I think it may occasionally be a tad too strict, even though, to my knowledge, I haven't myself been moderated before. Maybe there ought to be a thread where "deleted" posts are relegated, unless they are grossly and intentionally offensive (or constitute spam)?

Yes, definitely leaning towards "too strict" in general. Though in some rare cases it hasn't been strict enough.

Not strict enough.

I am glad I am given the opportunity of expressing very controversial views.

Not strict enough. — Michael

You're a moderator, you shouldn't be allowed to vote, otherwise the polls will be skewed.

Why shouldn't moderators be allowed to vote? We're posters as well.

There are only a few moderators and we don't all share the same view.

(I don't want this to be confrontational by the way. The main point is for us to listen to you.)

(I don't want this to be confrontational by the way. The main point is for us to listen to you.) — Baden

No worries. If someone posts something controversial, I'll delete it.

No worries. If someone posts something controversial, I'll delete it. — Hanover

X-)

8-)

S̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶r̶o̶v̶e̶r̶s̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶



Edited by Hanover.

You're confusing use and mention.

You're confusing use and mention. — Srap Tasmaner

Same thing.

Is that controversial?

Heretic!

My God! That's moose turd pie!

It's good though.

In response to recent criticism concerning moderation, have your say. — Baden

I am not sure my two cents fits in one of the three options but I miss the productive kind of moderation that administrators showed in thread, rather than getting into the fray of personas. Examples being Postmodern Beatnik and Incision. It isn't so much about what they were moderating but the tone and tenor in which they approached moderation was respectful.
~shrugs~

The restrictions are not too strict. But the level of consciousness is way down. Participation is up, though. Which means fewer and fewer smart people join. But perhaps critical mass is still to be reached. My personal interest was never tickled by this site. But I keep posting anyway... there is no harm in trying... but there is harm in trolling: controlling, patrolling and get rolling.

@Postmodern Beatnik helped us out for a while and was great. I didn't get to know Incision that well. I'll take your word for it though.

By and large, it is unsurprising that the people who post on the site on average like the way it is run. It's a bit like asking meat eaters if they like meat. 'More meat or less meat, or just the right amount?'

A more interesting question would be, 'what are you trying to do on the site?'

What are you trying to do on this site?

Interesting question, glad you asked.

I'm out to make the world substantially better, by promoting communication and mutual understanding. Accordingly, my moderation priorities are directed towards filtering sense from nonsense, and kindness from unkindness, more so than spelling from mis-spelling, philosophy from non-philosophy, educated from ignorant.

If one was setting out to produce an archive of interesting dialogues, say, one's moderating priorities might be different. And that initial aim is where differences between too strict and not strict enough start to bite: strict enough for what purpose and in what direction?

And that initial aim is where differences between too strict and not strict enough start to bite: strict enough for what purpose and in what direction? — unenlightened

Sounds like you have been hanging out with a friend of mine. 8-)

I want to emphasize that the moderation at this forum-website is the best that I've encountered anywhere.

I've been to a lot of forum-websites, most of which have moderation. At all the moderated forums I've been to, other than this one, there are moderators who use their authority to win arguments that they start... using their authority in violation of the forum's stated rules and policies. When that happens, the administrators at those websites always support the moderator. Needless to say, I didn't stay at those forums.

In an extreme instance, my life was threatened by a "moderator" at a spiritual forum.

I was once at a forum that didn't have any moderation, and the behavior was abominable. Partly because of no moderation, but of course partly because of the people there.

Michael Ossipoff

I'm out to make the world substantially better, by promoting communication and mutual understanding. Accordingly, my moderation priorities are directed towards filtering sense from nonsense, and kindness from unkindness, more so than spelling from mis-spelling, philosophy from non-philosophy, educated from ignorant. — unenlightened

Okay, so in practice, what would you actually do differently than now? Don't get me wrong these are all nice words and all, but it's at a very general level. What are your actual proposals?

What are your actual proposals? — Agustino

If you have watched unenlightened for any amount of time you would know HE is the proposal. Though he would never in a million years agree with me or dare admit it to himself.

If you have watched unenlightened for any amount of time you would know HE is the proposal. Though he would never in a million years agree with me or dare admit it to himself. — ArguingWAristotleTiff

>:O - well I actually do know that, that's precisely why I've asked him the question >:) .

I'm out to make the world substantially better, by promoting communication and mutual understanding. — unenlightened

How's that going for you?

I'm not sure what to say. In some instances, I think it has been too strict, in others, not strict enough (or at least things were allowed to spiral out of hand).

So I'll think I'll just say "strict" or "too strict" is too reductive to give a proper answer to.

I chose about right.

It is not the moderation that is the problem. It is the moderators code of conduct. In a great site like this one where you attract a lot of people with a lot of ideas and different ways of expressing those ideas, I would expect moderators to conduct themselves with a degree of decorum. I would expect that the way they interact with members is respectful. In the recent case of the deletion of my post it was neither of these things.

To begin with, when you delete someones work, you are erasing their effort and thought. If their submission attempt was genuine you can expect pushback- there is a seed of an idea or question in there and perhaps they didn't get it out. When you conduct such a deletion without even informing the poster that you have done it or the reasons why you have done it that is arrogant,volunteer or not.

It takes a minute or two to send a message saying something along the lines of, I couldn't quite follow the thread, people may find it confusing, please tidy up the idea and repost. Happy hunting! That would be constructive and give direction. To say the volunteers don't have time is a mistruth. They had time to read the OP and to delete it and to comment on other OPs as participants.

Instead of receiving such a message, I had to take it to the common gallery where you had Michael come in declaring it bizarre armchair science that was making wild speculative claims, demanding I be an expert in the field, then supported by Sapientia demanding I have a PhD to post anything and that my knowledge on the subject was not even adequate - who then followed me into another OP and continued the attack.

And yet, when I touched it up only a small bit and reposted it turned out that what I had said was in line with what standard cosmology agrees upon. I then went on to have a deep and meaningful discussion on the issue, that I challenge the moderators to read.

Then, the next day, when someone posts a thread singling out another member by name and attacking him, rather than telling that person to beat it or at least to tone it down, the moderators agree with him, grumble about the discussion they had with me - actually redirect him to that discussion in hope of winning an ally, then within about 2 minutes of that discussion run off and create this poll.

I feel this is very poor conduct. Which is a pity for such a great site.