What do you think should be the role of a moderator?

[Lewycool]

Basically what the mods here do. You'd be perfect. 

 

All he needs to do is to shoot out those warning, right? :PPPPP

[Snowtsuku]

Pretty hard to tell to be honest. It pretty much depends on what the forum is made for. In terms of strictness for example, a new forum might need more rules and heavy moderation in contrast to a forum for hanging around with people.

[Kendjin]

My life as a mod is to sit in a very high seat, miles high and look down on the small dots that are the posters.

 

Oh wait, that's supposed to be a secret

 

Mostly though, we act as adults, sadly sometimes not everyone can do that, so they return down below

 

Sadly we are apparently really passive, due to wanting to give users freedom, there is a report system if things are really offending you, we do read them, we just don't want to be a secret police telling you what you can't do.

[Dark Ariel7]

My life as a mod is to sit in a very high seat, miles high and look down on the small dots that are the posters.

 

Oh wait, that's supposed to be a secret

 

Mostly though, we act as adults, sadly sometimes not everyone can do that, so they return down below

Hmm. I guess I assumed once a mod always a mod. Sounds like there is an interesting back story behind that statement.

[Snowtsuku]

My life as a mod is to sit in a very high seat, miles high and look down on the small dots that are the posters.

 

Oh wait, that's supposed to be a secret

 

Mostly though, we act as adults, sadly sometimes not everyone can do that, so they return down below

 

Sadly we are apparently really passive, due to wanting to give users freedom, there is a report system if things are really offending you, we do read them, we just don't want to be a secret police telling you what you can't do.

Which is a lie. I did not see anything about uploading here.

[Darklord Rooke]

Sadly we are apparently really passive, due to wanting to give users freedom, there is a report system if things are really offending you, we do read them, we just don't want to be a secret police telling you what you can't do.

 

Yep, the mods definitely are. You can't both 'give the users a lot of freedom' and run a forum which aims to be inclusive, welcoming and limit abuse, because these ideas are mutually opposing. To create a welcoming website you're LIMITING human behaviour. And as I said earlier in the year, when the mods were sitting on their hands doing SFA watching as users abused a new translator who came onto the forums, I don't accept your excuse for your collective laziness. Nor did I accept Down's excuse that he was "waiting for people to behave like adults and sort things out for themselves." 

[Down]

 

And as I said earlier in the year, when the mods were sitting on their hands doing SFA watching as users abused a new translator who came onto the forums, I don't accept your excuse for your collective laziness. Nor did I accept Down's excuse that he was "waiting for people to behave like adults and sort things out for themselves."

Fan TL forum is under-monitored and it's an issue that has already been brought. That's the main reason why we were so slow even if it's not an excuse for letting things go bonkers. The report button is still probably underused though.

 

And you might've misunderstood my words, I wasn't waiting for things to sort themselves automatically, just expressing my disappointment that people would actually act so bad.

[Tay]

A few words on my own philosophy:

 

Moderators exist to help maintain the forums so they stay organized and run well. This includes rule enforcement, board organization, and themselves participating and having fun as part of the community.

 

Moderators aren't necessarily the same thing as community leaders, however. It's important for me to stress that just because a user isn't a member of the staff doesn't mean their opinion doesn't hold weight: if all the key community members were made into moderators, then most of the active community would probably be moderators ; ). Whenever I face a truly difficult decision, I consult with the staff as well as 6 or so non-staff members whose judgement I trust. During crises, a leadership committee of ~half moderators and half key members is formed to discuss the way forward. On a more day-to-day level, however, I'm proud of initiatives like the Improvement board where any member -- no matter how new -- can contribute to the community's trajectory. 

 

 

My point: moderators do a lot of work to keep the forums running smoothly. They are not, however, the only voices to steer the community: any user can post in the improvements board and initiate an awesome project (or provide needed criticism), and much of the community leadership is shared between staff and non-staff members alike.

 

Let me also add that our moderators are good people. I've worked with most of them for months (or years!), and I see a lot of volunteer hours put into this community without a lot of thanks. It's easy to be critical or poke fun of human errors and human folly (I'm looking at you, Batman), but in the end these are good people -- and our friends -- and we need to give them thanks and cut them some slack when they make mistakes.

