Rules of Discourse for Facebook
[RDFB] Version 0.1 - formalized 2018-02-01
For the latest version of this document and other documents associated with the Rules of Discourse, visit the home-page of the Rules of Discourse: (http://virtualstoa.org/rules-of-discourse/)
2.1. Format of an Authority Stamp
2.1.2. Format of the Formal Associate Tagging
It is stated in the Introduction to the Rules of Discourse that for the different forms of media that one might use to host a discussion group, there may be different specifics of the Rules of Discourse as applied to said media - and that documents might be written for the purpose of laying out those specifics of the different platforms.
This is one such document - written for the purpose of online discussion groups that are hosted on Facebook or any other medium that is similar enough to Facebook that the same specifics of the Rules of Discourse would apply.
Stamping a post is a convention by which posts are identified as being made in a particular capacity. This is to be done by beginning an opening post or a comment in a standard format that identifies the official capacity of the post. Such a start to a post is known as an authority stamp. Any post (be it a comment or an opening post) that doesn’t begin with a stamp is regarded as not being in said capacity, unless this section’s description of the stamp specifically says otherwise.
It is a violation of the rules to use an authority stamp unless you are authorized to do so and have met all the requirements for invoking said authority in that specific instance. It is also a violation of the rules to use anything that is deceptively similar to an authority stamps, or which attempts to confuse fellow members by presenting as a kind of authority stamp that doesn’t actually exist.
An authority stamp begins with a string of all-caps characters (known as a stamp code) followed by the formal associate tagging - finally terminated by a colon (‘:’) which is followed by a non-printable character (such as a blank-space or a newline character).
The string “PEER CORRECTION:” initiates a peer correction ---- though absence of this stamp does not automatically mean that a statement otherwise meeting the criteria of a mediative correction isn’t one.
The string “MEDIATIVE INQUIRY:” initiates a mediative inquiry.
The string “MEDIATIVE CORRECTION:” intiates a mediative correction.
The string “DISCIPLINARY CITATION:” initiates a post that announces a disciplinary citation.
The string “DISCIPLINARY ACTION:” initiates a post that announces a disciplinary action.
Furthermore, an individual group may specify additional in-house stamp codes.
The formal associate tagging is a section of the authority stamp that is there to assure that all of a mediator’s supervisor’s and co-audience are required to tag. It is optional for a peer correction, but required with any other kind of authority tag.
The roster that designates which members are authorized to use authority tags in the first place specifies which fellow members each authorized member is required to tag in the formal associate tagging.
The formal associate tagging is enclosed in parentheses - and it’s sole content is the tagged names of all fellow members that it’s user is required to include.
If there is anyone who’s attention the post requires beyond those who are required to be in the formal associate tagging (such as the person to whom a citation is being issued) then that person will be tagged elsewhere in the post.