Explicit rules should be added to server "Rules"

I've wondered why the rules aren't there in mastodon! This would be a great update. Maybe the rewording of the rules themselves should be a separate initiative, and adding what you originally suggested for now is good enough.

I've updated my list here to include the "refer to our code of conduct" link suggested by @Dynamic.

I would love it if somebody who's responsible for changing these rules could chime in here about what steps need to be taken for this to happen (@Nathan Schneider?)

@Jay This is definitely not my domain—something to be addressed through the Community Working Group, which handles communication around moderation.

Thanks for doing all this work. It makes sense to use the server rules this way (the way they were intended to be used). One problem I see is that from a moderator standpoint, some of the CoC content -- the encouraged behavior/discouraged behavior, and the reporting guidelines -- is often more important than the specific rules. The server rules seem to put all the emphasis on rules, leaving out the more descriptive, process-oriented norms, expectations, and protocols. As a mod, I'd rather people read the CoC than the list of rules. At the same time, I realize people typically don't do that...

@Matt Noyes Thanks for the reply. The reason I think it's important to have the rules set up this way is for the reporting of posts. Of course there will be a broader CoC that takes precedence over the "Rules" section, which is why it should be linked from the About section and even in one of the rules themselves.

It's not about these Rules being the canonical reference for behavior on social dot coop, but about having a specific thing in the server that can populate the radio button list from which people have to choose when reporting a post.

Thanks Jay, I get that. I just looked at the existing radio button lists you see when reporting someone. Can we edit the initial list, too? Or just the server rules? Is there any way to insert a text field? If not, would it be possible to use the subject headings from the CoC, including encouraged behavior and discouraged behavior?

@Matt Noyes No, you can't edit the initial list, which contains:

• I don't like it

• It's spam

• It's illegal

• It violates server rules

• It's something else

Choosing "It violates server rules" will then take the user to the radio list with our server rules on it; currently two of them.

@Matt Noyes It looks like the radio button list is fixed in the Mastodon source code:

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/blob/e93a75f1a11d6dfdcbd39dbdc22526c5508ad881/app/javascript/mastodon/features/report/category.jsx#L71-L77

The only bit of variability is whether to display the violation of server rules which keys off of whether server rules are defined.

I see Hometown have removed the Legal category:

https://github.com/hometown-fork/hometown/blob/hometown-dev/app/javascript/mastodon/features/report/category.js#L64-L76

@emi do @Sam Whited @Flancian @Matthew Cropp As current and former mods, what do you think about having the list that Jay put together in the server rules, so that when someone files a report they can click on a particular rule, or on the code of conduct as a whole?

This sounds reasonable to me; from the mods end of things I'm hopeful it would make people think about why they're reporting someone first instead of just quickly selecting a generic reason. We get a handful of reports that I think would have been better off as individual blocks because two users got in a spat or something, and maybe some harsh words were exchanged, but it's nothing that's so bad it would be a code of conduct violation. I could see having the stuff explicitly listed out making people change their mind about a report instead. It's not a huge problem or anything, but it does happen on occasion and this could potentially help, so sounds worth trying to me.