Open Discussion Explanation for recent staff events and future staff obligations, criticism & discussion welcome

deficiT

deficiT

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Hey guys, I am opening this thread to have an open dialogue related to the recent staff and policy changes.

While staff here has always been willing to answer questions and hear criticism, my hope is that we can have a productive conversation without turning to personal insults or conflict, and yeah, I'll just close it if it does.

I did want to just make a clear outline of what exactly happened, and why, from an organizational standpoint, without pointing any fingers at anyone or inserting too many personal thoughts. I don't think my personal feelings in this really matter, nor have they factored into any of these outcomes, but, I'm happy to explain my personal position in the comments, if that'll help.

The issues that had to be dealt with

- Bluelight is seeking legal protections for itself and is now requiring all staff to digitally sign a Volunteer Agreement. We have a final draft of this, but it is still technically being finalized. The Agreement is mostly legalese type stuff, ie. "I'm not gonna sue Bluelight" "I won't make contracts or agreements on behalf of Bluelight". A major part of it is an agreement to enforce all of the rules of the site. I can post the draft agreement in these comments, if anyone would like to peruse them, all future volunteers will be required to agree to this. It's all pretty standard stuff for a legally recognized international charity organization

- extended staff conflict and personal disputes affecting every aspect of how the site is managed. I'm not gonna rehash it, you all have been here. I don't think the site is able to progress if we are constantly embroiled in personal disputes, political debates, etc. All of that is ultimately a distraction, it's hard enough to come to any kind of staff consensus, let alone be a broadly supportive community, if we are stuck on these types of problems. It was not any one individual that caused or escalated these conflicts, there were many folks and many conflicts.

- hosting abusive content. Ultimately, Bluelight is no longer just a message board, and so we have to follow the law if we want to continue to exist. Hosting racist, sexist, abusive, whatever-ist content publicly is not legal in Australia. This is a charitable organization for the purpose of educating folks about drugs, and supporting them. It's not a political forum, and it's not a general social community for memes or shitposting. While those things are obviously welcome to a reasonable extent, it's just not in the mission statement, so it's a secondary concern. So, abusive content is basically against the stated values of the website, which is to support everyone, no matter race gender religion etc. It always has been, different admins have just enforced things to varying levels over the years. The amount of toxicity and abuse we allow here has a direct correlation to how effective we can be, and how many people are able to find any support and assistance here. As a charitable support organization, it is really difficult to move forward if we can't draw a line somewhere. Open promotion of genocide, violence, bigotry, hate or racism, really just is not welcome on our staff team, and it's not useful in a support setting.

What happened:

- The Board of Directors voted for every staff position to be vacated, in an effort to move forward renewed, able to work together, and establishing what our values are as an organization. A couple folks like myself were asked to come in as a transition team to help manage this process and keep things moving, as they determined things needed to be refreshed completely. We are essentially starting from scratch, needing everyone on staff to be open to the general values I've tried to define above.

- all staff members were messaged a copy of the volunteer agreement draft, with a brief explanation of what happened. If you have not gotten a message, or you are unsure of your status for any reason, you're welcome to just reach out to one of the admins, myself, @Tronica, @Skorpio, or @alasdairm. Yes, there are some that were determined ineligible to return. As that's staff business I don't intend to outline those issues here. I believe a few folks still need to be followed up with regarding that, and my apologies.

- Nothing has actually changed in our rules. The directors determined that we need to begin enforcing them more earnestly, to avoid controversy and legal issues.

Moving forward, I think there are lots of policies and rules that have remained nebulous over many years, and I think it's important that staff work together to more solidly define what our standards for content are, so that we can bring some more clarity to our policies and avoid further issues. If you have opinions on where the line should be drawn on abusive content, feel free to let us know.

If you have thoughts or feelings about any of this, feel free to share here, or message me or another admin privately. Hopefully this will clear up some things, and begin the process of moving forward.
 
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This is the draft of the volunteer agreement:

Note: This agreement will be set up as a digital form which will record date/time of agreement and account associated with it.



