Voting:Level 5's and Up/Chat Policy Amendment 2 - Passed

Amendment
After some thought I've decided to propose an amendment to our current chat policy along the following lines:

Replace:  "Bottom line, anything that turns wiki into a heated argument or debate, will not be tolerated and chat mods should ask that the conversation cease or be taken to a private message and out of main chat."

With: ''"Bottom line, anything that turns chat into a destructive environment will not be tolerated, and chat mods should ask that the conversation cease or be taken to a private message and out of main chat".

"Consult the following Warnings Leniency and Disputes sections of this page for relevant context."''

The document as it now stands can be viewed here.

Reasoning
Note that this is a Level 5 and Up vote because it concerns the entirety of the wiki.

My reasoning for proposing this is fairly simple. Although I've always supported the specific language of our policy as a whole, I feel that this particular line, by clarifying as it does, provides a potential for misunderstanding or overlooking later language that provides context for the use of moderator powers. The "Warnings Leniency" and "Disputes" sections provide essential information for chat mod conduct, and many users read over policy quickly which could easily result in their exploitation by a heavy handed chatmod or administrator. Rights to reasonable dispute and discussion are essential parts of any democratic institution.

You may also note that "heated argument or debate" has been altered to "destructive environment", as I feel that the former language potentially limits discussion of harmless topics.

For: (+1)
Flamefang (talk) 05:15, February 19, 2014 (UTC)