User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/New Community Central Chat Guidelines Announced/@comment-5956954-20170506052346

These new rules will definitely help reinstate the purpose of the chat, but it is not without its questions.


 * The new rules lack how strict the enforcement is. I can see the chat moderators telling the users to talk about Fandom or see another wiki, which is common sense. However, I question if this is something the bad guys can use to game the system. If I were to give an example, I myself would be seeking actively any message that would be considered off-topic to Fandom or help in general and would be telling users to see the new guidelines. Users can form a trollish type of attitude with this simply by being a vigilante (different from mini-modding since it borders on the gray area) trying to keep as many users in the chat as possible and help them adapt. I ask this question: Is there going to be some clarification on the strict enforcement of the guidelines? I ask because I can see a recurring problem, that being the reliance on competence and common sense too much.


 * The stricter guidelines call for extra moderation. The problem is not the number of moderators but their timezones in this case, the former being a common misconception. See the chat at the time I have posted this message, and you will either see no mods or one mod busy doing something else. Will there be a consideration regarding the timezones of newly employed chat mods, if any? I see the effect of these guidelines seem like a day/night rue otherwise, with the good people coming out at day and the criminals committing wickedry at night when "no one is apparently awake to watch for them," just like with the police in real life.


 * How people adapted to the chat over the years makes this announcement sudden to them as evident with these comments. I feel people will try to advocate reverting the changes back to something with more freedom to allowed topics at first if they do not wish to adapt or otherwise heed "seeing another community for their topic of interest." Was any plan considered to manage what might be possible chaos in the short-term?

That is all. Overall, I am happy these rules being made and enforced, but I feel common sense is relied on too much, the moderators opposite to the Eastern Standard timezone are near non-existent, and a feeling wells in me there will be a burst of chaos for the short-term before the chat settles and adapts.

Thank you.