Spittybug
09-02-2012, 08:25 PM
I'll leave it up to the mods to move this thread if I've put it in the wrong spot.
Fellow members, most of us know that we have a few among us that like to troll, antagonize or simple be juvenile with respect to their posts. We are not unique in this aspect, most forums have them. There is something about the anonymity of the internet that causes people to act differently than they might in real life. There are two camps on dealing with it; those that wish the moderators to take a firm position and squash them, and those that advocate tolerance of the postings and allowing the individual to audit the own intake of information versus garbage. Both have merit. As a result, the moderators find themselves in the unenviable position of trying to figure out what the community wants and applying it. Consequently, THEY become the focus of peoples' ire since they can't appease everyone. By definition, the moderators job is to police and adjudicate on the forum content.
I have a proposed solution that requires minimal effort by all.
Every post on every thread has a little triangular icon with an exclamation mark within it, located in the lower left part of the post. This is to "report a post". When clicked, it gives you a dialogue box to enter any comment you may have. The mods (if like all other forums) get these as high priority items and can then act on them if appropriate.
Here's what I propose; rather than putting the burden of "weighing the offense" on the mods, why don't we get more active in self policing our valuable community? Let's commit to a rule that says if a post gets 5 independent "reports" it gets deleted. If the same member gets 10 "reports" within a month, then they are suspended for a month. If it happens again, they get tossed. I picked 5 and 10 somewhat arbitrarily, but they are close in my opinion.
Why do this? We live in a society where free speech is allowed, but also one where majority rules. As there is obviously the right to include or exclude whoever the owner of this site (Tamir, right?) wishes, he can lay down any rules that he likes. His silence on the subject infers that he has delegated such decisions to the moderators. We can give these "overseers" some good guidelines to use or we can live with their sole judgement. Which do you prefer, democracy or totalitarianism? There's no denying that the owner of the site will have last say, but hey, that's capitalism! If you don't like it, leave.
So, that's my proposal and I hope the community sees merit it and supports it. Don't forget to use the "report a post" icon!
Fellow members, most of us know that we have a few among us that like to troll, antagonize or simple be juvenile with respect to their posts. We are not unique in this aspect, most forums have them. There is something about the anonymity of the internet that causes people to act differently than they might in real life. There are two camps on dealing with it; those that wish the moderators to take a firm position and squash them, and those that advocate tolerance of the postings and allowing the individual to audit the own intake of information versus garbage. Both have merit. As a result, the moderators find themselves in the unenviable position of trying to figure out what the community wants and applying it. Consequently, THEY become the focus of peoples' ire since they can't appease everyone. By definition, the moderators job is to police and adjudicate on the forum content.
I have a proposed solution that requires minimal effort by all.
Every post on every thread has a little triangular icon with an exclamation mark within it, located in the lower left part of the post. This is to "report a post". When clicked, it gives you a dialogue box to enter any comment you may have. The mods (if like all other forums) get these as high priority items and can then act on them if appropriate.
Here's what I propose; rather than putting the burden of "weighing the offense" on the mods, why don't we get more active in self policing our valuable community? Let's commit to a rule that says if a post gets 5 independent "reports" it gets deleted. If the same member gets 10 "reports" within a month, then they are suspended for a month. If it happens again, they get tossed. I picked 5 and 10 somewhat arbitrarily, but they are close in my opinion.
Why do this? We live in a society where free speech is allowed, but also one where majority rules. As there is obviously the right to include or exclude whoever the owner of this site (Tamir, right?) wishes, he can lay down any rules that he likes. His silence on the subject infers that he has delegated such decisions to the moderators. We can give these "overseers" some good guidelines to use or we can live with their sole judgement. Which do you prefer, democracy or totalitarianism? There's no denying that the owner of the site will have last say, but hey, that's capitalism! If you don't like it, leave.
So, that's my proposal and I hope the community sees merit it and supports it. Don't forget to use the "report a post" icon!