[Imc-dc-editorial] Re: repost: hiding policies at other IMCs

[Chuck0]

clarissa peterson wrote:

> If the hiding policy is being debated again, I wanted to remind everybody
> that I already did this research ('specially since it took several hours...)
> and it doesn't need to be done again. Hopefully this will be a useful
> reference.

Thanks for doing this research Clarissa.

Maybe we can collectively come up with a good policy so that Joanie and I can 
be pals again. ;-)

I've added some comments below. I want to add that from my experience, it 
helps to provide some examples, because sometimes even a vague sentence can 
be open to misinterpretation.

--->

> Atlanta
> http://atlanta.indymedia.org/edpolicy.php3
> No commercial postings or advertisements.

This is a good basic policy, but we need to be on the same page that means 
posting for commercial products, not products being sold by activists. This 
could be construed to mean that Cascadia Media Collective couldn't promote 
their newest videos on our website. This policy also shouldn't cover postings 
where people announce their projects or promote them.

> No content-empty articles.
> No slander or libel. (requires approval of 3 members of collective to hide)

I like the idea of having a quorum to make decisions like this.

> No articles/comments that attack human rights or dignity (including sexist,
> homophobic, segregationist, or racist posts or comments) (requires approval
> of 3 members of collective)
> No articles/comments that violate our stated mission (requires approval of 3
> members of collective) (link to mission page)
> No death threats.

> Houston
> http://houston.indymedia.org/process/about.php
> Hide posts, without consulting the author, that in the editors opinion:
> are duplicates (we will keep the oldest post)
> are in an unreadable format or are marked "test"
> are boldly slanderous, libelous or personal
> advocate criminal activity with a specific time, place and manner

I think the Twin Cities policy states this better: "Detailed plans of badly 
illegal actions"

Given that Indymedia is an activist communications network, there will always 
be calls for "illegal" actions. The distinction should be made between 
serious criminal activity (i.e. that will land somebody in jail for years) 
and an "illegal" protest or direct action.

> advocate hatred toward or repression of any individual or group of people
> are not news related
> 
> Twin Cities
> http://twincities.indymedia.org/edit_policy.php3
> We feel posts in the following categories do not belong on our site, and
> will pull them from the newswire:
> Advertising
> Commercials (although not Adbusters or other culture jamming)

Again, see my comments above. Activist and alternative organizations should 
have the ability to promote their products and stuff.

> Anything that divides us by coming down on an oppressed group. (We're
> fighting a power structure that seeks to divide us along lines of race,
> class, gender, sexuality, national origin.)
> Hardcore porn with no social commentary
> Double posts
> Detailed plans of badly illegal actions
> The following will be dealt with by our web editorial group on a
> case-by-case basis:
> Personal attacks

This would need to be spelled out.

> Self-promotion

This might be directed at people who post the same thing constantly. This 
would be a bad policy if it was directed at activists who were promoting 
their projects, organizations, or whatever.

> SPAM - which includes Drive by Sniping: inflammatory posts with no
> supporting structure
> General guideline:
> Things that would better be dealt with by personal email shouldn't be on the
> site.
> Transparency:
> If a post is pulled or hidden, we will tell people why we did what we did.
> 
> Portland
> http://portland.indymedia.org/publish.php3
> portland indymedia reserves the right to hide or edit posts that:
> 1. advocate criminal activity indicating a specific time, place or manner
> 2. are duplicate posts; the most recent is kept
> 3. are obviously libelous or slanderous
> 4. interfere with the functionality of the website
> This policy does not exist to "censor" the newswire. Rather, it is meant to
> provide indymedia with legal protection (in the cases of #1 and #3) and to
> keep the site clear and functional (in the cases of #2 and #4).
> 
> San Francisco
> http://sf.indymedia.org/process/openpub.php
> - The newswire is intended to be a community media resource, a space free
> from spam and abuse in general.

This is a good proactive statement.

