Tag Archives: community guidelines

Process Post 12: Community Guidelines

I don’t have comments enabled for most of my blog posts.

At first, it was because the first few posts I created weren’t aimed at receiving commentary—they were just to set up the premise of my blog. I have two thoughts about this now:

  1. If I open up comments on my blog posts, this blog space can become an active community space where I interact with my audience.
  2. If I don’t open comments on my blog posts, this blog will serve as an informational hub, but to connect with my audience, I definitely should have other platforms where there is open communication.

With the latter thought in mind, my post last week on how I might incorporate transmedia storytelling seems like the most ideal situation for my audience. However, in “The Psychology of Online Comments,” Maria Konnikova states that moving from a single blog post to larger environments on social media “often produce less than desirable effects, including a diffusion of responsibility: you feel less accountable for your own actions, and become more likely to engage in amoral behavior” (Konnikova, 2013).

It’s an assumption, but I don’t think Pokémon GO players spend all of their time commenting on blogs—they probably come here for what they need and take off to where they normally spend their time online, so it’s possible that turning off blog comments isn’t the sole cause of such “amoral behaviour” on a broader social platform.

The thought of opening up to commentary in a community I’m technically responsible for is quite daunting, and feels different than if I’m a business responding to potential customers. WordPress has the ability to let you approve comments before they are shown under a blog post, and most social media platforms have comment filtering functions to ensure that certain words and phrases you won’t allow will not show in your comment section. However, limiting comments too intensively can also negatively affect the comment section. As mentioned in the article, removing comments can lower your audience’s willingness to engage with your content, which will affect whether they share it with others (Konnikova, 2013).

With all of this in mind, I’ve come up with short list of community guidelines for my blog:

  • Is it respectful? Even if you disagree with somebody, they should be treated with respect. Avoid using derogatory language and dishing out personal attacks.
  • Absolutely no hate speech allowed. This is a community where everybody is welcome, so discrimination, hatred, and violence against individuals or groups of people for any reason is not tolerated.
  • Are you trolling? Please do not post comments with the sole purpose of provoking others in the community.
  • Do not promote your own products or services, or post irrelevant links.
  • Please have fun! This is an open environment where fellow Pokémon GO Trainers should feel safe to interact with each other, no matter how little or often they play.

Konnikova, M. (2013, October 23). The Psychology of Online Comments. The New Yorker. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-psychology-of-online-comments

Parting with Posiel

Well… this is it! My last process post for PUB 101. I’ve learned so much about blogging, marketability, and the online self in this course, and hopefully it shows through melatonin gone missing.

Reflecting On The Process

Despite this course only being 13 weeks long, it feels like I’ve grown exponentially over the semester, probably because posting weekly has forced me to consistently critique and improve my site. It feels like decades ago when I was feeling frustrated trying to set up my site, which is mostly documented in my second process post From Pinterest to WordPress. At that time, I was completely uneducated about what it really meant to own a website. So when I slowly started to pick up on blog design, SEO, user experience, accessibility, readability, typeface, analytics, and everything else I’ve touched on in my process posts thus far, I was a little shocked that there was so much that went into the websites and media we interact with every single day. Even if at some point in the future I forget what the term “personal cyberinfrastructure” means (although highly unlikely), I will always perceive published media through a different lens. A more critical one, but also one with more respect for the effort that goes into actualizing every single detail we take for granted.

My blog feels a lot like a gallery or a scrapbook of the beginning of my publishing journey, and it always feels extremely rewarding and fulfilling to scroll through and see how far it has come. I’ve grown to be very fond of blogging, and I am quite proud of the site I’ve created. I mean, I made and own a whole website… that’s pretty cool. melatonin gone missing truly feels like my own digital garden, and I’m not quite ready to let it die!

