Forum Moderation Techniques

[Brian Hoskins]

Amiga.org staff,

I feel that the moderation techniques of this forum site should be reviewed.  To take the recent locking of the PeggyII vs AmigaOne thread as a current example, first of all I can completely understand the reasons WHY moderators would have chosen to do something about the mud slinging that developed in that thread, however I do not agree with their solution to it.

Unfortunately, in this world wherever you go, you'll always find at least one group of idiots who want to ruin things for the rest.  It's nothing to do with the Amiga Community being bad news, you get these kinds of people wherever you go!  Now the thing is, most of us are genuine Amiga fanatics who take absolutely no interest at all in mud slinging or bickering or generally causing trouble - all we want to do is talk about the Amiga.

Locking that thread punishes the normal well behaved forum user such as myself.  I wanted to add my views to that subject, but I had no interest in fuelling the arguments or adding my own mud slinging - all I wanted to do was talk about the next generation machines.

If I were the moderator, I think my attitude would be to single out the trouble makers, and lock THEM from posting on the subject, while allowing the rest of us to get on and have a proper discussion.  I do not agree with punishing everyone for the acts of a few.

Just my thoughts on the subject, anyway.  I feel the forum would be a much better place to hang out if threads weren't being locked all of the time.

Brian

[Brian Hoskins]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Firstly, I am not blaming moderators for the trouble that develops in some threads.  Moderation isn't the cause of trouble, it is the result of trouble.

I agree that the locked thread in question HAD gone completley off topic, leaving only mud slinging and bickering.  But the frustrating thing is, I wasn't interested in the silly mud slinging and bickering - I actually wanted to contribute to the original discussion.  To all who participate in this kind of sillyness, all I'll say to you is please stop - it ruins things for the rest of us.  If someone starts trying to bait you with a snide comment, just ignore them.  If troll-posts were ignored, they'd never have the chance to grow in the first place.

I was unaware that moderation techniques were limited by the software used to run the website.  It'd be great if the trouble makers could be singled out instead, it's a pity that.  Maybe a warning should be issued to people who persistently cause problems because these kinds of things ruin it all for the rest of us.

Thanks again

Brian

[Brian Hoskins]

With regard to the recent Amiga.org flame post on Ann which links to this particular thread, I'd like to say that this thread was started by me and intended to be a constructive outlook on moderation techniques, NOT an excuse to start a war.

I would recommend that the Ann post be ignored by us all, since the person who posted there has obviously (purposely?) misunderstood this thread completley.

Brian