BLUELIGHT VOLUNTEER AGREEMENT



SECTION I – VOLUNTEER INFORMATION

(Required) Name/Username/Pseudonym (please provide all names that you are associated with on Bluelight):



(Required) Country Where You are Located:



(Required) Email Address used to register for Bluelight platforms (not a bluelight.org email):



(Optional) In case of emergency, you give us permission to contact:

Name or username:

Relation to you:

Phone (with country code) and/or other contact information:

Note that if we were to use this information, we would be discrete about why we are contacting them and do so only in a genuine emergency. This information will only be available to [note role].



SECTION II – AGREEMENT



COMPLIANCE: As a Volunteer (as defined in Bluelight’s User Agreement), I agree to abide by Bluelight’s Terms & User Agreement, the Volunteer Guidelines, and the Moderator Manual (collectively, the “Rules”) and to fulfill my Volunteer Responsibilities (defined below), as may change from time to time, to the best of my ability, including the instructions outlined in this Bluelight Volunteer Agreement (the “Agreement”), as those responsibilities relate to my access to and use of the websites, mobile app(s), widgets, application programming interfaces, and any other online products or services, as may be updated from time to time, (collectively, the “Services”). I also agree to follow instructions and guidance from an administrator, supervisor, or senior Volunteer. To the extent that you believe such instructions conflict with this Agreement, you will immediately email [email protected] for clarification.



NO EMPLOYMENT: I understand that I am not an employee of Bluelight. I am not beholden to a specific schedule to engage in my Volunteer Responsibilities, nor am I guaranteed particular hours or responsibilities. The relationship between Bluelight and me is the relationship between a nonprofit organization and a Volunteer. I agree not to convey the impression that I am an employee of Bluelight; but I may freely disclose that I am a Volunteer for Bluelight.



NO IMPLIED AUTHORITY NOR APPARENT AUTHORITY: I understand that I have only the authority to engage in activities which have been expressly delegated to me (defined below as Volunteer Responsibilities). If I am unsure of whether I have the express authority to engage in an activity, I will seek clarification from an administrator, supervisor, or a senior Volunteer. I understand that I may not make inferences as to the meaning of a communication (for example, if I am given the authority to moderate a specific forum in Bluelight’s Discord server, I will not infer that I have the authority to moderate a forum on Bluelight’s website with the same name, nor will I infer that I have the authority to navigate through hyperlinks in my approved forum to moderate in the hyperlinked forum). I also agree not to represent to third parties that I have the authority to enter into contracts on behalf of Bluelight; and I agree not to convey the impression that my views represent those of Bluelight.



COMPENSATION: I understand that I will not receive compensation as a Volunteer of Bluelight.



VOLUNTEER RESPONSIBILITIES: I have read, understand, and will comply with the Rules, which have been provided to me in conjunction with this Agreement, including without limitation the Volunteer Guidelines set forth on Exhibit A; and I further agree to conform my conduct to additional guidance that I receive from staff, administration, and senior Volunteers (collectively the “Volunteer Responsibilities”, which may be updated from time to time).



TERM: I may cease activities as a Bluelight Volunteer at will; and Bluelight may prohibit me from Volunteering, at its sole discretion, at any time, and without notice or cause, to the extent that this does not conflict with another provision in this Agreement.



WAIVER AND RELEASE: I HEREBY RELEASE AND FOREVER DISCHARGE AND HOLD HARMLESS BLUELIGHT, ITS AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, STAFF, VOLUNTEERS, AFFILIATES, AGENTS, CONTRACTORS, THIRD-PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS, AND LICENSORS (THE “BLUELIGHT ENTITIES”) FROM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY, CLAIMS, DEMANDS OF WHATEVER KIND OR NATURE, EITHER IN LAW OR IN EQUITY, WHICH ARISE OR MAY HEREAFTER ARISE FROM MY PARTICIPATION IN THE SERVICES AND/OR CARRYING OUT MY VOLUNTEER RESPONSIBILITIES. I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS RELEASE DISCHARGES BLUELIGHT FROM ANY LIABILITY OR CLAIM THAT THE I MAY HAVE AGAINST BLUELIGHT WITH RESPECT TO ANY BODILY INJURY, PERSONAL INJURY, ILLNESS, DEATH OR PROPERTY DAMAGE THAT MAY RESULT FROM MY PARTICIPATION IN THE SERVICES. SIMILARLY, I HEREBY RELEASE AND FOREVER DISCHARGE AND HOLD HARMLESS THE BLUELIGHT ENTITIES FOR ANY LIABILITY STEMMING FROM MY MISCONDUCT. I ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT BLUELIGHT DOES NOT ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE OR OTHER ASSISTANCE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO MEDICAL, HEALTH, OR DISABILITY INSURANCE.



INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: The Services are owned and operated by Bluelight. The visual interfaces, graphics, design, compilation, information, data, computer code, products, services, trademarks, and all other elements of the Services (“Materials”) provided by Bluelight are protected by intellectual property and other applicable laws. All Materials included in, or posted on, the Services, including any Materials provided by, or developed, by you are the property of Bluelight or its third-party licensors. You acknowledge and agree that you shall not acquire any ownership rights whatsoever by downloading or copying Materials, nor by making changes, updates, or alterations to the Materials. Except as expressly authorized by Bluelight in writing, and subject to this Agreement and the Rules, you may not make use of the Materials. Bluelight reserves all rights to the Materials not granted expressly in these Terms.

SEVERABILITY: Any provision of this Agreement that is found to be invalid or unenforceable in any jurisdiction shall, as to that jurisdiction, be ineffective to the extent of such invalidity or unenforceability without rendering invalid or unenforceable the remaining provisions of this Agreement or affecting the validity or enforceability of any of the provisions of this Agreement in any other jurisdiction.



CONFIDENTIALITY: A Volunteer shall keep all information confidential, in whatever form, produced, prepared, observed or received by the Volunteer to the extent that such information is confidential by law.



GOVERNING LAW AND VENUE. If any claims or disputes arises between you and Bluelight related to this Agreement or your performance related hereto, such claim or dispute will be controlled under the law of [Insert Jurisdiction] and must be brought solely in the federal or local courts located in [insert appropriate AU jurisdiction], Australia, and you and Bluelight consent to the jurisdiction of these courts, without regard to their conflict of law rules.



ATTORNEY FEES. In the event of any dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover its reasonable attorney fees, costs, and expenses incurred in connection with such dispute, including any appeals. For purposes of this provision, the “prevailing party” shall be the party that is awarded relief by a court of competent jurisdiction or is determined to have prevailed in the resolution of the dispute through settlement or otherwise.



☐I have read a copy of the Volunteer assignment description form and I ascertain that I am able to complete the tasks listed.

☐I have read a copy of the Volunteer Guidelines and the Moderator Manual, and I request the following accommodations to complete these tasks:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________





Electronic form will also include a section for the volunteer to note their agreement (and accept these terms) and time/date of agreement with the above.







TO BE COMPLETED BY ADMIN OF PLATFORM WHERE THE VOLUNTEER WILL BE WORKING

Platform name



Role/s of new volunteer



Additional information





Role/s responsible for new volunteer’s work







* Please attach a copy of the Volunteer Assignment Description form

































EXHIBIT A

Volunteer Responsibilities



At a minimum, I agree not to engage in conduct contrary to the following provisions (“Misconduct”):

I agree only to act within the scope of my express responsibilities, as set forth herein and in the Rules.

I agree that if I am required to obtain a license, certification, or authorization to undertake any of my responsibilities, I will do so prior to engaging in such responsibilities.

I agree not to engage in conduct which constitutes willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of any individual.

I agree not to operate a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other vehicle, in connection with my Volunteer responsibilities, unless I have obtained the appropriate license and insurance to engage in such conduct.

I agree not to engage in any crimes of violence, acts of international terrorism, hate crimes, conduct that violates any national or local civil rights laws, sexual offenses, or any other laws applicable to me.

I agree not to engage in any Volunteer activities while significantly impaired by alcohol or any other psychoactive substances.
 
deficiT said:
Hey guys, I am opening this thread to have an open dialogue related to the recent staff and policy changes.

