Posted by jane d on January 5, 2011, at 22:47:39
In reply to I don't think I like a peer moderated forum, posted by Dinah on January 5, 2011, at 10:33:27
I've been thinking for a while that one of the problems is that the site is neither a heavily (and continually) moderated one nor a totally peer moderated site. I think that causes some threads to get really unbalanced. Who knows what a truly peer moderated site would look like here? One where half the posters weren't waiting futily for Bob to handle offensive posts in accordance with the current rules? I do think we have a situation here where the voices of people who respect the goals of civility (if not always the actual implementation) are selectively filtered out.
I know I will sometimes refrain from responding to totally outrageous posts because I expect them to be handled by Bob. And then they aren't - at least not promptly. And someone who should have been supported appears to have no support. On an unmoderated site I might (and sometimes have) jumped in myself with posts that while fair would probably be considered uncivil here. I'm not saying I haven't seen witch hunts on unmoderated sites. I certainly have and they are ugly anywhere they happen. But they aren't quite as one sided as they tend to be here. It's certainly struck me over and over again that some of the posters crying loudest about the unfairness of being asked to be civil are, at the same time, gaining greatly from the protection of those same rules.
I have to admit my personal tastes have always run towards way less moderation than I think you (and others here) prefer. But I have accepted that this is a moderated site and I can live with that. I can even appreciate the good things about it. But I do wish it was a little more clearly defined.
In rereading your post and mine I think the delay in official response is a big part of the problem. While there is no response this is an unmoderated site. Then, much later, the response comes and it's suddenly strictly moderated again. I know that's a logistical problem with a volunteer moderator. I'd certainly hate to be deluged with pop up ads everytime I came here in order to pay for moderators or for more of Bob's time. I'd also hate to see this become a site restricted to those who could afford to pay for it. I don't know how you fix it. I do wonder if relaxing some of the rules would make the transitions less jarring.
poster:jane d
thread:975897
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20101201/msgs/975988.html