 

 

Yep, the mods definitely are. You can't both 'give the users a lot of freedom' and run a forum which aims to be inclusive, welcoming and limit abuse, because these ideas are mutually opposing. To create a welcoming website you're LIMITING human behaviour. And as I said earlier in the year, when the mods were sitting on their hands doing SFA watching as users abused a new translator who came onto the forums, I don't accept your excuse for your collective laziness. 

There's no excuse for disrespectful behavior. However, as the forum continues to grow, we're going to rely more and more on member reports to stop this sort of thing. We've started pushing training/information on how to report posts, and we're going to continue to do so in the next few weeks. 

 

Mistakes are going to be made when you're working with a volunteer staff and a community of several hundred active participants. I'm not trying to minimize rule breaking and I'm not making excuses, but I think the only thing we can do is learn from the past and make changes to prevent the same issues in the future. This is one of the reasons why I've been working so long on the rule enforcement overhaul -- it allows the staff to quickly nip issues in the bud. Once reporting posts is better-utilized by the community, we're going to be in a better position to protect each other. (I'll also add that on the flip side, it was important for me to build an appeals process for users to challenge rule enforcement.)

 

Regarding your "freedom" point -- I think we're talking past each other. The freedom Down and others were referring to is not the freedom to act without consequence, it's the freedom to express yourself freely so long as you are respectful and keep the rules. I can verify that the staff goes to great lengths to make sure rule enforcement is fair, and isn't "picking" on a member.

[Dark Ariel7]

Even the freedom to be an asshole is a part of freedom. I agree with Rooke on that part. You cannot have freedom and have people get along at the same time to begin with there are only rules BECAUSE people cannot get along when you let them do what they want.

[zhurai]

Even the freedom to be an asshole is a part of freedom. I agree with Rooke on that part. You cannot have freedom and have people get along at the same time to begin with there are only rules BECAUSE people cannot get along when you let them do what they want.

 

actually it's basically how you define freedom.

 

based on your definition of freedom then you're somewhat limited so everyone can be free to have fun and get along/order/whatever.

 

or via your definition of freedom, well then you have limited freedom. the main rule "limiting" you would be to not be an asshole, or then the forum becomes a shitfest.

 

There's no excuse for disrespectful behavior. However, as the forum continues to grow, we're going to rely more and more on member reports to stop this sort of thing. We've started pushing training/information on how to report posts, and we're going to continue to do so in the next few weeks. 

should note that during the time aaeru was here I was saying the rules anyways at that time would be just to use common sense and respect each other.

 

obviously the thread there in particular was in a totally different time than now (which had less people in both staff and community that made it super easy to moderate, and the bigger a community gets... /etc)

 

also I should note I don't really do anything as a moderator personally. at least I don't do anything at all on this forum other than say ideas or something. idk...currently.

ww

[had a long hiatus anyways with a massive timesink anyways]

[crunchytaco]

Instead of asking what the role the moderators should be, ask what role you have. Don't ask what your forums can do for you. Ask what can you do for your forums.  

[Kendjin]

Lets not get off topic please, I don't want people having a mini flame war or we'll revoke all freedom and the BARS will come down

 

Then you'll get the Moderator you deserve

[Dark Ariel7]

Ha ha. My bad. I was in the middle of an argument with some nitwit on the other side of the internet when I wrote that. + I have a cold. That was childish though. Im sorry.

[Zalor]

I feel relatively hands-off policies work best on forums. Of course mods should step in if something gets out of line, but for the most part I feel that most people aren't going to do something stupid, and if they do it's usually an accident. I always give individuals the benefit of the doubt.

[Kendjin]

I agree that we should be making sure nothing untoward happens. But I would ask that in a way treat us like a police force. Hitting that report button is our 911 or 112. We never release information on who reports who and reports let us focus our efforts on calming issues.

Help us to help you

[Dark Ariel7]

I agree that we should be making sure nothing untoward happens. But I would ask that in a way treat us like a police force. Hitting that report button is our 911 or 112. We never release information on who reports who and reports let us focus our efforts on calming issues.

Help us to help you

So you want us to be your SP?

[Kendjin]

I have no idea what an SP is

[Dark Ariel7]

I have no idea what an SP is

A somewhat dark joke about nefarious agents of the government. The secret police.

[Kendjin]

Less secret police. More hit men

[Kurisu-Chan]

Less secret police. More hit men

I agree, we should hire agent 47 as moderator, nothing more, nothing less.