When Wintreath is at its best, it's a place where people feel safe being their full selves, knowing that they'll be accepted, supported, and embraced. It's that love and compassion in our community that's allowed people to face their inner demons, to see them through dark times, and to help them recover from horrible past experiences. It's where Wintreath has made a difference, and it's all stemmed from that feeling that they could open up and be themselves without judgement or negativity.
But recent experience has shown that we can and must do better, especially for our friends who face judgement, discrimination, or worse in their lives simply for being who they are. One small way we can do that is to provide them with a better space to come together and chat among themselves: everything from everyday chitchat to sensitive topics that concern them as a group. Not surprisingly, people who have faced discrimination and trauma may not feel comfortable being open in even the most well-intentioned public community on a platform that has hundreds of members and anybody can join with a click of a button.
That's why I'm happy to announce
Discord Hangouts. These are private channels on the Discord dedicated to groups and their allies in our community who can better thrive with a private area to talk with each other, such as groups that face discrimination. Even the membership of these channels are private, as member permissions will be directly applied to the channel rather than through a role that anyone can see. Here's some of the specifics about about Hangouts for those who are interested.
Hangouts Policies
How Would Hangouts be Started?
Hangouts are limited to groups who have a need for privacy to discuss topics concerning them, such as groups who face discrimination. Any Citizen may request that a Hangout be created on that basis by contacting any member of the RSS or posting the request in the Discord #governance channel and pinging the RSS role. The RSS will verify that the group is eligible for a Hangout, then forward the request to an operator for creation.
How Would I Join a Hangout?
Hangouts will be listed on the roles channel, but you will have to contact an operator for access.
You must be a current Citizen who has also been a Citizen for at least one month and made at least 100 Discord posts to join a Hangout. You must also be either a member of or ally of the group the Hangout is dedicated to. Be aware that trying to join a hangout if you are not a member of the group or an ally will result in being banned from joining Hangouts going forward.
If you meet these requirements, contact any operator. Please be sure to specify whether you're a member of the group or an ally, so we can make sure the group knows when you join. Operators will deny requests to join from members who have a problematic history with the group whose space they're trying to join. The group may also request that certain members not be allowed to join based on their past actions, but final decisions will be made by operators.
Operators and Hangouts
Operators will have access to all Hangouts, but will limit their posts to moderation/administration unless they're a member of the Hangout or are specifically pinged to discuss something within the Hangout.
Operators are forbidden from discussing conversations that take place in a Hangout except in the operator or RSS channels. Those discussions should be limited to topics concerning moderation, community safety, IRL legal issues, or an emergency such as a member's mental health crisis. Operators who violate this policy will have their access to hangouts revoked and potentially be stood down, depending on the severity of the violation.
Why are Hangouts a Thing Now?
Although our goal is to create a community that our members and friends can feel safe and comfortable in, we recognize that some people need a more private space to really open up about the issues they and their community faces. This can be because of trauma and discrimination they've faced elsewhere, or because they feel uneasy about opening up in public areas of Wintreath that anyone can access. We understand that sometimes people need to be sure that the people they're opening up to are people who will support them, and that's why hangouts are a thing now.
I have to admit that I didn't come up with this idea all on my own...it's based on a request I received from Chanku last year for a similar private space. At the time, we were operating as a community that was open to all, and I was skeptical of excluding members of the community from something in the Wintreath server, worried about creating echo chambers, and concerned about being put in a position of deciding which groups should and shouldn't have a private space. We're now operating as a community that prioritizes the safety and comfort of our friends to be their full selves, and I...can better understand why people who face discrimination would feel the need to have a more private space to feel truly safe opening up, even in a community as well-intentioned as Wintreath.
The RSS has already approved the first Hangout,
#furry, a Hangout for members of our community who are furries and their allies. I know that the discrimination that furries face is nowhere near that faced by other groups, especially those who can't hide who they are. The decision to start with #furry was based on practicality: the membership of the Furry Club survived recent events relatively intact, and the members I talked to while developing this idea indicated that they would prefer a Hangout to a Club. The RSS is committed to getting other Hangouts going as they're wanted by members of our community.
Speaking of Clubs, the RSS has also voted to repeal the Regional Clubs Act and archive all existing clubs. Besides being inactive, clubs were an example of the bloated bureaucracies of the past, created at a time when we were trying to find work for the then-Storting. We hope to create a more straightforward community that's easier for members to understand and be a part of, and eliminating clubs was a step in the right direction.
Obviously, Hangouts isn't a replacement for improving our moderation practices or the work that I need to do to become a better leader, and this isn't intended to be that. But it's an additional step we can take so that our friends in the community have a better space to open up, to be themselves, and to talk about important topics that they wouldn't feel so comfortable discussing in front of hundreds of eyeballs. This is also a new idea, and I understand that its implementation might not be perfect coming out the gate. If you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas, please let us know. We welcome feedback and ideas for improvement.
