MidWest Sexual Harassment Policy (please read)

The Jedi Council and Fan Force Harassment Policy
Updated: August 9th, 2008

The current administration has seen the need to spring into action very swiftly on this topic and produce a new initiative sooner rather than later. A policy that invites users to come to the administration through whatever means they feel comfortable with. A policy that better emphasizes the steps users can take. We want to make ourselves open to everyone. Every single moderator was elected because they are believed to be trustworthy. When Mod Squad is united behind an objective, it's quite a force. Every moderator is part of Mod Squad and is available to you. Harassment (sexual or otherwise) that occurs in posts should be dealt with immediately by forum moderators. If it is not resolved satisfactorily at that level, follow the procedure below for Private Messages. Any harassment that occurs in Private Messages should be dealt with as follows:

The basic question is, if you are being harassed in PMs, what should you do? Well if you feel harassed via PM, you should choose one of the following courses of action:

1. Send a reply that says something like "Please stop sending me private messages." or "Your last message made me uncomfortable. Please don't go there again." Then contact a staff member.



2. Do not reply to the offensive PM. Contact a staff member.


(We advise discontinuing any kind of a conversation that can be misunderstood.)

Users won't be restricted to just an exclusive group of moderators. Users should know they have the opportunity to approach any moderator at any time. The problem in the past may have been that users were afraid to use past policies because the person at the top was unresponsive and a problem. In these cases it seems a more expanded policy is better rather then a more restrictive one. A simple policy similar to the one below can work.

1. Issue happens.


2. User brings this to the attention of any Mod/RSA/Admin he or she trusts. If you do not know which moderator or administrator to go to, here are the suggested points of contact:
   
   1. JC Head Admin or FF Head Admin (depending on the context of where the harassment occurred).
   2. One of the other JC or FF Admins.
   3. A moderator you trust. They will set up a confidential contact with an appropriate administrator.
   4. Another user you trust who can help you find a staff member to contact.
   
   JC Staff List
   
   Fan Force Staff List
   


3. That person can become the point for the investigation, if s/he feels comfortable doing that, otherwise s/he finds someone else that the user trusts to become point. It doesn't have to be an administrator.


4. Point person would talk to the user through PMs, coordinate any PM checks with a user approved administrator (either FF or JC) and just flesh out the situation.


5. Other (user approved) mods/admins are brought in to look at the case and decide what to do from there if necessary. The number of mods/admins coming into the investigation depends on how comfortable the user is.

If a legitimate complaint is discovered and resolved, any action taken against that user will be documented in that user's notes. That usernote does not have to include the name of the user who complained. Instead, it can just explain the situation in a basic way. What happened, what was done, etc. It is also there as documented behavior.

All sexual harassment complaints can and will be confidential if you request it. Any moderator who receives a complaint should make sure not to post any details from it without asking the user first. If you request nothing be posted about your situation in