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Click on a question to expand/collapse the answer. If you are unable to find the answer here, choose "Contact Us" from the "Help" menu to contact GCN's staff. Click here to expand all questions.
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Why is GCN's message board moderated?
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The goal of the GCN message board is to create a carefully moderated "safe space" for LGBT Christians, especially for those who are still struggling to reconcile their faith and sexuality.
In order to keep this space safe for people of all ages and sensitivity levels, we have a volunteer Moderating Team and a paid Community Manager who have the power to flag, edit, move, or remove content in accordance with our posted rules and guidelines.
If the message board were totally unmoderated, it would quickly fill up with spam, pornography, anti-gay posts, and other content that goes against our purpose for this space.
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Who are the GCN message board moderators?
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The moderators are volunteers who have been members for a long time and have demonstrated a commitment to GCN's mission and an ability to help keep peace in difficult times.
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How do GCN moderators make their decisions?
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They flip a coin. Just kidding. Actually, the moderators act according to our posted rules and guidelines. When an issue is unclear, the moderators make decisions as a team; they have a special forum where they can discuss situations, determine a course of action, and set appropriate precedents for future situations.
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What does it mean for a post to be "flagged"?
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In the past, if someone posted something against our rules, the moderators either had to edit the post themselves or else contact the person privately and wait for them to edit it. Both of these courses of action had problems. Some people didn't like the idea of moderators editing their words without their permission, but if the moderators waited for the person to make the change on their own, the problematic post could sit on the site for hours or days before being fixed, prompting others to ask, "Why haven't you done anything about this post?"
The solution we came up with was a "flag" system. When moderators see content that violates our posted rules, they can flag it for the user to edit himself or herself. In the meantime, the post will show as unavailable to other users. Once the individual has edited the post, it becomes instantly available again. We think this is the best of both worlds, since it allows users to be in control of their own words and allows moderators to do their jobs and keep the space safe for all.
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What kinds of things aren't allowed?
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You can see all the details in our posted rules and terms of service, but in general, we don't allow arguments, unkind language, profanity, politics, or explicit sexual content. We also don't allow people to post things that would work against our purpose as a ministry, such as promoting an ex-gay organization.
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Wait... no politics?
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Yeah, unfortunately, we don't have a big enough staff or moderating team to keep the political discussions civil. We've tried off and on for the last six years, and it was a losing battle. The group is just too big and our staff is just too small to be able to sort out the "good" political discussions from the "bad" ones, so for the meantime, we've enacted a temporary ban on all political discussions. Eventually, we'd like to allow the calm, rational ones back, but to do that, we'll need a bigger staff.
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Has GCN's moderation policy changed (become stricter, more lenient, etc.) during the last six years?
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Some, but not much. During the last six years, there have been a few changes to the policy; for instance, at one point, we didn't allow politics, then we allowed it, and now it's back to not being allowed. Most of our rules have stayed the same for the last six years, though.
What has changed is the size of the group. It's extremely difficult for a handful of volunteers and two full-time staff members to keep up with the needs of over 8,000 members posting over 30,000 posts a month plus everything else that needs to be done in an organization this size. With a smaller group, we had more flexibility to monitor threads closely and rely more on common sense instead of rules. With a group this size, it's much harder to allow exceptions to rules without being accused of being unfair. That's why we have rules like "no politics" instead of taking a more nuanced approach.
The only way around that would be if our staff could grow in proportion to the community. That takes money we don't currently have, but with your help...
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I saw someone post something that they shouldn't have, but the moderators didn't do anything about it. How come?
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There could be several reasons. The most likely is that the moderators simply didn't see the offending post. Even if a moderator posted into that thread, they may have only skimmed the other replies and may not have seen something you caught.
In any case, if you see something that violates GCN policy, please use the "report" button on that post to alert the moderators to the problem.
Occasionally, the moderating team may be divided about how to handle a situation and may be discussing it before taking action, or they may be in conversation with the poster. Once you've reported the post, give the moderators time to handle the situation quietly.
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A moderator flagged/moved my post, and I think the decision was unfair. What should I do?
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Take out an ad in The New York Times and tell the world. Nah, just kidding. First, try talking to the moderator. Usually these things can be resolved right away with a little communication. If that's not a possibility or it doesn't yield results, you can appeal the decision to other moderators, or to our Community Manager (higgyboy) or Executive Director (GCN Justin).
To appeal a moderator decision to Justin, simply send a PM to GCN Justin or call the GCN office at (919) 786-0000 and ask to speak to Justin. He will listen to your concerns, review the situation, and reverse the decision if necessary.
The GCN message board is not the place to settle a dispute you have with a moderator. For more information on why, see the questions below.
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I don't like something about GCN's rules/policy/terms of service. What should I do?
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This is one of the few places you'll ever find where the head honcho actually invites your suggestions and then gives you a direct line to contact him! Justin Lee (aka "GCN Justin") is happy to hear any suggestions you have to improve GCN's policies. He will actually listen to you. Promise. And he's also the one who has the final say-so on all those policies, so if you want to get something changed, he's the guy you should talk to.
Just call the GCN office at (919) 786-0000 and ask to speak to Justin. It's that easy. No red tape, no bureaucracy.
So take advantage of it! I mean really, when's the last time the president of your cell phone company gave you a direct line to tell him what you don't like about their service?
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What if I'd rather start a thread to voice my complaints on the message board?
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We respectfully request that you not. For one thing, it's not going to be as effective, since the guy who has the power to make those changes will probably never see your post. For another thing, the vast majority of our members prefer that these issues are handled privately; they get tired of seeing threads endlessly debating the same policy questions.
If multiple users have the same concern and you are unable to work out a solution with Justin, then talk to him about starting a thread to discuss the situation publicly. But give him a chance to resolve it first.
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Admit it, you just don't want to allow any criticism.
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Yeah, we hate criticism, and we thought that the best way to avoid ever being publicly criticized was to work for an organization serving LGBT Christians. No one would criticize us then! 
But seriously, we are used to criticism. We can handle it. And in fact, we do allow criticism of GCN on the message board when it's appropriate. Surely you've seen it from time to time. But the vast majority of our members have asked us not to allow constant debates over every little policy or moderator decision. Not only does it make GCN look bad; it also causes division in the community and makes it hard to maintain a safe space.
Believe it or not, we used to have a forum just for offering suggestions, comments, and criticisms of GCN and our policies. We found that it ended up becoming a source of never-ending debates between members, with people trying to out-shout each other in hopes of influencing GCN policy one way or another. Virtually all of our members were unhappy with it, and many asked us to remove it. That was back when our membership was in the hundreds; now that it's in the thousands, can you imagine what that would be like?
With such a small staff, we've learned that handling concerns and issues one-on-one allows us much greater freedom to listen to people's concerns (without others shouting them down) and make sure that each person's feelings are addressed. So that's the policy we've adopted.
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