Wiki'd

Our Principles for Mutual Discourse is a guiding document offering direction for our various forums across networks as well as for any other communities wishing to use these ideas for their own groups. While rules are typically binary and difficult to apply to diverse forums with unique cultures and purposes, principles offer a goal for which to aim. The principles in this document provide a foundation upon which those interested can have a shared basis for communication. Having a shared premise for discussion provides a solid connection through which people can put aside differences to have a mutual exchange of ideas. As this guide is for the wider public and is not meant as a highly-defined legal document, we each should do our best at connecting the concepts and understanding the intentions behind them. If we each use these principles, and remind others of them, community discussions will be worthwhile and productive. Instead of talking past each other, discussions become a mutual exchange where each person is both a student and a teacher.

While our forums may have staff moderators, our community members are the main influence upholding our community standards. Each member should set a good example of our principles because such positive behaviour will more strongly impact newer members, helping them adapt to our culture. When we demonstrate our principles, we nudge others to demonstrate them as well. Showing is more influential than telling.

We all want our forums to be an open atmosphere for exchanging ideas; therefore, the responsibility falls on all of us to reinforce our culture. We hope that members who have been a part of our project for a while will make new members feel welcome and help them access our resources. That can be by nudging people to be more respectful, by sharing information from our knowledge-base, or by sharing our other forums.

Our mission statement and stated goals serves as a cornerstone when building our community. When we ask ourselves if our contributions improve our discussions or if our community moderation will better our community, we ask if these decisions are aligned with our following mission statement and goals:

Mission Statement

The mission of the Skepti-Forum project is to offer a variety of forums for rational, respectful, and evidence-based exploration of important current issues related to science and technology, especially for those subjects surrounded by confusion, misinformation, and misconception. We promote the tools of skeptical inquiry and scientific reasoning to nurture an open atmosphere for exchanging ideas, sharing disagreement, and asking questions. We also believe that both experts and non-experts can contribute tools, resources, and ideas for thinking about science and scientific claims.

Our goals

1. To create easily-accessible communities across social media platforms where the public can ask questions about scientific issues.

2. To provide resources for science communicators engaging the public on social networks.

3. To challenge less-effective science communication strategies while offering evidence-based alternatives.

4. To demonstrate to the public the application of critical thinking strategies on public scientific issues.

For simplicity and easy remembrance, we use four main principles with each having further ideas under its scope. The four main principles are Always Improve the Discussion, Stay Tidy, Strive for a Mutual exchange, and Participate in the community. If all else is forgotten, these four main principles will keep you going in the right direction. Each of the four principles offers the main idea, further clarifying the intentions with several supporting ideas. If someone asks what improving the discussion means, the supporting ideas will help them gain a better understanding.

Our members care about the quality of discussion because we want to help our audience and because we want our forums to be a place of learning and education. Please always make sure your contributions better the discussion towards our higher goals. Consider if your addition will help people reading the thread months and years later.

• Think before your post.
  • If you have nothing to add, don't say anything.
  • Add context to your posts, links, and images (What are we looking at and why?).
• Support claims with evidence, especially when asked.
  • Everyone has the right to request evidence in support of a claim and the onus for evidence is on the person making the claim.
• Don't simply dismiss sources. Explain why a source might be dubious and deal with the claims.
• Do not sabotage discussion.

Entering our community is similar to entering someone's home, a university, or conference. Guests should do their best to respect the other guests, the hosts, and the environment. Moderators and other members do not get paid for their work, so please do not make their jobs more difficult. Try to make our forums better than when you found them.

• Do not spam: No advertising products, services, events, organisations, communities, or anything without first gaining permission from a moderator. What is spam? Some criteria:
  • Posts having no relevance to the forum
  • Promotional posts by members who do not engage with the community
• Don't Flood the Forum with new posts and comments. Give people a chance to discuss the topics and ideas.
• Share content in the correct forum or category.
• Stay on topic and don't derail the thread.
• Image Memes such as Image Macros, other images, and videos should only be posted if they are necessary for discussion or if they need to be debunked and critically evaluated. (Unless, of course, the community encourages these posts)
• Don't destroy the work of others e.g., deleting a thread on which people have contributed.

• Respect staff and moderators (They are here to help facilitate discourse. Please don't give them a hard time for them doing their jobs.)
• Be open to learning and be willing to change your beliefs
• Be awesome to each other
  • By being awesome to each other, you should not only be civil, but also go out of your way to help other members and the community. Be civil as well as accommodating
  • Give people a few chances
  • Respect others even when disagreeing
  • Criticise Ideas, not people
  • Use the principle of charity
  • Welcome new members rather than interrogating them
  • Respond to the content rather than the tone.
  • Be careful of making knee-jerk responses
  • Don't troll or intentionally provoke people
  • Focus on the ideas people present rather than using other sources such as profiles to dig up dirt.
• If you disagree with an idea, show, don’t just tell.
  • Work through ideas with the other person and demonstrate your reasons, don't just tell them “You're wrong”.
• Don't abuse website functions to interfere with open discussion
• Know when to take a break from a thread and have the willpower to stay out
  • While it may seem that people are not listening or changing their views when provided with superior evidence, remember that beliefs are slow to change. Many people might not concede publicly; however, a good thought is hard to shake. Telling people that they don’t understand is not going to be as effective as working analytically and patiently through claims. People become frustrated when learning something new especially when it contradicts a world view. Don’t let that frustration make you lose your cool.
• Avoid gish gallop
  • Gish gallop is the debating technique of drowning the opponent in a torrent of half-truths, lies, and straw-man arguments that the opponent cannot possibly answer in real time.
• Embrace Polya’s moral qualities of a scientist
  • Intellectual courage: One should be ready to revise any one of our beliefs.
  • Intellectual honesty: One should change a belief when there is a compelling reason to do so.
  • Wise restraint: One should not change a belief wantonly, without some good reason.

