Sexual Harassment Policy

although i think what has happened is somewhat of a tragedy, i also feel this is a great opportunity.
can't really say how things are right now here as i've been away for quite a while, but maybe there's a valuable lesson here?
when i decided to take a break from this place it was because there were too many mods acting defensively instead of doing their jobs. this resulted in quite a few strange bannings, warnings and edits.

that's what happens when you keep looking at users as a threat rather than a resource.
as a result this site pretty much became an 'us' vs. 'them' place which moderators helped maintain through their constant defensive approach to any criticism.

when you become to obsessed with policing users you become blind or inable to deal with what's going on in your own group.
now... i'm not saying you're responsible for what happened here. only that something happened and was allowed to happen for quite some time i understand. could something have been done? perhaps. what's clear though is that if there had been a willingness to take a look amongst own ranks with a critical eye, the chances would be greater.
but at my time of leaving and for a while after self investigation was close to none existant (a few exceptions there are of course and there were and still are some fine mods here).

anyways. enough rambling. see this as an opportunity and don't think that creating a harrasment policy solves the other problems.
take care

 

MF - if you're ever unsure, you can always go to a mod you trust and ask. Better to report anything and everything that makes you uncomfortable.

 

Theoretically that makes sense, but in practice, someone who is being harassed probably doesn't want to draw attention to it unless they're pretty sure that something can be done - and giving them examples of situations in which you're likely to do something (ie, situations which you consider to be sexual harassment) may make them more likely to say something.

 

Absolutely, and that's something we're going to work on ironing out. At the same time, I think we'd probably prefer to have to deal with cases where "Okay, this is borderline; we're not going to ban but we'll note that this user was bothered by this other user and have other user leave first user alone," than to not hear about cases.

What is the best way for us to encourage you all to be open about this? We really would prefer to hear about stuff that ultimately may not be "that big of a deal" - because if it's bothering you, it is a big deal.

- Keralys

 

This whole subject is sensitive, I know at work some women give as good as they get when comes to offensive stuff. And everybodies "line" to be crossed usually sits in a little bit different spot. My work place "code of conduct" is violated numerous times everyday, but everybody I work with has a rather thick skin for this stuff. This is why the offender should be given ONE and only one chance to say "sorry, I will never do it again". After the person offended tells them that their actions offend them.

A few years ago I almost got in real trouble for telling a girl she reminded me of Yoda because she was so smart, not for her looks, she was good looking too, but she totally took it the wrong way, and I almost got reported to management, because she was so mad at me. Stupid, but lesson learned.

We live in politically correct world where even honest compliments can be taken the wrong way because of previous experiences with harassment, and that is sad.

 

First off, I think this is good, sad but good. Also I think that th policy needs to clearly state that sexual harassment is anything that makes YOU feel uncomfortable, not what ever the rules say are uncomfortable. Second, I'd like to volunteer as a friend to anyone who wants to talk about anything thats bothering them, seriously. Third, I'd like to make the point that if anyone thinks a mod/admin is corrupt (thats better than dirty, but only a little) bring the community in on it, I'll care if no one else does.

-FBS

 

I loved the tone on this; definitely felt looked after when reading that the whole of the Mod Squad could be accessed when having an issue.

 

Well I was not around as much for when this whole thing happened. But I like the fact that all the Mods in the JC and FF were able to work together to come up with this. I'm glad they did and I think it's a good policy.

So thank you to ObiWan506, General Kenobi, and all the other mods.

 

All I can say is, about time. Very heartfelt thanks to those who put this together and are committed to enforcing the new policy.

 

What kinda treatment is sexual harassment online?

 

Here are some examples:

One-sided conversations in which the other person asks or demands a lot of information about you, but never says much about himself. Real friendship is reciprocal--people exchange information; they don't interrogate each other. The attention can seem flattering at first, but if you give away too much info about yourself, you could find yourself faced with an obsessed guy who can find you any time he wants, whether you want him to or not.


Somebody who always wants to know where you're going, where you've been, or demands an explanation if you can't talk to him. Unless you're under 18 and it's your mom asking, the other person has no right even to ask.


Somebody who continually tries to nag/beg/flatter you into doing something you've already said you don't want to do. Even if they're charming and funny about it, and you wonder if it might be a joke, you don't have to listen to someone continually asking for your phone number, or n00dz, or to describe what you're wearing, or anything else. If the guy really is charming and harmless, he'll stop asking the first time you say "No."


