Over moderating

[The Chairman]

This is a private board with its own rules.

We really encourage the use of the "Reported Post" feature by our community. It's their way of letting us know what they find offensive. That way, the community reflects what YOU want, not just the mods.

Would it be possible and appropriate to make moderation anonymous so that no single individual is linked to a moderation post?

By default, moderation is anonymous, but we often 'sign' our work. Mods are pretty good about letting people know what was deleted and why. No, we're not perfect, and life gets in the way. We're actually discussing this in the back room, so that we can better serve the community. While I was in the middle of a response, I ran out of Laptop juice. The AC adaptor had died and the battery was depleted. It was a three hour trip to a Best Buy to put me back to work. I accidentally ran into the unfinished post, which I was certain I had posted before I ran out of juice. Whoops.

 

[uncfnp]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

As far as I understand the process (which I like to believe is pretty good), my first example of moderation is just that. A post violating the ToS is removed, the offender receives

We really encourage the use of the "Reported Post" feature by our community. It's their way of letting us know what they find offensive. That way, the community reflects what YOU want, not just the mods.

By default, moderation is anonymous, but we often 'sign' our work. Mods are pretty good about letting people know what was deleted and why. No, we're not perfect, and life gets in the way. We're actually discussing this in the back room, so that we can better serve the community. While I was in the middle of a response, I ran out of Laptop juice. The AC adaptor had died and the battery was depleted. It was a three hour trip to a Best Buy to put me back to work. I accidentally ran into the unfinished post, which I was certain I had posted before I ran out of juice. Whoops.

a notice that their post has been removed - preferably with a reason (e.g. "off topic") and no-one except the Mod Corps can see the post, who posted it, who deleted it nor the reason for deletion

---

My thought too is when a warning is made within a thread such as the post by Storker. It shows which moderator is involved in monitoring (and hence possibly moderating a thread) making them a potential target. I have seen this happen to several moderators the past several weeks.

 

[Storker]

It shows which moderator is involved in monitoring (and hence possibly most probably moderating a thread)

FTFY

 

[OTF]

The only thing I'd add is to address something I read somewhere around page 2 - someone said something about censorship. Internet boards are not subject to the US Constitution, or any other. It's similar to the answer I give my kids when they try to pull some kind of "democratic" argument to my and my wife's parenting; This isn't a democracy.

This is a private board with its own rules. They could make a rule that you can only log in on tuesdays while wearing a green shirt, and if you didn't like it, you don't have to participate. This is how I view things, and I consider it a healthy perspective. Peace out.

Of course there is no mandate that a private website adhere to the free speech guarantees of any country's constitution. But we all want a place to openly and fairly discuss scuba diving, and sometimes that means contentious debate. There is some level of expectation of (reasonably) free speech necessary to make a place like this work. If we had the tuesday-green-hat rule, most of us would probably migrate to board with more reasonable rules.

 

[wheeledgoat]

Of course there is no mandate that a private website adhere to the free speech guarantees of any country's constitution. But we all want a place to openly and fairly discuss scuba diving, and sometimes that means contentious debate. There is some level of expectation of (reasonably) free speech necessary to make a place like this work. If we had the tuesday-green-hat rule, most of us would probably migrate to board with more reasonable rules.

well said. I might be a little sensitive from all the "mah freedum" entitlement nonsense I have to put up with her in the states.

 

[Miyaru]

Of course there is no mandate that a private website adhere to the free speech guarantees of any country's constitution. But we all want a place to openly and fairly discuss scuba diving, and sometimes that means contentious debate. There is some level of expectation of (reasonably) free speech necessary to make a place like this work. If we had the tuesday-green-hat rule, most of us would probably migrate to board with more reasonable rules.

Freedom of speech is the first part. What is inevitably coupled to that freedom is that you accept the consequence of (ab)using that freedom. Politeness is a key that opens every door, in every culture. Even in a contentious debate.

 

[pauldw]

Thinking out loud.

Would it be possible and appropriate to make moderation anonymous so that no single individual is linked to a moderation post?

Evildoers don't need a cloak to shield them in darkness. They need light to expose their evil ways.

 

[MaxE]

I want to circle back to why I started this thread and make clear to @chillyinCanada that I don’t mean to attack you or your moderating. In the thread (that shall not be mentioned) if seemed like you were moderating to protect (they who shall not be mentioned) or to proactively moderated to not have to respond to complaints by the original poster of off topic posts, essentially you were being bullied or manipulated. I have seen plenty of threads where someone (T.W.S.N.B.M.) was being bullied or certainly had posts that seemed to be intended to raise a reaction, I also saw responses that were no better that were left. In the thread in question the moderation seemed to possibly actually being doing more harm than good. My participation in the thread was on topic, friendly and intended to be helpful, it remains and nothing I posted was removed.

On this thread I had issue with moderating and participating and said so.

What I would hope for is consistency, from thread to thread, I fully understand some rules change in different sub forums, and consistency from member to member.

Peace and love

 

[Centrals]

I do not expect every moderator would have the same opinion on every topic unless it is blatantly offensive.
8 pages on this topic already!!!

 

[The Chairman]

What I would hope for is consistency, from thread to thread,

20+ years of ScubaBoarding... and I have to admit that I don't think this is possible. Oh, we try, but there are as many different styles of moderating as there are moderators. It's way too big for one person to do it all and we do rely on users to do a lot of the policing. One post might get reported and the mod thinks that the reporter is correct and removes it. A similar post made after the mod was there doesn't get reported, so the mod might never see it because no one reported it. It's not that the mods used a different protocol, but without reporting it and telling us why you think the post is problematic, we have a different result. If you see something, please say something. If you don't, then don't be surprised that we didn't agree with you.