WCD's list of Golden Rules contains the most important standards our members are expected to meet. Because this list was compiled by multiple moderators over many years while moderation practices continued to evolve, the rules are not without their flaws. Today we take an important step toward improving them.
Our rules must be accurate, detailed, and relatively complete. We only encourage ignorance if we fail to provide users with a strong understanding of our expectations. Furthermore, attitudes toward "ideal policies" evolve as part of a complex interaction involving generational changes in both staff culture and user behavior. Some rules grow dusty and irrelevant while other unwritten rules demand inclusion.
With the hope of improving user understanding of WCD's most important rules, and with the goal of ensuring that the list is more fully representative of our actual moderation practices, we began a large Golden Rules rewrite project. Multiple staffers and Forum Moderators participated in this rewrite.