Post by skinnystars on Jul 26, 2020 2:33:04 GMT
Handling Reports
The South Beach Forum aims to be a place people can express all aspects of their eating disorder, and where people can peacefully exist, not fearing the people they interact with. In order to do this, we rely on our members to report content in violation of the site guidelines, or that makes you or a group of people uncomfortable. In this post we will outline how reperots are handled, reportable and non-reportable content, and more.
Reports
Content within our jurisdiction
- Any content on the South Beach Forum including posts, status messages, conversations, chats, media, or blogs that you feel is in violation of the rules, regardless of their status on site.
- Any content that contributes to a hostile environment
Content outside of our jurisdiction
- Anything that takes place outside of the South Beach Forum, save for if someone is endangered.
The Report System
Filing a report
- There is a Report button located at the top of every post, inside the gear button. When coming across reportable content, click there.
- A small window will pop up once you do. There, you can explain why you feel this post should be brought to the staff's attention.
- Once a report is generated, the staff are notified. The problem at hand is discussed and then addressed.
- Reporting helps so don't be afraid to do it!
Once the Report is Filed
- Involvement of the one filing the report is over. The staff will contact the one making the report if further information is needed.
- The Staff will not discuss how a member is addressed with outside parties except in special cases.
- Staff will decide what to do. It might appear that nothing is happening, but we try to communicate with members who are reported to help members learn from their mistakes.
Abuse of the Report System
The following actions are considered to be an abuse of the report system:
- Repeatedly reporting the same content due to not being satisfied with the result.
- Using the report system to berate, criticize, or attack the staff team.
Reporting Staff
The Staff Team is not exempt from being held accountable for their actions. If a staff member posts content you feel should be reported, PM skinnystars directly.
Alternative methods
PMing the staff
In situations where the member feels the need to provide more information than the report or wishes for confidentiality, there are alternative methods of bringing content to the staff's attention.
Members are welcome at any time to PM a staff member for private concerns.
Warning System
The South Beach team will make sure to discuss issues within the community in a timely and respectful manner. All member reports will be fully investigated to determine the extent of the situation and warnings issued as necessary.
Friendly Reminders
Members are usually granted a 'friendly reminder' to inform them that they are breaking a rule in an effort to prevent it from happening in the future. These do not give them a Warning Point and ultimately have no permanent effect on a member’s record, though they are taken into account if the member continues to break the rules.
Issuing Warnings
- When issuing Warning Points, multiple staff members are involved in the process to ensure that Warning Points are fairly administered.
- A Warned members' Points amount will begin to decrease after three months of continuously good behavior from the date they received the Warning Point.
Issuing Forum Bans
- Once 3 Warning Points are reached, the Warned Member is automatically banned for one month.
- In certain cases the staff team may increase the severity of sanctions based on the severity of rule violations.
Permanent Bans
In the unlikely event that a member has repeat infractions to the rules and refuses to correct their behavior, the staff may decide to issue a permanent ban to that member. Bans will be addressed on a case-by-case basis as they are meant to be the most severe sanction used when all other options are exhausted.
Discrimination, Harassment, and Hate Speech Policy
All members on the South Beach Forum have the right to respectful treatment and equality, regardless of age, gender, race, nationality, disability, religion, sexual orientation and identification, or economic background.
These are the official definitions for Discrimination, Harassment, and Hate Speech:
- Discrimination refers to the treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.
- Harassment is unwanted, unwelcomed, and uninvited behavior that demeans, threatens or offends the victim and results in a hostile environment for the victim. Harassing behavior may include, but is not limited to, epithets, derogatory comments or slurs and lewd propositions, assault, impeding or blocking movement, visual insults, such as derogatory posters or cartoons.
- Hate speech is a communication that carries no meaning other than the expression of hatred for some group, especially in circumstances in which the communication is likely to provoke violence. It is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and the like.
How these relate to our policy here on the South Beach Forum:
- Harassment - Deliberate or continued unwanted contact with an individual via threads, conversations, status messages, tagging, passive aggressive remarks, baiting, or signature messages; especially if the individual has expressed a desire to be left alone. Stalking behaviors also indicate harassment.
- Discrimination - Actively discouraging or actively blocking the participation of others within threads or in any area of the site, based on based on the person's group, class, or category to which that person does or does not belong.
- Hate Speech - We define Hate Speech to mean communication that vilifies a person or a group based on discrimination against that person or group. "Minorities are the cause of all our problems." is considered hate speech. "White people can't dance." is not.
It is the duty of every member on the South Beach Forum to create an environment free of deliberate discrimination, harassment, and hate speech. Members who believe that a post, status, or update is in violation of this should immediately report it. Members should not attempt to engage with an offensive poster. This behavior will not be tolerated and will be promptly investigated.