Zen and the art of moderation 2 2

[comix4fun]

Most tools don't realize they're tools.

 

Yes, I realize some of you will find my post ironic...but will you find the irony in the irony?

 

 

 

 

 

[slym2none]

I didn't know Steven Tyler sang that song...?

 

 

 

 

-slym

[comix4fun]

I didn't know Steven Tyler sang that song...?

 

 

 

 

-slym

 

 

[BlowUpTheMoon]

 

 

(thumbs u

 

That sounds too...um...time consuming.

[Park]

 

 

(thumbs u

 

That sounds too...um...time consuming.

 

Being a little aggressive in your feedback, Blowie.

 

[Dr. Balls]

Some of you occasionally (read: everyone who ever got a strike or warning) may deeply believe that in your case it was all about injustice. You may even have a point - like our speeder above who was not the fastest one in the pack. But you were still speeding.

 

I don't think my issues were about injustice at all. I believe moderators shouldn't be seen, nor heard - and when required to act, to look at things in context. After all, if moderating comments that violate the rules is purely random - as the speeding example implies - then why have moderators at all?

 

You could simply put a monkey in an office chair and have it issue strikes without doing any due diligence or citing why those strikes were given. Or develop a software algorithm that strikes people randomly based on naughty keywords or percentages of flesh-colored pixels in attached files.

[seanfingh]

Some of you occasionally (read: everyone who ever got a strike or warning) may deeply believe that in your case it was all about injustice. You may even have a point - like our speeder above who was not the fastest one in the pack. But you were still speeding.

 

I don't think my issues were about injustice at all. I believe moderators shouldn't be seen, nor heard - and when required to act, to look at things in context. After all, if moderating comments that violate the rules is purely random - as the speeding example implies - then why have moderators at all?

 

You could simply put a monkey in an office chair and have it issue strikes without doing any due diligence or citing why those strikes were given. Or develop a software algorithm that strikes people randomly based on naughty keywords or percentages of flesh-colored pixels in attached files.

 

Sarcasm + disdain + reductio ad absurdum = awesome sauce

[comix4fun]

Some of you occasionally (read: everyone who ever got a strike or warning) may deeply believe that in your case it was all about injustice. You may even have a point - like our speeder above who was not the fastest one in the pack. But you were still speeding.

 

I don't think my issues were about injustice at all. I believe moderators shouldn't be seen, nor heard - and when required to act, to look at things in context. After all, if moderating comments that violate the rules is purely random - as the speeding example implies - then why have moderators at all?

 

You could simply put a monkey in an office chair and have it issue strikes without doing any due diligence or citing why those strikes were given. Or develop a software algorithm that strikes people randomly based on naughty keywords or percentages of flesh-colored pixels in attached files.

 

Sarcasm + disdain + reductio ad absurdum = awesome sauce

 

rufus exponit eam nobis omnia

[slym2none]

 

I didn't know Alanis Morrisette was in Aerosmith!

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Park]

Some of you occasionally (read: everyone who ever got a strike or warning) may deeply believe that in your case it was all about injustice. You may even have a point - like our speeder above who was not the fastest one in the pack. But you were still speeding.

 

I don't think my issues were about injustice at all. I believe moderators shouldn't be seen, nor heard - and when required to act, to look at things in context. After all, if moderating comments that violate the rules is purely random - as the speeding example implies - then why have moderators at all?

 

You could simply put a monkey in an office chair and have it issue strikes without doing any due diligence or citing why those strikes were given. Or develop a software algorithm that strikes people randomly based on naughty keywords or percentages of flesh-colored pixels in attached files.

 

Sarcasm + disdain + reductio ad absurdum = awesome sauce

 

"Hey Arch, there's another one. Get 'em."

[RockMyAmadeus]

[dupont2005]

Any guesses as to which boardies have been hassling the mods?

[Ogami]

Any guesses as to which boardies have been hassling the mods?

 

I know for a fact you would be wrong.

[Logan510]

Any guesses as to which boardies have been hassling the mods?

 

 

I know of at least one

[Ogami]

Any guesses as to which boardies have been hassling the mods?

 

 

I know of at least one

 

[Ogami]

Just because you (universal you; this applies to many board members) haven't grown as an individual over the last five years of your board history doesn't mean others have not. If you cannot see that RMA isn't the same poster that he was yesterday, a week ago, a month ago, a year ago, I pity you.

 

I recently urged him to start posting again hoping that you're exactly right about him changing...and then last week he started. First thread I saw him in was a back-and-forth with Hellblazer where neither would shut up until the other relented. Most of the thread is pulled now, and I quickly realized nothing had really changed that I can tell so far.

 

 

This is my reply to your post, just so you don't feel that I'm intentionally ignoring you.

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

Some of you occasionally (read: everyone who ever got a strike or warning) may deeply believe that in your case it was all about injustice. You may even have a point - like our speeder above who was not the fastest one in the pack. But you were still speeding.

 

I don't think my issues were about injustice at all. I believe moderators shouldn't be seen, nor heard - and when required to act, to look at things in context. After all, if moderating comments that violate the rules is purely random - as the speeding example implies - then why have moderators at all?

