Hey, just want to clarify some of the points discussed, since details given were pretty detailed. Hope this helps.
Flagging posts is the usual way people ask about a post to staff (mods & admins). We’ve lightly tested this functionality, but it is all fully customizable. You can try it out via the menu under any given post, using the "Flag’ icon.
- Flag a post for off-topic, inappropriate, fill-in-the-blank, etc.
- Flag can lock, unlist, take no action upon a post, etc.
- Once a posts is flagged (using Flag icon in the menu bar), it starts a tally of flags.
4 flags. Unsure if flags are visible to normal users, or just the original poster and staff.
- fyi, Flags can also be used convert an existing thread into private messages between all involved users. Other options as well, but haven’t checked them.
We should definitely be able to customize how flags work. Just need to look into it further.
Was also mentioned that specific emojis have been used on Slack to specify tension in topics.
On mailing list, people will add tags such as [Drama] since there is no other moderation.
Groups could serve as another means to connect aside from flagging. This was the intention of @help since it is easy to mention a group just as you would a user. Worth considering since actual staff have rarely ever focused on the moderation side of things, so other alternatives certainly worth considering.
All text in Discourse can be customized. We can definitely re-write the FAQ / Guidelines, alter placement to somewhere more obvious on the forum menu, and notify users (it is currently found in the bottom right of the hamburger menu below categories). There are multiple ways to notify users, including:
- Send a private message to all users.
- Update information shown to new account creators (Trust Level 0).
- Update information shown upon receiving Trust Level 1.
- Create a custom wizard, which is a custom set of instructions and interactions users can click through.
- A wizard can be required to complete if desired. Most common example is “Getting Started Instructions” or “Welcome to the Forum”
There are multiple volunteers randomly maintaining the forum. There is very little actual moderation happening, but quite a bit of scaffolding / bikeshedding, since there have been continuous tweaks and improvements to add. See the mention of improving the FAQ above as an example. The kind of thing that does happen a lot is refining tags, adding integrations, customizing features, migrating categories, and just finding more ways to make the forum useful to us. These sorts of edits have been very commonplace over the last 6+ months, and of course over the last few years.
Confusion here stems from Bravespace (and previous interations of it) all being developed within Slack over the last 5+ years. It is just a part of our community now, but the accepted usage people follow is to challenge by choice. Things get heated and people ask in good faith: “Hey, please move your conversation to bravespace so I can continue mine in peace”
Basic design is Bravespace channel allows people to opt-in / opt-out of that channel. Once in, you say whatever you want. Others can do the same. Has been going for a while now with notable success. About 100 users are in Bravespace channel vs 1k users in the general channel of Slack at any given time. Our public Discuss list is still alive, unmoderated and functional, but almost no one wishes to use it.
Just like newspace-sensitive category, safe mode is just a category that is viewable once you login. The idea is not merely for discussion, but for sharing documentation you don’t visible to the public internet. @themanmaran mentioned we could merge these two categories together. Makes sense, but would be bolstered if the bravespace model were also adopted since these are two different things:
- flame threads where people ask their names / posts indexed publicly. Also, allowing those not interested to not have to engage in these topics (person just asking about the laser cutter). By nature, flame threads dominate all others on the forum.
- in general, some posts need to reside more within the forum, but related to minor discretion such as financials, etc.
Outside of Slack users deleting their conversations, I believe most things live as-is. A couple intense conversations on Discuss were unlisted a couple years ago, which means they only show up when searched for. The person who started these threads wants to disappear, which we can definitely assist on the Discuss side. @pyconaut:
- We can fully anonymize this user in Discuss. This means their posts / interactions with the forum and all mentions of their username will be masked into an anonymous user.
- Deletion is also totally possible at this time, but what you mentioned makes sense… we should avoid deletion if we can anonymize successfully.
Want to add @Zach’s input was notably missing and everyone was interested in hearing it.
Hope this helps clarify at least part of the discussion that occurred. 
