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Made in us
Daemonic Dreadnought





Eye of Terror

I took the time to read the code of conduct and it left me curious.

Is it acceptable to openly discuss doing something illegal on Dakka? I noticed there's not a rule about it.

Not that conversations about committing crimes would be a good thing in the first place, but I'm curious about where the lines are that people should not cross. In the past, I've come across plenty of threads about recasting being shut down, but this was generally justified as an attempt to protect people's intellectual property.

Is copyright the only legality that's off limits, or is there an unstated policy against content focused on other forms of criminal actions?

Like, let's say I created a thread in the off-topic forum giving people detailed instructions on how to make money performing amateur surgery, including details on how to forge prescriptions and promote your back-alley medical practice. I'm pretty sure that breaks several laws in the US and the UK. How would Mods treat that?

   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

No, Dakka Dakka is not the place to post about illegal acts. For example, we have closed illegal drug related threads in the past.

   
Made in se
Longtime Dakkanaut




They would probably close it down and ban you.


That's... not exactly the sort of crime I would expect someone to ever ask about. Mentioning that you download films or that you used to shoplift, yeah, sure, those are definitely things you can drop in standard conversations. But this? Surely you would realise that they'd give you the boot for it regardless of there being no rule explicitly forbidding the discussion of how to perform shady back alley doctoring.
   
Made in us
Daemonic Dreadnought





Eye of Terror

Rosebuddy wrote:
They would probably close it down and ban you.


That's... not exactly the sort of crime I would expect someone to ever ask about. Mentioning that you download films or that you used to shoplift, yeah, sure, those are definitely things you can drop in standard conversations. But this? Surely you would realise that they'd give you the boot for it regardless of there being no rule explicitly forbidding the discussion of how to perform shady back alley doctoring.


Well, this was a strawman. I'm not looking to set up an amateur surgery clinic on Dakka. If I was going to talk about something criminal or fraudulent, it would be about cybercurrencies.

The question is where are the lines and do they belong in the code of conduct.

   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

It's honestly probably a rarity such threads ever get made and as such its generally easier for mods to keep the rules and conduct simple and to rule on judgement.

Forums just don't see enough pay for mods nor admin to make it worth crafting out highly detailed rules; which most people wouldn't read anyway; and the only ones who likely would, would be those looking to find loopholes just to abuse them.

It's why most forums have lighter quantities of rules and let the mods moderate content based on suitability and judgement.









As for the limits I'd assume that any illegal nature talk would likely be grounds for thread closure or banning (depending on content and context).

A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Glasgow, Scotland

Why bother when it could be discussed on a more appropriate forum like Reddit?
   
Made in us
Member of a Lodge? I Can't Say





Philadelphia PA

I'm pretty sure this is on the safe side of the line, but what about descriptions of illegal acts in the context of discussion rather than promotion/instruction?

Like if I started a "who's your favorite serial killer" thread in OT and the conversation naturally moved to talking about the crimes of these killers would that be breaking the rules?

I prefer to buy from miniature manufacturers that *don't* support the overthrow of democracy. 
   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

The serial killer question is a good one. I think some kind of warning label on the thread title would probably suffice as well as keeping any graphic details in spoiler tags. Where the issue gets murky is how you brought it up: "your FAVORITE serial killer" - to the extent posters are glorifying murder, that won't be allowed. It's going to be a case-by-case judgment call on something like that. It's possible to discuss uncomfortable things on Dakka Dakka but it requires a correspondingly higher degree of self-awareness and concern for others on the part of the person posting.

   
Made in us
Daemonic Dreadnought





Eye of Terror

 Overread wrote:
It's honestly probably a rarity such threads ever get made and as such its generally easier for mods to keep the rules and conduct simple and to rule on judgement.

Forums just don't see enough pay for mods nor admin to make it worth crafting out highly detailed rules; which most people wouldn't read anyway; and the only ones who likely would, would be those looking to find loopholes just to abuse them.

It's why most forums have lighter quantities of rules and let the mods moderate content based on suitability and judgement.

