Mod Post - Posts involving rape

[icon_uk]

Just a note from your beloved Mod Team.

We've noticed a somewhat larger than usual number of posts which require the use of the trigger warning for rape.

Now, it's definitely within the boards remit to cover stories which feature rape (which is why we have the tag), and these are being tagged properly, so there's no complaint with any poster's behaviour in that regard, but....

Could we maybe give the subject a bit of a rest for a while please? Maybe post somethinn which doesn't feature it, if there's a choice?

It's a weird world out there at the moment, and if we could maybe skip some of the really dark stuff on SD for right now, that would be awesome, thanks.

Comments

[kurenai_tenka]

Yeah exactly, and the posters don't deserve to feel like that, since they weren't breaking any rules and they tagged everything accordingly.

Honestly if they banned all rape posts tomorrow I wouldn't care, but knowing that you can retroactively break a previously unspoken rule is pretty off-putting.

[malurette]

The mere possibility of Unspoken Rules gives me so much posting anxiety, urgh. OK, back to undefinite lurking now.

[icon_uk]

As I note in the reply to kurenai_tenka below, rest assured we have no unspoken rules and have absolutely no intention of making any, and certainly not retroactively.

What has been posted has been posted and as long as it follows the written rules, we have no problem with that.

Should you ever have any concerns about posting something, you are always welcome to approach us, we are always amenable to hearing any questions.

[malurette]

I'm sorry but the way I see it, there is this unspoken rule now that the precedent is set: you may post anything following the written rules but oh there's always the possibilty that if a mod doesn't like your posts/you don't insist enough on the fact that you condemn warning-worthy content in them/someone complains/you post too much/what else now, there could very well be a public call-out.

There's always been a little voice at the back of my mind saying, hey be careful what you post, how you do it, how often, lest you bore or turn off or anger people, and now it's turned into a blaring alarm: oh yeah and when they don't like it they'll very publicly point out how wrong what you do is.

[icon_uk]

Hi, just to interject slightly here

There are rules here, yes, but not unspoken ones. Never have been, never will be for at least as long as I'm part of the Mod Team.

And the only case I can think of a retroactive rule in the 15 years or so I've been a part of this community, as poster and Mod, was when we made a rule about page limits on webcomic postings, and that was a highly unusual situation following a legal request on behalf of a creator. Even then it wasn't mandatory, just a courtesy request to fix past posts where possible.

So there has been no change to board posting rules. You can post whatever you wish as you could before, within the existing rules.

In this particular case there had been a spike in a particular topic, and not just any topic, but one of the heavier, more sensitive, themes we have (to the extent it falls into one of our few categories requiring tagging and locking) and we asked (not instructed, asked) for maybe a bit of a break on that theme for a while.

We didn't ask for posts to be removed, or locked, or anything along those lines. You can still, if you so wish, makes posts involving rape and provided the existing rules are followed, there will be no come-back, comment or judgement from anyone on the Mod Team.

Would we do it differently in light of these comments, quite possibly, I can't say for sure, but thank you for your frankness.