Moderator rules and Guidelines..

I think every Mod will agree with me when I say that Janis and Dainz will only change things in the site if the Mod team are very proactive in hassling them. I actually had to try to Ban Janis and Dainz when I was a Mod, just before the changes came into place...i was so annoyed at their lack in interest....but they came through and made some major improvements, which is ace.

I guess the issue now, with the ideas in this thread is that I get the feeling the Mod team, though they have contributed their time and views, will not be motivated enough, even if they agree on some of the ideas, to push them through to Janis and Dainz, as we did before. The difference of course before was that we as Mods were pushing for more powers and easier website functions etc...so there was a natural vested interest there.

You Moderators don't need Janis to change the guidelines by which you work, you can do that yourselves just as Ann and I did with the user guide and Mod Faq....so really, aside from any coding issues my ideas bring up....there really isn't any need to wait for Janis.

You could make it a Mod rule right now that a warning must be given before any deletion, for example.

But Kevin, you know for a fact that there are times where a deletion is warrented and not just a reprimand.

Also, go back through all the boards and Bob has warned many people already, including you.

How many times shall everyone be warned? 50 maybe 100?

I do not think that this is feesible. And when there is a post in question you also know that it goes to the mod's forum before anything else to be discussed and voted upon.

--Sher

If someone is regularly crossing the line, say like once or twice every week and it's a recognised thing by anyone who cares to look, then sure as long as the Mods make it known to that person beforehand that they have be warned repeatedly several times in a short space of time and the next time there will be no warning. That is fair.

The golden rule should be an edited post with a warning and then a deleted post with a penalty in one instance. If say within a few days the same person again is being offensive I say repeat the process, and after that, unless there is a decent gap, say a few months or so between instances, you send them a message saying they will no longer be warned and risk having their posts deleted and penalties issued.

That way, they have had two sets of two chances, more than fair and I don't think this impedes your Moderator role or weakens you in front of the members because in the first instance you are only taking away the offensive word or sentence and asking them nicely to calm down or back off. After that you get more serious, progressively. No one can then complain you didn't give them a chance or that they didn't realize they were causing offence.

We have all needed that warning, I don't know of any Mod who has not been warned by someone, I know I warned almost everyone at some point I thought they were going too far, it's a natural thing when people get passionate or defensive. We all deserve the right to catch ourselves and slow down.

Of course, there will always be people who say things that are so nasty, as in cases of rascism, or mockery of abuse etc, that need to be dealt with more directly. If someone is really rude, and I mean blatantly just posting to hurt someone, then I think editing out their whole post with a message of exactly why their message is gone along with a warning that one more infraction, after something so serious, will mean penalty points, is fair. I am talking about extreme rudeness though, which is quite rare on the boards.

How does that sound?

I'm glad you think so Britt, but I can assure you it is not standard practice, especially if you are challenging a Mod.

I wonder then if this can be written into something official.

Well I'm not about to start a bad Mod story rant. What I meant was that it's not standard practice for Mods to follow the warning andedit, warning and delete post procedure for minor offences. If it were I'd bet you'd see the appeal rate drop by a large amount.

And I'd be a penalty free kinda chap if this were the case.

Its funny, looks like there is a bit to read. Its so unpredictable that most of the mods would of disagreed with this and the members to agree with it.

I failed to read most of it, but I read a good majority of it.

I think its a good idea. As a member's perspective of course.

So mods, how's it going? It's a wonderful night, tonight. I dig what abby be preachin'. I don't even have to read what she writes...I can just SENSE that I WOULD agree with everything she says. I'll catch up later, then contribute absolutely nothing with lots and lots of words.

Nighty night!

For Abby Bob? Surely you mean for me eh, or are you replying to someone elses words? Didn't you say you weren't going to reply to my outlandish checks and balances system!

; )

Only jesting old bean, when I get home from work in 3 hours, I'll give you a good reply. We are finally making progress it seems....yayness all round.

I am glad that this thread has become more than just my ideas. People like Abby and Sibyllene have really taken the initial notions and expanded them far past my simple offerings. I'm not sure I've accomplished anything, because there is a heirarchy in here and I am at the bottom of it along with every other member who is not a Mod or admin. I could be utterly correct and it still wouldn't matter without Mod support, as I've said before the only time the Admin seem to do anything is when the Mods push for all their worth...and that is not going to happen here.

We are getting to 100 posts anyhoo so I expect a locking any time now, which is fine. This whole debate has been a huge struggle of Ego's [mine more than most to be fair] and histories and words about words if you catch my meaning.

I feel exactly the same about the issue as I did at the start of this and I will continue to push for change, but from a different angle for a while.

Thanks to those who actually tried to give something worthwhile. And when everything changes I won't say I told you so....; )

I agree to all of the above kevin, i think some mods think they can do whatever they want like write hell as the title of a thread when many people find it offensive

or putting certain threads with a [sticky] label when they don't need them.

for example a book discussion thread on the "others" forum has it, well if we do it for books why not one for tv? or political? they seem to be as important and they gather as many people as a books thread does

You know what, i wasn't going to make a direct attack especially behind your back, and this is exactly what i'm talking about, a smart mouth

Really? respectfully? hmmm how bout i write "hell" on the title to a thread after all no one will get offended

All i want is for you to admit you're human and even you can make mistakes, i'd also like for you to tell me nice things in other threads but i can deal with it

I have stated my desire, i daresay i have never received a kind word from you even once

It seems as though this thread has done nothing more than turn into an endless arguement.

I am locking this now for multiple reasons, but I will only state the obvious...

Post 100 thread now locked