Hey /r/IndianCountry. In case you didn't see it, a survey was posted about three weeks ago to gather feedback regarding a redesign of the rules and the implementation of new rules and policies for the sub (special shout out to /u/unite-thegig-economy for reposting it several times too).

The survey has now closed and this post is to share the rules with you. These results have been used to guide our decision to implement these changes. If you have any questions regarding the survey or the results, let us know in the comments below.

Results

Section 1

The survey received a total of 42 responses. The first section asked some brief demographic questions so we could get an idea of the participants casting votes and if they were among the primary target audience of the subreddit. Responses to these questions, in order, were:

Do you identify as an Indigenous person? (Not restricted to the Americas or those who are enrolled with a Tribe.)

• 39/42 respondents answered "yes"
• 3/42 respondents answered "no"

How long have you been subscribed to /r/IndianCountry?

• 8/42 respondents have been subscribed for 3 years
• 14/42 respondents have been subscribed for 1-2 years
• 9/41 respondents have been subscribed for 6-12 months
• 11/42 respondents have been subscribed for <6 months

Do you consider yourself a member of the regular community of the subreddit? (Regular could mean a combination of frequent commenting/posting, notability among other users, participation in sub events, fostering an identity on the subreddit through use of flair, long time subscriber, etc.)

• 15/42 respondents answered "yes"
• 4/42 respondents answered "no"
• 23/42 respondents answered "somewhat"

Section 2

This second section of the survey asked for responses regarding the proposed redesign of the existing rules (existing rules here and redesign here). Each rule could be voted on where respondents were asked if they agree/disagree with the proposed redesign, are unsure about the redesign, or prefer the existing language of the respective rule they were voting on.

Section 3

This third section of the survey asked for responses regarding four newly proposed rules. The survey had three responses for this section: agree, disagree, and unsure.

Section 4

This fourth section of the survey asked for responses regarding four newly proposed policies. The survey had three responses for this section: agree, disagree, and unsure.

Comments

Each section also had a comment feedback box where people could submit written comments regarding the content of each section. Though we will not report all comments made to the form, some were good suggestions and we plan to address or implement them. Here are the ones we wish to share and respond to are (we're not including compliments, but thank you to all who submitted kind words!):

A thread for non Native people to ask questions weekly

This has been floated before and we have agreed to do this in the past. It just takes a little more logistical work than we have had time to spare.

Rule 5 shouldn’t lump research into the others.

Though I do not know the rationale of the person who made this comment, I can see that our specific procedure for dealing with research requests could big significant enough to warrant its own rule. It was grouped in with the other banned types of posts primarily to keep the rules as succinct as possible. But we can look into whether it should be its own rule.

My only suggestion is maybe an automod automatic reply for anyone who posts that isn't native that includes a link to the FAQ

This is something that has potential. Though we are able to program automod to post in specific threads that we can set up triggers for, the language we'd target for non-Native posts would be tricky and could result in a lot of false-positives. But we would be able to set it to post an automod comment in every discussion post thread and just put in instructions to ignore it should the direction to the FAQ not be relevant to the post.

I agree with decentering the non native voices, but I wish we had an option for perpetuating colonialism, bc so many people come to the sub and try and explain to me that x part of colonialism was good. Also could we get flairs for the different nations/countries because I've had people tell me, in a conversation regarding America, that Canada was better and I couldn't say anything against America

I can understand wanting a rule that tackles the converse of the "Centering Native Voices" rule, that being the decentering of colonial or non-Native voices which implies countering the promotion of colonialism, but to be clear, this is basically what the new centering rule would be used for. Right now, people can report comments/posts for being bigoted, disrespectful, etc. But some violations are more accurately reported as an act of marginalization, which is inherently disrespectful and/or bigoted, but are often done under the pretense of ignorance. So the new centering rule is what would be used to report instances that both marginalize Native Voices and perpetuate colonialism, as doing the latter naturally begets the former.

As for flairs for different nations, this likely won't be happening. Early on with /r/IndianCountry, we tried developing sprites and it was just way too much work. Besides the fact there are 574 federally recognized Tribes in the U.S. alone, there are many more Indigenous nations and communities around the world who may have their own flag or emblem that could be made into a flair/sprite and it would just be too much work for an all volunteer group. This is also why we haven't created flair templates or the like. We find that leaving it blank and editable for anyone to insert what they identify as is the most equitable and inclusive way of operating the flair system.

Regarding the "No Literary Advice," I think it might be worth clarifying that it's to address non-Native writers trying to do easy research for book projects. I do think that other forms of "literary advice" (e.g., they just read Orange's "There There" and are looking for other books by Native authors or to learn more about the urban Native experience) should be acceptable.

This was mentioned a couple times and this is a good point. The term "literary" is a bit too broad and may target types of posts we'd prefer to have, so the term will be changed when the rule is implemented and it will be specified to mean non-Native writers looking for easy and exploitative research.

I wish the centering Native voices was higher on the list

I suppose the "Centering Native Voices" rule can be moved up to the first slot on the rules lists, but its placement in the rules has no impact on its status as a rule or its relevancy for where it can be applied. But I understand the message of having it listed as the first rule.

On traditions, I'm not sure I agree. As someone who is not able to live close to my people, it can be valuable to learn about traditions online. However I understand it can cause harm or appropriation as well. It's a difficult line.

I think this rule is also not as clear as it can be. The rule barring questions about traditions/religious practices isn't meant to discourage Native persons asking about these things (in a respectful way) as they are generally entitled to ask these questions. It is meant to bar non-Natives making irreverent inquiries into the sacred, much like how the literary rule prevents would-be novelists from asking ignorant cultural questions. Instances where this rule would be applied include inquiries about taboo subjects like skinwalkers and asking how certain guarded ceremonies are performed. It also does not apply to Native craftspeople who make ceremonial items and wish to share them, should that be appropriate according to their own cultural protocols.

I wish there was a separate sub for global indigenous people. Honestly, what happens in say Australia does not interest me and I feel I am not alone. If it were on a separate sub, those items could be cross posted as needed.

I can understand the preference toward North American content since the sub is literally named after a term used by Indians in the U.S. Unfortunately, there isn't really a good alternative for other Native subreddits that capture a global audience. There are a couple that are active with both posts and comments, but /r/IndianCountry is the largest and most active of the Native subs. And many of our communities have relations that extend to the rest of the Indigenous World outside of North America. The reality is that whether we like to or not, we attract Indigenous Peoples from all over and showing a bit of hospitality ain't the worst thing in the world.

Conclusion

Looking at the results, all of the proposals were voted on in the majority with favorable answers. We will address the language, terminology, and ordering issues raised in the comments. We do not see any significant responses to reject the redesign, new rules, or new policies. The only notable one is the banning of tradition/religious posts, but I think that is a result of miscommunication rather than a true rejection.

If anyone has any words to share or thinks contrary to this conclusion, please let us know!

Edit: Clarified a sentence.

Edit 2: Fixed grammar, eliminated extra words.