I’ve been doing a little thinking about moderation on the board. We now have four moderators and I am happy with the way moderation is proceeding on the board. It’s not perfect. There are always judgment calls involved, which allows for misjudgment, and I have made a number of misjudgments myself. Sometimes these are based on just misreading a post; or overreacting to something that might be something that bugs me more than other people.
I think the level of moderation of the board remains pretty much light-to-moderate. But, I also think we’ve been a bit less lenient than in the past, as the board continues to grow. I’ve made the painful call to suspend two or three members in recent weeks and some have angrily withdrawn from the board in response to being “moderated.” We’re locking threads, deleting some, and trying to foster a good e-environment.
There are some recurring themes that tend to lead to moderator action. Overall, I have been touched by how responsive people have been to the commercial post policies. I really do think the commercial post issue is the most complicated on the board. Consensus is not easy to reach–but I think we have a pretty solid consensus on it. Some people disagree with the policies but, as you know, consensus alway involves dissent. Although one of the most painful interventions I’ve had to make recently involved these policies, I really am so grateful at how respectful folks have been of the board’s efforts to balance commercial use of the board.
Another theme, most often seen on the Politics board, is for debates to degenerate into rather personal back-and-forths between individuals or political camps. It’s understandable, in many ways, but sometimes we have to step in and close those down.
People sometimes post things that are offensive to some–and sometimes it becomes apparent that the poster meant no offense. Those posters are then often personally offended when moderators intervene. Those folks often let their displeasure known and make it clear that they feel they were treated unjustly. That’s fine. Increasingly, though, I would like to see more people leave it there and move on. It’s really NOT the case that we don’t allow people to protest and express their resentment of the moderators. It is the case, however, that we’re not always in a position to justify what we’ve done. (Sometime because we can’t justify what we’ve done!) We do also have to discourage threads-about-moderated-threads.
Anyway, thanks to all for their support and I hope you’re continuing to enjoy and benefit from the board.
Dale
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