Candid Dialogue About Moderation

Even if that is true, the mods have to take the action, which means they agree with the complaint. Banning humor is just uptight grumpiness.

 

Im going to have to respectfully disagree here, there is lots of good hearted humor on this site, the WBAYDN thread has lots daily,a bunch of the BIF's and LIF's as well. And not all reports are handled with a deletion. It really depends if its an "inside joke" , dirty joke, or just plain disrespectful. Trust me the mods are not "uptight" or "grumpy", each situation has a way to be delt with. There is a time and place for everything.

 

@blue-dream, my post was none of those things. It was just a word-play joke. Completely innocent.

 

Well, you never said your post , you generalized all humor on this site. If it was in the trade forums , which i mod, there is no room for jokes there, people want to trade their beers and that why they are there. Im sure what ever post in which you speak of, was looked at and determined to not be needed at the time. Evey mod is different and we all look at reports in a certain way, dont take it personaly the person who reported it might have taken it the wrong way, but the mod who took care of it might have been doing it to stop a larger problem from happening in the thread later.

 

It was not in the trade forum. Humor is obviously banned. Too bad. You guys must be a lot of fun in bars. I don't intend to debate this further. The record stands on its own. I am far from the only member to have noticed this.

 

Care to give the example that you seem upset about, rather than throwing generalization and being enigmatic about it?

 

Well, it may be hard to believe, but I don't keep copies of my posts. Why don't you ask the mod that deleted it?

 

with that attitude, you don't come off as a sympathetic figure.

trolling multiple mods in this thread isn't helping your case either.

the purpose of the thread isn't to air your complaints about moderation...it's to have a candid and respectful discussion about moderation. your posts here are not respectful nor do they qualify as discussion.

there's plenty of humor across the site in many of the forums. we keep a tighter lid on it in the trade forums for reasons discussed earlier in the thread.

if you don't agree with the reasoning, that's fine. agree to disagree and move along since you're not interested in "deatibg" the point.

 

FWIW, I'd like to echo this sentiment as being (IMHO) significant:

My ratio of successful to "crickets" ISO/FT threads went up radically when I started making a point of reading the banter that went back and forth in other people's threads. Without that banter, it would have taken me much longer to learn what works, I would have contributed more to the noise level with useless ISO/FT threads, and I might have possibly given up entirely in frustration.

 

I have been a member of other sites including unmoderated political forums back in the wild west days of the internet, and careful moderation is a good thing for this site, so we don't become anything like those flame war free for all messes of rants and opinions. Those complaining most about moderation are those who least understand the alternatives, IMO. We claim all to be adults but there is nothing like an anonymous platform to make us act like children.

Those who desire to be in a more free for all atmosphere are free to go where we all know that atmosphere exists.

Speaking specifically to traders here, but once you go to those forums to trade it will be a short time until you are back here, because once you get there you find all the assholes kicked off here, and once you are there for a while you are reminded why they were kicked off, and what is great about here.

Beer Advocate has always been a haven for the better things about beer, and a place for the finer folks to inquire about, gather, and share their knowledge. We all have a stake in that, and I am glad this back and forth is happening to make clear what it is we can do to make the site work better, and be more valuable for us all.

And not directed at a specific person, and just my .02, but if you get multiple deletions for reposts in ISO, I would suggest you be honest with yourself, and ask if perhaps you need to step back your trading just a bit. If it gets to the point that your desire for a specific beer cannot wait 48 hours to be re posted, when you probably have a cellar of 300+ beers, and there are probably 400 great beers at your local stores you haven't tried, you may need to take a serious look at whether you are trading a wee bit too much for your and others' goods

 

Entirely untrue, at least with respect to me. I've been around from before the days of newgroups and newsreaders, so I know all about unmoderated internet "discussions". I am not complaining about moderation in general. I am complaining about the apparent fear of harmless humor. If some tight sphincter member complains, Lord help us. A little humor using word-play, not directed at anyone but only at the general flow of the thread or even self-depreciating (as the one that was removed was) is harmless and will not erupt into a flame war. In fact, such posts (by my long and diverse experience in web postings and discussions) will generally defuse a smoldering flame. I said before I was not going to debate this further, but, Dave, your assumption about me is flat wrong and therefore I responded again.

 

Well, all I can say is, since you have been around as long as I, you obviously kinow there are styles of moderation, interpreting TOS, at every site, and there is no way to learn those styles' fine points except by being deleted or warned. Wasn't trying to single you out, I guess I was merely acting on my feeling that old timers like us know the ropes, know moderation, and would be the least likely to complain or be bothered by any of it. Obviously I was wrong.

 

Just to explain: I am not bothered by moderation; I support the need for it, and sympathize with the job. I performed the job a few years ago on a (supposedly) professional discussion board. People can be dicks, no doubt about it. Complete humorlessness, though, is moderation down a dark path, IMO, and is NOT a positive thing for the site. JMO, obviously, and the owners of this site are (also obviously) free to run it as they please. I saw this thread, and took it as a genuine solicitation of views on how moderation was working on this site. Obviously, I was wrong.

 

I don't think you were wrong, and I do think that all involved in this have learned a lot, and I do think that all involved were sincere with solicitation of honest opinions.

I also think all the explanations given by mods and by Todd have been pretty clear, and that if you have additional specific questions about something pertaining to you it might better be addressed privately.

I do speak from the experience of seeing the effort that has gone into keeping quality the number one consideration of this site. I think you are wrong about there being a prejudice against humor, but I didn't read the post you refer to as being unfairly deleted, so that is all I can say about it. I mean, I haven't been banned yet, how much more evidence of a tolerance for humor do you need

 

May I commend to your attention my first post in this thread which appears on Page 1, post #32. While not written with your examples in mind it does address some of the issues you raise.

 

Actually if the mods and all BAs were truly anti-humor it wouldn't be just you, more than one of us would be banned from here as well.

 

Value to the site is yet another broad sweeping term..
One person's values may not the same as the next that is a given..
Occasional drunken posts need to be taken in context .
Toleration NOT moderation

 

lol wassailwilly.

value added to the site is our discretion. we're all dfferent, but you're off the map. if we're wrong, so be it. what do you care?

did you have something to add to the conversation?

your drunken posts reveal you for the troll you are.

 

Drunken posts reveal what the true definition of a troll is ?... Interesting
Glad we all can be so candid !!