Somebody who's sweet and fun until you give him an answer he doesn't want to hear--then he turns ugly. Just because you said or did something that made him mad does not mean you owe him anything. A genuine friend can accept "No, I don't like/want that" without feeling the need to punish you with accusations or insulting little jabs over PM or on the boards.


Basically, anything that makes you feel like a first grader whose 5th grade "friend" is "asking" for your lunch money. Exploitation can be done with a smile, and one of the easiest ways to keep using people is to be nice to them in between taking stuff from them. This is not friendship, no matter how fun the other person is when he's not after you for something.


It can even be as simple as someone making comments about your appearance or personal life that you feel are inappropriate or make you feel uncomfortable.

But you should report any interaction that makes you feel uncomfortable.

 

That's exactly right and that's what we've recently added to the current harassment policy.

 

Has there been a public update then?

 

Yeah. I updated it on the 3rd and the examples above are present.

 

Ah, okay. I don't think that was communicated anywhere (if it was, I missed it) and people probably want to know.

 

What about if you feel that you're not allowed to discuss something?

 

PM beezel

 

We mentioned in a Mod Squad Update that we would be adding something to the Harassment Policy that would help users to identify different types of harassment.

 

The policy has been up for a couple of months now, and there's a clear link to it in the header for all boards. However, it still lacks one essential portion: In-person harassment, as in the case of FanForce events.

While FanForce and the Jedi Council forums are viewed as separate in terms of moderation, they share these boards, and are, in practicality, one in the same. The harassment policy for FanForce needs to be clearly stated along with the general policy for the Jedi Council Forums. Currently, this policy- and, truthfully, all FanForce policies- are hidden away in a section of the JC that sees little traffic. Few users probably have ever read this policy, and I would be willing to be that those who have been victims of harassment have read the policy in place to protect them. With that said, the following policy for FanForce needs to be added to this linked thread:

12) FanForce reserves the right to ban for things that happen off of the message boards.
FanForce is a group that meets in person. Thus we have stricter rules regarding some off forum activities. We reserve the right to ban someone from TheForce.Net and from FanForce activities for things that happen in real life. A few things may result in a temporary ban, others in permanent. Using FanForce as a recruitment for other activities may result in a ban. Breaking local laws in regards to a FanForce event may result in a ban (i.e. having or distributing illegal drugs, serving alcohol to minors, purposefully harming/assaulting an other member, etc). Harassment of another FanForcer or family member of a FanForcer could result in a ban. If that member feels sufficiently harassed that s/he files a restraining order against another member, this will result in a ban of the problem person. If it is discovered that a member is a registered sex offender, that person will be banned permanently. Note: the FanForce administration does need significant proof that a person is guilty of any accusation before banning will occur.

 

That makes me a
sa-a-a-a-ad panda.

 

It makes a lot of us pretty sad as well. As for FF/RL accusations of Sexual Harassment, as was posted above we do take real life happenings into consideration. It's harder because there isn't PM evidence and often times the people looking into things weren't present at the incident(s). Still we do our best to get as much objective evidence as possible and make the call from there. Luckily the cases that come up are few, but they do happen from time to time.

I agree that the FF policy should be in the general harassment policy.

 

Wow... so does this apply only to things that happen at FanForce events? For example, if a fanforcer gets a protective order against another JCer for something not related to FanForce, will that person still be banned? What happens if a FanForcer gets a protective order against 506 or Grimby for something that happens in person?

Is this regardless of the offense?

I really have a problem with this.

 

Best I can give you is this is a really gray area. We definitely deal with things on a case-by-case basis. We take seriously every accusation of harassment and look into all of them. We've had cases go both ways, so it's not like if someone is accused it's an auto ban.

I would say if there is sufficient proof that any one on here, from head admin to regular user, is using these forums or events sanctioned by these forums to harass another user, or if there is a legal order of protection against anyone on here than there is cause for a ban. That's what the whole harassment policy is about. We're not talking small time harassment either, there would have to be significant threat and damn near irrefutable proof to the accuser for any of us to even consider this last step drastic action.

According to Wise, registered sex offenders will be banned from these forums and FF events. So far we've only ever had one case of this, and there was no doubt that the person was a registered offender. Our goal and duty is do our best to protect our members from harm as much as feasible/possible.

 

i'm really glad to know that this has been taken so seriously, as i had something like this happen to me in the past and actually avoided the YJCC for extended periods because of it. it wasn't sexual harrassment but it was stil very real, and made posting here decidedly unpleasant on a number of occassions.

:snoopy

 

I'm not familiar with that situation (and you don't need to go into details here) but I hope if something happens again that makes you uncomfortable about coming here you will let a mod or admin know.