[Boston-editorial] New website editorial policy-Read ASAP- will be discussed at GM

[Matthew Williams]

On the whole it looks good to me.

One big issue I have is that we discussed having a section on how we 
would edit comments--to encourage dialogue instead of people trying to 
beat each other up intellectually and to encourage civility. I think 
there was something else in there from our last web-editorial meeting 
as well--I don't remember exactly what, but you should have the notes 
Pete.

The other big thing is that we should include this language from the 
disclaimer in the editorial policy somewhere: "Boston IMC neither 
endorses nor takes responsibility for newswire posts. Articles in the 
center column, but not comments posted to them, have been screened by 
Boston IMC editors."

A few additional minor suggestions:

In the section of what we will hide, add to, "1. Hate posts; posts that 
explicitly express sexism, racism, or other forms of prejudice," add 
homophobia and anti-Semitism. Because we get so much of those, it's 
good to be explicit about it.

I agree with Jon P. that it makes sense to collapse personal attacks 
and insults (numbers 4 and 5 under what we will hide) into one thing, 
instead of listing them separately. I too remember us agreeing to 
remove the "without substantive content" part. For those on the General 
Discussion list who haven't been following this discussion on the 
Editorial list, the idea behind this is that many of us have grown 
rather disturbed with the rather nasty tone many of the exchanges on 
the website have taken and we intend to use these guidelines to 
encourage civility. We're also agreed that we'll enforce these rules 
with a light hand--and when we do hide something because it was 
insulting, we will encourage people to repost the same ideas, without 
the personal attacks.

For number 6 under what we will hide, I suggest changing the phrasing 
from, "Pictures or footage of potentially incriminating or illegal 
activities," to, "Stories, pictures, video footage or other material 
that could potentially incriminate or otherwise endanger activists". By 
including the term "endanger" we can cover things like people 
potentially loosing their jobs.

Also this should go under what we will delete, not just hide--if we 
hide it, people still have access to it; only be deleting it are people 
safe.

bread and roses,
Matt

On Jun 4, 2005, at 9:17 PM, Pete Stidman wrote:

> This new editorial policy was built u pat the last
> meeting of the website group and dressed up with a few
> explanatory notes by me (pete).  As a matter of
> expediency the group hopes to be able to reach
> consesnus on it at the General Meeting tomorrow.
>
> To the editorial collective members:  I have only
> added a note about the calendar that was discussed in
> a different context last time, and two reasons we
> delete posts that is already part of the editorial
> policy we just forgot about.
>
> Please email me any concerns that you feel would
> improve the editorial policy along with solid
> proposals for how they could be improved.  Please keep
> in mind that the website group consensed on almost all
> of these items in the website meeting, so if you are
> wondering about the reasons behind things please ask
> why before proposing their removal and causing an
> uproar.  It'll just make the process easier that way,
> I think.
>
> Here it is:
>
> Open Publishing is essential to the principles the
> original Indymedia was founded upon in 1999.
> Indymedia websites around the world are dedicated to
> providing media access and creating a vital space for
> reporting that truly reflects the communities we live
> in, as opposed to having the news pass through a
> corporate media filter before the public gets to see
> it.
>
> Unfortunately, open publishing has also become a way
> for neo-nazis, homophobes, sexists, and others to
> disrupt our site and harass our readers.
>
> Discovering a way to edit out the bad and promote the
> good without impinging on our open policy has not been
> an easy task, and every site in the global network has
> learned to deal with it in different ways.  The
> following are the solutions members of the Boston
> Indymedia collective have unanimously agreed to so
> far.  Your ideas and suggestions are always welcome at
> imc-boston-office at indymedia.org.
>
> The following are the types of posts the Boston IMC
> would like to encourage on the newswire:
>
> -	Original, timely, well-researched articles.
> -	Eyewitness accounts of news events.
> -	Coverage of issues that affect Bostonians and the
> Greater Boston area.
> -	Investigative reports
> -	Media created by or about groups that are
> underrepresented in the mainstream media
> -	Positive stories about people or projects that are
> working towards social and economic justice
> -	We would love to see more original stories about or
> from:
> •	The home countries of Boston’s immigrants (i.e.
> Brazil, Haiti, Cape Verde, etc.)
> •	Rank and file members of Labor Unions
> •	Any group underrepresented in the media (i.e.
> stories about race, gender, gay rights, and more)
>
> The more diversity we can embody in our news coverage,
> the more potential Indymedia has to bring disparate
> sections of Boston’s active communities together.  We
> would like to become a forum for the news and for
> mutual understanding for all Greater Boston’s
> residents.
>
> We also reserve the right to hide any post that the
> Boston Indymedia collective deems counter to the BIMC
> mission of providing media access and a constructive
> forum for the residents of Greater Boston.
>
> We have consensed on hiding the following types of
> posts:
>
> 1. Hate posts; posts that explicitly express sexism,
> racism, or other forms of prejudice.
> 2. Threats of Violence.
> 3. Slanderous or libelous material.
> 4. Personal attacks (without substantive content)
> 5. Personal insults.
> 6. Pictures or footage of potentially incriminating or
> illegal activities.
> 7. Advertising.
> 8. Pornography.
> 9. Duplicates or extremely similar posts.
> 10. Disruptive or provocative material to impede
> constructive activity on the site.
> 11. Misinformation.
>
> We have consensed on deleting these kinds of posts:
>
> 1. Any hate posting that also carries media such as
> photos, audio or video clips.  (to prevent the use of
> indymedia to host files for other websites)
> 2. Any post by an individual known by indymedia and
> consensed upon as a sabateur.
>
> A note about events:
>
> We are trying to improve the placement and usability
> of our web calendar.  We strongly encourage posting on
> our web calendar and not on the newswire, and may
> begin hiding event postings on the newswire at some
> time in the future.  Ample and highly visible notice
> will be given of this new policy when and if it takes
> place.
>
>
>
> 		
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