Moderation approach - please read

[Harvey]

In these early opening weeks of this forum, how we interact and treat each other is going to define the nature of this forum for a long time to come.

This will likely require that moderation be heavier in this formative period, to help establish the welcoming and neighborly tone that we want for this forum. Our intent is to maintain a level of enjoyment to the discussions in these boards, and a level of civility. All very subjective things, we know. But I think that some judicious moderation is actually freeing to the majority of our members who want to interact here in an enjoyable, non-confrontational way. Most people are not here to pick a fight, and I am not interested in seeing our board becoming a place of division and warring factions.

Our attempts in the past few days to have this be self-policed have only caused some to dig in deeper on their positions of what should be said and what shouldn't. (I am tempted to open up a 'no-holds-barred' forum that is completely unmoderated. I suspect, though, that those already exist elsewhere - and, I have little interest in going there.)

This has been a serious topic of discussion among the moderators. We each have received a number of concerned PMs about it, and we've been deliberating for several days on how best to handle this.

Here is the approach we are going to follow:

1. We're going to allow discussion on touchy subjects, so long as the exchange is respectful and considerate. We will not allow posts that, whether intended by the poster or not, seem destined to agitate, incite, or inflame.

2. We're going to apply heavier and quicker moderation in instances where a post or comment seems likely to agitate, incite, or inflame. I am going to request that our mods join me in more readily modifying or deleting posts that don't contribute to enjoyable discussions in our forums.

3. If you have an issue with one of your posts being modified/deleted, you can PM me. Please refrain from posting about it in the boards and from recruiting others to your cause. Most of you know me and the mods by now; we'll try not to be heavy-handed or inconsistent. If you're being repeatedly affected by our moderation, PM me and we can discuss why your posts seem incompatible with the guidelines for this forum.

4. We'll reassess the above approach after a short period, and solicit your feedback to see how it's working for everybody.

5. We are also working on installing an 'ignore' feature, which members can use to ignore (i.e. never see) the posts from other members that they specify. That's not a great solution, but it may help some members cope while we're sorting through this.

6. We are certain that this will not be universally popular. We are committed, though, to giving this our best shot. We care about this forum and the group of people in it. We do hope that each and every one of you sticks with us as we roll through these birthing pains!

Thanks for your participation in these boards. As my mother once told me, "Son, a little moderation is a good thing."

- Harvey

[MonaSW]

Thank you Harvey, seems like an even handed approach while allowing discussion of potentially sensitive topics. Most forums just don't allow discussion of those topics at all which can be nice in a way, but sometimes those communities feel a bit out of touch. They have their place and I enjoy them as well.

[Shizu]

Thank you Harvey and moderators. You guys will be very busy monitoring. I would very much like you all to enjoy the board as well as everyone but I'm sorry to say that some moderation is needed.

We all love this board so as a member of the board, I think we should do our best to keep this place as enjoyable place as possible. We should consider how the post might affect others.

[ScottBooks]

You guys really ought to look into getting a raise.     or at least paid

[Dori]

Thank you Harvey and all of the mods for your diligent effort to try to maintain a pleasant family atmosphere here. 

[Betsy the Quilter]

You guys really ought to look into getting paid.  

Yeah, Harvey!

 

[Harvey]

^ I plan to double your current wages, Betsy.

[pidgeon92]

^ I plan to double your current wages, Betsy.

Woohoo! 200% of nothing!

[Selcien]

I have a question about the ignore feature. If someone were to choose to ignore my posts would I have any way of knowing it? 'Cause the last thing that I'd want is to be wasting my time responding to people that cannot see what I posted.

[Betsy the Quilter]

^ I plan to double your current wages, Betsy.

Woohoo!  I'm going to spend it on free books!   

Betsy

[Harvey]

I have a question about the ignore feature. If someone were to choose to ignore my posts would I have any way of knowing it? 'Cause the last thing that I'd want is to be wasting my time responding to people that cannot see what I posted.

I will check but I think the answer is 'no', you can't tell. The 'ignore' feature is designed to be a quiet way for someone to bypass a member's posts. However, your replies would still be viewable by other members.

[Betsy the Quilter]

I have a question about the ignore feature. If someone were to choose to ignore my posts would I have any way of knowing it? 'Cause the last thing that I'd want is to be wasting my time responding to people that cannot see what I posted.

Selcien, in all likelihood, the people who are reading and responding to your posts now are not going to put you on "ignore".   The net change to you will probably be nil.

Betsy

[ScottBooks]

I have a question about the ignore feature. If someone were to choose to ignore my posts would I have any way of knowing it? 'Cause the last thing that I'd want is to be wasting my time responding to people that cannot see what I posted.

Sorry, I didn't get that message. 

[Selcien]

I will check but I think the answer is 'no', you can't tell. The 'ignore' feature is designed to be a quiet way for someone to bypass a member's posts. However, your replies would still be viewable by other members.

