TYF Political Posts Policy Reminder

[soulsea]

Dear members,

With 2020 being here, it is a good time for staff to tell new members and remind existing members that tahoeyukonforum is and has always been a political (and religious) discussion free zone.

We know that here in the US we’re in for a wild ride over the next few months and we’ll be lucky if the internet doesn’t explode at some point, but we ask that no matter how tempting it is to get political, you contain yourselves whilst you’re visiting this community.

TYF is what it is because for the most part we focus on the one topic that unites us and leave out all the polarizing subjects that divide us. As a result we have a unique community where members aren’t adversarial to each other for reasons that have nothing to do with the subject matter of the forum. We think it is a special place and we will enforce the ‘no politics’ rule aggressively to protect this community and its members who overwhelmingly favor this existing policy. As has been stated many times before, the internet is not lacking spaces where anyone can go and share their political opinions, we ask that you use those social media vehicles for your expression instead of tahoeyukonforum.

If you do bring politics up in any part of this forum including the lounge, staff will take action, first with a warning and then with a ban. If we determine that the transgression is such that it warrants a ban without warning then we will do that as well. None of this is debatable or up for discussion. Don’t try to circumvent the rule by being vague, we will take action anyway. This obviously includes political meme pics.

There are only so many staff members and we do not read through every post of every thread. So if any member sees this rule being broken in any post please alert it and we will deal with it appropriately. This is after all your community and TYF is the sum of its members. This rule is only here to protect the great culture that has developed over the years, and if the members don’t care then we will lose it. So alerting us is the right thing to do. If you do see a political post, DO NOT RESPOND TO IT. Just alert it, or ignore it, but if you engage by responding to it action will be taken against you as well, even if you’re the one that alerted it.

It gives us zero pleasure to take action against any member, so hopefully this reminder makes the point strongly and clearly enough so that it won’t be an issue at all moving forward, and staff can continue to apply what has always been a light presence in regards to moderating this community.

Basically just don’t talk politics here.

Thanks.

@Shaggy @07Burb @NathanJax @yates ™ @Miami-Dade

 

[soulsea]

Really proud of how everyone, but for a few outliers, cooperated and helped uphold this policy ... for that TYF staff is sincerely grateful. We hope you agree that it made for a nicer community and one that was a refuge from the rest of the internet. As stated before, this is your community, and without you 'buying in' into the thought of keeping it civil it would just become another cesspool.

That said, just because this election cycle is all but over, everyone still has strong beliefs and feelings, maybe even more so, therefore the policy does remain in place as we move forward.

But again, thank you!

@Shaggy @07Burb @NathanJax @yates ™ @Miami-Dade

 

[soulsea]

Lady and gentlemen.

It's been four years and the above policy has worked exactly as it was intended. I know that it sometimes gets frustrating to not be able to feel free to say whatever one thinks, but I think most of us can agree that TYF is a fun community to interact with and be a part of without some of the poison that infects the rest of the internet.

It has always been my theory that the best online communities are the ones that require the least amount of moderation because members respect each other and care for the community enough to preserve it without someone forcing them to. I think it would be fair to say that TYF staff are for the most part pretty hands off compared to other forums and we're mostly here to help rather than enforce, but that isn't because of us, it is because most members rarely put us in a situation that requires any action from us. I honestly can't even remember the last time any staff member had to enforce the no politics policy, and for that we are deeply grateful. As stated before, there's no amount of staff action that can make any difference if the members don't care enough about their community to willfully buy into the policy because they see that it is one of the things that makes TYF different and special.

But we all know what 2024 is, and of course the closer we get to the inflection point of the election the stronger the draw will be to speak to it. We're hoping, now that we can all see the benefits of this policy that all members continue to adhere to it, even those who may still disagree with it ... and with any luck we can make it through this year unscathed.

We can do this.

 

[soulsea]

Reposting this from the entertainment thread so that there’s no confusion:

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All of you know better than posting political memes on this forum.​

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So far we’ve been somewhat lenient in just deleting posts without consequences. Obviously that’s not enough so every political post staff sees from now on will be met with bans. Hope that’s clear enough.​

This isn’t restricted to memes, it applies to all political content as per forum rules.