 

You could simply put a monkey in an office chair and have it issue strikes without doing any due diligence or citing why those strikes were given. Or develop a software algorithm that strikes people randomly based on naughty keywords or percentages of flesh-colored pixels in attached files.

 

Sarcasm + disdain + reductio ad absurdum = awesome sauce

 

[conditionfreak]

This is just a friendly reminder that none of us is the center of the universe. Moderation is not about any one person. It's about setting limits for the community in order to allow for constructive discussion.

 

I read a story once a while back about a guy who was driving down the highway somewhere in the south, staying with traffic, minding his own business. Traffic, however, was going about 15mph too fast for the limit. As he is driving, he and all of the other drivers have the bad luck to drive past a speed trap.

 

Out roars the police car, on go the lights - bam, he's got somebody. Well, it turns out to be our hero - the one who is just driving along with traffic.

 

Our hero gets ticked off, and can't wait for his court date. In court he makes alot of noise at the judge about how everyone was driving fast and how he was not even the fastest of the pack. He protests in a loud voice about the injustice of it all, the lack of consistency and horrible mental anguish that this speeding ticket has caused him.

 

The judge looks at him and says, "Hey, have you ever been duck hunting?"

 

This stops the man short. Weird question. "Yes, I have," he says.

 

"When you go," says the judge, "and you're sitting there in the duck blind, and a flock of ducks flies by over head, do you pick out the fattest duck in the flock... the one that looks like it has the most flavor, or do you just pick a duck and shoot?"

 

The man just looks at him. "Guilty," says the judge, and fines him.

 

The point of the ticket in this case was definitely about the speeder, but it was also about all of the other speeders.

 

Your posting guideline tasks, should you choose to accept them, are pretty basic. They are outlined fairly decently here on the site. They are executed by a number of different people who interpret those guidelines as they moderate, just as all of you interpret those guidelines as you post. It's not a big deal. It's not a deep mystery. It isn't a conspiracy.

 

If you don't want to get shot, don't be a duck. Sometimes you can drive by a police car at 7mph over, sigh with relief and not get a ticket... and sometimes for the same thing you get pulled over AND you get a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. Other times, you get a warning ticket.

 

What moderators want is to set some boundaries so that good discussions can take place without everyone wanting to destroy each other and to set the acceptable social tone at a level that doesn't drive any notable percentage of the community away. That is true whether the posts are humor or debate.

 

Some of you occasionally (read: everyone who ever got a strike or warning) may deeply believe that in your case it was all about injustice. You may even have a point - like our speeder above who was not the fastest one in the pack. But you were still speeding.

 

By and large I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to moderation because:

 

1. The people posting are generally wrapped up in their posts whereas the moderators are not.

 

2. The moderators, contrary to popular opinion, are not doing this because they love tedious thread trimming and reading moderator notifications by everyone from upstanding members of the community to lunatics. They are just trying to help the community.

 

If you think someone got treated unfairly and then you look around and suddenly evidence starts popping up all around you of a trend of unfairness... you may want to research confirmation bias.

 

Did you know that smarter people are actually MORE likely to suffer from confirmation bias?

 

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/frontal-cortex/2012/06/daniel-kahneman-bias-studies.html

 

Take a deep breath and enjoy your comics.

 

Oh, and stop hassling the mods. They are trying to help. Think about what it's like to be a mod - the difficulty and tedium of sorting out he-said she-said, the process of choosing where to rein things in when a whole thread has started going off track without just laying waste to everything around you.

 

Then do this: assume that the moderators have positive and helpful intentions. Assume that they didn't aggressively apply to become moderators out of a deep desire to torture an internet community. Think about why they do what they do with all of that in mind. You might come to different conclusions about the mechanics of moderation and community.

 

Have a nice day, guys.

 

C/w the highlighted areas above. I just have three questions.

 

1. What is a duck supposed to be? A chicken. A frog.

 

2. Of course moderators can and do, have bias and opinions on everything. They are humans (I assume). They take sides like everyone on the planet. Have you ever chastised a moderator, for misapplication of authority and power?

 

3. Would you be okay with a judge in a criminal case, who finds every 18th person guilty, just to send a message? But let's the other 17 off, even though they where doing the same basic thing.

 

My opinion, (which is worth less than an X-Force #1 in CGC 7.0). Someone needs to moderate the moderators. One in particular. He is snarky and uppity. (I now put my name on his list....goodbye y'all).

 

Whenever I have gotten a strike, I can not appeal to anyone. Heck, I can not even get on the site to know what I did wrong, and for how long I am being punished. An email telling me length of punishment, and what for, would be courteous. The ability to ask a question or state a case for reconsideration, would be standard in every area, except this one.

 

Ruling with an iron fist, is one thing. But locking the door and throwing away the key, is another thing entirely.

Edited April 15, 2013 by conditionfreak

[seanfingh]

 

What does "hassling" mean? I Pm'd Arch when I got wrist slapped. My righteous indignation meter was pegged in the red. We had a good back and forth. Then he pulled out my guts like in Braveheart while I yelled "Freedom!!!!!!!"

 

People should be able to PM the mods and ask questions. Hopefully you get some kind of answer.

[JazzMan]