The great moderation experiment begins

Hi!

To those of you who haven't noticed, all Amiga.org staff members have now been added as moderators of each forum.  To combat accusations from some of improper moderation, this is an experiment to see whether it helps us keep down the trolling, or just creates more trouble.

There is a chain of command:

- Moderators are welcomed to edit the posts of Webmasters, but should first contact them to make sure they are not overstepping their abilities.  

- If at all possible, moderators should consult with other moderators before editing the post of another moderator.  Should there be a point where Moderators are taking inappropriate action in the eyes of other moderators, that's a real problem and will have to be addressed by the Webmasters.

- Webmasters can moderate all.

Each Moderator has been advised that this should not be abused to promote personal agenda and to respect the opinions of others.  The dividing line between opinion and actionable is quite clear and should a Moderator have a question, they should consult a Webmaster before taking action.

In addition, each Moderator has been advised that they should not delete posts, simply edit them, deleting the offensive text, marking it "edited by moderator : reason".

Those reasons can include, but are not limited to;

trolling
personal insult
language
off-topic

Should you happen across what you feel is a problem, please contact me immediately and I will investigate.

Hopefully this will make things a bit more stable for the future of this site and community.

[Paul_Gadd]

Giving loads of people moderator status is totally distasteful and if they just do not like a comment they will delete it and the person has no idea who deleted it so reporting them is void.

The above is not accusing people of anything but expressing an opinion.

[SlimJim]

What is a "staff" person normally doing? How many people are we talking about?
.
SlimJim

Comment deletions are supposed to be logged to me directly via e-mail.  Haven't had the chance to test it, but it should be done that way to enforce a little common sense.

These are people who are hand picked and part of the staff here.  They have in large part run things for a long while.  I simply never took the opportunity to sort out the moderation problems (where I was listed as the only moderator of most forums).   Mostly, things have not changed except that staff members now have their names listed and ranks displayed properly.

Since your only concern seems to be the number of names listed, would a single "Amiga.org staff" make you feel better even if it didn't describe the number of people involved?

To suggest inpropriety is... well unappreciated.  It never ever ceases to amaze me -- the number of things people find to bitch about.

[Karlos]

Hi Wayne,

So what happens if a pair of moderators take the total opposite stance on an edit to a post? After all everybody has different takes on things...

@Karlos,

As I said, nothing has changed.  Each person on the moderator's list has had this ability for quite some time, even if they weren't aware of it because I hadn't audited the "groups" to show the icon next to their name (and their name on the page).

We all have differing opinions, but where there is a conflict it is sorted out by the Webmasters (myself, Kent, Targhan).  That's what the chain of command comment was about, and it's what we're here for.

Wayne

[Billsey]

Having glanced at the forum listing under “General”, I don't think that Wayne+12 is an unwarranted number, especially given the volume on this site.

Being a Moderator can have a humbling effect on a person, so it would be difficult for any of us not “in the loop” to assess the choices made—even if we knew the reasons for selection, which we don't, no matter how much our pride would like to convince us otherwise.

In most areas of this endeavor, I would say, “the higher the level of transparency, the better,” yet there are areas in which people here need to be reigned in. It might pinch a little, but it will be worth it, I think.

[uncharted]

I don't think people understand that on sites like this there is a pressure on Moderators NOT to moderate.  Every (rare) moderation is scrutanised a great deal, and it must be hard to make that desicion (after all it is a privalige and a responsibilty) when it isn't clear cut.

Fortunately unlike some other forum sites, the whole process is visible and public here on a.org

I don't get it.  First, you complain because of the lack of moderation.  When I realized that I was the only listed moderator, I fixed the problem.  Now you want to complain because there are too many moderators when not a single issue has arisen?

Color me confused.

[jeffimix]

/me is confused too. Just have guidelines for what should be ' moderated'. Seems simple enough, I have no qualms.

[Vincent]

I like this.  As Wayne has said, nothing has changed.

A possible chenge to the layout of the main forum page might be better.  How about haveing a list of all the moderators in one place (either at the top or down the side) instead of listing everybody next to the different forums?  Imho (which I suppose is as good as then next member's) this would make the page look a little less cluttered.

 I was thinking of something similar to the actual "Talk-About"/"Software" etc pages where the names are listed at the top, but more prominent.

[redrumloa]

Looks good Wayne.

[Hooligan_DCS]

trolling
personal insult
language
off-topic

Off-topic gets moderated? Maybe ask a couple hundred more volunteers then  :-D

[JoannaK]

Well.. Not that many, if some people are automatically moderated as Off-topic..  :-P

[amigamad]

So no freedom of speech or opinions here anymore.