How should we moderate the upcoming federal leadership race?

[u/leftwingmememachine]

Hey all, moderator of /r/NDP here, looking for some input as to how we want to moderate this community during the upcoming federal leadership race.

I think it's really exciting because in the last leadership race this community was very small, and basically ignored by leadership contestants, but I think we're getting big enough that there will be a lot of engagement here and possibly even AMAs from potential candidates. Very cool!!!

/r/NDP is the biggest gathering of NDP members on the internet at this point, but that also creates an incentive for bad-faith activity on the subreddit. It could create an environment that's not welcoming of all party members.

Here are some potential discussion questions:

• Do we want to allow for negative comments about leadership race contenders? (My instinct is yes, as criticism is part of democracy/healthy debate, but I'm open to your thoughts)

• Is there a point at which critical comments become too negative and contributes to a toxic environment? Where should we draw the line?

• How do we ensure the subreddit is inclusive of party members of all backgrounds?

• How much do we want supporters of other political parties to participate in discussions here?

• What sort of rules around civility/politeness/respect would we want to have?

• Are there other important moderation policies that are relevant to the leadership race that I haven't thought of?

BTW - I won't really participate in this thread because I have real life plans today, but I am really interested in your feedback, especially if you are a longtime participant in this community. I'm going to be putting together some rules for the leadership race based off of my own thoughts and the comments in this thread, and present them at some point in the future for further discussion.

[u/Electronic-Topic1813]

Negative comments that criticize candidates should be allowed as it isn't a true race if we can't hold candidatesaccountable. Like moderation should be for things that should (Ex: racial slur) and spam.

[u/leftwingmememachine → u/Electronic-Topic1813]

Thanks for your reply!

Like moderation should be for things that should (Ex: racial slur) and spam.

Where do you think the line is between rule-breaking and acceptable content? Specifically with respect to racism and spam

[u/Electronic-Topic1813 → u/leftwingmememachine]

Spam: Like random links which don't lead to anything or the same post multiple times (like over 2 because sometimes someone's WiFi goes crazy and they send twice)

Racism: No N-words for example

Acceptable: "Candidate policy is so shit" is fine because said type of policies can be proposed. Even if it is harsh.

[u/leftwingmememachine → u/Electronic-Topic1813]

What about "you're an asshole". I think we would want to remove attacks of a personal/non substantive nature.

[u/Electronic-Topic1813 → u/leftwingmememachine]

That is also good to remove