Alerts and other warnings are probably the most difficult situations on this site.
How do we adequately protect our members while simultaneously protecting the privacy of "presumed innocents?" How do we prevent the use of "false" alerts as personal attacks?
Here are some questions for you to ponder. Please post your thoughts here. I will leave this thread open for the remainder of the week.
You can add items for consideration also, and ask for comment on them. Here are some of my questions to you:
- First, and most importantly, do we really NEED to develop some local guidelines? IMHO, we do. And many of you seem to be confused and concerned by this. But it still needs to be asked. I do not want to over-reach my authority here. But I'm thinking that we could develop some local rules and guidelines that would help reduce confusion and minimize inconsistent practices by the Mods. I need to stress that this would be local, i.e. only for the "Upstate NY" section. And they would be informal. You would not get "points" or anything for violating them unless you were also violating a Board Policy set by the owners of the site.
- Exactly how should we define an "alert?" That is, what is allowed to be posted in the "Alerts" section? Is this just for LE and "safety" concerns? Or are "no-shows" and bad TCB practices allowed there too?
- Should there be different rules for Alerts posted about members of the site (including Verified Providers) vs. people from outside the site (i.e., BP girls, etc.)?
- Should there be standard procedures for "anonymizing" names and phone numbers? Right now, we stick a couple of ***'s into the middle of the name or number, trying to leave enough intact for someone to figure it out with reasonable certainty if they need to.
I have thoughts on many of the above myself, and will comment on them as this thread develops.
But for now, I open it to YOU, dear members. Let's hear it.....