General discussion guidelines
Alright, folks. Now we're playing for alllll the marbles. This OP will be briefer because frankly nobody read the first one anyway and I can't be assed.
Super Tuesday
Alright, the big one. Super Tuesday is March 3rd this year, and you'd better believe that people are watching it closely. Even more, even bigger states are participating in the first primary day in March, and it's a big reason why the goddamn campaign season has dragged on like it has. This year, we're getting Alabama, Arkansas, American Samoa (caucus), California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine (fuck Susan Collins), Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Vermont. That's a lot of delegates right up at the front. If you live there, remember to make sure you're registered and get out to vote!
Less Super Tuesday
And now to do it again! The 10th has voting for Democrats Abroad, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Washington (the state, not the district). Just google the name of your primary and make sure you're registered, same as the others.
Smaller Primary Days (US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands)
Next up, we've got the US Virgin Islands (caucus) on the 12th, followed by the Guam and Northern Mariana Islands caucus on the 14th. Caucuses... ugh. Still, it's good to participate.
Well, it's Tuesday... again.
On the 17th, we've got another bundle! This time, it's Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio. Once more, if you live in any of these states, make sure to check your voter registration!
A moment of silence for those members of Era still stuck in Ohio before we proceed. My heart goes out to you, poor souls.
The Rest of the Month (Georgia, Puerto Rico)
From there on, we have Georgia on the 24th, and Puerto Rico on the 29th, and then we're done with March! By this point, most of the large, delegate-rich states will have been parceled out, but we've still got a ways to go until the convention. Plenty of time for folks to eat bans.
Discussion Guidelines
Super Tuesday
Alright, the big one. Super Tuesday is March 3rd this year, and you'd better believe that people are watching it closely. Even more, even bigger states are participating in the first primary day in March, and it's a big reason why the goddamn campaign season has dragged on like it has. This year, we're getting Alabama, Arkansas, American Samoa (caucus), California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine (fuck Susan Collins), Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Vermont. That's a lot of delegates right up at the front. If you live there, remember to make sure you're registered and get out to vote!
Less Super Tuesday
And now to do it again! The 10th has voting for Democrats Abroad, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Washington (the state, not the district). Just google the name of your primary and make sure you're registered, same as the others.
Smaller Primary Days (US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands)
Next up, we've got the US Virgin Islands (caucus) on the 12th, followed by the Guam and Northern Mariana Islands caucus on the 14th. Caucuses... ugh. Still, it's good to participate.
Well, it's Tuesday... again.
On the 17th, we've got another bundle! This time, it's Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio. Once more, if you live in any of these states, make sure to check your voter registration!
A moment of silence for those members of Era still stuck in Ohio before we proceed. My heart goes out to you, poor souls.
The Rest of the Month (Georgia, Puerto Rico)
From there on, we have Georgia on the 24th, and Puerto Rico on the 29th, and then we're done with March! By this point, most of the large, delegate-rich states will have been parceled out, but we've still got a ways to go until the convention. Plenty of time for folks to eat bans.
Discussion Guidelines
Official Staff Communication
Discussion guidelines are largely the same as the last thread, though we're clarifying a few things.
First and foremost: no hostility. No sniping, no trolling, no antagonizing. No assuming other people are being disingenuous. If you believe that these behaviors are on display, use the report button. Do not respond to them with your own hostility or try to clap back. Let the moderation team handle it, and please understand that not everything that bothers you is going to be actionable.
Second, no metacommentary. No unquoted "wow there's a lot of centrists/leftists/dirtbags in here" type posts. Certainly no quoted variant on that. The same applies for directly or indirectly calling out other communities. Again, if you have reason to believe that something untoward is happening, report it or PM a mod captain or I suppose myself. This can be difficult to discern without extensive experience in the topic, which not all mods have. Your reports on this are extremely valuable.