> - That space will not contribute to the oppression of traditionally
> oppressed and marginalized groups.
> Therefore, any proposal to hide/edit a post or comment by editorial
> consensus should be based on at least one of the following three points:
> - The post or comment constitutes abuse of the newswire (see note below)
> - The post or comment undermines the principles of unity of the SF-IMC (as
> of May, 2002 consensus hasn't been reached)
> - The post or comment constitutes a spam attack (see below) on the newswire
> Types of posts that are exceptions to the 4 person/4 hour consensus process
> and MAY be hidden immediately are as follows:
> - All reposted corporate media articles

Yes!

> - Duplicate posts or comments
> - Posts uploaded with technical problems
> - Explicitly pornographic material

Disagree if this is relevant to a story. The problem here is that people post 
pcitures that are off topic.

> - Posts from a previously recognized spammer
> - Test posts
> - Product advertisements
> 
> Seattle
> http://seattle.indymedia.org/newswire-hide.php3
> I. Posted articles or media representing unambiguous violations of policy,
> which can usually be hidden from the newswire without extended discussion,
> fall into three categories:
> Posts containing no content, or consisting only of links to other sites.
> Duplicate posts.
> Posts consisting of advertising or job descriptions.
> II. Posted articles or other media not falling into the above simple
> categories may still be found to violate one or more of the four core
> principles of our editorial policy, as follows:
> To provide an unmoderated, open-publishing newswire in accordance with
> established IMC policies and philosophy.
> To maintain the newswire and website as a community space, and a safe
> environment for users, especially members of disempowered or marginalized
> groups.
> To acknowledge that speech has the power to cause injury, but that instances
> of injurious speech should also be seen as opportunities for insurrectionary
> response.
> To preserve the quality of the website as a useful media resource.
> 
> Urbana-Champaign
> http://www.ucimc.org/info/display/policy/
> The following are types of situations and posts which may be hidden by the
> IMC Steering Group, along with guidelines for determining what should be
> hidden.
> Duplicate Posts
> Flooding or Spamming of Posts
> Off-Topic Posts
> Commercial Solicitation
> Guidelines for Editing and Deleting Posts
> The following types of posts may be edited or have text deleted by the IMC
> Steering Group.
> Illegal Speech
> Libel
> Direct Threats
> 
> UK
> http://uk.indymedia.org/censor.php3
> Discrimination: posts intending to oppress - using language, imagery, or
> other forms of communication which promote racism, fascism, xenophobia,
> sexism, or any other form of discrimination.
> Advertising: posts which are personally or product promotional in nature.
> Infactual: posts which are obviously infactual or misleading.
> Repeated posting: if contribution is reposted or text that was originally a
> comment was posted as a report
> 
> Ontario
> http://ontario.indymedia.org/newstatic.php3?page=policy
> Article Criteria We will "hide" postings that:
> have been requested hidden by the poster
> have been posted by someone who is found to be impersonating someone else
> have been posted by someone who claims a false affiliation with an
> organization are duplicates
> have no content other than advertising a business or another web site
> are persistent postings of speech which incite hatred against an oppressed
> group of people
> are garbage (e.g. pictures submitted as text)
> are relevant mainly to a jurisdiction outside Ontario (e.g. Radio Georgia's
> 25th anniversary). These posts should go to another IMC, or to the Global
> page.

I have a problem with the "provincialism" filter that some IMCs are trying to 
establish. I cna understand the need to highlight local material and that 
some people excessively post spam to many IMC websites, but crossposting 
non-local material to IMCs is an important method of communication and 
networking.

> are comments that are unrelated to the article being commented on.
> contain false information about events (such as cancellation) that would
> cause confusion
> are organizing specific illegal acts (i.e. saying to meet at a certain place
> and time to go do something illegal.)
> 
> Also, a lot of sites have just this standard paragraph (which is on our
> publish page):
> After stories have been published, they can be edited, linked or hidden by
> the collective running this site. We have a lot of respect for the people
> publishing on our site, so we generally only use these features to fix
> obvious mistakes, such as typos in a web address or a duplicate copy of a
> story. Very rarely, someone abuses our trust by posting a story that is way
> outside what the website is set up to do, and we may remove it. Read more
> about our open publishing policy.

Chuck0

------------------------------------------------------------
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"The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. 
You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you 
assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which 
you resist is the degree to which you are free..."
---Utah Phillips