As for the limits I'd assume that any illegal nature talk would likely be grounds for thread closure or banning (depending on content and context).


Then why spell out any rules in the first place?

If we're saying time is scarce and Mods will just do what they think they need to, that's different from saying we have a set of rules. Wouldn't it just be easier to say Mods will act in whatever manner they feel is in the best interests of the community? That would free them up to get back to banning people, sending out warnings, locking threads, conducting witch hunts, etc.

When I read the Code of Conduct, I had the sense the rules that are spelled out are there to create the impression there are rules moreso than to spell out what's actually expected of users. Part of the reason I brought up this specific point is that illegal / fraudulent activity is specifically banned on most other forums I participate in. Given that this community does prohibit certain behaviors, it begs the question about what is allowed. Based on what's being said, the Code of Conduct is not the actual source for an answer to that question. For that matter, do the rules in the Code of Conduct also apply to Mods?

I'm not looking for a highly detailed set of rules, it's a question about where we draw lines. If one of the lines are "whatever a Mod believes is in the best interests of the community" it would good to state that.

Going to the example of serial killers, people have a lot of non-criminal reasons to want to talk about them. The most frightening people in society are often the most interesting, at some level. An ICO, on the other hand, is likely to be fradulent - over 60% of the ones that happened in 2017 involved fraud at some level, right up to people walking away with millions. Various social networks have banned ads for them at various times to try and deal with the problems that come along with them.

Part of me thinks it's wrong to expect Mods to protect users from that sort of thing, but then I think about the Swap Shop and he-who-will-not-be-named. By taking the stance there are 3 rules and everything else is just a judgement call, are we actually making more work for Mods trying to sort out the stuff that happens? What's really the difference between defrauding someone over a miniature and getting someone to invest in an unsecured cybercurrency that, in all likelihood, is going to go away?

There's probably a lot of other stuff I could get into, but the basic point is: if we're saying everything other than the rules that are spelled out is a judgement call, that should be explicit.

   
Made in au
[MOD]
Making Stuff






Under the couch

 techsoldaten wrote:

Then why spell out any rules in the first place?
.

Because the bare-bones rules that we have now cover the vast majority of issues quite sufficiently.




 
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






SoCal, USA!

 Manchu wrote:
The serial killer question is a good one. I think some kind of warning label on the thread title would probably suffice as well as keeping any graphic details in spoiler tags. Where the issue gets murky is how you brought it up: "your FAVORITE serial killer"


Yeah, but if it's really a pissing contest between fans of Dexter and the Punisher, with some Hannibal Lecter wierdos in the wings, is it really a big deal?

   
Made in ca
Junior Officer with Laspistol





London, Ontario

A question like this probably has a specific root. The quickest, surest solution would be to message a Mod and ask,

"Would it be ok to start a thread about (subject of concern)?"

Because there's a difference between what's your favourite pulled pork recipe, and what's your favourite pulled long-pork recipe. One might involve seasoning with an illegal substance. One may be a crime against nature.

Best just to ask privately.
   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
 Manchu wrote:
The serial killer question is a good one. I think some kind of warning label on the thread title would probably suffice as well as keeping any graphic details in spoiler tags. Where the issue gets murky is how you brought it up: "your FAVORITE serial killer"
Yeah, but if it's really a pissing contest between fans of Dexter and the Punisher, with some Hannibal Lecter wierdos in the wings, is it really a big deal?
No, discussion of fictional characters is a different matter of course.

   
Made in us
[DCM]
Secret Squirrel






Leerstetten, Germany

Some of the "borderline" cases we have seen here in the past are threads about making molds and recasting vs threads about recasting things you've sculpted yourself vs threads about recasting a GW weapon you don't want to buy 10 times for a squad.

Similar would be threads about weapons (which we have) vs a thread about which weapon would be best for a holdup. Or a thread about legalization of drugs vs a thread about how to grow pot.

There are a lot of gray lines, and sometimes the deciding factor about which side of the line a topic falls depends on the specific way the topic is being discussed.
   
 
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