Looking Forward

That being said, I’m excited to continue blogging and sharing my most unimportant thoughts here. I thought of a few ideas of ways to expand the site in my post Melatonin’s Many Channels, which are always paths I could look into pursuing (especially social media), but before going any further with expansion and development, it is important to establish community guidelines. An easy and effective way to ensure user safety and my own safety is to add a page outlining what users can expect and what they should abide by on my blog. Some of the things I would likely include in my community guidelines are:

  • Be respectful and kind
  • No spam or hateful comments
  • Respect people’s privacy
  • No personal promotion

By having these guidelines made explicit, it should hopefully prevent any uncourteous or unwanted behaviour from my blog, which is meant to be a safe and cozy space for all. From my list, it is clear that most of these guidelines are related to blog comments and social interactions. In the modern age of social media, the effects of online hate have proven to be a) very real, and b) severely damaging. As discussed in the Jon Ronson’s Ted Talk “When online shaming goes too far“, and the article “The dark side of Guardian comments“, people’s online behaviours can be incredibly harmful, and can escalate into dangerous and out of control situations. These guidelines essentially are to prevent these situations from arising on my site.

Against my expectations, there have been a few comments on my posts from my friends and classmates that have all been sweet and supportive. I’ve learned that blog comments are a really fun place to interact with others and trade complements and ideas, in a different way than the usual social media comment. I think this is because there is a sort of detachment from your personal life, since you can choose any name to display with your comments (on WordPress, at least). Maria Konnikova explains that anonymity encourages participation, which is further expanded on in John Suler’s discussion of facets of the online self, and I think this is demonstrated in the comments on my posts. For example, Tori Vega’s comment on Toe is Broken (Up).

Saying Farewell

And that’s it! To Dr. Norman and all my classmates, it’s been a pleasure getting to know you and making content for you to stalk. I’ve really enjoyed this class, and it’s sad to say goodbye.

Lastly, huge shoutout to Micky, who’s support means the world to me! I’m so lucky to have a TA who understands and appreciates my content posts on a personal level 😉

Alright, melatonin… officially going missing.

References:

Basu, T. (2020, September 3). Digital Gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved March 2, 2023, from https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/03/1007716/digital-gardens-let-you-cultivate-your-own-little-bit-of-the-internet/

Campbell, G. (2009). A Personal Cyberinfrastructure. EDUCAUSE. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

Gardiner, B., Mansfield, M., Anderson, I., Holder, J., Louter, D., & Ulmanu, M. (2016, April 12). The Dark Side of Guardian comments. The Guardian. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/the-dark-side-of-guardian-comments

Konnikova, M. (2013, October 23). The psychology of online comments. The New Yorker. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-psychology-of-online-comments

Ronson, J. (n.d.). When online shaming goes too far. Jon Ronson: When online shaming goes too far | TED Talk. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_when_online_shaming_goes_too_far?language=en

Suler, J. (2001). The Online Disinhibition Effect. The Psychology of Cyberspace. https://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/disinhibit.html

Photo:

-, H. T., By, -, Heather TaylorIcon Researcher & Blogger at Advertising Week, Taylor, H., Icon Researcher & Blogger at Advertising Week, here, P. enter your name, & -, H. T. (2020, December 21). How celestial seasonings’ sleepytime bear became a tea icon. PopIcon.life. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://popicon.life/celestial-seasonings-sleepytime-bear-tea-icon/

To Infinity and Beyond: The Future of Spilling the Royaltea

After twelve weeks of non-stop posting, PUB 101 has come to an end. But that doesn’t mean that Spilling the Royaltea has run out of potential, so here’s the plan for what’s to come.

To the Future

Over the course of these twelve weeks, I’ve really developed a love for blogging. I get to write about things that interest me without having to worry whether it would work well for an essay or whether it would be enough to get me a good grade. And having the opportunity to do things that I’d never get to do in other academic contexts, like using slang, or contractions, or starting my sentences with “so” and “and” has been so refreshing. I get the space to publish my own thoughts without thinking about what my prof will think with every word I write. So for all the above reasons and many more, I will be continuing with Spilling the Royaltea after the end of PUB 101.

In continuing my writing process, I’ll definitely keep writing posts for my hot takes, ranked, and news categories. In particular, the news category will have tons to talk about in the coming weeks, with King Charles’s coronation coming up in May. All in all, I’ll keep challenging my audience to think differently about issues and not always take for granted what they read or hear in the mainstream. And if they want light and fluffy, they’ll still have that too in the form of the “ranked” category and “Fashion, FAST!” segment.

