••• Required Reading For All BYC Forum Members - RULE ENFORCEMENT •••

[Nifty-Chicken]

To our wonderful BYC community members:

We just whizzed by 8,000 members (45 new sign-ups per day) and some of you may have noticed an increase in staff enforcement of the BYC rules. The staff here most humbly apologizes to all members that have been exposed to any inflammatory personal attacks, trolling, or exaggerated drama on the forum.

This is VERY common with forums of this size, especially ones that are growing exponentially. It is compounded when a forum has a lot of caring people that are passionate about a topic and community. This represents many of the 8,000+ family here at BYC!

Action has, and will continue to be taken to ensure that BYC remains a family safe and friendly environment for anyone wanting to learn how to care for chickens. You may have noticed that some members have left or have been removed from the forum. We're sorry to see people go and we hope they will come back and remember the mission of BYC, to promote the healthy and happy raising of chickens to as many people as possible.

We have VERY specific rules that everyone accepts when they sign up. Some people may not read or completely agree with the rules, but the rules are in place for good reason: to keep the forum family safe, friendly and accessible to the most people possible.

The BYC staff, with the help of devoted members, will continue to enforce the rules. The BYC staff will issue warnings on lesser offenses and will ban members on greater offenses. Please bear with us and we ask for your understanding while these situations are dealt with, and we ask for your continued assistance in reporting problems.

Fortunately the percentage of members and posts that have been problematic have been relatively small compared to all the wonderful members and posts we see daily. With this said, we will continue to take swift action to ensure the BYC forum's goals and mission are achieved.

Thank you for your support and understanding during these exciting times on the BYC Forum!

Best Regards,

The BYC Staff


BYC Forum Rules:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/misc.php?action=rules

 

[kstaven]

Very well said Nifty. Overall we have a great group of people here with a very limited # of agitators that show up. Saying that, I must note that problems of the past little while have been created by a "few", using "multiple ID's" on the forum, making it appear that there is a bigger issue.

I must credit the membership at large for their tolerance and co-operation in reporting, forwarding PM's and helping us get to the bottom of this. Joint efforts like this help keep this community strong and thriving.

I know some times all people see is a ban. What they do not see is the cleaned up threads and PM's and multiple warnings in the background. If you ever have a question concerning the rules and need clarification please PM one of the mods here and we will answer the best that we can.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Regarding Banned Members:

We have different levels of "banned" depending on the offense and the # of offenses and the attitude of the member.

Here is what I just sent one member that I personally would love to have come back to the forum if he / she could do what is required:

If the world was a perfect place you’d follow the appropriate steps in coming back to BYC:

1) You’d apologize sincerely to the staff privately for causing trouble and ask to be reinstated.

2) You’d recognize that you’d be on thin ice (probation) and you wouldn’t do anything remotely close to “trouble making” or “pot stirring” on the forum.

3) If reinstated you’d apologize to the community publicly for creating more work for the staff, who are already super busy, and promise to the community that you wouldn’t do anything that would even be interpreted as “trouble making” or “pot stirring”.

If you love the community and have any respect for the family safe / open to all community we have created, this is what you’ll do.​

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Related to banning members:

We really hate to see good members go, but BYC was established with very specific goals (to provide a friendly and safe environment to promote happy and healthy chicken raising) and rules. For the benefit of the community as a whole we can't allow people to stay here that openly break these rules or choose to make the forum an unfriendly environment.

The principles upon which this site was created, and the support and hard work of members and staff alike have made BYC the best Chicken community in the world.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

A note on two very important rules of this forum:

4. No Trolling (posting to provoke others, luring them to flame or rant). Trolling is sometimes done involuntary, so please be considerate when posting.

7. No Fighting. Taking a personal conflict to the forum is unacceptable. "I'm right, you're wrong" threads and posts will be edited or deleted.


We've seen these rules broken by a small handful of people and constantly get complaints so I thought I'd expand upon them a bit.

Overall, the idea is not to suppress members expression of their opinions, but to encourage members to express their opinions very cordially and politely. If members can't do this they shouldn't be posting on this forum.

Some interpret this as too controlling, but on the contrary it is actually liberating to the community. People are more comfortable in an environment where they feel they won't be attacked for their opinions and this solicits open and helpful discussions.

Please understand that these are also some of the harder rules for the BYC Staff to enforce because they are so subjective. Fortunately we've got some amazing members that report these issues and we have excellent staff members that can make hard decisions quickly.

Ok, a quick quiz:

Will the BYC Staff cut off some discussions early as they see them deteriorate? Yes

Will the BYC Staff need to make decisions quickly to minimize damage to the community? Yes

Will some people be offended by the way we enforce these rules? Yuppers

Will more members and potential members appreciate our rules and our enforcement than those that dislike them? Yes, by a very very large margin.

Will the BYC Staff do everything they can to ensure BYC is the friendliest, most helpful, and overall best community for people who want to raise chickens? ABSOLUTELY!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Hey Everyone!

In the past 3 days we've had a few members unhappy with the way we moderate the forum. (I personally think it has to do with the full moon

)

I want to reiterate a few very important points as it relates to forum moderation:

1) The BYC Staff love this community
2) The BYC Staff volunteer a LOT of their time to keep this forum running smoothly
3) There are over 3,500 new posts every day and the Staff can not, and do not read them all. We rely on members to report problems and then we discuss the issue among the staff and/or take swift action.
4) MOST IMPORTANT: If you feel you have been dealt with unfairly or harshly we are sorry, it is not our intent (see #1 above). We simply do the best we can with the resources we have available. Do NOT take how we moderate personally as it is never personal. BYC has rules, and it is these rules that make this community such a wonderful success. We often have to act swiftly in policing these rules and don't always have time to provide all the reasons and details for our actions. Please just trust that we have the best interest of the community in mind with every action we take.

Bottom line: We love this community and our first priority and obligation is to help it grow and flourish and be the best place to discuss our BackYardChickens and enjoy each other's company!