Third, try to avoid posting tweets without context or commentary. We would like to encourage people to actually engage with what they're posting, and zero-context tweets tend to be either due to posters rushing to be the first with news, or else trying to let Twitter users make their arguments for them. In either case, it clogs up the thread. This rule is less strictly enforced than the others with one notable excpetion: we're keeping a close eye out for anybody attempting to use people from underpriveleged groups as a bludgeon or shield. If a black user tells you that they took issue with something that you said, "but this black person on Twitter says it's okay" is not a valid response. That's dismissing racism (extrapolate out the terminology for people doing the same with LGBT issues, women's issues, etc.) and will be moderated as such.
Fourth, conspiracy theorizing is forbidden. To make it clear what this means, you can speak and speculate about bias, conflicts of interest, nepotism, all kinds of mundane ways that human nature can effect the process, but if you're alleging an actual organized conspiracy to rig or alter results, that's another matter.
You can make jokes, you can be enthusiastic about your candidate. Try to avoid putting down other peoples', as that kind of behavior tends to start fights, but we will not be moderating people simply for not liking something your favorite said or did. If you don't think they're being fair, you can of course try to address them without violating the above rules. If you do not believe you can address a post without breaking the rules, it's most likely time to use the report button or reach out to the team directly. I would also encourage everyone to make use of their ignore lists if it's become clear that a poster you dislike isn't crossing any lines. If other peoples' (non-hateful) political opinions bother you that much, it might be better to just stop seeing them.
We've introduced warnings into the ban escalation for this thread. The floor for a contextless tweet is a warning, to make sure nobody gets slapped with a week off for something normally never actioned. After that, and for more serious first offenses, you get a week off. Anybody who merits a second week off due to repeat offenses will instead be given a ban of 3 months or until July 22nd, 2020; whichever is longer.
First and foremost: no hostility. No sniping, no trolling, no antagonizing. No assuming other people are being disingenuous. If you believe that these behaviors are on display, use the report button. Do not respond to them with your own hostility or try to clap back. Let the moderation team handle it, and please understand that not everything that bothers you is going to be actionable.
Second, no metacommentary. No unquoted "wow there's a lot of centrists/leftists/dirtbags in here" type posts. Certainly no quoted variant on that. The same applies for directly or indirectly calling out other communities. Again, if you have reason to believe that something untoward is happening, report it or PM a mod captain or I suppose myself. This can be difficult to discern without extensive experience in the topic, which not all mods have. Your reports on this are extremely valuable.
Third, try to avoid posting tweets without context or commentary. We would like to encourage people to actually engage with what they're posting, and zero-context tweets tend to be either due to posters rushing to be the first with news, or else trying to let Twitter users make their arguments for them. In either case, it clogs up the thread. This rule is less strictly enforced than the others with one notable excpetion: we're keeping a close eye out for anybody attempting to use people from underpriveleged groups as a bludgeon or shield. If a black user tells you that they took issue with something that you said, "but this black person on Twitter says it's okay" is not a valid response. That's dismissing racism (extrapolate out the terminology for people doing the same with LGBT issues, women's issues, etc.) and will be moderated as such.
Fourth, conspiracy theorizing is forbidden. To make it clear what this means, you can speak and speculate about bias, conflicts of interest, nepotism, all kinds of mundane ways that human nature can effect the process, but if you're alleging an actual organized conspiracy to rig or alter results, that's another matter.
You can make jokes, you can be enthusiastic about your candidate. Try to avoid putting down other peoples', as that kind of behavior tends to start fights, but we will not be moderating people simply for not liking something your favorite said or did. If you don't think they're being fair, you can of course try to address them without violating the above rules. If you do not believe you can address a post without breaking the rules, it's most likely time to use the report button or reach out to the team directly. I would also encourage everyone to make use of their ignore lists if it's become clear that a poster you dislike isn't crossing any lines. If other peoples' (non-hateful) political opinions bother you that much, it might be better to just stop seeing them.
We've introduced warnings into the ban escalation for this thread. The floor for a contextless tweet is a warning, to make sure nobody gets slapped with a week off for something normally never actioned. After that, and for more serious first offenses, you get a week off. Anybody who merits a second week off due to repeat offenses will instead be given a ban of 3 months or until July 22nd, 2020; whichever is longer.
