Moderation Questions for Whiners
The last iteration of the moderation discussion thread was a complete disaster. Numerous attempts to keep it on topic failed, and it became a general discussion thread with almost no moderation related posts at all. And those that were posted were so buried in non-mod posts that it became a huge time drain on the mods to sort through them. Then, when off topic posts were deleted posters complained about that.
This led to the closing of the mod discussion thread, replaced by the post report/pm approach. This has filtered out lots of noise, but has resulted at times in the General Discussion Thread turning into a quasi-mod thread. This is not desirable, but going back to the old mod thread is also not a workable option.
Therefore, I have created this new moderation thread, but with a different purpose and ground rules than previous mod threads. The purpose of this thread is to provide a place for posters to pose questions to the mods about how policies are applied; to bring to the mods attention posts they think are inappropriate and reach the level of requiring mod action; and for mods to communicate to posters things like changes or clarifications to policies, bannings, etc.
Now let me tell you what this thread is NOT a place for. It is not for nonmoderation related posts, even if the discussion originates from a comment in in a mod related post. It is not for posters to post their opinions about other posters or whether a poster should be banned. It is not to rehash past grievances about mod decisions from months or years ago. The focus of this thread will be recent posts that require action now. Or questions about current policies and enforcement.
So basically, this is a thread to ask mods questions. Which means, pretty much that only mods should be answering those questions. If a poster asks why a particular post was deleted or allowed, only a mod can answer that. Everyone else who wants to jump in with their opinion or their mod war story needs to stay out of it. It just increases the noise to signal ratio and does nothing to answer the question.
Everyone needs to understand that this thread has very different rules than the old mod thread and any other thread. Any non-moderation post will be deleted on sight. Not moved to the appropriate thread, just deleted. So don't waste your time crafting a masterpiece post about wars or transgender issues or the presidential election and then post it in this thread. It will be gone. Also, this isnt a thread for general commentary about our mods performance. Posting "browser sucks as a mod" or any such posts that don't actually ask about a policy or request a mod action will be deleted. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the moderation of this forum. But this thread isnt for complaining about mods. You are free to go to the ATF forum and make your concerns about modding in this forum there.
So with that intro, this thread is open for those who need to bring questions about mod policies or bring inappropriate posts to the mods attention. Again, it is NOT a thread for group discussions about other posters or for other posters to answer questions directed to mods.
We'll see how this goes. If you have what you feel is an open issue raised in the General Discussion Thread, please copy that post or otherwise reintroduce the issue here.
Thanks.
I'll be happy to mod I just assume there will be a group of people unhappy that I'm modding.
My only rule would be is if someone asks you a direct question based on a post you made, you have to answer.
We'd lose all of our right wing posters except maybe luciom
I'll be happy to mod I just assume there will be a group of people unhappy that I'm modding.
My only rule would be is if someone asks you a direct question based on a post you made, you have to answer.
We'd lose all of our right wing posters except maybe luciom
as a long term sparring partner i think coordi would be fine, even when he's really angry with me he still keeps things within reason and i know i can be very difficult to deal with
How many times do I have to explain the same point? It doesn't matter whether you are right or wrong about jmitchell. No one here has any authority over jmitchell. You are wasting everyone's time, including your own, by complaining to Politics mods about jmitchell.
well the mods in atf don't seem to gaf and literally nobody knows how those inside decisions are made anyway but i have an inkling that if enough mods or former mods who still have access to mod chat are made aware of such injustice then perhaps when he chooses his next victim they'll have a more appropriate response when it comes up in mod chat and they say "hey didn't he do this before and we did nothing?"
The weird thing is that the forum has been much more civil for months. The liberals have been allowed almost infinite insults and the conservatives have refrained from responding in kind.
Not really sure what the problem is.
I mean I know what the problem is, but I'd like it actually articulated bc of its absurdity.
What’s the problem, tell me please?
I think that many posters on here agitate for an echo chamber. They use vague accusations to make it seem like there are big problems.
My feeling is that things are far less divisive than when the Ukraine and Israel and trans people threads were super active. Now we just have partisan American Politics sniping.
I think that many posters on here agitate for an echo chamber. They use vague accusations to make it seem like there are big problems.
My feeling is that things are far less divisive than when the Ukraine and Israel and trans people threads were super active. Now we just have partisan American Politics sniping.
Victor is of course right.
