Over moderating
- Thread starter MaxE
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Sifossifoco
Contributor
Personally i don't need moderation in those situations. Whoever quotes race, nationality, language spoken and other similar traits as a reason of superiority is off to the ignore list with immediate effect. What i can say that could probably help the moderators is that the list is growing fast....
OP
MaxE
Contributor
How about restoring the posts you removed then. Have another edit them is needed but not delete compliantly.
Soloist
Contributor
The moderators are at a disadvantage considering some threads are destined to be volatile from the outset. If an individual creates a thread focused strictly on themselves, more often than not, the intelligence, experience and skill set of the original poster will be exposed, questioned and critiqued. This generates interesting, informative and constructive exchanges, but ultimately ends up with the original poster defensive and upset.
The difference (for me) between a forum and FB or other such online repository is the ability to seaech the threads. It works best when all the the discussion in the thread is vaguely relevant to the title, or at least the concept.
I don't take it personally when I get moderated, I love exploring a good rabbit hole or sarcastic quip. But, when I'm trying to research thoughts and opinions and options, I really appreciate a thread that sticks explicitly to its core message. When a post adds nothing to the thread, why keep it? I expect for the mods is a coin toss decision much of the time. No clearly right answer, just pick one and live with it. The censorship obsession always piques my interest. No country has absolute free speech, there are always rules, limits and consequences.
I don't take it personally when I get moderated, I love exploring a good rabbit hole or sarcastic quip. But, when I'm trying to research thoughts and opinions and options, I really appreciate a thread that sticks explicitly to its core message. When a post adds nothing to the thread, why keep it? I expect for the mods is a coin toss decision much of the time. No clearly right answer, just pick one and live with it. The censorship obsession always piques my interest. No country has absolute free speech, there are always rules, limits and consequences.
What a wonderful thread!
(It must be noted to new readers in this thread, that the thread to which apenland01 refers was posted in "Solo Divers" subforum)
scallop
Contributor
Late to the party as usual. Heavy handed moderation ob SB based solely on personal opinion?
Say it isn't so Becky, say it isn't so!!
Say it isn't so Becky, say it isn't so!!
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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...
Off topic posts have been removed. Continued derailing of the thread may cause loss of posting privileges in the thread.
- Messages
- 17,334
- Reaction score
- 13,743
- # of dives
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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...
I have claimed the thread and will use my judgment.
Moderation is normally reactive, i.e. based on members' Reports. If a post is Reported, that will trigger the Mod Corp's attention, and more posts than the one Reported may be removed in the cleanup.At the risk of staying on topicis it not true that the degree to which off topic posts are tolerated is largely at the discretion of the original poster?
The Pub is an opt-in forum where off topic - including politics - is allowed. If you got to read this thread before the cleanup, you will have gotten a sanitized impression of how it is there.
Threads are very seldom nuked, and as has been said, threads in this forum aren't nuked. The latter because critizism is and should be allowed.
Moderators rely on members Reporting ToS violations. The Mod Corps isn't all-seeing, and bigotry is expressly forbidden on Scubaboard. If you see bigotry, do the Scubaboard community a favor and Report it.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Thanks @Storker!!!
A couple of links:
What is considered "off-topic" varies from sub-forum to sub-forum. It's very strict in the instructional (Green) forums and almost non-existent in the Pub, where off-topic is on-topic. An off-topic post might be left if it doesn't derail a thread while a partially on-topic thread might be removed because it does. Sometimes, if the off-shoot discussion has merit, it might even be split off to its own thread.
Moderators seldom moderate in threads they post in. There can be a lot of posts and hurt done in a short span of time, so obviously, there are exceptions when seconds count. Usually, the task of moderation is passed on as soon as possible and the mod will recuse themself. When this happens, the Mod who steps in will review what has been edited and/or deleted and either agree with the mod or change things a bit. There is usually a discussion in the back room where other mods will interject their opinions and insights. The mod that claims a thread gets to make the final decision. I can always override that decision if I feel it necessary. Yeah, that very rarely happens.
