Zcash Community Forum Code of Conduct Updates

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This post is to let all users know that the forums Code of Conduct has been updated in light of recent topics and events.

In particular, a user ( @lawzec ) post was removed without an explanation for the political content it was discussing. The complete deletion of the thread was an out-of-process action by a member of the mod team , this is now addressed in the updated Code of Conduct.

Specifically the Zcash Foundation has updated the Code of Conduct with the following:

(new text is in italics)

  • Moderators will post publicly the rational of non-personal administrative actions (such as removing or moving posts) and will closely follow the Moderation Policy

  • Please Do Not: Post political content that would be viewed as endorsing or campaigning for any political candidate. The Zcash Foundation is a 501©3 non-profit organization and as such are “absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office”

Thank you for understanding and continuing to make the Zcash Community forums a welcoming place for all Zcash users.

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This seems like an addition that was made hastily and without regard to the long tail of organizations that have likewise amended their code of conduct and then reversed it after being (rightfully) criticized for conflating characteristics notable for their historical and contemporary persecution with actions that ultimately align or oppose such persecution.

Or, perhaps more succinctly:

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That portion of the CoC is simply stating that a user harassing another user because of thier political affiliation (implied or overt) is not acceptable behavior. It’s not passing a judgement on what specifically constitutes “political affiliation”.

If you have suggestions for how it should be amended, please feel free to post it.

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Presumably, by its very definition, harassment is always unacceptable behavior?

Regardless, the purpose of an itemized listing of characteristics in a code of conduct is not to provide an exhaustive list of categories for which harassment will not be tolerated. At least I hope not.

The purpose of that list is to explicitly signal to members who may belong to one or more of those persecuted groups that they can interact (somewhat) safely within the community as themselves (and, more concretely, that the mods will have their back when they do). It’s a statement by the community that it will actively try and not be a cesspool of hate.

If that is not the intent of the list, then just remove it all together leaving the “Examples of unacceptable behavior” section to stand by itself, expanded with a generic list of dos and don’ts, rules, examples etc.

For what should be obvious reasons, adding “political affiliation” to the list changes that signal - it perverts the original intent, and instead broadcasts (intentionally or otherwise) that advocation of persecution of those groups holds an equivalent status within the community. It’s a signal that will drive people away.

If you have suggestions for how it should be amended, please feel free to post it.

If the intent of that portion of the CoC is to act as a signal, then I would suggest that the addition should be reverted (keeping the other sections regarding prohibition of political endorsement).

If the signal isn’t important to the Zcash Foundation then just remove the whole section entirely and reinforce the rules and examples section to better reflect the kind of culture you want without actively signalling positive dismantlement of systemic discrimination that your mods aren’t able to provide.

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I have nothing to do with the moderation policy on this forum and haven’t thought about it enough to have a qualified opinion. But I want to point out that the person who posted the problematic thread admitted to being a troll and it was reasonably obvious this was the case from the post. I think that’s important context.

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This is the intent of the list.

I see what you mean. It was purely unintentional. This is my blunder, a last-minute add by me that I didn’t discuss thoroughly with Antonie from the Zcash Foundation (and frankly I didn’t think very deeply about myself).

Removed, and apologies to everyone and the Foundation for my misunderstanding.

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I thoroughly agree. I’m also surprised and frankly disappointed that the Forum CoC was changed without any consultation with me. Note that the forum CoC is distinct from the Zcash Contributor CoC, for which I’m a named point of contact; however, they have previously been in sync for this part of the wording.

(For transparency, I was the mod who removed Lawzec’s post.)

Edit: I see that it has been changed back, so that’s fine. In future, I recommend that the mods have unanimous consensus for CoC changes.

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