Hambone10
Hooter
Posts: 40,279
Joined: Nov 2005
Reputation: 1284
I Root For: My Kids
Location: Right Down th Middle
|
Moderators Comment
Posters
In an effort to 'start new' and at least symbolically try and clean up some of our conversations, I will be closing the 4-5 primary threads that seem to have become 'catch-alls' for our thoughts of the day, sometimes only loosely related to the OP.
This will happen later today... This is an attempt to have people start new threads with a specific focus of conversation.
We can still talk about COVID and Trump, but let's try and have topics that are about issues related to it, and not merely 'catch-all' headers
Thank you
|
|
07-30-2020 12:29 PM |
|
Baconator
Moderator
Posts: 2,437
Joined: Jun 2005
Reputation: 68
I Root For: My Kids
Location:
|
RE: Moderators Comment
I will add my two cents. I rarely post in the Quad, not due to disinterest but mainly due to time constraints. I do follow the conversations as best as I can though.
My thought is we have pretty much let the Quad be "no holds barred" for quite some time. In retrospect that was probably a mistake. It should have been "some holds barred" or something like that. The current loose moderation style has pretty much resulted in multiple reported posts and complaints, from both sides of the aisle. I will aim to keep the peace a little bit better going forward, but ask your help in reporting posts through the "Report" link if you feel there is a violation.
If either Hambone or I are involved in the offending discussion, our usual procedure is to ask mods from other boards to come in and offer their opinions on the matter. This hasn't happened often, but has come up before.
On a personal note, I think many reasonable, well-intentioned posters from both sides of the aisle here spend a lot of time assuming the worst intentions of the people they're debating with. The Mods believe that closing the mega-threads and having more concise, topical discussions will reduce the toxicity of the Quad, and hopefully engage more folks than the 10-12 folks that regularly post here.
|
|
07-30-2020 01:55 PM |
|
Hambone10
Hooter
Posts: 40,279
Joined: Nov 2005
Reputation: 1284
I Root For: My Kids
Location: Right Down th Middle
|
RE: Moderators Comment
I guess we shall see... but what we're currently doing isn't (imo) working. The only people who can make the new threads any different than the old threads are 'us'. If nothing else, the 'shorter' threads may serve as a gentle reminder.... or allow people who want to talk about research or regulation related to COVID to avoid getting drug into a conversation about 'who is to blame' for it.
People act as if moderation is a major issue. Most often what happens is that someone gets dinged a few points for a 'rough' comment, and if nothing else happens, those points go away in a few days. It's a finger-wag. Things CAN escalate pretty quickly... since moderation is done in private, complaining about it in public is especially frowned upon. Certain offenses, like physical threats will be addressed no matter where they happen, even in a PM. If you get above 50 points, your comments have to be approved before they can be read... which is a pain for everyone. Quite frankly, it takes a lot to get to 50, but not much to get you banned from there.
I'd also say... if someone engages in patterns... like every week we're seeing the same thing over and over and moderation is mostly ignored.... or someone comes on here for 2 weeks and collects 40 points, then they go away for 2 weeks so the points expire, and when they come back they do the same thing... you can get banned with zero points. It's just not worth the moderators time to keep doing it.
The goal is for this to continue to be mostly self-moderated... but I'd really like for us to return to more civil discussions... myself included
|
|
07-30-2020 04:59 PM |
|
Owl 69/70/75
Just an old rugby coach
Posts: 80,655
Joined: Sep 2005
Reputation: 3192
I Root For: RiceBathChelsea
Location: Montgomery, TX
|
RE: Moderators Comment
Does anybody besides me think that one of the unique things about Rice is that we even care that discussions are civil?
|
|
07-30-2020 05:19 PM |
|
OptimisticOwl
Legend
Posts: 58,540
Joined: Apr 2005
Reputation: 854
I Root For: Rice
Location: DFW Metroplex
|
RE: Moderators Comment
(07-30-2020 04:59 PM)Hambone10 Wrote: i
People act as if moderation is a major issue. Most often what happens is that someone gets dinged a few points for a 'rough' comment, and if nothing else happens, those points go away in a few days.
Is that the warning level thingie? Mine has always been 0%.
Quote:The goal is for this to continue to be mostly self-moderated... but I'd really like for us to return to more civil discussions... myself included
Return to more civil discussions? I don't remember those.
|
|
07-31-2020 08:36 AM |
|
mrbig
Heisman
Posts: 8,662
Joined: Jun 2008
Reputation: 127
I Root For: Rice
Location: New Orleans
|
RE: Moderators Comment
(07-30-2020 05:04 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: (07-30-2020 04:59 PM)Hambone10 Wrote: The only people who can make the new threads any different than the old threads are 'us'.
there's the problem, but trying something new cannot hurt. Good luck.
Rather than saying "good luck", I will pledge to do my part to make the quad a little more constructive and a little less toxic moving forward. I'm probably still not going to be all that active compared to where I was 3-6 months ago, but a scaled back and more thoughtful mrbig is probably much better for everyone then where I was at a few months ago.
Kudos to the mods for trying to help us be better versions of ourselves.
|
|
07-31-2020 09:27 AM |
|