Moderation

I am interested in having an honest discussion about the pros and cons of moderating forums.

I have a theory. I think that unless you are responsible and accountable for your words, there will unfortunately always be a need to moderate.
Anonymity allows the tongue to become somewhat looser.
Thoughts anyone?

That is why they have the forum here called 'The Ring' it is a place where you are warned going in that it is pretty a much a free for all. Obviously, they don't allow personal threats or a few other things. I like the way they have that set up. I guess time will tell how it works.

I don't have a problem with moderation as long as it is even handed and fair.

I just really believe that people are more likely to make libelous statements, spam or other unseemly behavior if they are anonymous.
If they can be readily identified they are more likely to be civil.
I suspect that has been part of the success of Facebook.
When I post, I use my name. I am accountable for what is on my page and what I post. I tend to be more thoughtful when posting there.

This is only a theory I am developing and I welcome input.

I expect there will be some degree of greater outspokenness by everyone because of autonomy. Being outspoken is not the same as being libelous, threatening, degrading, over sensitive, etc. It means expressing one's opinion that sometimes you would keep to yourself. While entitled to our views, we all may not embrace what is said. Things appear to go wrong when opposing views are taken personally. Or someone tries to force their values on others. Even then, you basically get the same personality as you get in face to face situations. Some will tell you to shove it, others will put you down, some argue in attempt to convince you their values are more right than yours and some will respect and acknowledge that we have different values. How a person handles things obviously varies. Personally, I'm not much for moderation. Moderation imposes someone else's principles on me and I rail against it. Instead, I prefer to moderate myself. You get here what you get with me in person...nothing more..nothing less. Perhaps the best moderation is an ignore button. If Someone's posts have nothing of value to say repeatedly across the board, then I'd like to elect to ignore them. In essence, I chose not to be friends with them or have interactions. What works well on facebook is we choose our friends and have done so because we respect them. Moderation issues come up when we interact with people whom we would not chose as friends. There is bound to be friction. An ignore button is my preferred form of moderation and a way of selecting friendships I value.

well said RockDoc. Certainly food for thought.

bandbvh wrote: well said RockDoc. Certainly food for thought.

Agreed, because now that it has gone public, it won't be long before some of the trouble makers from other sites will be on here. The ones who just like to stir things up and try and get others upset. I have never used the ignore button before but then I just allowed myself to get dragged into their childish arguments. I think the ignore button will work well over here. This has been nice with real adult conversations and debates so far. It will be nice to keep it that way.

285 Bound wrote: Just wanted to point out a feature on the forum.

If you go to Control Panel>Friends & Foes>Manage Foes

There is a way to block any user. Foes are users which will be ignored by default. You will see a message where the post was supposed to be, and you can click it to look at it but it will not be shown unless you want to look at it. Personal messages from foes are still permitted. You can add them and take them off the foe list. You could easily use it just for short periods of time when emotions run high.

There is also a friend list. Friends enable you quick access to members you communicate with frequently.

Thank you for the input.

285 Bound Staff

Love that feature! Thanks. Although I have never considered anyone a foe up here, and that is what got me in trouble before. I have to realize that not all people out there are looking for good debates and discussions and they are just here to bait others cause problems. I will now use that feature and not get sucked into their games.

Question...What happens when we encounter folks like you described Viking.
My hope is that we will all self moderate.
I learned from raising my kids that sometimes you just have to ignore a pesky behavior or person.
Most of the time....they are simply trying to get a negative reaction from you. To my friends here....Please pm me when you think I may be moving in that direction. LOL.
I have seen the "friend or foe" option also. My hope is that I only use the friend portion of it.