The UK Debate Members Arbitration

The UK Debate is a forum that has been specifically provided to allow people of completely opposite political, social and ideological background to come together and discuss issues and events that they feel passionate about.

This mixing of opposing minds obviously brings with it rather a lot of challenges; often far more than you would expect to face while debating with others of similar beliefs.

What is members arbitration?

To help facilitate honest and spirited debate for everyone, whatever their flavour, we have a set of forum rules that, along with our own individual maturity, fair mindedness and respect of others, provides the necessary framework to allow everyone to be heard without being bullied, harassed or abused.

I do appreciate that, as with any diverse community, there will be occasions where members feel hard done by or unfairly treated and that is what the arbitration area is all about - your opportunity to help us resolve issues you might have with a moderation decision made against you in a friendly, non-combative and private atmosphere. Moderators can also ask a member to join them in arbitration should they think it necessary.

There are two arbitration options available; full posting rights while in arbitration (usual) or restricted posting rights (arbitration thread only).

Before you make a complaint

Before you make a complaint against a moderator please consider the following:

• Moderators do a lot of work that goes unseen, often quite literally (like spam removals) as well as reading everything, contributing to debates and helping welcome newer members to the community who may not be used to debating with such a forthright bunch as we have here!
  
  
  
• Moderators have to work at regular jobs to make ends meet - I pay approximately £5.52 less than the NMW- and they have the same daily pressures as the rest of us.

How it works

It is important to follow the correct procedure if you have a concern over a decision made against you.

The FIRST STEP is to contact the moderator who made the offending decision, via PM and not on the open boards (to avoid polluting threads or to avoid helpful contributions from others not directly effected by the decision).

If you have talked to the moderator concerned via pm but failed to reach a solution the moderator or yourself can PM the Admin and request a private area in which to discuss further the issue at hand. You will then have the opportunity to discuss your problems with me and the moderator team in a private friendly atmosphere and with the sole aim of reaching a mutually acceptable (re)solution to the issue.

Obviously it does no good to keep problems festering so it would be advantageous to conduct discussions in a timely manner so that we can get back to the import stuff of debating on the boards! To that end, and in the event that we have a stalemate and no mutually acceptable solution can be agreed upon I will make a final decision.

Important: During arbitration members have the option in their profile to remove their account. If you exercise this option it is permanent and there is no way back so please think carefully before doing so.

What should I complain about?

The usefulness of members arbitration only comes if it is used for serious concerns that members have. Examples of issues not worthy of arbitration could include:

• Having a topic moved to a different board
• Being asked to lay off personal attacks.
• Because you are in a bad mood and want to fight with someone
• Because a link was removed from your post

In the above examples the moderator should post an explanation of the action that was taken. If you are not happy with that explanation, PM them for clarification.

Please remember that we do try to moderate in an even and impartial manner but we are only human and sometimes err. If it looks like that could be the case, and not a deliberate plot to harass you, give us the benefit of the doubt. You may have a case for arbitration:

• If you feel you are being unfairly and repeatedly targeted by a moderator and your PM conversations with him fail to satisfy you.
  
  
• If you have a genuine concern that decisions are being made that seriously challenge the validity of the UK Debates neutrality.

Winners and losers

Of course it goes without saying that the conclusion of an issue is not a victory for me, for the moderators, or for the individual member (depending on the outcome obviously) but rather a victory for the entire forum community. Issues that have been resolved and have a direct impact on everyone will be announced and, where necessary, amendments/updates/removals of the current rules will be made.

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