Proposal: Plural-Positive PTSD Community

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Below is a basic 'user info' type description the community we're thinking of creating. In creating it's policies, we've borrowed some concepts of standingstone's (from their original proposal), multiplicity, and vaginapagina. Constructive criticism will be very much appreciated. Please keep in mind that we are also trying to word things as fairly and evenly as possible and if we have managed not to do this somewhere, we'd appreciate alternative wordings.

Thanks!

-David
PS: OK, we've got enough volunteers to moderate/assist. Thanks for all the help, guys!

Group Objective:
• A place for plurals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder working towards empowerment or already consider themselves empowered learning to live their lives in a healthy way after trauma.

Rules:

• The forms of trauma dealt with in this community range from Natural Disasters to Man-Made Violence.
• It is acceptable to discuss ways to improve group functionality, however other topics related to multiplicity itself are discouraged. Because professionals do not agree on subjects such as integration, medication, and as to whether treatment is necessary, this community is to maintain a neutral stance on these issues. Please refer to communities such as multiplicity, plural_parent, etc. (a complete list will exist on the user info page), instead if you have questions or wish to discuss a particular topic unrelated to this community.
• All members are encouraged to post using their own journals, or if they have a system journal, to please sign their individual names to each post. Any and all of your group members are welcome to post.
• Please respect other groups, their people, structures, origins, and operating systems.
• We encourage members to give support to their peers, and to give advice if they feel there is any they have to share.
• Trigger warnings are not necessary. If someone does feel ‘triggered’ by the content of a post, members are expected to not ask the poster not to talk about the subject. Instead, we encourage the ‘triggered’ party to explore the way they reacted to the content and learn how to deal with it differently in the future.
• Posts which are over 15 lines in length must be lj-cut.
• If you wish to disclose personal trauma stories, that is acceptable, however keep in mind that this community’s focus is on helping members to cope in the present, so please have consideration of this and keep posts of this sort to a reasonable number.
• If you wish to post your art, poetry, or other forms of creative expression, please do so under an lj-cut.
• We encourage a proactive attitude towards mental health. Educating oneself about different forms of treatment as well as taking into account what professionals say can build a balanced attitude towards recovery. (Possible resource list to be built up over time according to the recommendations of group members)
• The majority of topics discussed are determined by members of the community itself.
• Occasionally the moderators may post a general topic such as: Grounding, The Science of Trauma, Creative Expression, or Empowerment. Members are encouraged to share their experiences and knowledge of these topics.
• This community has a Safe Space policy. That means every member should feel welcome to participate in an empowering, non-judgmental, non-threatening space. If you happen to feel that a poster is currently exhibiting destructive behaviors and attitudes, it is acceptable to address the issue in a responsible, thoughtful way.
• If a member discloses that they are abusing a child or an animal, the moderators will report this information to the proper authorities if they are aware of the member’s ‘real-life’ identity and that of the abused party. (Did we word this properly? Can we actually do this legally? Help needed for this section.)
• The following things will get you banned:
1. Flaming and trolling
2. Receiving 1 or more Safe Space warnings: Usually you won’t get banned for a single SSW, but the moderators reserve the right to ban you immediately, after making a consensus on it, if they feel that the infraction is severe enough.
3. Victim blaming
4. Linking posts from here to ‘snark communities’.
5. Being judgmental, mean-spirited, or insulting: There are ways to challenge someone that can be worded in a supportive manner.
6. ???

Comments

[indigolands.livejournal.com]

I like all of this so far, except I would change the phrase "operating systems" in the fourth specification. It makes me think of computers!

Sassy

[vinik.livejournal.com]

What kind of wording would you suggest we use instead?

-David

[indigolands.livejournal.com]

Um, systems of operation would work, simply because it's not so connected with the idea of computers. But really isn't systems of operation and structure the same thing? You could just leave of the operating systems bit entirely.

[vinik.livejournal.com]

What about 'lifestyles'? I know the word can be loaded, though, so I'm not too sure about the term.

[indigolands.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of lifestyles. I think the point is that people shouldn't be judged necessarily, right?

And as we already told you, we're willing to help mod too if you feel you need it.

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Cool. We can use that word then. Just contact us by email: aquarian_storm at yahoo dot com.

We most likely won't be putting up the community until early next week (as long as our schedule doesn't go insane on us).

-David

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

The only problem I would see people might have with using the word "lifestyle" in place of "operating system", is that an operating system consists (at least partly) of how the group governs itself -- the order and structure. Lifestyle doesn't sound "loaded" to me but it sounds more general, having to do with interests and activities or just the way one lives every day.

For instance, an operating system would be the method by which the people think about, discuss, and decide things. Lifestyle would be how the people dress and behave and what they like to eat, or do for fun -- people talk about a Bohemian lifestyle or a hippie lifestyle for instance. I do not see anything judgemental in any of that, but a lot of people are used to seeing the word "lifestyle" used in the sense of people's personal choices, and might not understand that it was also being used to mean system governance.

So that might be one of the things you all want to discuss.

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Just some words from Morgan on this: That possible perception of the word 'lifestyle' (in referring to personal choices) is why we referred to the word as loaded. We'd like to use it, but if people are going to misconstrue it, then it's pretty much worth going back to the words 'operating system'. Yes, it sounds like a computer, but I'd rather it do that than offend a bunch of people unnecessarily.