I was thinking that it was "no" too but I was hoping that it wasn't.  I had a thought though. If a poster that was being ignored was quoted by someone that wasn't being ignored, would the quote be readable for them?

Selcien, in all likelihood, the people who are reading and responding to your posts now are not going to put you on "ignore".   The net change to you will probably be nil.

Betsy

Having someone ignore me would be somewhat bothersome, in that I'd be wasting my time if I were to respond directly to them (sorry but that's the way that I look at it), but the thing that bothers me more is that someone would actually use it, rather than learning to do it on their own without the aid of a filter (there was a post of BJ's in which he flatout swatted my post away, I was very impressed with that, too bad he had to go and give in later in the thread as seeing people with that kind of self control is all too rare.)

Keeping this board friendly is obviously the best for the board and is an environment that I believe that Harvey deserves to have (I've seen Harvey put more effort toward this board than I've ever seen from the IGN boards, who are so lazy that they cannot even be bothered to fix their broken search feature. I'm very impressed with Harvey) , but even under the best of circumstances there is no way to prevent an offensive comment from getting through as people react to things in a very unique fashion. In fact, I find the very idea of an ignore feature to be offensive, just the mere mention of it, but when something offensive gets through it provides an opportunity for growth, I hate to see people deny themselves that opportunity by using a filter. My own natural instinct upon finding out that this board will have an ignore feature is to not even bother posting strong opinions, but I'll deal with it.


There was a message by someone else, I'm sure of it. *ponders over what it could be*. Is someone practicing their Fading ability? Yes, that has to be it. 

[cush]

YES, Harvey, exactly what I expected from you- a reasoned, well thought out approach.

Thank you, Moderators, for doing a great job of keeping this a civil place to be.

Does the Ignore feature apply to posts or only to PM's? Where is the choice presented if one wants to use this feature, I have only discovered the one that ignores PM's from the ignored member.  Don't teally need it yet, but it would be good to know if simply ignoring an offensive post didn't work (whatever that means).   

[Jeff]

Cush,

Currently you can only ignore PM’s but Harvey plans to add a feature to ignore posts like the Amazon has.

If Harvey needs tech support he needs to contact my wife. She’s an expert - been ignoring me for over forty years.

Jeff

[Bacardi Jim]

Cush,



If Harvey needs tech support he needs to contact my wife. She’s an expert - been ignoring me for over forty years.

Jeff

HA!

[Jeff]

Did somebody just say something?

[Cat]

To answer a question I saw, if "XYZ" puts me on ignore then s/he can't see my posts. But if Someone else quotes my post in theirs then "XYZ" can see my quoted post.

In my experience, most people are too nosey to use the ignore feature.
Like it or not, even the most polite, proper people often slow down to watch an internet car crash, i.e. argument. The number of views on those threads are generally huge compared to the average thread.

[Jeff]

It works. I can't see where Jim was laughing.

[Cat]

HA!

Can you now?

[Jeff]

I wouldn't miss him for the world.

 

He keeps my blood pumping.

[Bacardi Jim]

I wouldn't miss him for the world.

 

He keeps my blood pumping.

I only do it for Vampy's sake.

[Jeff]

Vampy? I have him on ignore.

[cush]

Good one (both posts)   

[Bacardi Jim]

Vampy? I have him on ignore.

Just makes easier for him to strike.

[Cat]

Vampy? I have him on ignore.

You don't have to do that, just hold a mirror up to his posts, you'll never see 'em.

[Angela]

Many, many thanks to you Harvey and the mods!! You guys are doing an awesome job. It is nice to have a safe place to experience community and friendship. You guys are great!

[KCFoggin]

I believe the software used for this forum is made by the same company that makes it for the forum I moderate.

On that forum, when you place someone on your ignore list, you will see that the person on your ignore list has written a post but it will be a closed box.  In other words, you can see it on the thread that that person posted in but you would have to click on a clickable link at the top of that closed post to read it if you want to. 

On another point in Harvey's posts, I think quick moderation on troublesome posts is very necessary  Plain and simple.  There are people out there that love to go into a forum and just start trashing people and posts purely for the fun of it.  They are called trolls in the forum industry and instead of shutting a thread down because of troublesome posts, removing and/or editing posts of this nature still keeps the thread going.  Just my 2 cents worth

[Rasputina]

5. We are also working on installing an 'ignore' feature, which members can use to ignore (i.e. never see) the posts from other members that they specify. That's not a great solution, but it may help some members cope while we're sorting through this.

What is the status on this? I know I asked last year sometime, but wondering if maybe I missed this being added?

[Rasputina]

Found it WOOT

nevermind LOL

[Luvmy4brats]

Found it WOOT

nevermind LOL

we decided not to implement an ignore feature.

[Rasputina]

There is one but sadly it's only for PMs. It's too bad there isn't a real one.

I just make use of own ignore feature in the meantime.