State of the Sub
Mod Addition
As previously announced, we are happy to welcome /u/2cblover. He's already proven to be a wonderful addition and he has jumped right into the fray. I'm glad things are stabilized from a few months ago. We had the departure of several mods who contributed greatly to the sub and was sad to see them leave. I know there were several decisions I made unilaterally which many disagreed with. We are looking to onboard at least one more mod over the next coming weeks or month or so. We have a great core team and we would prefer to slowly add members to ensure chemistry and such is maintained. Again, we are very glad to have /u/2cblover onboard!
Rule Y
Given criticism, feedback and recent events, it was decided that a rule change was necessary. We do our best to maintain an environment conducive to the discussion of our little hobby here. As a result, we've decided to implement a new rule, which we affectionately call "Rule Y".
What is Rule Y?
I figure given the mods here are not elected by popular vote but rather appointed, what better inspiration to draw from than the Supreme Court of the United States. Rule Y is modeled after the Supreme Court decision of Jacobellis v. Ohio which dealt with obscenity laws. Justice Potter wrote the most well known words of this decision as it pertains to hard-core pornography (SCOTUS determined that all pornography outside of hard-core pornography was protected by the first amendment). When he spoke of determining the threshold between legal porn and hard core porn, he said essentially that he couldn't describe what hard-core porn was but "I know it when I see it."
Likewise, Rule Y is intended to give the mods here discretion in moderating and curating content on the sub without having to argue about a loophole or technicality. Like our porn loving Justice Potter and his knowledge of hard core porn, we feel that the mods here have the temperment and ability to discern content that further builds this community positively versus content that adds no value or hurts this community. Given that the mods here are specifically chosen for their knowledge of this sub, its culture, and its purpose, I trust that we will be able to properly curate content with limited infringement on the community's ability to express themselves.
Rule Y is not intended to give us carte blanche on deleting content we may not like. This is not the purpose at all. The problem is the inability to codify every possible rule. We have 16 rules and we didn't want to add 10 more to cover every permutation of bad behavior. The purpose of Rule Y is give us better ability to ferret out problematic content and content that does not serve the best interests of the community.
We are already aware that some will cry censorship or that we are Hitler'ing the sub. And that's fine. There is already censorship and there is already loud cries of dissatisfaction amongst the community. So we figure might as well try something different, see if things improve. Things seriously got to the point where technicalities and loopholes were being played. The 16 Rules were never intended to be the end all, be all but rather a guideline as to how to act in this sub.
Rule Y - Practical Terms
Here's the deal - if you follow the 16 listed rules in spirit and act in good faith, you've got nothing to worry about. /u/Vendor_BBMC can continue his posts with no interference from us. The "fun" drama will not cease. While we think vendor reviews, opsec questions, and the like are the backbone of this place, we also believe its important to build community and have some fun. Rule Y won't interfere with that. However, the trolling is not going to be left unchecked as it has in the past. The bickering back and forth is not going to continue. Off topic comments will be removed. Violations will result in warnings or bans based on the mod's discretion. Stop being fucking dicks to your fellow criminal. Start treating others with respect.
Vendors and the Sub
We want to note that we will be approaching this differently than we have in the past. However, this merits its own post so its not buried in the SoS. Our new policies regarding vendors will be published soon. Please note we want vendors to participate in this community. We love vendors. We do want to ensure a level playing field for all and want to keep the sub as spam-less as possible. We'll be working on the details of this and publish it on its own since its important for vendors to see.
Superlist Changes
We are also playing with different methodologies for adding new markets to the Superlist. The most important change is that we aren't listing as quickly as we have in the past. Previously, a market made an public announcement, waiting a week, and got listed. Now, we want more community involvement and inspection. The market announcement will remain, after a week, a sticky will be made proposing the new market(s) to the community and the community will be given a chance to test the market. We anticipate this part of the process will take about 2 weeks. Remember, this is a community efforts, not a mod effort, to vet new markets. We need to codify this new process and will make an announcement as well.
TL;DR - /u/2cblover is our new mod. Rule Y is our new rule.
All glory to the Hypnotoad.