Hey everyone!
This post is being written in response to a series of events that have occurred recently, specifically on the M4J Discord. I had hoped this wouldn’t happen but now it has I’m acting now to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Throughout my channel’s lifetime, I have always had the same rules. There are certain topics that I do not allow in any of my videos, the most important of which being politics. The reason this rule is in place is because we all have different political views, many of which cause conflict. The M4J community does not endorse conflict of any kind therefore it was easier to just place a blanket ban on any political conversation.
I want to reinforce however that I as an individual respect all political beliefs, even if they do not align with my own. The “ban” is purely to avoid fallout, and whenever the conversation turns political I do try to nip it in the bud as soon as possible in order to prevent arguments.
This rule applies across all my platforms, from Twitch, across YouTube and even on my Discord. Sometimes it can be productive, such as when discussing rail news in the M4J Network Discord channel. Many times though, there is no connection between my work and political discussions, and therefore I reinforce the rule as much as I can.
This rule also applies to religion, as again there is cause for argument when people’s religious beliefs are discussed.
The M4J community does not endorse racism, sexism, homophobia or any other forms of discrimination. Each instance will be treated with a zero tolerance policy, and those found to have breached this rule will be sanctioned accordingly.
The rules have always been the same in the 6.5 years since I started YouTube, but since certain individuals claim to not know the rules I am posting them here for all to see:
No political discussions that are irrelevant to M4J. This includes elections, political leanings (left, right, etc.), referendums (both pre and post) and any other contentious political beliefs. Debates regarding issues that may involve politics - such as the latest rail news - are encouraged, but may be shut down if they result in total political discussion.
Religious discussions are not encouraged on any of the M4J platforms. Religion is a subject that is not relevant to any M4J content, and all individuals are treated equally regardless of their religious beliefs. Any religious discussion will be immediately terminated.
No discrimination of any kind. This includes racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and any other forms of discrimination. Anyone in breach of this rule will face the strictest sanction, which is listed below.
Respect the admin team’s judgement. If M4J or any other member of the admin team requests a discussion be terminated, they have a reason to do so. Each instance should be respected, rather than challenged. It is also not acceptable to question the admin team’s judgement, or try to tell them what to do. The admin team have been selected as they are trusted to do the right thing.
Any breaches of the rules will result in the following sanctions:
Minor offences will result in an official warning. This warning can be issued by any member of the admin team and will be logged accordingly. Warnings will expire after six months. Minor offences include: Questioning the admin team, insulting other members of the M4J community and spamming the chat with irrelevant links, images or videos. Three warnings will result in the next sanction.
Major offences and/or three warnings will result in a one week ban from the M4J Discord server, YouTube channel or Twitch stream. Again this can be issued by any member of the admin team and will be logged accordingly. Once the week is up, the individual may return. Major offences include: Discrimination, offensive content posted on the M4J Discord, directly arguing with the admin team and any behaviour that could be considered “trolling”.
If the individual commits a second major offence, they will be permanently banned from all M4J related platforms. This is a last resort but will be used if necessary. Only M4J can issue this sanction.
These rules will be enforced from now on. The recent incident in question will apply regarding these sanctions, and the individuals involved will be notified.
I did not want to resort to creating this code of conduct, but we are at the stage now where individuals think it is acceptable to try and run the M4J Discord according to their own wishes, as well as questioning my judgement when I try to enforce order in the respective channels. This will not be tolerated as the rules were created to ensure fairness to all. Regardless of how long you have supported the channel or myself, or even if you are a friend of mine, the rules still apply.
Thank you for reading this post, and hopefully the next post I write will be more positive.