Hello everyone!
Between the holidays and this big chunk of work, I had to delay my usual monthly SpeakBits update. I have finally implemented an interesting and unique part of this site, which is the sortition moderation process.
What is sortition?
Sortition is the selection of people for positions of authority using a random representative sample. Those selected may serve individually or in juries and typically have the time and resources to become well informed on the questions they are chosen to decide.
How can this be used in SpeakBits?
We can improve moderation and resolve complaints about moderators and loud minorities by allowing users to appeal moderation decisions to the rest of the users on the site. This should empower all users to have a say in how the content on the site is moderated and prevent any one user from having too much control.
What other benefits does this process provide?
Transparency is a big ideal I have for the site and with this process, I am also including notifications for all moderation actions to the users. One annoying thing that I have found on sites before is the concept of being shadow banned and having your post or comment being removed with you thinking that everything is fine when, in reality, nobody else is able to view what you’ve posted.
Because of that, all users will have the ability to view what content was approved/removed/marked as spam. If the content was removed, a removal reason must be provided. This will all be contained within the new Appeals page under the Available to Appeal section. Users will have 30 days to appeal. Once the 30 days have passed, the content will no longer appear under this section and an appeal will no longer be available.
What current actions will start the sortition moderation process?
- Approving content.
- Removing content.
- Marking content as spam.
What future actions will start the sortition moderation process?
- Banning a user from a group.
- Locking content.
What content will not be part of the sortition moderation process?
Illegal content is unable to be part of this process as swift action is needed and the site is responsible for dealing with such content, not the users. Community Rules #3 and #4 cover what is considered illegal.
What is the sortition moderation process like?
- User #1 submits content.
- User #2 reports content or a moderator acts on it.
- Moderator views the report and approves/removes/spam. A reason must be provided for each action.
- The two users are notified of moderation action.
- If approved, User #2 can appeal if they feel the content should not be approved.
- If removed or marked as spam, User #1 can appeal if they feel the content should be approved.
- Users have 30 days to submit an appeal of the moderation action taken on the content.
- A random representative sample of the users that have joined the group will be notified of the appeal.
- They will be provided with a page of all context of the post, moderator decision, and explanation for request of appeal.
- They will two buttons to select from
- Agree
- Disagree
- If a supermajority (60%) disagrees with the moderation action, the decision will be considered overturned. Otherwise, the decision stands.
- A second appeal can be submitted by either the moderator or User #1. A random representative sample of users from the entire site will be notified of the appeal and presented with the same options as before.
- If a supermajority (60%) disagrees with the moderation action, the decision will be considered overturned. Otherwise, the decision stands.
- If the two appeals yield opposing decisions, the admins will be notified and are allowed to weigh in.
What is the percentage of users that will be notified?
Using the methodology for this sample size calculator, I’ve chosen the following jury sizes for both groups and the site as a whole:
- Users less than 40, all will be notified.
- Users less than 1000, 30% of users will be notified.
- Users greater than 1000, 350 users will be notified.
Users are removed from the available jury pool when they become part of a jury and will remain removed until all users have been part of a jury.
Future
The next bit of work that I’m hoping to have done next month is the RSS feeds for all groups and sorts. I think this will be a really welcome addition to the site and a benefit for all users!