Moderation Policy

The Mother Grove has approved a revised moderation policy for forums, lists, and social media. it is as follows: ADF Mailing Lists: ADF Guild, Kin, SIG, Order, Regional, and other lists and forums as determined by the ADF Administrator, shall be hosted by ADF.  All ADF mailing lists are moderated. The moderator is the ADF Listmaster, appointed by the ADF Social Media Manager and remaining in that position until the Social Media Manager’s term expires or a new Listmaster is appointed. The Listmaster may delegate their moderation powers to specific moderators for particular lists. The moderator/listmaster may be reached at ADF-Listmaster@adf.org. ADF Social Media: Official ADF Social Media groups shall be approved by the ADF Administrator.  Official ADF Social Media groups are moderated by the ADF Web team, headed by the Social Media Manager, who is appointed by the ADF Administrator and remaining in that position until the Administrator’s term expires or a new Social Media Manager is appointed. The web team may be reached at ADF-Webmaster@adf.org. Moderation Policy: Our moderation policy is listed below, and exists to ensure that respectful communication occurs. While lively discussions are welcomed and even encouraged, personal insults, profanity, name-calling, threats, and other inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated. Behavior: The following behaviors have been classified as disruptive and apply to all contributions sent to any ADF-hosted Forums, Lists, or Official Social Media Groups.  Failure to comply with these expectations may result in moderator warnings and/or removal from the discussion list and/or group. Unacceptable behavior includes but is not limited to:

  • excessive quoting
  • off-topic content
  • poorly chosen subject lines. 
  • insults
  • threats of a person, their beliefs, etc.
  • using profanity
  • name-calling
  • harsh sarcasm
  • personal accusations
  • defamation of character
  • chronic poor behavior
  • using ‘threat of lawsuit’ to support your argument.
  • posting other people’s personal contact information without permission
  • posting advertisements for anything not directly related to the List/Group topic
  • posting copyrighted material without the original author’s/publisher’s consent
  • posting or sharing links or media that is not generally considered “safe for work”
  • unsolicited bulk email (spam) or chain letters

ADF Lists and Forum Specific Rules:

  • Encoded binary files (such as pictures or commercial software) are not allowed.

ADF Social Media Specific Rules: 

  • Blocking administrators or moderators on social media, subsequently preventing them from being able to moderate appropriately, is not allowed.

Excessively disruptive behavior is determined at the moderators’ discretion. The moderation policy and the decisions of the moderators are not up for debate. Violations of the policy, as judged by the moderator, may result in moderator warnings and/or removal, at the moderator’s discretion. ActionsModerators may:

  • Screen, and reject, contributions at their discretion.
  • Suspend participants for unacceptable behavior after three public or private warnings.
  • Suspend participants for excessively disruptive behavior immediately.

Suspensions

  • For ADF-hosted Forums and Lists:
    • Suspensions apply to one or more ADF-hosted forums at the ADF Listmaster’s discretion.
    • A participant’s first suspension period shall be determined by the ADF Listmaster but shall not exceed three months.
    • A participant’s second suspension period shall be determined by the ADF Listmaster.
  • For Official Social Media groups:
    • Violations will be determined by the Social Media Moderator and their delegates.
    • If a non-ADF member violates the moderation policy, they will be removed from the group.
    • If an ADF member violates the moderation policy:
      • The first violation will result in removal from the group for a minimum of 3 months.
      • Further violations of the policy will result in removal from the group for a minimum of 1 year.
      • If anyone tries to circumvent the removal from the group by joining with a different profile, they will be permanently removed from the group.
    • Removal of Offending Material:
      • Posts and/or comments to Social Media Groups that are found to be in violation of the moderation policy will be deleted.
      • Prior to deletion, a screen capture of the offending material will be created and sent to Social Media Moderator and his/her delegates, ADF Information Manager, ADF Listmaster, and the ADF Administrator.
      • The violator will be notified of the violation, and what action will occur
      • The post and/or comment will be deleted.

Appeals

  • Moderator actions may be appealed to the ADF Administrator.

Events Advertising Policy:

  • ADF Festivals can be advertised 3 times per season
  • Regional and Grove only events or announcements should be advertised only on regional lists/groups and not on general public lists
  • Pan-Pagan festivals are not to be advertised on social media groups or e-lists unless ADF is playing a major role in leading a main rite or headlining the festival, and then it follows the same rules as ADF Festivals
  • Classes and workshops should also only be on regional or topical lists (military topic on military sig list, etc).
  • Appropriate listings for the majority of advertising include, ADF Members-Only FB, ADF-Discuss E-List, ADF-Leadership E-List, ADF Solitaries FB
  • ADF Festivals can also advertise on ADF-Announce and be sent to the Social Media team to also advertise on the main ADF FB Page. They should also be sent to the ADF web team to be added to the ADF website. This is the only type of event allowed to be advertised on ADF-Announce.
  • Podcasts and Video related events will be allowed to advertise once per episode or class
  • Book launches will be allowed to advertise once pre-launch and once post-launch and must be directly related to ADF, Paganism, or Druidry
  • For questions regarding email lists, please contact the ADF List master.
  • For questions regarding social media, you can contact the Social Media Manager.

  (Policy established by Mother Grove vote May 1999. Most recent revision approved by Mother Grove vote December 2018.)