Etiquette/Moderation Team Guidelines
Guidelines
At the first meeting of the talk list moderators in June 2022, the moderators unanimously adopted operational guidelines.
Our objective is to increase participation in the talk lists, not to discourage participation. The way we do that is by counseling those who drive others away with bad behavior, and expelling them from the list as a last resort, in line with the Etiquette Guidelines.
1. Operationally, the group will seek to hold monthly video conferences, and in between them will deal with moderation issues via online chat using WhatsApp and votes using Loomio.
2. The Etiquette Guidelines specify the following table of responses to etiquette violations:
Responses may include, but are not limited to, the following:
* Nothing (if they determine no violation has occurred)
* A formal warning email to individuals from a designated OSMF moderation account, outlining the issue and offering to speak directly with the persons, if appropriate, via an OSMF platform
* A recommended one week break from the mailing list
* A temporary block of 24 hours to slow down or prevent direct participation by the individual (“mod flag” feature of Mailman)* A temporary or permanent ban from the OSM talk@ and/or OSMF talk@ mailing lists
Based on guidance from the Board of Directors of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, these responses need not be implemented consecutively; any of them may be applied in first instance depending on the severity of the violation of the Etiquette Guidelines.
3. Decisions to counsel and temporarily to block a talk list participant will be made by simple majority vote via Loomio. Decisions to expel (“final block”) will be made by unanimous vote of the moderators following discussion.
4. Decisions are posted publicly to the Foundation moderators page under the rubric "Votes".
5. These guidelines apply to other OSMF-sponsored communications media when these moderators respond to requests from moderators of other channels/lists or the OpenStreetMap Foundation Board of Directors.[1]