Candid Dialogue About Moderation

Lets be honest here. I'd assume most here are of drinking age, but from alot of the banter and posting here, it makes you wonder.

Most of the issues here are people who have an issue with authority, plain and simple. Most have personal over exaggerations of one off issues with something here and want to vent them, rather than understand the approach of this thread. It's a "lets vent over something I hate" rather than try to understand the mindset of the site.

Being candid, and being a jerk are two different things, much like people argue the moderation v. censorship issue.

Offer some constructive points, and it appears to be something positive. I don't understand why people want to be so hard nosed about it, when the moderation here really is not that hard nosed back at it. I GET some of the frustration, but honestly it falls so short when people are so childish about it.

@KendallKid doesn't seem to understand that while he argues value, it doesn't have to be HIS value. There are THOUSANDS of others that might not think/feel his his way. Once reported, and someone has a grievance, it's investigated. We aren't witch hunting, regardless of what one might think. I have much more important things to do than browse every thread to find someone to "pick on". If the whole of the site feels it's offensive or wrong, then it's reported and looked at. Most often it's just someone being sensitive, much like several in this thread feel sensitive to something personal that happens to them.

Put some thicker skin on, have some fun, respect people and others domain, and you will succeed at the internet.

 

your problem is that i'm not drunk.

yeah, you're a troll, but a relatively harmless one, so we let you be.

if you choose to escalate, do so at your own risk.

 

I mod a forum, including checking and allowing new registrations. On several occasions we spiked registrations that had usernames referring drunkenness, drugs, sex, etc. If I had kept all the emails bleating about "1st Amendment!!oneone!!elebbenty!!" I would have far too many and would need to drink a lot.

Everyone has their own idea of "frank" vs "troll". Everyone has their own idea of "funny" vs "offensive". People's ideas of where those lines are will change with time, life experience, and so on. Mods being open to discussion and providing feedback is always a positive step, and a welcome one. Yelling because someone took your joke differently than you intended comes under the heading of "sucks to be you"

Modding a forum of this size must feel like a Sisyphean, and largely thankless, task. So cheers to the mods, thanks to @F2brewers for the chat we had via PM and his very helpful feedback, and thanks to the mods for opening this discussion.

 

It was reported, and i belive you yourself in the post said " im sure this will be deleted but...." so i would suggest if you are sure something will be deleted dont post it.

 

A few things with your example, first comments from both sides were deleted, not just the ones that said the OP was offering too little. And the ones that were like yours -
"There's exactly zero chance I'd trade a BA9K for a BAA. Calling the latter "a much better beer" is crazy and sound like a guy with a BAA and without a BA9K protecting his bottle. From most angles (current scarcity, cost, trade value, etc.), OP will probably have to add...if he's fortunate enough to even find anyone with a BA9K who's happens to be ISO BAA. If such a person exists, good luck OP. It TWO such persons exist, I've got next!"
Could have been said better if you were trying to "help" calling an attempt at a trade "crazy" might not have been the best way to do this, not only that at the end you say "I've got next", this is against the rules, if you want to do the same trade start your own ISO, not try and trade in the OP's post even if you are being sarcastic. A lot has to do with the way we tell people they are off, it could be taken as offensive or someone trying to protect their bottles trade value. A great way to help is to tell the OP how you got the bottle thru a trade, what you traded for it. If you really want to help the OP and not have your post deleted BM him/her , then you know they will see your comment. This is my take on your example. Got any more?

 

So you know, I did not delete the comments, but i agree with the mod who did. I did read the whole thread, if i can see it the way i did so can others. Like i said, and please try not to take this as an attack, things could have been said differently, this is just a suggestion.

 

I think the deletion of negative comments is fine.

For one thing, look at the ISO/FT section as a store, or flea market if you will.

You wouldn't openly go up to someone and tell them their wares are priced too high. You simply walk away and keep it to yourself. If the price is wrong, they won't sell it, or they'll find someone who thinks it's reasonable. If you think it's close, you would contact them, or pull them to the side and make an offer.

No one would care to have their ISO/FT, crapped on by people. Even if they knowingly post something that is so far off that it'll never get done. If someone thinks it's fine, so be it.

If more people kept the idea that if you didn't have anything positive to add, keep it to yourself, then the forums ( and the world ) would be a easier going place.

 

While I don't always concur with the need for deleting posts, my experience has been that the moderation in ISO:FT is very even-handed in this respect, and any resulting skew is because significantly more posts on one side of the issue were in clear violation.

Something that isn't clear to me and I was wondering about: Are OPs in ISO:FT allowed to request (and have their request acted upon) posts in their thread be deleted at will, or are the posts only removed if they're in violation of BA ToS?

 

I think a notification of thread/post deletion would be nice. Ive had posts where I was ISO a ticket for an event be deleted with zero notification. Not only did I have to figure out on my own it was deleted, I also had to figure out on my own WHY it was deleted. I dont consider myself a troll and Im mindful of the rules so itd be nice to receieve some kind of message.

 

Cool. I only read this page and seemed like drama over the trade forum so no, I didnt read the whole thread. My bad.