A note to the TexAgs community regarding posting and moderation

TexAgs,

I cannot recall a more tense time in our history together. With a global pandemic, no college sports, racial tensions on campus and differing political views tearing us apart, clarity and civility seem elusive.

In a moment like this, we've had to lean on one of our guiding principles: We believe progress is made through MORE discussion, not LESS, and we believe that to be true even if the topics are uncomfortable and we occasionally disagree with one another. TexAgs has always been a place for Aggies to connect with each other, express our opinions and have a shared experience centered around topics we are passionate about. Lately, some of those topics are being discussed with a heightened level of passion, so it's more important than ever that we find a way to be civil, respectful and productive.

Posting Policies

We want to remind everyone that there are rules to posting here, and those rules can be found in our user agreement/posting policy. Like many other online forums have recently, we recognized room for our own improvement, so we updated the rules and encourage each of you to read them at your earliest convenience. As it relates to what we are all going through together right now, I want to be really clear about the following:

TexAgs staff, our moderators and the overwhelming majority of posters on this site will not stand for comments that are racist, sexist or in any way dehumanizing. We have and will continue to remove any posts we see that are hateful or that contain content intended to demean any group. This does not mean we can't discuss hot-button issues on TexAgs, but we ask that you be thoughtful and charitable when you do. If you are unable to express your point in a humanizing way, your post will be removed and you will not be welcome to post on TexAgs any longer.

This policy will be strictly enforced by our moderators, who will work diligently to catch everything they can, but remember, with 2.5 million posts here every year it is not possible for us to bat a thousand on the removal of ALL objectionable posts. We will be doing our best to protect your right to free speech and to express yourself, but we will need your help.

Help Us Protect Free Speech

If you come across anything you believe offends one of our policies, PLEASE flag the post for moderator review. We do not approve posts before they go up and we are unable to read them all immediately after they do. We depend heavily on the posting community to bring problem posts to our attention. If in doubt, flag and we will review.

Thank you for your help and for making TexAgs a community where EVERYONE has the right to be heard and respected. We are deeply greatful for your continued support.

Gig’Em!

Brandon Jones ‘95
President & CEO