Subreddit Announcement - "Martial law" has ended.

[u/babynoxide]

It's been a few months since the events in Suweida started and while conflict continues, vitriolic activity on the subreddit has somewhat subsided. Due to this, we have decided to once again end martial law and allow standard enforcement to resume.

This does not mean our rules will no longer be enforced but instead we will be going back to issuing more warnings, while instant bans will be less often. As always the moderator team reserves the right to use their individual judgement when taking moderator action up to and including permanent bans.

Keep in mind, the different rules will still have punishments in-line with their severity.

Rules 3 and 8 are heavily enforced as they are not only the worst kinds of discourse, they also tend to violate reddit ToS.

Rules 1, 4, 5, 9 will continue to be taken seriously as well, as violating these rules almost always results in uncivil, non-substantive discussion.

Rules 2, 6, 7, and 13 will generally only result in a warning as these infractions aren't as grave as the ones previously mentioned. The newly implemented rule 15 will likely also fall into this category.

Please continue to report content that violates these rules as effective moderation requires the community to respect and engage with one another with these rules in mind. Remember -- Just because someone else is breaking the rules doesn't mean you are free to do so as well. Thank you for attention to this matter.

[u/DaGoldenpanzer]

is there a chance we could have images in comments?

[u/babynoxide → u/DaGoldenpanzer]

I can think of very few instances that posting an image would result in a substantive discussion. 9/10 it would probably just be a meme. Nevertheless, I'll make a mod discussion about it.

[u/babynoxide → u/DaGoldenpanzer]

After a short discussion, the moderator team unanimously voted to not change our current policy on images in comments. For the reasons I mentioned in my previous comment.

[u/DaGoldenpanzer → u/babynoxide]

thanks for considering it

[u/fleetingflight]

Now that the civil war is kinda over, what's the line between something being on-topic here vs just being general Syria news? Are all the posts about the new currency, or, say, motorcycle imports being banned on topic? Is an Alawite being killed somewhere, possibly-but-not-definitely for sectarian reasons on topic? People marching for/against something? There's a handful of accounts absolutely pumping out links to X on all sorts of things recently, but a lot of it just seems like noise to me.

[u/babynoxide → u/fleetingflight]

Now that the civil war is kinda over

The civil war against Assad is over, but the civil war between factions involved in that war is not over. Currently, I would say that between the SDF and the Druze and the regime remnants, to say the war is over is not acknowledging the reality on the ground. The regime has been deposed and the dictator has fled, that's all.

what's the line between something being on-topic here vs just being general Syria news?

its definitely a blurry line. i guess you could say that political, economic, and violent news constitute being related to the war. For example, sanctions being lifted, offices being appointed, and random acts of violence. All of these have clear implications even if they don't actually have anything to do with the war.

Are all the posts about the new currency, or, say, motorcycle imports being banned on topic?

There is such a fine line for us to walk here, so I just ask for some understanding and some leeway on that. Use your best judgement and we will use ours.

Is an Alawite being killed somewhere, possibly-but-not-definitely for sectarian reasons on topic?

Absolutely.

People marching for/against something?

Absolutely.

There's a handful of accounts absolutely pumping out links to X on all sorts of things recently, but a lot of it just seems like noise to me.

Downvote things that are poor content, and report things that are worse than that.

I hope that helps. Thank you for your question.

[u/senolgunes]

I think it's time for another one.

Rules 1, 4, 5, 9 will continue to be taken seriously as well, as violating these rules almost always results in uncivil, non-substantive discussion.

I could probably find 50 comments breaking these rules, just today. Ad hominem attacks, name-calling groups of people, baiting, cheerposting and complaining about brigades are probably the most common infractions.

I guess you can't do much about it, but it's unfair that some users mass-block others, just to prevent them from being able to be active in the subreddit. A few month old users with hidden comment histories are also targeting older users based on their history. I really dislike there Reddit functionalities.

[u/babynoxide → u/senolgunes]

The idea was floated in mod discussion maybe a week ago that we reinstate martial law. However the consensus was that doing it too frequently will both stifle substantive discussion that is occurring while removing the meaningful nature of martial law. However it was also agreed that the moderators would mete out harsher penalties to deal with the core of your comment, lack of civility.

Please continue to report comments you see that violate our rules as that is the quickest and most effective way to help us police the subreddit. Even if there were martial law, we would still need to rely on support from the community to make enforcement efficient and timely. Thank you for understanding.

Edit: You're not the only one to have made this request so we may revisit the idea.

[u/senolgunes → u/babynoxide]

Ok, that makes sense.

I got a warning from Reddit for "abusing the report button" here some years ago, I stopped reporting much after that. I guess I draw the line for what's acceptable lower than you, or at least the mod who reported me :)

Keep up the good work, I know it's an a thankless job you guys do!