I also want to bring back my “the chronicles of Harry and Meghan” category. Since I won’t be taking any courses in the summer, I’ll have plenty of time to watch the documentary and read the memoir, and I’m sure I’ll have lots to say about both.

And I might even create a few new categories too, like a “hot topics” category. I’ve noticed that when writing my hot takes, there are some things that I haven’t really made a final decision on, like whether the monarchy should be abolished and whether we should be worried that Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will end up like Prince Harry. So maybe in this section, I could discuss both sides of the argument and invite readers to weigh in too.

Even More Web Design Improvements

Of course, I still want to work on my website design skills. I might even take off the training wheels and redesign Spilling the Royaltea without a template, like Gertz suggests. Now that I know the basics of WordPress, I think it’s time to branch off and try to do things my own way instead. There are still a bunch of elements I’d like to change, but my template is preventing me from actually making these changes.

For example, when readers click on one of the categories on the menu bar, I want them to see little previews of several different posts instead of the big featured image being the first thing they see. I also never got around to making a logo, which I think is one of the most important parts of website branding. So I will definitely get to that too.

Example from "melatonin gone missing" of the post previews I would like to include on my website. Features short previews of each post with a small featured image.
Example from “melatonin-gone-missing.com” of the post previews I would like to include on my website

Overall, these changes will culminate in realizing the ultimate potential of my personal cyberinfrastructure, which will represent me and me only. And, since the site will no longer feature PUB 101 content, I can focus solely on royal family content. I might even consider archiving the PUB 101 section and making my site a fully-functioning royal family gossip site with no affiliations to SFU.

Community Guidelines

I also hope that in my future content, people start interacting more with my content, so with this comes the responsibility of creating community guidelines to ensure that Spilling the Royaltea remains a safe and uplifting community for royal family followers.

The four pillars I’ve developed for Spilling the Royaltea include respect, tolerance, openness, and togetherness. These four aspects relate most strongly to the comment section, which can end up pretty nasty if not carefully regulated. Konnikova even writes that the magazine, Popular Science decided to ban comments because of the “culture of aggression and mockery” it can cause. So that’s why I want readers to be respectful of each other when commenting, tolerant of others’ opinions and ideas, open to listening to and learning from different perspectives, and feel a sense of togetherness and community for learning and sharing.

And to protect both myself from seeing any hate comments (which, thankfully, I haven’t received yet), I’ll be regulating my comment section from those “anonymous” users who think it’s so easy to hide behind a screen and comment mean things just because it’s harder to identify them, like Konnikova describes. I’ll approve of comments as they come, and hopefully, this will keep things safe, inclusive, and welcoming on Spilling the Royaltea, which is all I could ask for as a website owner.

Here’s to the last process post and to a new chapter of Spilling the Royaltea. Olivia, signing out.

References:

Campbell, G. (2009). A personal cyberinfrastructure. EDUCAUSE Review, 44(5), 58. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

Gertz, T. (2015, July 10). How to sur­vive the dig­i­tal apocalypse. Louder Than Ten. https://louderthanten.com/coax/design-machines

Konnikova, M. (2013). The psychology of online comments. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-psychology-of-online-comments

Wong, O. (2023). Hot takes. Spilling the Royaltea. http://spilling-the-royaltea.com/category/hot-takes/

Wong, O. (2023). Ranked. Spilling the Royaltea. http://spilling-the-royaltea.com/category/ranked/

Wong, O. (2023). News. Spilling the Royaltea. http://spilling-the-royaltea.com/category/news/

Photo:

Disney. (n.d.). [Buzz Lightyear] [Image]. https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/is-buzz-lightyear-named-after-buzz-aldrin/

Week 12 Process Post: Community Guidelines (for now) + Farewell (for now)

Apparently, I need to have some sort of Community Guidelines… For who? I guess Suzanne and Lauren may be thinking that I have actually gathered Dished viewers to Vancouver Gems. As previously mentioned in process post 11, I would have to actually expand myself onto other platforms.

Though hypothetically, my community guidelines would incorporate approving comments on my website. If you scroll to the footer or look to the right, it says “No comments to show.” Well, that is because I haven’t enabled them. Enabling comments would be suitable for my blog as engagement and traffic would grow.

Implementing this will hopefully not attract bots…not that it has happened before…

FAREWELL!

