In recent weeks, our forum has seen a significant surge in flagged posts and comments. It’s worth pointing out that while the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) operates under Network Nervous System (NNS) governance, this forum is moderated by the DFINITY Foundation. Community feedback has been divided – some members feel we’ve been too quick to censor comments, while others have called for stricter moderation. This debate prompted our team to reassess the forum’s communication guidelines. In this post, we present our core principles for cultivating and overseeing meaningful community discussions on this forum and invite your feedback on a few guideline changes we plan to implement.
Purpose of the Forum
The Internet Computer Protocol and its ecosystem of community projects evolve at a rapid pace. Several DAOs, with the NNS being the most prominent, govern significant aspects of these projects and protocols. This dynamic environment of constant innovation, paired with decentralized governance, necessitates an active debate and timely decision-making. This forum shall serve community members to exchange ideas, gather feedback, and shape the future of the ecosystem.
Beyond governance discussions, this forum serves as a collaborative space where developers can seek peer support, exchange technical insights, and showcase innovative projects. While we welcome the introduction of new initiatives, the forum is not intended for token promotion or price speculation.
Different Communication Styles
The ICP community is as colorful as the wider web3 world! You’ll find tech enthusiasts diving deep into code and architecture, visionaries philosophizing about decentralized futures, and creative folks sharing memes that make us laugh. This mix of serious discussion and lighthearted fun is what keeps our community vibrant! We welcome different communication styles on this forum – each has its place in our community as long as they remain respectful. That said, we strive to prevent meaningful discussions from being derailed by off-topic interjections. At the same time, we value freedom of speech and don’t want to create a sterile bulletin board filled with corporate jargon and no humor. Finding the right balance between these sometimes conflicting goals is more art than science, and we’ll occasionally miss the mark.
Forum as a Public Face of the ICP Community
We all share the goal of making ICP and its ecosystem projects successful, which means growing the community is a priority. The forum plays a vital role in the onboarding process for everyone – whether you’re a developer, node provider, or end user. In fact, the DFINITY Foundation has cited specific forum discussions in project tenders to showcase our transparency and to highlight how constructively our community evaluates proposed changes. As our community’s public face, this forum should feel welcoming and accessible to newcomers while reflecting the quality of our ecosystem.
Substantiated Criticism Welcome
Being friendly and welcoming shouldn’t prevent the community from having candid discussions. Criticism and disagreement are essential elements of a healthy debate. We simply ask that arguments rely on facts and that allegations be supported by verifiable evidence. For instance, while the recent revelations about SNS framework abuses were uncomfortable, we value that they were brought to light – transparency ultimately strengthens our ecosystem.
Separate Sections
In order to keep both a productive environment, and also allow for less serious chatter we will introduce a new forum category called ‘Watercooler Talk’ where the casual topics can go. This way, people that are not interested in these more lighthearted topics can filter out that section. We will also recategorize posts if they do not fit the category they are currently in. For topics in other categories we ask forum members to stay in a similar tone as the other posts. It is okay to start a sibling thread in a different tone in the Watercooler Talk category to discuss the same topic from different angles.
Guideline Updates
We plan to extend the existing forum communication guidelines as follows:
- Extending “Ad hominem attacks” in the list of inappropriate criticism patterns to “Ad hominem / witch hunting attacks”
- Extend the “Respect each other …” pattern to “Respect each other. Don’t harass or impersonate people. Don’t expose information of others unless it’s strictly relevant for your argument. Negative claims about people or projects should be supported by evidence, and be presented in a respectful way.”
This guideline is the basis for our forum moderation efforts.
We welcome your feedback on these proposed changes, which we plan to implement in the coming days unless compelling alternatives emerge from our discussion. Thank you for being an active part of the ICP community and for contributing to our vibrant discourse.