Skepti-Forum is a community project which encourages everyone to be involved. The participation of every members matters in bettering our community. Each of our members can influence our project in many ways. We value contributions from people who have expertise in various specialties, but we also appreciate questions and ideas from laypeople. Furthermore, members who report spam, jump in to mediate tense discussions, and offer constructive criticism all immensely improve our forum.

There are many ways to participate. Here are some options:

• Suggest dedicate thread topics to our moderators.
• Point out quality threads we can archive for future reference.
• Become a guest writer for our website
• Contribute to our Wiki
• Tell us if you see a problem or have a solution
  • The foundation of the Skepti-Forum project is built on the idea of a mutual exchange of ideas and that same idea is embedded in our moderation policies and practices. That means that each of our members can influence the community as well as our community policies. While members might not always see their ideas accepted, there is typically always an option to be heard. If a member does want to influence the community, they are welcome to bring up the issue with the forum staff or start a new thread with the criticism or proposed changes. Forum staff might be able to give advice on how to make your proposal with the most success.

Skepti-Forum has many options for our members that help us all have a mutual exchange of ideas and help us advance our discussions. Each of our members can use these option by talking with forum staff.

If a discussion is becoming tense and there's some need for mediation, one of our volunteers will typically be able to help out. Ask one of the forum moderators for help if needed and they should be able to set something up or assist you directly.

To add depth to our discussions, and help people feel more welcome and less overwhelmed, we have a “sidebar thread” option. Any member may request a sidebar thread with another member for a one-to-one discussion without interference from others (except moderators if need be). You may ask a moderator for help setting up and managing a sidebar thread. Example and tutorial of a Sidebar thread.

Other members can follow the conversation, but they are not allowed to interrupt the threads. Comments from anyone other than the participants will be deleted. Members can start new threads to explore topics from the Sidebar thread, but they shouldn't refer to the Sidebar thread or challenge the participants of the thread in any way. Once the sidebar is opened for community participation, other members can join in with evidence-based discussion. Opening a Sidebar thread to the public isn't an opportunity to attack the participants or interrogate them. Opening a Sidebar thread is a chance for members to provide sources or make comments that add to or challenge previous ideas. Once again, criticise the ideas, not the people.

In order to advance our discussions, we save previous threads to our wiki for our future audience and for quick reference. For example, we have a large collection of Facebook Threads. If you have a topic you think should be discussed and archived, please talk to a forum moderator who will be able to set up and store the thread and then moderate to keep it on track. If you see a quality post, you can also bring that to the attention of forum staff.

We are always seeking those who can add expertise in various areas on our forums; therefore, Skepti-Forum hosts Guest Q&A Events with speakers covering a wide range of topics. If you or someone you know would be interested in doing a Q&A, please tell our staff.

The main focus of our moderators is on making sure our forums remain an open atmosphere for a mutual exchange of ideas. We want to keep moderation as non-intrusive as possible and we want to make sure that moderators are facilitating discussions rather than dominating them.

Skepti-Forum moderators are volunteers, passionate for helping improve our community. Each of our moderators are motivated by their desire to see our project flourish and to see our community have a positive impact on society. While moderators are human and prone to error and mistakes, they do strive to embrace higher principles and ideals to guide their behaviour and influence their decisions.

• Skepti-Forum moderators should always ask themselves if their contribution or decision will encourage a mutual exchange of ideas and reflect Skepti-Forum's higher goals.
• Our moderators do their best to remove their personal beliefs, agendas, and desires from moderator decisions. They try to be as objective as possible.
• Each moderator does their best to apply our principles fairly and evenly, but also considers minority points of view and personality.
• Moderators approach situations tactfully and without sarcasm, ridicule, mockery, or other alienating behaviour.
• Moderators are mediators before moderators. Each moderators attempts to exhaust all other options when dealing with challenges before resorting to moderator tools or special authority.
• Moderators consider the intention as well as reasons for any rule and do not blindly enforce rules simply because they are rules.
• Before acting, moderators should ask themselves how they themselves would want to be moderated in that situation.
• Moderators use empathy to see how others might interpret a moderator's action and implied or explicit authority.
• Helping trumps scolding. Moderators should display the tone of a helpful stranger rather than that of a disapproving parent.
• Moderators should work exceptionally hard at self-reflection, trying to not come off as condescending, patronising, or arrogant.
• Moderators always keep the audience in mind when responding to any situation, asking how new members, unfamiliar with the forums, perceive the interactions.
• Self-aware moderators know when their negative biases or strong emotions will affect their judgement; therefore, they know when to ask allies to take over.
• Moderators work as a team, knowing they don't have to go it alone, understanding when to jump in to help allies, and feeling comfortable challenging other moderators to calm down or consider decisions more deeply. A moderation team will help each other be more aware of individual limitations and blind spots.
• Moderators give each other the benefit of the doubt. Even when disagreeing, moderators trust that the motivations are coming from good intentions.
• Moderators consider their decisions from a member's perspective before they act on what is convenient for moderators. What is easy and best for moderators isn't always what is best for the community.