Candid Dialogue About Moderation

Despite my earlier posts in this very thread, I honestly don't believe that mods have either the time or desire to specifically target users. What exactly would be the point in doing so? @Drift what exactly occurred that caused the ban out of interest?

 

@Drift ive been amazed at your generosity recently regardless of your past infractions but I will say that the bolded part is important as a business owner I've got my managers backs regardless. It's a learning process and there has been times, in private, I'll advise my managers to do things differently in the future but you can't dress them down in public or they won't do their jobs appropriately in the long run.

If you've got a problem with a certain mod that's done you wrong I'd suggest you let Todd know in private instead of trying to air dirty laundry for the court of public opinion.

Regardless of this, I've seen you do some great things for BAs you don't know and I'd urge you to kept hat up bud.

 

Speaking of moderation, I was wondering why my Ratings Change after Sellout post was removed. I spent a good 15 minutes computing the numbers and when I last saw it, no one was out of line.

It just seems like a waste of time and effort to share what my curiosity discovered.

 

I'm glad this thread is still going.

Why are threads deleted in some cases and locked in some cases? I think I've stated this before, but my observation is it seems to me that many threads are deleted when the conversation starts to go astray, even though the original topic was on-point. In that case, I think it seems better just to lock the topic rather than to remove it altogether. For example, then it still shows up in searches, and perhaps it doesn't get repeated in three months. I've mostly stopped posting except in the WBAYDN thread because it seems like there's no point if the posts just disappear.

Also—is discussion of beer demographics off-limits? Most notably, it seems topics discussing or inquiring about the racial composition of beer consumers inevitably are deleted after a few hours. Why is that?

 

No, I believe you that it's challenging. I'm inferring now that they're removed because staying on top of deleting all the problem posts is too much work. Sounds like it's one of those 80/20 situations—the moderation is '80%' on target, but closing that last 20% takes 80% of (i.e four times) the work.

But what about this? When a topic like that—one fertile for trolling—comes along, it seems it could just be locked, and then the posts there already can be cleaned up. That must be a bit more work than just wholesale deletion, but it seems manageable.

 

Correct.

Many times a thread is deleted, because it's simply so far off, so far down the toilet, that snipping, editing, and a bunch of nips and tucks is just way more time and work needed. One fertile for the trolling, usually happens plenty fast, so simply nuking it takes it away rather than leave a 2 post thread locked.

In the instance where the thread has, or HAD, some great information, and thoughts, but went off track really bad, it will be locked in most cases.

I will be open to admit, I've leaned towards total deletion more than locking, simply to remove the offending material. I try to go through things more when I have time.

 

And I imagine it's also easy for the thread to no longer make sense once offending posts are removed, creating further headache.

 

In a large percentage of cases, yes. Once they get removed, you are then having to remove or edit other posts where people have quoted said responses that were removed. Sometimes it has good stuff there, but in the grand scheme, it's easier to delete, rather than nip and tuck and edit someones original post and their intent.

I'd hate to have a post edited that would change the point of it, and would much rather know it was deleted, rather than altered, IMO.

 

Sure, it's of course a judgement call. I don't mean to put you guys in the position of defending your choices when it's your time at stake in making them; I'm intending my thoughts as feedback in the event that they could offer a perspective you guys hadn't considered.

 

this makes absolute sense when there's negativity or detrimental behavior. however, as expressed before, i think this isn't the best move when moderators are making a personal call & snap decisions on things like "relevance". in those instances, a thread should be locked not hard deleted.

recently things have been much better imho. but in the past whole threads were yanked removing lots of exchanged information. the same subjects resurfaced & the same information was again exchanged. when the same subjects keep re-spawning, that's a good indication the subject is of some relevance / importance to the community. one of the main gripes in the past has been a sense that a moderator will choose to remove a thread based on their own interpretation of relevance. if the discussion turns to something they aren't that interested in or in some cases may not be able to identify all of the relevance/value, the whole thread goes into jeopardy.

 

It's certainly been considered, so appreciate the input. Not here to defend my position, just giving the insight of what I personally think when I encounter said issues/threads/posts.

 

Yes, I should have said that too—I think so as well.

 

For one, I agree with you. However, we can never get past moderators having to make personal judgement calls, and snap decisions. Now, as far as relevance, I certainly, that doesn't come in to play with me. The thread is eitheir destructive/dysfunctional due to a number of things, or it can be cleaned up and remain in place. I'd like to think every thread has SOME relevance, no? It was relevant to someone to post it, and someone to reply.

For instance, I will say, there is some change towards locking, and not deleting, if it warrants having some great info in there. If I believe the thread has info that is worthwhile to someone, regardless if I care about it personally, I'd lock it. If it's something someone might search for here or on an engine.. Lock it, so it still comes up for reference. The threads go into jeopardy when people can't follow the rules, and can't be respectful to each other, and someone reports a thread. I don't go looking for threads for things I don't care for, or understand, or identify with.

But it's always going to be subjective to each person, and I don't know the way to fix that effectively.

Cheers !

 

Is there a list of all the rules for posting? I have seen threads asking for style comparisons deleted because the styles were "apples and oranges" and comments deleted because I was sloppy and used italics instead of the quote tool. On most forums I have been on posts and comments only got deleted for personal attacks, trolling, racial slurs, egregious off topicality, and other violations of the TOU. The owners of the site are of course free to establish stricter standards than that, but it would be helpful if there was a place to find out exactly what they are.

 

Sometimes I am not clear about why I am making a particular comparison or asking a particular question, expecting people to see what I mean without what I sometimes feel is spoonfeeding. On other forums if I am misunderstood, that is my problem (and I have the option of waiting till someone "gets it") Deletions are to protect people from spam, trolling, racism, personal attacks and other things specifically violating the terms of use. I have never seen deletion used to protect readers from head scratching, from poorly written posts, etc. That my be my limited internet experience, I don't know for sure. Again, all I want is a set of rules in advance about what it is proper and not proper to post. I do not demand such a list, of course, but merely suggest it would cause things to go more smoothly and leave people feeling better. And I realize the application of any such list is necessarily subjective and that disputing such subjective judgements if off topic.

 

I cannot know in advance what replies will be like, in a large community that I am new to. It is also not possible for me to review my post to see how it might be less confusing, since I kept no record of my now deleted post.

If it is your policy that you will delete threads that have taken a direction you dislike, and will not list criteria for deletion it would be helpful to just state that.