Dr. Bob -
As far as I can tell, the boards are humming along nicely. I think now would be the ideal time to really look at putting in place a structure for handling incivility in a way that serves your purposes of protecting the forum from incivility, yet also provides a mechanism that encourages the repair of incivil behavior and especially the self-improvement that would take place if posters are motivated to use the Civility Buddy system.
The Civility Buddy option has, of course, been in place for quite some time, but I think these ideas are worth considering (your line-item veto power in view):
1) Creating a frame for it could encourage more participation and retention of volunteers because the expectations would be clear. I think the current lack of clarity has inhibited its growth.
2) It might be good for someone to be a Civility Buddy Leader who could provide general assistance to Civility Buddies who are doing it for the first time, or who run into situation where they become uncertain. Naturally, I'm thinking of Dinah - her experience is a treasure.
I think there is a way to address the frequent and ongoing conflict regarding blocking that will not undermine the purpose for the blocking. My thoughts:
1) There have been repeated calls for a mechanism for people who have gotten themselves blocked to have a way to come back. I think the Civility Buddy structure is a way to do that - while maintaining the site's civility guidelines.
2) One way would be to allow a poster who did not retract or rephrase within your timeframe to go into a suspension of posting privileges mode whereby they cannot post until they have worked with a Civility Buddy to get guidance on i] better understanding why their post was considered uncivil by site guidelines; ii] successfully rephrasing or retracting the uncivil portion/s of their post - making repair. My ideas are:
a. No poster would be 'required' to work with a CB. It would be their choice. Of course, if they don't opt for a CB, they are by default opting stay blocked.
b. Civility Buddies would not be required to monitor Boards for incivility. That would remain your job. That way, posters and CB's will not have to deal with peers becoming the police. I'm thinking of it as CB's are the 'big brothers & sisters' of the Boards - kinda like your older brother might show you how to pick bait for your fishing line. I remember (real young!) teaching my younger brother how to blow bubbles with chewing gum. That's how I envision Civility Buddies.
c. It would NOT be their job to defend your PBC's or determinations of incivility, or even blocks. There is often conflict over the merits of a particular judgment you make. I don't think CB's should be burdened with that. If a poster wants to question the merits of a PBC or block, they should take that up directly with you. CB's can, however, explain how the poster's language colored outside of the lines you've set, and help the poster rephrase what they wrote to match your criteria.
d. After being suspended and opting to work with a CB, if a poster is too upset to cooperate with the process or becomes abusive toward the CB, then the CB can withdraw and decline to work with that poster. The poster would remain unable to post. Maybe they just need a few days/weeks to regroup. Maybe they need to vent with their therapist and get some help with perspective. But if they later have cooled down enough to want to try again - they can ask for help from a CB - at any point. This would tie block length directly to the poster's ability and willingness to repair the uncivil post and learn better self-management. Blocked posters would feel (and actually possess) more control over what happens to them.
e. The Civility Buddy Leader would have the ability to release the suspension once the CB Leader has seen the repair and gotten a recommendation from the Civility Buddy who worked with the suspended poster. I think it could be problematic if all CB's have that power because it could lead to upset posters attempting to manipulate CB's who are friends. Of course you would remain in ultimate control over these things.
f. Suspended posters would have to understand that CB's are volunteers, so they might have to wait longer than they hoped to wait for help. They also might not always get a particular CB that they might really want to work with. In any given situation, individual CB's will obviously have to determine for themselves whether they have the time to work with that situation. Maybe there could be a thing built into the site (kind of like the chat room?) where posters who are suspended are 'parked.' You and CB's are the only ones with access. Maybe each CB has their own 'room' in the larger "Suspension Room." When they are available, they can turn on their 'name' (green when available, red when not?) A suspended poster could click on an available CB's name to request help. If the suspended poster behaves abusively toward the CB, the CB can close out their interraction with that poster - and the suspended poster can't contact the CB any longer. This might be better than trying to do it through Babblemail. It would limit the ability of an angry suspended poster to get to a CB. But, I have no idea whether that is too complicated to set up - and if it is possible but would take a long time to set up, maybe Babblemail could be the temporary way to do it.
This is my proposal, which can be modified to better fit your objectives. Please give us some feedback as soon as possible on whether this seems reasonable and workable to you. Dinah has marshalled a good number of CB volunteers. I think the current forum stability would be the ideal time to put this in place.
Solstice
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