While staff here has always been willing to answer questions and hear criticism, my hope is that we can have a productive conversation without turning to personal insults or conflict, and yeah, I'll just close it if it does.

I did want to just make a clear outline of what exactly happened, and why, from an organizational standpoint, without pointing any fingers at anyone or inserting too many personal thoughts. I don't think my personal feelings in this really matter, nor have they factored into any of these outcomes, but, I'm happy to explain my personal position in the comments, if that'll help.

The issues that had to be dealt with

- Bluelight is seeking legal protections for itself and is now requiring all staff to digitally sign a Volunteer Agreement. We have a final draft of this, but it is still technically being finalized. The Agreement is mostly legalese type stuff, ie. "I'm not gonna sue Bluelight" "I won't make contracts or agreements on behalf of Bluelight". A major part of it is an agreement to enforce all of the rules of the site. I can post the draft agreement in these comments, if anyone would like to peruse them, all future volunteers will be required to agree to this. It's all pretty standard stuff for a legally recognized international charity organization

- extended staff conflict and personal disputes affecting every aspect of how the site is managed. I'm not gonna rehash it, you all have been here. I don't think the site is able to progress if we are constantly embroiled in personal disputes, political debates, etc. All of that is ultimately a distraction, it's hard enough to come to any kind of staff consensus, let alone be a broadly supportive community, if we are stuck on these types of problems. It was not any one individual that caused or escalated these conflicts, there were many folks and many conflicts.

- hosting abusive content. Ultimately, Bluelight is no longer just a message board, and so we have to follow the law if we want to continue to exist. Hosting racist, sexist, abusive, whatever-ist content publicly is not legal in Australia. This is a charitable organization for the purpose of educating folks about drugs, and supporting them. It's not a political forum, and it's not a general social community for memes or shitposting. While those things are obviously welcome to a reasonable extent, it's just not in the mission statement, so it's a secondary concern. So, abusive content is basically against the stated values of the website, which is to support everyone, no matter race gender religion etc. It always has been, different admins have just enforced things to varying levels over the years. The amount of toxicity and abuse we allow here has a direct correlation to how effective we can be, and how many people are able to find any support and assistance here. As a charitable support organization, it is really difficult to move forward if we can't draw a line somewhere. Open support of bigotry, hate or racism, really just is not welcome on our staff team, and it's not useful in a support setting.

What happened:

- The Board of Directors voted for every staff position to be vacated, in an effort to move forward renewed, able to work together, and establishing what our values are as an organization. A couple folks like myself were asked to come in as a transition team to help manage this process and keep things moving, as they determined things needed to be refreshed completely. We are essentially starting from scratch, needing everyone on staff to be open to the general values I've tried to define above.

- all staff members were messaged a copy of the volunteer agreement draft, with a brief explanation of what happened. If you have not gotten a message, or you are unsure of your status for any reason, you're welcome to just reach out to one of the admins, myself, @Tronica, @Skorpio, or @alasdairm. Yes, there are some that were determined not ineligible to return. As that's staff business I don't intend to outline those issues here. I believe a few folks still need to be followed up with regarding that, and my apologies.

- Nothing has actually changed in our rules. The directors determined that we need to begin enforcing them more earnestly, to avoid controversy and legal issues.

Moving forward, I think there are lots of policies and rules that have remained nebulous over many years, and I think it's important that staff work together to more solidly define what our standards for content are, so that we can bring some more clarity to our policies and avoid further issues. If you have opinions on where the line should be drawn on abusive content, feel free to let us know.

If you have thoughts or feelings about any of this, feel free to share here, or message me or another admin privately. Hopefully this will clear up some things, and begin the process of moving forward.
Click to expand...
Well said.
 