I guess this last process post is also a farewell, farewell to PUB 101. Is it an actual goodbye? Nope! See you in PUB 201! (if I decide I can handle next semester’s course load)

Community Guidelines

Top priority community guidelines for the The Household Box Office (or The HHBO):

  • Be respectful of others and their opinions
  • Respectfully disagree when opinions do not align
  • Comments are welcomed and encouraged
  • Inappropriate behaviour will be removed and blocked
  • No self promotion of any kind

The post Community Guidelines first appeared on The Household Box Office.

Process Post #12

Online comments & Community guidelines

The online comment area should be regarded as the embodiment of freedom and democracy. We can be frank in the comment area, exchange ideas in-depth and understand each other’s views to participate in the topic discussion. However, at the same time, it is also the place where language violence and harm are the most serious. One of the most common critiques of online comments cites a disconnect between the commenter’s identity and what he is saying (Konnikova, 2013). Psychologist John Suler calls this phenomenon the “online disinhibition effect” (Konnikova, 2013). The theory is that when you get rid of your identity, the usual constraints on your behaviour will also disappear (Maria konnikova, 2013). This can be even worse with anonymity. 

Konnikova said that of the 900 randomly selected user comments on articles about immigration, 53% of anonymous commentators were uncivilized, while 29% of registered non-anonymous commentators were uncivilized (2013). Therefore, Konnikova concluded that anonymity encouraged rude behaviour (2013). How should we deal with such physical behaviour? Becky Gardiner et al. said it was simple: “do not read comments,” or turn them off completely (2016). Many people have done this by permanently disabling their comment threads because they become too laborious to disturb (Becky Gardiner et al., 2016). However, simply deleting comments is not a perfect solution. Konnikova said that deleting comments will affect the reading experience (2013). It may take away the motivation to participate more deeply in a topic and share it with a broader audience.

My attitude towards my comment area is to welcome everyone to express any opinions in the comment area since I found this blog. I encourage everyone to participate and create an atmosphere of shared learning and discussion. I have not received any comments so far, not to mention malicious or offensive comments. However, through this week’s reading, I really should consider the concern of comments, so I may create an online community guide in the future to maintain a friendly, open-minded, and respectful discussion area. For example, I might make the first rule that any derogatory comments of any race, religion, gender, age, or ability are unacceptable.

Moreover, I will make it clear in the community guide that such comments will be reviewed and may be deleted. I hope all discussions will focus on topics of common interest rather than offensive comments about others. At the same time, based on my desire to create a shared learning environment, my community guide will make this point clear again. For example, I would advise people to post valuable and relevant content to help others. Furthermore, expect users to submit content based on their own honest opinions and experiences.

This is my current idea for community guidelines, and I will create a dedicated community guidelines page in the future. Starting from the mission and value of my website, I will list out clear key points and rules that create a safe space for my entire audience to connect and interact with each other.

Reference:

Featured Image via Pinterest

Gardiner, B., Mansfield, M., Anderson, I., Holder, J., Louter, D., & Ulmanu, M. (2016, April 12). The Dark Side of Guardian comments. The Guardian. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/the-dark-side-of-guardian-comments 

Konnikova, M. (2013, October 23). The psychology of online comments. The New Yorker. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-psychology-of-online-comments

 

Process Post 11 – Community Guidelines

If you haven’t already done so, you can examine my angle on the democracy of social media here. I feel this is a great starting point for understanding the foundation for which I value social media, online content and the ways in which people and groups interact with what is published online. Through interpreting these views, one can perhaps understand my vision of an online community, which as suggested by Ryan Holmes, founder of Hootsuite, is a viable vehicle for democracy and how we should be ‘tapping social media for good.’ You can read Holmes’ article on Venture Beat here.

With the positivity of online usership said, there is of course a cloud of shaming, bullying, trolling and demoralization. Mark Shrayber (2016) discusses hate crime here in the context of Leslie Jones’ (Ghostbusters, Saturday Night Live) experience with having her personal site maliciously hacked. Do community guidelines mitigate these actions? Certainly not. People break rules, ignore laws and evade ethics on a daily basis online and in-person, so in developing expectations, can we actually expect to prevent wrongdoing? As Konnikova (2013) suggests in the New Yorker, the anonymity of commenting online provides a safe, but confident place for threatening civility. However, she also notes that people tend to devalue anonymous comments, which researchers at the University of Wisconsin (2013) reiterate here.

