modding is something that the mod team has been struggling with since before the TOSing.

We would very much like to hear from members on this, particularly fans of colour. How can we do better by you? And how can we do better as a community?



As always, if you encounter someone making insulting comments toward fellow human beings, please contact a moderator.