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[Opinions] Re: moderation
in reply to a message by LMS
I'm sure I'll have biases no matter how hard I try to be impartial, but my letting something slide isn't necessarily evidence of it. I let almost everything slide. If you believe someone deserves to be admonished, the best thing to do is report it, either to me or directly to Mike.I want the liberty of people to speak their mind (without hate, cruelty, harassment, trolling) to be maximized, and so you will see the board seem to slant according to what points of view are most often and most abrasively expressed - not directly because of my biases. I'm really bothered by tons of things people say, but I don't think they shouldn't be allowed to say it.My role isn't to balance the conversation, nor is it to make sure no one gets offended. I didn't ever take responsibility for telling people off for being abrasive. My role is to enforce the rules. I agreed to interfere when people say things that, in my judgment, lower the tone of the board, in the process of clearly breaking Mike's rules. If I don't have an argument that the rule is broken, I won't say anything as moderator - if I'm not sure, I'll suggest it might've been broken and see if I get support. I need help judging what the community standards are. That's why I posted a response to Rox instead of just reporting her. I didn't get support, so I guess her words are considered OK. That blows my mind, but whatever.People don't respect me "telling them off" as moderator. If I tell someone off, I'm only doing it as your fellow poster. And even if I am trying to "moderate" by advising about the rules, people still turn it around and make it about me personally - as you can see in this thread. So if I were to warn people for their attitude, there's no payoff in terms of the board being made more moderate. I often let things slide, even though they do seem rude or mean, for the same reason why you or Tassie do. We don't tangle with opinionated people who say potentially hurtful things about religion. We let them reveal themselves, and don't express our dismay, because we all know that criticism is liable to become an argument about religion. So the thing that will best keep the discussion "moderate," is ignoring that stuff. Just as many people will ignore it when religious people make strong statements that imply judgment of others, which also has happened. Your input matters as much as mine, everyone's does. If you think the rules are broken, or just that something is inappropriate, you should say something, respectfully. You are responsible for your part of moderation - it's your board as much as it's mine, and you're not unbiased either. Everyone "moderates," who speaks. People reacting negatively on the board, to things I think are legitimately expressed and not violations, can have a chilling effect on what people feel is OK to say. I'm not responsible for how that goes. All I can do is give my personal opinion. I hope that my own respectfully offered personal opinions have some effect, but that's not part of my role as moderator. I'd do that anyway.If you feel offended by something and don't think it should be allowed to be said on the board, it's on you to either report it (and we'll let Mike decide - complaining about his decisions while still enjoying his board is kind of silly), or respond to it respectfully yourself, or else let it slide. Please don't later complain about my having let something slide, that you yourself saw fit to let slide.- mirfak

This message was edited 8/26/2018, 1:21 PM

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