Appeal of points
Based off what I have experienced, and just the fact that people are human, the moderation within certain forums has been very unbalanced. I received a point and have even had the moderator who gave it to me state that they would remove it if they could.
I am proposing as feedback, that first we find a way to allow moderators to remove points that, after some thought, they feel were not warranted. From what I have been told, this is currently not possible.
Secondly, I would like to see an appeals process whereby say a week after a point has been awarded, the person who earned it could appeal to a panel of say, three moderators and see if they still feel it was warranted. I doubt most people will appeal anything since most violations are clear and people assume responsibility for themselves. If the panel of three still feels the violation stays, it stays. However if the one moderator was unable to separate their personal feelings from their moderating responsibilities, this allows some means of addressing it. All of this could still be done privately and not publicly.
Finally the boards themselves have seen some upgrades and as such, we can individually choose to ignore and filter out certain people. Is it really appropriate given this ability, to lifetime banish someone who has not actually done more than type some words that were offensive to some? I can understand bans for spamming, attacking the boards via hacks or whatever. However a lifetime ban just because someone disagrees with you once too often and a moderator has the ability to take such an action seems very inappropriate.
I hope this is not seen as a posting guidelines violation. I am not attempting to personalize this feedback or take issue with any moderator in particular. I am attempting to give feedback to improve the board and the community it services.
Nick
I am proposing as feedback, that first we find a way to allow moderators to remove points that, after some thought, they feel were not warranted. From what I have been told, this is currently not possible.
Secondly, I would like to see an appeals process whereby say a week after a point has been awarded, the person who earned it could appeal to a panel of say, three moderators and see if they still feel it was warranted. I doubt most people will appeal anything since most violations are clear and people assume responsibility for themselves. If the panel of three still feels the violation stays, it stays. However if the one moderator was unable to separate their personal feelings from their moderating responsibilities, this allows some means of addressing it. All of this could still be done privately and not publicly.
Finally the boards themselves have seen some upgrades and as such, we can individually choose to ignore and filter out certain people. Is it really appropriate given this ability, to lifetime banish someone who has not actually done more than type some words that were offensive to some? I can understand bans for spamming, attacking the boards via hacks or whatever. However a lifetime ban just because someone disagrees with you once too often and a moderator has the ability to take such an action seems very inappropriate.
I hope this is not seen as a posting guidelines violation. I am not attempting to personalize this feedback or take issue with any moderator in particular. I am attempting to give feedback to improve the board and the community it services.
Nick
Comments
Based off what I have experienced, and just the fact that people are human, the moderation within certain forums has been very unbalanced. I received a point and have even had the moderator who gave it to me state that they would remove it if they could.
I am proposing as feedback, that first we find a way to allow moderators to remove points that, after some thought, they feel were not warranted. From what I have been told, this is currently not possible.
Secondly, I would like to see an appeals process whereby say a week after a point has been awarded, the person who earned it could appeal to a panel of say, three moderators and see if they still feel it was warranted. I doubt most people will appeal anything since most violations are clear and people assume responsibility for themselves. If the panel of three still feels the violation stays, it stays. However if the one moderator was unable to separate their personal feelings from their moderating responsibilities, this allows some means of addressing it. All of this could still be done privately and not publicly.
Finally the boards themselves have seen some upgrades and as such, we can individually choose to ignore and filter out certain people. Is it really appropriate given this ability, to lifetime banish someone who has not actually done more than type some words that were offensive to some? I can understand bans for spamming, attacking the boards via hacks or whatever. However a lifetime ban just because someone disagrees with you once too often and a moderator has the ability to take such an action seems very inappropriate.
I hope this is not seen as a posting guidelines violation. I am not attempting to personalize this feedback or take issue with any moderator in particular. I am attempting to give feedback to improve the board and the community it services.
Nick
I don't know about all that. And appeals process? I think that may be a bit much. That said, I do agree the moderation has not been consistent. I also don't like the whole infraction system. If someone commits an egregious offense he should be banned for a short period of time. What is an egregious offense you ask? How about, oh, wishing someone would die on the operating table?
Last point: There needs to be a moderator code of conduct. If we're going to have complaints about member postings, there should be a way of reporting inappropriate moderator actions. Such a code would include 1) Treating all members with respect. 2) Enforcing rules equally 3) Not using their position to aid their arguments (i.e. threatening action against someone because he disagrees, etc. I've actually had a mod edit MY post to reinforce his own argument. He took issue with a poll I posted...then edited my post to show it was an internet poll. Not that it wasn't a vlaid point, but he used his mod position to argue it, which was not right.
Based off what I have experienced, and just the fact that people are human, the moderation within certain forums has been very unbalanced. I received a point and have even had the moderator who gave it to me state that they would remove it if they could.
However if the one moderator was unable to separate their personal feelings from their moderating responsibilities, this allows some means of addressing it. All of this could still be done privately and not publicly.
Oh boy, I don't know how things are run here, because I'm not a frequent poster at AppleInsider (yet).
I've come over from MacNN because there are a few completely retarded mods.
One of them was name-calling another member, and I called him out on it.
The result: INSTANT temporary ban for a week. And he even fabricated a bullsh!t reason. WTF ?
PMed the admins, no response. They just let it happen.
It's absolutely nuts. I hope stuff is better over here, otherwise, I'll keep on looking for a forum w/o mods with ego-problems.
-t