I can count the number on one hand, and we have around 200 people. Our server is very, very good. We have a good set of rules, we reinforce positive behavior, and we don't fuck around. https://twitter.com/Kahjahkins/status/1278365216330231808

Joining is a privilege and it will be revoked if you introduce drama.

I think a big part of our success is that we were founded as a coop games community, and our rules are very general. Which sounds weird, I know, but

Here's the thing: ultra-precise rules have a way of attracting contrarians. Big, blanket rules make it harder for people to find loopholes. Our #1 rule is something like "don't cause other people distress. Also, if you claim distress as a way of harming others, we ban"

The rest of our rules support this: don't cause distress. Our server is, functionally, a safe space. It's the room for people who think the party is too noisy and need to relax.

Because of my experience with a family that routinely preaches apocalyptic, democrat-fueled doom, politics and religion are banned--yes, I know, some people will argue everything is political. I get that. This space is not for you. You can talk about politics ANYWHERE. Not here.

and that's because ~I~ want to be protected from the never-ending stream of paranoid pizzagate shit that family members do. I see covid nonstop on my twitter, I don't need to see that in my discord.

But this rule succeeds because we don't let that right wing definition of "political is anything I don't like" fly. Y'know how right wing gamers think "woman leading a game is political"? well, it isn't, fuck off. That kind of rhetoric breaks the distress rule, get the fuck out.

You violate the sanctity of the space, you're done, it's that simple.

So yeah, no drama, very low-stress environment. When we have problems, we're usually in voice talking through them, helping each other out.

I trust my mods; it's a mix of people who are up at all times of the day. One time I went out for groceries and three people new to the server started shitposting with slurs (one of the 'times i can count on my hand') and they were permabanned and slurs deleted before I got back.

But we rarely need to moderate. Like I said, I could count it on one hand. I do my best to lead by example too. When I see tension building over a misunderstanding, I work to defuse it by asking people to explain their points. This is rarely needed. But happens occasionally.

At the same time, I don't advertise stomp as a safe place. I do my best to ensure it _is_ but I absolutely, 100%, will not advertise it as a safe place because I know there are people who want to take advantage of that to prey on others. That shit ain't allowed.

If you're here to hang out, have a great time, do pokemon raids or destiny raids or payday or aliens: colonial marines or stream danganronpa to me, great. If you want to fuck with my people, you're done.

We're also extremely transparent; our mod room gets used about once every six months, and almost entirely for "should we add a new room/remove a new room?"

We limit discussion boards, which prevents cliques from forming, as things are more general.

A community that tries to hide its drama or avoid making people look bad is rotten from within. Once you do that, the community is fucked. Worst thing I try to hide is 'that guy annoys me somewhat, but I don't know how to talk to him about it.'

So

1) have values
2) make it clear your most important rule is "actions that cause intentional distress are forbidden"
3) have constant moderator support
4) swift and decisive actions against assholes
5) break up cliques

Normally, this is where I'd go "alright, so I'll temporarily open invites to the server," but I am going to go lie down for a bit so I wouldn't be there to answer questions for anyone, and I like to do that when I open invites, so, yeah. Maybe one day soon.

One of my proudest achievements was after we ran a raid for people and they started shitting on one of our members, and I came here and vented about their behavior, and several people went "doc has infinite patience, so these people had to be AWFUL"

also we no longer have a dedicated destiny channel, it's destiny and pokemon now, because destiny is just pokemon, nerds

the other reason I don't want to call stomp a 'safe place' is because I think some people might try to join under the impression that we're a ~quiet place~ and no, no, we can be rowdy, we may all yell about destiny's bad loot changes or whatever.

my own internal check is "was this done in good faith"? If someone isn't acting in good faith, that's when I feel the need to begin moderating.

we have a value system at play here. Like, if a TERF joins and starts being transphobic, they can do the JK Rowling thing of arguing "oh but this distresses me." Well, too bad, you're distressing our trans members by being a bigot. You're done.

Stomp will NOT be the mischief server. @mischiefdevelop will be focused towards the games we make and conversation surrounding them. I know I leveraging stomp and turning it INTO the mischief community would be EASY but that's NOT what stomp is for.