On September the 10th, it will have been one year since Virt and I were installed as Deputy and Chief Moderator, respectively, by Debateart.com, the site owner.
During this year, moderation has adopted a system of practices which allow a great deal of freedom of speech but which also protect the mutual civility which is necessary for reasoned debate to occur. Moderation has established rules in consultation with the general usership in order to allow the site public to have a say in determining particularly important and controversial policies. Moderation has, with every effort being made towards fairness and impartiality, enforced those rules and policies. And, moderation has attempted to be highly engaged on the site and to address legitimate concerns put to it by the usership whenever those concerns arise.
This AMA is being held to offer the usership a further opportunity to express concerns and ask questions such that moderation can address and answer them to the extent it is able. This AMA will also prove useful to moderation in helping us evaluate our policies and practices on year on, so that appropriate and considered adjustments can be made where necessary.
This AMA will last until 6:30pm, EST, on September the 12th. This will allow ample time for questioning, but will provide a point of conclusion to the process, hopefully to reign in any resulting drama (though I appeal to all members to be civil). I will be taking all questions not specifically addressed to Virt, Ram, or Castin. All four of us will participate as indicated. This is a moderation AMA, and so questions not strictly related to moderation issues (including personal and technical/features questions) might not be answered.
The AMA is now open, and I look forward to a robust discussion.
