People are of course still able to comment on the situation elsewhere, such as on Tumblr or other social media sites. However, when such comments are made directly on the OTW website, and the OTW does not address them (while perhaps at the same time responding to comments that are about public matters), this gives the impression that the information in the comment is correct or endorsed. We don’t want to appear to endorse incorrect information, so in such cases we will remove it.
Except you absolutely can address those comments by stating that it breaks your confidentiality policy to address the things being posted about. Which would remove that issue or implying the information is correct or endorsed. The policy that you are stating comes across as trying to sweep problems under the rug/silence people/ignore problems.
In some cases it may be possible to do that, in which case we would not need to remove the comment. However, in other cases leaving the comment up and not specifically refuting it may result in harm to other parties. For example, if there is information in a comment that could lead to commenters harassing uninvolved individuals (who may otherwise be perceived as involved) on other sites outside of our control, then we will hide the comment.
This point in our moderation policy is intended to prevent the harassment of specific individuals, including users and current and former volunteers. If people would like to generally criticize OTW policies, then they are allowed to do so in on-topic posts.
Sometimes we can keep a comment if it doesn't cause problems. But if a comment might hurt others, we need to hide it. For example, if a comment would encourage other people to harass a user or volunteer who didn't do anything wrong, we will hide the comment. Our rules are meant to stop people from harassing others, such as our users and volunteers.
If people would like to generally criticize OTW policies, then they are allowed to do so in on-topic posts.
What is an "on-topic post"? Especially if its something that wouldn't normally get a post? Like I understand criticizing a new roll out on the post about the roll out, but its not like every policy and such gets its own post
An on-topic post would be a post that is about or from the committee responsible for whatever is being discussed. For example, it's off-topic to ask about the Legal committee's recent briefings in a "5 Things" post about a Tag Wrangler volunteer. The Tag Wrangler, and the Tag Wrangling committee, isn't going to be able to answer questions about such a topic. An example of an on-topic discussion would be discussing the impact of a proposed law on Wattpad in the comments of a Legal committee filing a new amicus brief
Comment on OTW News Post Moderation Policy
OTW_News_Post_Moderation (Official) Sun 26 May 2024 07:11PM UTC
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Eli0t Sun 26 May 2024 07:17PM UTC
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DistantManiacalLaughter Thu 30 May 2024 03:30AM UTC
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OTW_News_Post_Moderation (Official) Thu 30 May 2024 03:52AM UTC
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DistantManiacalLaughter Thu 30 May 2024 04:50AM UTC
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OTW_News_Post_Moderation (Official) Fri 31 May 2024 01:38AM UTC
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Eli0t Thu 30 May 2024 05:58AM UTC
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OTW_News_Post_Moderation (Official) Fri 31 May 2024 01:40AM UTC
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