-David

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Or "system government" maybe.

Although I hope people would respect the system governments and the lifestyles. ;)

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Eh, we'll figure it out. 'System government' is a good one though. We'll see what happens when we write up the revisions.

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

Contact us at aquarian_storm at yahoo dot com (doing the anti-spam thing)if you're seriously interested.

-David

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

Some (very minor) points.

- For me, 'empowered' is not a great term. I've never liked it, I never will. It reminds me too much of the stupid cows who think they're something special in the feminist movement. ... *cough* Sorry, I mean *empowered women*. I literally just feel out of bed so my mind is *blank*, but there are other words out there that are less linked with the more annoying branch of feminism.

- lol @ above commenter, as they are right XD I keep thinking of windows and linux. Fair enough though.

- 'trigger warnings' are... a difficult area. Putting a trigger warning because you said 'sex' or 'rape' or 'fire' in a *PTSD* community is a little silly. *But* some content *is* extremely bad even for people who are otherwise coping well, such as accounts of trauma, for some maybe accounts of self injury. I don't know that I would suggest that any and all requests for warnings or LJ cuts are out of line. Some of these things can be very upsetting even for the most stable people to read.

- If people don't want to be linked to 'snark' communities, there is a friends only option.


We mod/co-mod several groups, and are irritatingly impartial when we do, if you need somebody to approve apps/watch for flaming/whatevery. We're in the UK so our time zone may help with coverage.

[indigolands.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Instead of empowered what about functional? I did a thesaurus search on empowered and came up with nothing that I thought would work. Of course the word functional is also subject to many different interpretations.

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

functional works, along with a bunch of other things. It's just empowered I have a beef with ;P

[indigolands.livejournal.com]

How would you define a functional multiple?

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

Wait, what? You suggested it, why are you asking me?

Functional as a dictionary defenition means it works. The 'goal' of functional I would imagine would be to work as well as possible.

Now please don't ask me about terms *you* suggest. It's kinda weird.

[indigolands.livejournal.com]

I suggested it because you didn't like empowered. I know why you didn't like empowered; I was curious as to why you'd like functional. I was trying to have a discussion, but ok.

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

I never said I liked functional. I said it worked.

There are ways that make it clearer that you're just curious (eg: by saying that you are just curious, that helps). The way you phrased it sounded a little creepy, like you thought *I'd* suggested it as a great solution and had a possible issue with it.

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Okay, we'll use the term 'functional multiple' instead of 'empowered multiple'. Of course, we'll still be using the concept of empowerment in a general sense over there.

-David

[indigolands.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have no problem with the idea of empowerment or functionality. They're both good things!

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

The concept of empowerment is fine, really. It's just (thanks to people using them before) some words are heavily loaded, you know? 'tis all. Functional can be taken the wrong way, but isn't quite as bad, AFAIK.

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. We actually were considering doing that before, but weren't sure if that was a good place to draw the line or not. Of course, trigger warnings will be limited to graphic descriptions of trauma/self-injury.

-David

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Our bit on 'empowered' has been replied about to you below. The bit about trigger warnings we'll also reply about below in a minute. And I think you're right about using friends-locked posts instead.

Contact us at aquarian_storm at yahoo dot com if you're seriously interested in moderating. Thanks!

-David

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Woops. Our answers are ABOVE. 'facepalm'

-David

[pthalo]

This sounds wonderful.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

What's "15 lines"? Out of interest? Everyone's display is different.

[vinik.livejournal.com]

15 lines of text, for courtesy's sake. :) And even though everyone has a different kind of display, we want to make sure we don't overwhelm people who are visually impaired and have to use accessability options.

[ex-corvidae491.livejournal.com]

Suggestion: Since "15 lines" may be really short for someone on a monitor of 800x600 res. but rather long for someone on 1600x1200 res., perhaps a word-count limit instead, such as 500 words or so.

[vinik.livejournal.com]

Good idea. :)

[catskillmarina.livejournal.com]

soundz good.

[gryphons.livejournal.com]

We like the idea.. and would be willing to help in any way.. including moderator.. or anything else you need.
-Lashan

[arcaneblades.livejournal.com]

Perhaps including that the trauma in question, if discussed, does not have to have happened to the physical body? I thought one of the original ideas was for there to be space for people to discuss trauma that happened in internal or other spaces. That's certainly the aspect that we are likely to be interested for.

-m

[vinik.livejournal.com]

'blinks' I guess we should have worded the first line a little differently. It was supposed to include all types of trauma.

[arcaneblades.livejournal.com]

*nods* That's ok. I figured that was the case, but know that a lot of people in multiple systems have been through trauma of types they would possibly get mocked for discussing elsewhere, for one reason or another. So I figured I'd ask that it be specified. No worries. :)

-m

[kangetsuhime.livejournal.com]

I don't know that you'd need to clarify it on the userinfo, but it might help. I know that I lucked out with one of the communities I joined. Most other communities won't take 'imagined' (*cough*) trauma very seriously, which can make life difficult. Some might think that because you haven't said, it's more of the same, even though we know it's not like that.