It is time for a change in the way things are moderated

[aimeeandbeatles]

There has been a breakdown in how OT is moderated. Right now it's all mixed up. It's bad when a jokey, light "spam" post gets an infraction and a borderline trolling one doesn't. Treating OT members like they're the criminal kind is the wrong thing to do and it seems to be for all the wrong reasons.

Either ways I feel that, for some of the moderators who are too busy to infract other than sporadically and harshly, it's time to move on.

Or a change of heart in how OT is moderated.

I don't wanna fight. I just don't want OT to become an echo of what it once was. Assuming that it hasn't already.

 

[Synobun]

Moderating seems fine to me.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

IMHO, it is not fine.

 

[Luckymoose]

OT moderation has been wonky for over a year now. I agree with aimee.

 

[NickyJ]

I'm with aimee, as well. The priorities are..... how do I put this..... wacky.

 

[salty mud]

I did find my "warning" for this post to be a bit... tenuous. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=11249746#post11249746

Moderator Action: Infracted for PDMA - please don't comment on specific moderator actions like that in public.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Id appreciate if this don't go into pdma as I don't like for this thread to be closed. Thank you

 

[Skwink]

I agree with Aimeeee.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

It's bad when a jokey, light "spam" post gets an infraction and a borderline trolling one doesn't.

There is a reason why OT is a discussion forum, and not a chatroom wannabe. If you want to banter with each other, I'd suggest to do it elsewhere so that all the rest of us don't have to run thru them to get at the real meat of the discussion thread. This is even more true in a busy section like OT.

And just because it's trolling to you doesn't mean it's trolling to all the rest of us. Sometimes even mods can't agree whether it's trolling or not, so there's no action. There's simply no black-and-white method to discern who's trolling or not - it's all grey. So there.

We're always welcomed to suggestions on how to improve the moderation of OT, but at the same time we aren't going to throw out wholesale all the methodologies we've worked out over more than a decade to deal with that one area.

 

[Maniacal]

The moderation of this website has been increasingly worse over the last few years, along with a rather stagnating OT where you already know who is going to post what in every thread. I've noticed that several moderators have (when they seem to bother logging into the forums at all) are somewhat sporadic and inconsistent with their moderation, and the more active ones often do not seem to consider the context of many posts (some sticking to the rules in an extremely black, white and backward way).

And of course there is their utterly insanely paranoid reaction to any type of moderation. From the way the staff acts about it you'd think they were afraid that any discussion of PDMA (no matter how incredibly minor) would spark an armed revolt. Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if someone made even a helpful reply to salty mod's post above gets at least a 2 point infraction for PDMA just for acknowledging it.

EDIT: From what I've seen some of the mods don't even fully understand trolling in the first place and use it as a "one size fits all" reason to infract people.

We're always welcomed to suggestions on how to improve the moderation of OT, but at the same time we aren't going to throw out wholesale all the methodologies we've worked out over more than a decade to deal with that one area.

The most active mods do not seem to be the ones who have been here anywhere close to that long.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

At times it feels like it's the same as the same sad echo around here.

 

[Camikaze]

It's bad when a jokey, light "spam" post gets an infraction and a borderline trolling one doesn't.

This seems to suggest that it's a bad thing when one rule-breaking post gets infracted, because we've happened to miss something else that's worse. Unfortunately we don't have magical powers that allow us to come across rule-breaking posts in order of their severity.

The most active mods do not seem to be the ones who have been here anywhere close to that long.

One of the great things about text, and by extension about forums, as venues in which a whole lot of text is stored, is that what is conveyed in such a form is still viewable and understandable years later. Luckily this phenomenon applies to the text within the staff forum, such as that newer moderators can draw on the experiences and wisdom of the past.

 

[Maniacal]

This seems to suggest that it's a bad thing when one rule-breaking post gets infracted, because we've happened to miss something else that's worse. Unfortunately we don't have magical powers that allow us to come across rule-breaking posts in order of their severity.

That isn't what she meant.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

One of the great things about text, and by extension about forums, as venues in which a whole lot of text is stored, is that what is conveyed in such a form is still viewable and understandable years later. Luckily this phenomenon applies to the text within the staff forum, such as that newer moderators can draw on the experiences and wisdom of the past.

...Or learn how not to moderate

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The moderation of this website has been increasingly worse over the last few years, along with a rather stagnating OT where you already know who is going to post what in every thread. I've noticed that several moderators have (when they seem to bother logging into the forums at all) are somewhat sporadic and inconsistent with their moderation, and the more active ones often do not seem to consider the context of many posts (some sticking to the rules in an extremely black, white and backward way).

And of course there is their utterly insanely paranoid reaction to any type of moderation. From the way the staff acts about it you'd think they were afraid that any discussion of PDMA (no matter how incredibly minor) would spark an armed revolt. Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if someone made even a helpful reply to salty mod's post above gets at least a 2 point infraction for PDMA just for acknowledging it.

EDIT: From what I've seen some of the mods don't even fully understand trolling in the first place and use it as a "one size fits all" reason to infract people.


The most active mods do not seem to be the ones who have been here anywhere close to that long.

Regarding the bolded part of the above quote: Perhaps it would be helpful if a rule were enacted and enforced that a post consisting solely of an internet meme should be considered spam and infracted accordingly.

Of course, that suggestion only works if the moderators are consistent in their moderation...

 

[Maniacal]

That post didn't include just a meme though, it was in response to the attached picture and was a caption in image form. Although it was just a yellow warning so it isn't that bad.

 

[salty mud]

Careful guys, this is PDMA. I wouldn't want you to get infracted on account of me.

EDIT: Nevermind.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

That isn't what she meant.

My thoughts.

Case in point: I've seen borderline-troll (and even explicit troll) ones not dealt with while others on the same page were infracted for "spam."

At times it seems like a case of favoritism. I'm not going to go into more detail though.

 

[Midnight-Blue766]

What happens when someone essentially admits to trolling on another site?

 

[Luckymoose]

OT is nothing but a circle fest between a few members who never get infracted. The rest of us can't even add a serious post to discussion without the threat of being banned. The entire moderation staff should be replaced.