Terms of Use (Service) -- No One Is Safe....

I joined this site back in October 2006, at the start of the Fall 2006 Blogging for Progress Scholarship Competition. I joined for many of the same reasons you all did, to try to get some money for school expenses. I didn't win that competition, and I dropped out of the next to join the staff of the site about two months before the end of the competition. I was somewhere in the top 5-10% of all competitors at the time I dropped out.

During the time I've been on the site, a lot has changed. And, as I've moved up the ranks on the ProU staff, I've tended to forget a few of the things that go on with regular members. I forget how some of us seem to you all, because it's been so long since I've been one of you. I forget that sometimes you can't see the same things on the site that I can. I forget that you aren't privy to all the exciting things we're working on behind the scenes. And I forget that to you, it sometimes seems like we're not doing anything because so much of what we do goes on behind the scenes.

Which brings me to today's topic. I recently received an e-mail from a regular user like you explaining her view of things regarding the Terms of Use.

When you sign up for an account on this site, you are required to agree to our Terms of Use (what we call the ToS, for Terms of Service). Among other things, these terms require that you agree to remain civil, not spam, and don't plagiarize. Those are the three most often violated rules on the site, and there aren't that many to begin with. If you haven't read the Terms yet, I highly suggest you do, because signing up for an account means that you've agreed to them and are bound by them. Ignorance is not a valid excuse in the case of ToS violations.

Everyone, regardless of rank, is bound by these ToS. I, as Director of Member Services and President of Progressive U, Inc, am bound to the same exact rules as the rest of you. If I personally attack someone on the site, I will be given a reprimand by another Director. If I do it more than once, disciplinary action will be taken. If I spam, same thing. In fact, I am bound to stricter ToS than you are, since the staff has another set of Terms we are required to abide by.

Here's the thing, though. Our staff is so small that very few of us can commit the required time to moderating the content on the site. We have it set right now so that your content appears immediately, because we don't want you to have to wait to have an intelligent discussion. But, as a side effect of this freedom, we can get bombarded with ToS violations. The spam is usually pretty easy to deal with. The plagiarism is a little harder, and the personal attacks are harder still. And we can't comb through every single entry that is posted on the site; it's simply too much for us.

This is where you come in. We have carefully developed a flagging system. If you click 'report this page' on any entry, even on a member account, you have the chance to leave us a note letting us know your concerns. If you see an entry that has less than 200 words of original content, flag it. If you think something is a personal attack, flag it. We will review the flag and decide one way or the other. We won't always agree with your interpretation, but we will consider it. And we will let you know why we decided the way we did. Some things are more open to interpretation than others (for instance, we can't ban everyone who is vocal against abortion, simply because you don't like their 'tone').

We want you to be active participants on the site, and we would really appreciate your help. Thanks so much for staying around, and let's keep this a place where people, like me, will want to stay for years.

I have an open door policy. I'm busy, but I do my best to respond to each and every inquiry I get. You can either e-mail me directly (info[at]progressiveu.org, or my personal address at mvenus929[at]progressiveu.org), or you can PM me. If I can't answer your question directly, I will do my best to pass you along to the staff member who can answer it. Please, let me know of any concerns you have.

Thank you.
Chelle