Server Mission Statement:
This server is founded on the idea of creating a new kind of social and support oriented system space that promotes healing and healthy community by basing our rules, policies, and moderating decisions in an ethical code.
*For those interested in a more in-depth understanding of these values, here is a further explanation. Folks are also encouraged to reach out to us Kit Folk for any further information or to have answered any questions on the server and blog ethics!*
Core server values: This community is built on the following values: internal and external community building, anti-discrimination and equality, justice, communal healing, celebration of plurality, anti-discourse, system responsibility, conflict resolution and restorative justice, radical consent, and through the above ethics, the creation of a safer space.
Internal and External Community: The aim of this server is not simply to be an internet hangout, but to be a community to all that participate here. Through the practicing morals that help to make this space more than simply a server, we strive to not only build a unique online space but to replicate healthy relationships and team building in a way that can be applied internally within a system as well. A community is only as strong as it’s members’ commitment to treating each other and the space with respect, responsibility, and dignity, and these are values we hope to express in our interactions and structure of this server.
Equality and anti-discrimination: It is not enough to simply believe in non-discrimination; rather, we must actively live those beliefs and take all possible steps to be not only non-discriminatory, but *anti-discriminatory*. This means doing our best together to be anti-racist, anti-homophobic, anti-transphobic, anti-ableist, anti-sexist, anti-Nazi, antifascist, and pro-Addict, among many other things.
Justice: We will do our utmost to create a community in which justice is believed in, supported, encouraged, and sought after to the best of our ability.
Community healing: We believe in community healing from trauma, mental illness, and addiction, but also from ableism, racism, anti-Addict sentiment, fascism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, and the many other injustices of our societies. Although in many ways healing is an intimate and personal journey, we believe that it is both our right and our duty to create an atmosphere in which we may all find healing together; in striving to create a community which actively works against those injustices which harm us; in treating each other and ourselves with dignity, respect, and compassion; and in each working to build an environment together in which we can all thrive.
Celebration of plurality: We believe in creating a unique space dedicated to being a celebration of multiplicity, free from the expectations of an ableist society to hide ourselves and our multiplicity. We aim to achieve this by founding a space designed in every way we can to be by systems, for systems. We also aim to achieve this goal by practicing radical acceptance of others’ truths, in believing and respecting each other at their word on matters of identity. This means that behaviors such as “fake claiming” are a violation not only of server rules, but of the very morals and ethics on which this community is founded.
Anti-discourse: In accordance with the previous statement, this server is anti-discourse. We believe that exclusionary discourse can serve to divide, damage, and discredit our community, and creates a breeding ground for toxic and unhealthy interactions and beliefs within each other and ourselves. Though we understand this may not be a value shared by all members of this community, it is one enforced strictly within the server itself, and something we ask all server members to respect and abide by.
System responsibility: As we acknowledge all systems as real, we also acknowledge the unique conditions of sharing a body and how this intersects with our community values of taking responsibility for our choices and actions, and therefore encourage collective system responsibility among our community members.
Radical consent: We believe in the importance of practicing radical consent. This means first and foremost that only a freely-given, non-coerced ‘yes’ means yes. This applies not only to real-life or romantic situations, but to all interactions between community members. Additionally this applies to the way the server itself will be structured as a safer space; namely, that the server will be structured to value and prioritize server members’ consent in choosing the types of content they wish to see through roles and the right to request conversation changes.
Conflict resolution: We believe in striving to uphold and build this space around values of conflict resolution and restorative justice. We feel that purely punitive action is neither just nor effective in fostering the atmosphere of trust, safety, structure, and community that we mean to achieve here. As such, we aim to enforce server rules and handle conflicts by use of these principles, and with the understanding that conflict is a natural part of life to be addressed with earnest honesty in good faith.
Safer Space: This server is dedicated to the goal of being a saf*er* space. Because everyone’s needs are different, we acknowledge that not all needs can be served entirely by server rules and policy and as such we commit to striving to make all possible compromises and work with server members individually and as a team to provide the safest possible space for all community members to thrive in.