So, arguments litter every angle of each side of the fence; do you make guidelines, will they be adhered to, do you screen comments and are you hypocritical if in fact you limit engagement on your site when you’re preaching the asylum-esque quality of the Internet? In looking at the course resources, as well as exploring the Internet for guidelines that support a positive and inclusive community online, I have found the most suitable and relatable for me to reflect those of Book Riot, which you can see here. I appreciate these guidelines because they are clear, concise and current. They are inclusive, well-articulated and are relatively easy to understand and follow. They are fair.

However, when do we, as a democratic society, say why do we need a list of guidelines? The Golden Rule is dated, which you can read about here in Peter Economy’s proposal for the ‘Platinum Rule,’ but are we over-complicating the desire to just be good people? I’m not saying it’s right, but if rules are meant to be broken, are we better off not listing them but instead having the trust and confidence in humanity that we can be good, and that when we’re not, we lose the privilege to take advantage of that which democracy provides? What if websites emblemized the notion of acting in a manner that expects people to“ be kind.” That’s it; be kind. Appreciate the content and accept different views, but contribute, as opposed to degrade, and as such, you will adhere to kindness. If someone hates, I feel they will do exactly that, so in establishing guidelines, am I inviting the trolls? When one walks into a coffee shop, is there a sign indicating how to behave? There are no guidelines, but a social contract that suggests kindness.

So, do I need to be explicit in generating and sharing guidelines for this blog, or can I assume goodness? Or, do I expect the unexpected and create some guidelines that protect liability and govern what occurs? For now, I’m going to gamble on humanity and hope for kindness, until of course a literal laying down of the law is warranted…

Community Guidelines

Leave it better than you found it

Hello, and welcome to One More Klick!

A common saying in the outdoors community is “leave it better than you found it”.  While this often relates to trail conservation, it also relates to this community.  Do not comment anything you wouldn’t want your mother to read.

In other words:
  • There is zero tolerance for disrespecting or degrading any race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender, identity, etc..
  • Any hateful, disrespectful, or derogatory comments will not be approved.
Stay on the trail:
  • Promotional and spam-like content will not be allowed.
Look, but don’t take:
  • All of the artwork and writing should not be copied, used, or taken without explicit permission granted by the owner of these works.
  • All writing, photography, videography, and other artworks are made by me, unless specified otherwise in their caption. If you are wanting to use any of the footage, art, photography, and/or quotes, please reach out.
Join the community:
  • You are welcomed and encouraged to ask questions, share your experiences and suggestions.
  • This is a safe space for travellers, artists, adventurers, outdoor enthusiasts and the like to share thoughts, experiences, and tips. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

Thank you for respecting these simple rules, and happy klicking!

Sincerely,

Magali Bureau

Starlight Adventures: Community Guidelines

Community Guidelines for starlight-adventures.com

The goals of starlight-adventures.com are to assist readers and contributors to maintain a safe space and an entertaining environment. I want to create connections that are mutually beneficial to both parties and promote collaborative involvement and opportunities.  

In order to achieve these goals, it is important for all of us truly create this safe space with our shared interests by following these guidelines:

Guidelines

  • Treat others online as you would treat them in real life
  • Be tolerant towards other’s view points and respectfully disagree when opinions do not align
  • respect the privacy of those sharing
  • communicate with courtesy and respect

Do not

  • make personal attacks on those contributing 
  • post prejudiced comments or profanity
  • avoid: name calling

Others

  • Stay on topic: keep all discussions relevant to what is posted 
  • If you see something, say something in a respectful manner
  • Always strive to be as supportive as possible in every discussion or post shared
  • No self promotion unless discussed otherwise 

This is overall a safe space and platform for those to share their opinions and new ideas that could be beneficial to us all. 

If needing to discuss any of these guidelines or wanting to contribute an idea, please contact me here. 

Featured Image Reference: My personal account on Canva designed by me

The post Starlight Adventures: Community Guidelines appeared first on Starlight Adventures.