The forum has gotten really crappy lately but not because the tone has worsened.
In general the discourse is more courteous than 6 months ago, but also less productive (if that is possible)
I'm assuming the main driver of tension and stress is the general state of our countries politics more than the general state of this forum
Who are the 3? CN seemingly wants out. I'm no longer a mod of this forum. And KS has never been a full time Politics mod.
Okay but you're a regular poster maybe capable of still banning an either complete troll account, or a poster who completely went off the rails and lost their mind and needs to be banned?
With having a low number of high vol regs, I'd guess that just you and KS alone would be able to do just that. Mods don't need to interject in much of anything else, imo.
Okay but you're a regular poster maybe capable of still banning an either complete troll account, or a poster who completely went off the rails and lost their mind and needs to be banned?
With having a low number of high vol regs, I'd guess that just you and KS alone would be able to do just that. Mods don't need to interject in much of anything else, imo.
I have no intention of going back to being a mod.
well the mods in atf don't seem to gaf and literally nobody knows how those inside decisions are made anyway but i have an inkling that if enough mods or former mods who still have access to mod chat are made aware of such injustice then perhaps when he chooses his next victim they'll have a more appropriate response when it comes up in mod chat and they say "hey didn't he do this before and we did nothing?"
I will tell you how the decisions are made. People who own the site get the complaints and take whatever action they take.
And the complaints are bullshit and politically motivated.
It's a classic case of selective input.
Thanks to all the mods for their volunteer time. Before the lights go off I just wanna say: it's really ****ed up how Robocop shot that dude in the dick.
The weird thing is that the forum has been much more civil for months. The liberals have been allowed almost infinite insults and the conservatives have refrained from responding in kind.
Not really sure what the problem is.
Degradation of civility isn't why the forum will die. The forum will die because:
(1) it isnt driving enought traffic for the owners to care about preserving it; and
(2) at any given time, there are between 6 and 10 people who make moderators miserable by simply refusing to comply with any request and 1 or 2 like craig who are even worse.
There are people who have moderated more active forums for years. That will never happen here for obvious reasons.
1 sounds like bullshit. this forum is certainly one of the most active.
2 is definitely bullshit as a lot of people have volunteered to mod.
Victor is of course right.
The forum has gotten really crappy lately but not because the tone has worsened.
I think it is crystal clear that "the problem" with this forum as of late is that the interesting posters are either gone or posting significantly less than they once were. As the head mod around here, you are probably the one in the best position to let us know why.
I think it is crystal clear that "the problem" with this forum as of late is that the interesting posters are either gone or posting significantly less than they once were. As the head mod around here, you are probably the one in the best position to let us know why.
bfi basically died once toothsayer left
despite that he would have been banned had in posted in politics for his divisive style, he still drove discussion ad there were a lot of really good discussion that yielded some pretty good investment ideas along the way
The same people who made their entire existence about getting Tooth banned quit posting the moment he was banned. Normally the people claiming to know what the problem is while posting condescending nonsense are the problem.
Lesson in that
The last time I ran numbers on this, in 2017, Politics was #7, which amounted to 4.5% of the site's pageviews. Not insignificant, but also not dramatically forum changing on its own were it to go away. Whether it would drive away or reduce other site activity for any posters who spend a lot of time in Politics would be another question.
bfi basically died once toothsayer left
despite that he would have been banned had in posted in politics for his divisive style, he still drove discussion ad there were a lot of really good discussion that yielded some pretty good investment ideas along the way
I banned very few people and disliked doing it.
But that didn't make modding any more tolerable.
When people start making complaints in craig-style, it generates discussion about locking the doors. You can feel however you want about that phenomenon, but i am describing a fact of life.
The last time I ran numbers on this, in 2017, Politics was #7, which amounted to 4.5% of the site's pageviews. Not insignificant, but also not dramatically forum changing on its own were it to go away. Whether it would drive away or reduce other site activity for any posters who spend a lot of time in Politics would be another question.
you could say that none of those individual forums are particularly "dramatically changing on their own" outside of NVT either.
and 2017 was a long time ago. its hard to believe that most of those arent significantly lower.
I banned very few people and disliked doing it.
But that didn't make modding any more tolerable.
When people start making complaints in craig-style, it generates discussion about locking the doors. You can feel however you want about that phenomenon, but i am describing a fact of life.
you on my mod rushmore
