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Response to Culture Change ideas

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 4644
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Deleted member 4644

Dear Moderator/Administrator:

I am writing this in response to the recent thread about a "culture" change on the forums. I hope to offer constructive criticism of your efforts, so please, read on.

I think there are three main things that could improve moderation/leadership on the forums. I believe mods are like leaders ? and you must give people clear examples of the behavior you expect.

1) All locked threads and most member bans should result in a public moderator note explaining why it happened. This serves two purposes: First, the person being punished will not feel like they have been punished for no reason ? this will make it easier for them to accept the lock/ban calmly. Second, other posters will see the lock/ban explanation and understand that they should not emulate the negative behavior.

2) The administrator should post a sticky thread in ATOT (and perhaps all the forums) with a simple set of basic rules. Currently, it is extremely hard to find the user agreement, and the agreement is not very specific. ATOT in particular needs a basic set of rules users can refer to frequently. Most people do not want to be banned, and those who openly flaunt the rules (if they are publicly posted) deserve punishment. Again, the rules should leave plenty of room for moderator discretion, but should be a guideline for users to refer to before they post a questionable post.

3) Moderators should try to respond to PMs about locked threads and other disputes. Understand that posters are often frustrated and angry when there is a dispute. Maybe they have had a bad day at work or their girlfriend just broke up with them. Take PMs with a grain of salt, and try to explain calmly to the user why he is being punished. Maybe even make an effort to ignore snide or rude comments (unless they are extreme, obviously).

Mods talk a lot about "common sense," "common courtesy," and "respecting authority."

But frankly, without posted rules, what is common sense? Common sense is not the same for a 14 year old kid in Los Angeles as it is for a 30 year old man in Nashville. There are real world cultural differences at play. That is why we need guidelines that are publicly posted.

Please, be LEADERS. Set examples, gently guide people. Be more like Jesus than the LAPD?.a Shepard, not a cop.

I would like to talk to you more about this issue, because I care about the forums too. So please consider responding to this e-mail.

Thanks!
Lordsegan
 
Originally posted by: Deleted member 4644
But frankly, without posted rules, what is common sense? Common sense is not the same for a 14 year old kid in Los Angeles as it is for a 30 year old man in Nashville. There are real world cultural differences at play. That is why we need guidelines that are publicly posted.
Click to expand...

This cannot be emphasized enough. Common sense (et al) does NOT mean the same thing in other countries as in the USA! At least post some definite rules (i.e. no four-letter words or typos thereof) rather than a vague guideline.
 
Do not be an idiot, be mature (or at least think) and use public courtesy.

Those guidelines should cover close to 90% of the problems.

If you figure that the significant majority of peeps the post on OT have no problems; that should indicte that rules do not need to be layed out in blakc and white.

Also, for those that can not understand; most questionable locks have a Mod comment within it.

If you need to be babysat, then your input is not really needed.
 
Originally posted by: compuwiz1
LOL, what are you asking for an owner's manual? 🙂 :roll:
Click to expand...

If they had one,they would never read it anyhow.

Look at the threads that are posted in OT that conflict with the terms of service (which all should have read prior to their first post).

And the Flaming that goes on in other Forums which are against the rules posted.

 
I do understand where you're coming from, but I was banned for something which violated the rules (posting logout links). Luckily somehow someone made a thread and told the Mod he/she overreacted and unbanned me/us with a warning. I probaby should have served my ban, but in many instances there is an uproar when the rules are followed to the letter. So, I do not believe the answer is "just so" and as clean cut and easy as you or others make it out to be.

Although I agree with the explanation part.
 
Rules are usually not folled to the letter unless one is deliberatly pushing the limits of acceptablity to see what they can get away with.

Stepping deliberately into the grey areas to create disruption/confusion is something that does not need to be done. Then if being punished for it, why complain. Others may have gotten away with it, but that does not excuse such attitudes.

People act like little children to test the common sense limits, then complian that they get punished like the little children they are (or want to be).

Mature adults use common sense and understand limits and courtesy to others.
 
It has to be pretty hard to get banned when you're discussing technology, I mean come on? As long as you don't 'nef', 'flame', or post anything otherwise inappropriate, you're pretty safe.

'common sense' (in terms of courtesy) is different for a 14 yr old than a 30 yr old? Not really. It's just that one (could be either person) may not be mature enough and shouldn't be here in the first place.
 
Originally posted by: xtknight
It has to be pretty hard to get banned when you're discussing technology, I mean come on? As long as you don't 'nef', 'flame', or post anything otherwise inappropriate, you're pretty safe.

'common sense' (in terms of courtesy) is different for a 14 yr old than a 30 yr old? Not really. It's just that one (could be either person) may not be mature enough and shouldn't be here in the first place.
Click to expand...

Thanks for explaining it to the level of the less enlightened.

At times, I forget who the real audience could be.

 
EagleKeeper and Oldsmoboat, I am glad you both responded to this thread. I am not sure if you are mods or not, but you both seem to share the EXACT philosophy that at least some of the mods have expressed to me and others:

"Be courteous and respect authority. If you don't know what that means, die/leave/suffer."

And in some ways, I agree with you. I have been here since 1999, and I've only be banned once, and only for a 30 min time out. I deserved it, I took it like a man, and moved on with my life.

But on a board with well over 100,000 posters... you must know that common courtesy is NOT going to be the same for everyone. I'm sorry, but I've traveled the USA and world enough to know that different people have different ideas of what is crossing the line.

This is especially true when the local community guidelines are NEVER clearly spelled out.

-Mod do NOT explain why they lock/delete/ban/punish.

-The Admin does NOT post guidelines for cussing, invasion of privacy, etc etc etc. (The initial agreement is not remotely specific enough, nor is it easy to find again once you click ?Agree? that first time (in 1999???)

That said, I have some experience as an administrator myself, and I know its nice to have ?gray? rules. Gray rules mean you can change them to fit case by case situations, and I respect that need.

But all I asking for is that mods spend a little more time acting as leaders, and not just punishing and banning without explanation. Perhaps that is impossible because they are volunteers, in which case maybe there need to be more mods and/or there should be a paid mod?

Or perhaps this is just a failed experiment? Or? maybe people should just live and let live a little more.

I welcome your comments.

edit: spelling
 
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