The board of directors of the charity Bluelight Communities Ltd have made a unanimous resolution to require Bluelight.org to more rigorously enforce our user agreement. We will not be changing the rules, but will require that the Bluelight User Agreement (BLUA) be fully enforced in all parts of our site.
As directors, we have legal obligations to the Australian charities regulator to ensure that our charity is operating within the law and within the standards of conduct set by the regulator (the ACNC). Unlike profit-based digital platforms, Bluelight Communities Ltd is a charity that is required by law to serve our communities and ensure all our activities are aligned with our mission.
It has been brought to our attention that a significant amount of content hosted by Bluelight violates rule #4 of the BLUA (You may not post or upload any content that victimizes, harasses, degrades, or intimidates an individual or group of individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or other reason).
From now on, we will require that our staff at all levels share this commitment to enforcing the BLUA in all parts of Bluelight, ensuring that the site is free of content that victimizes, harasses, degrades, or intimidates individuals or groups. We will oversee changes to our enforcement processes to facilitate this.
In the near future, we will also require staff to agree to a volunteer agreement which includes a section on responsibilities and misconduct - and this applies beyond just Bluelight’s platforms. While we are not resourced enough to monitor everything that our staff are doing off platform, if evidence is provided related to misconduct elsewhere, we will act upon that, including by relieving that staff member of their role. This relates to the integrity of individuals who are given the responsibilities of staff, and that it is important in our community that Bluelight staff refrain from misconduct. This volunteer agreement is currently being checked by Australian lawyers (having been written by US lawyers) before being rolled out across our platforms.
In order to ensure that all staff are aligned with these reforms, we have made all forum staff roles vacant as of this message (apart from a small group who have already privately agreed to this change to ensure the forum does not go entirely unmoderated).
Staff interested in rejoining under these conditions should PM @Tronica @Skorpio @alasdairm and @deficit with a message demonstrating their interest and commitment to upholding the BLUA and the roles they are interested in based on their existing moderator experience. If other community members who have not previously been on staff - or former staff members - are now interested in joining the team, PM us your interest through the same process.
The board understands that this decision will be disruptive and unpopular with some community members. It is worth noting that we as board members are legally bound to ensure the operations of our charity meet our regulator’s requirement, otherwise we as individuals can be found liable and/or the charity may lose its charitable status. That is, this is not personal, but part of the board's legal obligations. We have determined that not acting holds far greater risk than acting.
We look forward to seeing the positive outcomes of this refresh and re-commitment to creating an inclusive environment, welcoming to people of many different backgrounds, that is free from speech that victimizes, harasses, degrades, or intimidates individuals or groups of people, and we thank everyone willing to join us to make this happen.
The Bluelight Communities Ltd Board of Directors
As directors, we have legal obligations to the Australian charities regulator to ensure that our charity is operating within the law and within the standards of conduct set by the regulator (the ACNC). Unlike profit-based digital platforms, Bluelight Communities Ltd is a charity that is required by law to serve our communities and ensure all our activities are aligned with our mission.
It has been brought to our attention that a significant amount of content hosted by Bluelight violates rule #4 of the BLUA (You may not post or upload any content that victimizes, harasses, degrades, or intimidates an individual or group of individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or other reason).
From now on, we will require that our staff at all levels share this commitment to enforcing the BLUA in all parts of Bluelight, ensuring that the site is free of content that victimizes, harasses, degrades, or intimidates individuals or groups. We will oversee changes to our enforcement processes to facilitate this.
In the near future, we will also require staff to agree to a volunteer agreement which includes a section on responsibilities and misconduct - and this applies beyond just Bluelight’s platforms. While we are not resourced enough to monitor everything that our staff are doing off platform, if evidence is provided related to misconduct elsewhere, we will act upon that, including by relieving that staff member of their role. This relates to the integrity of individuals who are given the responsibilities of staff, and that it is important in our community that Bluelight staff refrain from misconduct. This volunteer agreement is currently being checked by Australian lawyers (having been written by US lawyers) before being rolled out across our platforms.
In order to ensure that all staff are aligned with these reforms, we have made all forum staff roles vacant as of this message (apart from a small group who have already privately agreed to this change to ensure the forum does not go entirely unmoderated).
Staff interested in rejoining under these conditions should PM @Tronica @Skorpio @alasdairm and @deficit with a message demonstrating their interest and commitment to upholding the BLUA and the roles they are interested in based on their existing moderator experience. If other community members who have not previously been on staff - or former staff members - are now interested in joining the team, PM us your interest through the same process.
The board understands that this decision will be disruptive and unpopular with some community members. It is worth noting that we as board members are legally bound to ensure the operations of our charity meet our regulator’s requirement, otherwise we as individuals can be found liable and/or the charity may lose its charitable status. That is, this is not personal, but part of the board's legal obligations. We have determined that not acting holds far greater risk than acting.
We look forward to seeing the positive outcomes of this refresh and re-commitment to creating an inclusive environment, welcoming to people of many different backgrounds, that is free from speech that victimizes, harasses, degrades, or intimidates individuals or groups of people, and we thank everyone willing to join us to make this happen.
The Bluelight Communities Ltd Board of Directors