Support eligibility of narcotics forums

Proposal

Currently, the SEP lists warez, hacking, pornography and certain other circumstances as non-eligible for support. However there are a number of other forum topics that are questionable, mainly drugs. The ethical and legal implications of narcotic use vary from country to country, so saying “it is illegal, ergo we don’t support it” isn’t going to cut it. However, it should be noted that potentially some countries would classify the aiding of a forum dedicated to narcotics is advocating their use. We need a staff vote to decide if they are/are not eligible for support so we can say “unfortunately your forum subject was denied support through our internal RFC process.

Justification

It’s very difficult to turn around and say “we don’t support you” when we have no official decision. Narcotics related forums are not explicitly banned in the SEP.

Actions

• Stop supporting narcotics related forums [All]
• The following shall be added to the “For ethical and legal reasons the MyBB Group also chooses not to provide support to websites containing any of the following” list of our Support Eligibility Policy: [Community/Developers]
• Discussions that encourage, promote or demonstrate methods of producing, consuming, using, cultivating, buying, selling, distributing or supplying drugs that could reasonably be considered illegal.

Effects & Implications

There is the potential for a backlash from forums who’s topic pertains to narcotics, but the general effect would be minimal as it is a niche market.

Metadata

• First draft: 5 Jun 2015
• Author(s): Tom K.
• Status: Accepted