Calling out a member for an unsafe or odd practice is one thing. We still ask you to be respectful when you do. Insulting or demeaning another member for their posts, intelligence, style of diving, etc, will not be tolerated. Put them on your ignore list if reading them upsets you, but petty comments about them will probably be deleted. It's a huge forum, and not all posts are read by mods, so if you see a problematic post: PLEASE REPORT IT. Don't fight with them in public about it, as that will almost always be off-topic. No, not every reported post merits moderation. Just because you don't like it, or think it's wrong, doesn't make it a problem. We never vet for truth, but rather for tenor or safety.
Mods are volunteers that have been recommended by other users for their position. We almost never ask someone who wants to be a mod to be one. No, we look for the reluctant to fill those positions because we don't want to see power plays. This is the finest group of mods we've had in our history. They put the community along with users first and tolerate a lot of crap that gets thrown at them if/when they deign to moderate someone's post. If that hits the thread, it's almost always deleted as being off-topic. Site support is the only place to criticize and while we won't delete criticisms, name-calling and derailing a thread in site support will be moderated. You might even lose posting privileges in that thread. It seems that the same people get thread banned over and over.
When we do moderate, we don't talk about it with anyone else except ourselves and the person we moderated. Sure, they sometimes will tell you about how unfair we are, etc, etc, but there are always two sides to the story. We're not going to reproduce any post that got deleted, so any public discussion devolves into "The Mods hate me/No we don't!" That's about as unproductive as you can get and we don't like wasting our time. We will give general guidelines, but no details. In any event, if you see the complainer still posting, then we obviously aren't all that bad.
In short: be nice, respectful and stay on-topic. Let's have fun, but not at the expense of others.
A couple of links:
You can add people to your ignore filter here: Ignored
You can join the Pub Regulars here: User Groups
More help: New to ScubaBoard and xenForo? Here's The Chairman's user guide...
You can join the Pub Regulars here: User Groups
More help: New to ScubaBoard and xenForo? Here's The Chairman's user guide...
What is considered "off-topic" varies from sub-forum to sub-forum. It's very strict in the instructional (Green) forums and almost non-existent in the Pub, where off-topic is on-topic. An off-topic post might be left if it doesn't derail a thread while a partially on-topic thread might be removed because it does. Sometimes, if the off-shoot discussion has merit, it might even be split off to its own thread.
Moderators seldom moderate in threads they post in. There can be a lot of posts and hurt done in a short span of time, so obviously, there are exceptions when seconds count. Usually, the task of moderation is passed on as soon as possible and the mod will recuse themself. When this happens, the Mod who steps in will review what has been edited and/or deleted and either agree with the mod or change things a bit. There is usually a discussion in the back room where other mods will interject their opinions and insights. The mod that claims a thread gets to make the final decision. I can always override that decision if I feel it necessary. Yeah, that very rarely happens.
Calling out a member for an unsafe or odd practice is one thing. We still ask you to be respectful when you do. Insulting or demeaning another member for their posts, intelligence, style of diving, etc, will not be tolerated. Put them on your ignore list if reading them upsets you, but petty comments about them will probably be deleted. It's a huge forum, and not all posts are read by mods, so if you see a problematic post: PLEASE REPORT IT. Don't fight with them in public about it, as that will almost always be off-topic. No, not every reported post merits moderation. Just because you don't like it, or think it's wrong, doesn't make it a problem. We never vet for truth, but rather for tenor or safety.
Mods are volunteers that have been recommended by other users for their position. We almost never ask someone who wants to be a mod to be one. No, we look for the reluctant to fill those positions because we don't want to see power plays. This is the finest group of mods we've had in our history. They put the community along with users first and tolerate a lot of crap that gets thrown at them if/when they deign to moderate someone's post. If that hits the thread, it's almost always deleted as being off-topic. Site support is the only place to criticize and while we won't delete criticisms, name-calling and derailing a thread in site support will be moderated. You might even lose posting privileges in that thread. It seems that the same people get thread banned over and over.
When we do moderate, we don't talk about it with anyone else except ourselves and the person we moderated. Sure, they sometimes will tell you about how unfair we are, etc, etc, but there are always two sides to the story. We're not going to reproduce any post that got deleted, so any public discussion devolves into "The Mods hate me/No we don't!" That's about as unproductive as you can get and we don't like wasting our time. We will give general guidelines, but no details. In any event, if you see the complainer still posting, then we obviously aren't all that bad.
In short: be nice, respectful and stay on-topic. Let's have fun, but not at the expense of others.
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