Was just wondering wtf had gone on

Does that mean present/future staff have to supply their actual 'real' names too? That would be a hard boundary for me personally (not that I ever intend to moderate here, but have done so elsewhere previously but always anonymously)

Bonus though that I can stick someone whose posts I don't care to read on ignore again! (no hate in any way, just an "ick" which is probably very little to do with that actual poster)
 
Lisa Simpson Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
deficiT said:
It's not a political forum
Click to expand...


but clearly politics runs the entire site - and your failure to remove CEPS from the entire platform is clearly where you're going wrong - every problem here comes from there while the finger gets pointed at the lounge

i can tell you better than any current member here that this is a better place without CEPS


why? because i cant see it anymore - i was supposed to be banned for 90 days but requested to keep the ban in place forever


do you see how bewildered i am right now? like what is all this that's going on now? it's because i cant see it


now - tell me again, how this is not a political forum and how polarized politics isn't driving this entire forum into the dirt
 
Mr. Krinkle said:
but clearly politics runs the entire site - and your failure to remove CEPS from the entire platform is clearly where you're going wrong - every problem here comes from there while the finger gets pointed at the lounge

i can tell you better than any current member here that this is a better place without CEPS


why? because i cant see it anymore - i was supposed to be banned for 90 days but requested to keep the ban in place forever


do you see how bewildered i am right now? like what is all this that's going on now? it's because i cant see it


now - tell me again, how this is not a political forum and how polarized politics isn't driving this entire forum into the dirt
Click to expand...
When arrall and krinkle agree on something
:mindblown:
 
Mr. Krinkle said:
but clearly politics runs the entire site - and your failure to remove CEPS from the entire platform is clearly where you're going wrong - every problem here comes from there while the finger gets pointed at the lounge

i can tell you better than any current member here that this is a better place without CEPS


why? because i cant see it anymore - i was supposed to be banned for 90 days but requested to keep the ban in place forever
Click to expand...
I can confirm everything about what Krink is saying as I was the mod that worked out this plan with him - it was his decision to maintain a permanent CEPS ban but if he wanted to come back he could let me know and we'd take it from there. This was when I started to see where CEPS may be harm producing vs. harm reducing part of the site for some users, and that even established members with user and staff status acknowledged that it was causing issues.


Mr. Krinkle said:
do you see how bewildered i am right now? like what is all this that's going on now? it's because i cant see it


now - tell me again, how this is not a political forum and how polarized politics isn't driving this entire forum into the dirt
Click to expand...
Well put.
 
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Well without reading the rules , did eventually they are so often set a side.
They are kinda logic, a normal person being on this site will get.
em without reading em. But some don t, so i read em 20 years after signin in.
Only broke a rule once, and that was by mistake. Not intended.

But besides changing the Lounge from a Lawless Hell, to a Glorious Stronghold 🤙
Wil need some adjusting. And how about equality. So far only Crew, Staff, Mod s.
And long time members are allowed to do what they may not.
And can come away with it un-corrected.

Is that era of holding hands over each others head s come to a end too ?
You have my blessing. Though i just got used to it.
 
Mr. Krinkle said:
but clearly politics runs the entire site - and your failure to remove CEPS from the entire platform is clearly where you're going wrong - every problem here comes from there while the finger gets pointed at the lounge

i can tell you better than any current member here that this is a better place without CEPS


why? because i cant see it anymore - i was supposed to be banned for 90 days but requested to keep the ban in place forever


do you see how bewildered i am right now? like what is all this that's going on now? it's because i cant see it


now - tell me again, how this is not a political forum and how polarized politics isn't driving this entire forum into the dirt
Click to expand...
I agree, we'd be better off without ceps, people have posited this for a long time, but it's always been shut down by one party or another. The general philosophy is that, if we don't have ceps, political discussion will begin to just bleed out into the rest of the site, like the harm reduction focus forums. My thoughts are that if we ran into that, just delete it as off topic as necessary.

An idea I had, was to get rid of CEP, and to widen the scope of drug policy & media coverage, to allow for limited political discussion, but only as it relates to drugs, mental health, and medical stuff. The things that we actually deal with here.
 
Or you could just make it so the people who want to be there can be, and those who don't...don't.

Thats why I made the cep ban a long time ago. Look how nicely it's working out for Krank.

Just do the same thing as when you kicked everyone off staff. Kick everyone out of CEP and make an announcement that you need to opt in to post there. Pretty simple. Problem solved.
 
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