Should we bring back a moderator team?

[Res Ipsa]

Publicly flagging and reflagging every message for moderator action adds negative value. There is a link to report offensive messages. Use it, and stop cluttering up the boards, people. It’s not helpful to try and “win” by repetitively shaming or questioning the few people who care enough to maintain and moderate the forums.

Agree 100%. Gad will see the reports and take the appropriate action.

[Res Ipsa]

No-one is going to die or lose their job, their marriage, or their immortal soul (assuming they have one) if a moderator makes a questionable call in dealing with one of their posts.

Some moderation is necessary in order to keep this board an interesting environment for discussion. I am very happy for anybody that Shades approves of to do the job, and if they occasionally screw up, then it does not really matter much.

+1

[Atlanticmike]

No-one is going to die or lose their job, their marriage, or their immortal soul (assuming they have one) if a moderator makes a questionable call in dealing with one of their posts.

Some moderation is necessary in order to keep this board an interesting environment for discussion. I am very happy for anybody that Shades approves of to do the job, and if they occasionally screw up, then it does not really matter much.

Great point. At this moment there's 277 members on this board. I would guess-a-mate there's roughly 30 to 40 members who post regularly. Of those, we're talking about 5 or 6 members that are still willing to throw a couple of personal jabs at each other. I am one of those 5 or 6. And I say let's all try to stop the personal insults and give it a week and see how it turns out. Anyone???

[ceeboo]

Hey Chap

No-one is going to die or lose their job, their marriage, or their immortal soul (assuming they have one) if a moderator makes a questionable call in dealing with one of their posts.

Just so you are absolutely sure - We do indeed have an immortal soul - All of us.


(Now that, my dear and beloved friends, is a great example of trolling - Ceeboo style)

[Gadianton]

A few morning thoughts. First, Res is right about the impossibility of making perfectly equitable and correct calls as a mod. Good luck.

Suppose a person decides to rob a bank. With that decision comes a host of risks. Suppose that ends in a bad shooting resulting in paralysis, a 250k hospital bill, and a state Senator's daughter happened to be at the bank and so the system is going all in on prosecution. "It's not fair! that other guy who robbed a bank didn't get shot, and only got 2 years probation!" and "I was forced to rob the bank because I lost my job, and the government wouldn't help me! And the teller at this bank had been totally rude!" Whether you're the instigator or responder to instigation, if you decide to 'defend' yourself and drag out a personal battle, then that's what you've decided, the other person might go lower than you do, and the moderators might end up punishing you and not them. That's the risk. As Chap said, fortunately, there's nothing serious on the line in this forum. But if f you don't want to take such a risk, then report the behavior quietly. I'm pretty sure that if you're a Don Bradly type or Physic's Guy type who is 100% pure substance; okay PG might be 99.8, then if some loudmouth latches on to you and follows you around with insults, I predict that moderator action will ultimately end that problem.

Interestingly, the pure substance posters are rarely the ones to complain, and unfortunately, are the ones most likely to quietly withdraw themselves if they have an issue. That's a calculated risk for this board because as I will explain in a follow-up, Shades's vision for this board was never about perfect equality and everyone forced to respect each other. Shades is a libertarian to a fault.

I do think it's interesting that certain so-called free-market posters are yelling the loudest for government to intervene and bring equality-of-result to them and their worldviews. In a free market, respect is earned, not handed out by government. I gotta hand it to Ajax, his libertarian streak is consistent in this respect. Shades is an ultra-libertarian. If all the apologists from Sic et Non were to register here and launch nasty attack campaigns on church critics, Shades would be the happiest man alive and laughing himself to sleep at night over the conflict. And if the critics got mad and started leaving the forum over it, Shades would allow it.

Again, more later on what the vision of the board actually is: hint, it's not a training ground for snowflakes.

[Jersey Girl]

No-one is going to die or lose their job, their marriage, or their immortal soul (assuming they have one) if a moderator makes a questionable call in dealing with one of their posts.

Some moderation is necessary in order to keep this board an interesting environment for discussion. I am very happy for anybody that Shades approves of to do the job, and if they occasionally screw up, then it does not really matter much.

Yeah, but I feel like my soul was at least partially torn by the loss of the topical threads on the now broken board. Of course, that had nothing to do with moderation, but still. I believe there is a Horcrux involved where my favorite threads are stored in the split off pieces of my soul.

In my view, it doesn't matter if any of us thinks that the mods screwed up. In the normal operation of this board (with mods), the posts aren't deleted. They are simply edited from within, moved to the appropriate forum or split off and relocated.

That is to say, our words are eternal.

Given the current situation it's a matter of desperate times/desperate measures and I, for one, am perfectly fine with that.

[Jersey Girl]

Ridiculousnesses.

The irony of this is beautiful. Metaphors work because they can be interpreted to favor just about anything. The Bible is a metaphor packed with metaphors. The Book of Mormon too. So seeing the apologists' critic using metaphors is hysterical to me.

Gadianton, just say it. Who are the certain so-called free-market posters? Say it. Stop with the cagey metaphorical BS with lots of words. Stand up and say it, own it. Do not be a snowflake. Personally, I do not think you can do it. Your bias and bigotry regarding the right wing or Trumpsters is so engrained you are not capable of addressing this directly.

What's ridiculous is the obvious fact that you couldn't argue your way out of a paper bag if the bag were slit open from end to end and laying wide open to ensure your escape and yet, there you are.

[Res Ipsa]

Thanks for the perspective, Gad. If I recall correctly, the old logo had two speech bubbles, representing a Mormon and a non-Mormon hurling an insult at each other. And the slogan was “Yes, you can say that here.”

Shades values the clash of ideas. And, to encourage the clash, he has set up different arenas with different rules. You want an Oxford style debate, start it in Celestial. Marquis of Queensbury Rules? Terrestial. No holds barred, knock down drag out almost anything goes? Telestial.

The main dysfunction in the system is the reluctance to start threads in Telestial/Prison. If you want to start a “All Trumptards/Libertards are brain dead morons thread, why not start it in Prison. Despite its name, it’s not penal cooling and having posts moved there isn’t punishment. It’s the perfect area when you’re spoiling for a fight.

Instead, folks post Prison stuff in Paradise and (less often lately) Telestial stuff in Terrestrial. So, 90% of a moderator’s time here is spent moving posts from one bin to another. With a few exceptions, the speech is preserved.

[Jersey Girl]

Thanks for the perspective, Gad. If I recall correctly, the old logo had two speech bubbles, representing a Mormon and a non-Mormon hurling an insult at each other. And the slogan was “Yes, you can say that here.”

The very first logo had Elvis on it.

Historically yours,
Jersey Girl

[Ramus_Stein]

I voted yes because I like the way this board is set up. It would be nice to see people keep the rules in the Forums because everyone has a place to be in a comfortable environment.

I was very offended by Dr. Exiled posting a picture of temple robes in the Terrestrial Forum. I come here for conversation not for people to be rude and set out to make fun of the most sacred things in another person's religion. Maybe there would be fewer things like that popping up here if more moderators were on the job.