January was a time of change for this subreddit, if one thing had to be said about it. It’s alot to process even for active members, and I want to try to cover everything in one shot; compartmentalized and cogent. I meant to publish this 2-3 days ago, but between frequent burnout and the ever-present need to articulate this as accurately as possible, it’s taken quite a bit longer. This way anyone who missed anything can just jump to a section.

###”Extended Staff”

Bottom line: The extended staff are users with no special permissions on this subreddit(with rare exceptions like wiki editing rights), are treated without impunity, and while input they give within their field is generally trusted they don’t have any special influence on decision making.

Extended staff was a term chosen in lieu of writing staff because I honestly don’t know how far the community will want to take things in the future, and being prepared for it now will help to avoid confusion later. Heck, even now, I have some ideas for where the extended staff can expand, but I just don’t know how it would pan out. It’s a way to expedite processes like wiki development and to give those willing to make high quality contributions some autonomy(Like with wiki development).

Recruitment for extended staff is something that we can be very flexible about due to the fact that there’s supposed to be no net gain of power. I’ve added people that PMed me, sent invitations, and wouldn’t be averse to inviting people the community at large vouches for. Pretty much anything goes, so long as applicants can keep their content quality up to the standards we need; especially with the wiki, which needs to be an authoritative resource. People that don’t want to be part of the extended staff can still apply for approved submitter status within the sanctum, but consistently disruptive, non-contributory posts, or vandalism will result in us striking without mercy all the same.

If members of the extended staff are operating too slowly or if their work is consistently poor or difficult to use, or they appear to be inactive, then we’ll remove them accordingly. The extended staff isn’t a caste, after all; it’s a responsibility. That, and having inactive users with wiki permissions brings with it an elevated risk of that account being compromised and causing a minor setback.

Generally speaking, the extended staff are delegated to units(wiki staff, engagement staff, and whatever else is decided on in the future), but there is room for interplay and we don’t really care to restrict interaction. Right now, there are only wiki staff, who receive wiki editing privileges within the sanctum. Extended staff are meant to be slightly more official contributors that have certain responsibilities, and are held to much more stringent quality standards within the sanctum.

###The “Inner Sanctum”

Found at /r/ZSanctum. It’s where our extended staff can collaborate and where a fair amount of planning for major projects, weekly discussions, etc will take place.

The name is more of a relic from my D&D days than anything (Pocket protector intensifies), in that it gave me a penchant for archaic and extravagant nomenclature. It’s less fitting now that it’s not private, but there is some exclusivity when accounting for the need for quality or useful content. This was originally private, but while we don’t want people working in a glass house, transparency is and should stay one of the top priorities.

The inner sanctum has a trifecta of purposes; it’s a great test environment where we can give users permissions outside of /r/zoophilia(like the wiki staff), it streamlines development processes by providing infrastructure specific to development of the subreddit, and it increases the signal to noise ratio by allowing us to avoid disruptive contributors and condense our work materials in one place. In many regards, it’s like an office or a workplace for extended staff. As outlined in the extended staff section, users not interested in a position on the extended staff can still apply for approved submitter status, with the assumption that they read and understand the rules of it.

###CSS Changes

The most obvious change is probably the new flairs. In order, a reptile, hominid, pig/boar, avian, feline, and aquatic symbol, respectively, have been added to the colored flairs available. If you have ideas or a better 14x14 sprite for one of them, PM me and I’ll take a look.

Linkflairs have been activated and the “News”, “Discussion”, and “Art” flairs are now available to users. While we don’t want flairs to get too bloated, suggestions are welcome.

The “created by” text that basically said “created by [Deleted]” has been removed. The snoo quotes in the sidebar saying things like “...for great justice. ...for your WoW guild.” have also been removed. Additionally, the “Create your own Subreddit” button was removed. So, lots of downsizing to trim the fat in the sidebar.

###Automoderator Changes

Yay, automoderator is running! Right now though, it’s not really ‘moderating’ so much as being a tool for some neat features. For moderators, it’s been installed with a custom linkflair command, a violation command to expedite documented thread removal, and a shadowban script for when we suspect a user of evading bans and actively working to endanger users, and under those circumstances only. Shadowbanned users will not be included in our transparency reports, but can be disclosed to active members via PM.

Automoderator was also outfitted with some new features for everyone; an automated “no salt” and “strict SFW” reply that moderators will honor. You can trigger this by placing NS or ☮ in brackets for no salt mode, and SSFW or ∀ in brackets for strict safe for work mode.

###Rules

The rules in the sidebar have been condensed and expanded versions added to the rules page, found here. They are also linked in the “Rules” title in the sidebar, for easy access. This change means you can report users for rule violations specific to this subreddit without having to type it out.

The existing rules haven’t changed, but a disrespect rule was added and a rule against hate speech was added, I think. The latter was enforced against already, so it made sense to officiate it. If it comes that we need to make room for other rules, we may condense the hate speech rule into the disrespect rule. Given how differently we treat the offenses, it makes sense to keep them separate for now.

The disrespect rule is a forgiving, guidance based system that the community controls, somewhat. Its effectiveness relies on reporting, as disrespect won’t be enforced against otherwise(Because, presumably, nobody found it disrespectful then). For any disrespect offense we act on, the user will receive either a confirmation that their post is not disrespectful, or a breakdown of “what went wrong” to cause the infraction. The rule uses a tier system of sorts to keep track of how we should enforce. To avoid censorship, the first three posts or “tiers” that a user gets enforced against will receive only a warning. The fourth offense is a removal, and consequent offenses are short bans that quickly escalate. There are no permanent bans, and offenses can be appealed. Fortunately, we shouldn’t need to worry much about bans, as warnings are usually enough to prevent any misdeeds.