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Why the lack of moderation?

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wpotere

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Oct 7, 2010
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I moderate on several websites as large as this site and I am dumbfounded at how you guys allow the flaming that goes on here which is a direct violation of your own rules...

1.Insults. Direct personal insult of another forum member (e.g., "You are an idiot.") and other name-calling. Why? Because this isn't grade school. People should be able to discuss or even dispute other's posts without insulting people. You may dispute somebody's opinion but not attack/flame the person who stated it. There are a lot of other non-direct-personal insults that won't necessary get you banned instantly, but depending on the context/nature may lead to post editing, post deletion, warnings, or time-outs. They include telling people to shut up and being extremely or repeatedly rude or sarcastic. Bottom line -- don't try to tick off others and don't make discussions unnecessarily personal. If somebody else insults you, report their post; their post does not give you a license to break the rules by returning their insults. Although we do not read Private Messages sent between forum members, the rules for appropriate and inappropriate content apply to them as well.
2.Harassment. Purposely intimidating a particular member, harassing them, sending them rude or unwanted private messages, etc. This includes personal attacks on moderators for doing their jobs.
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You call this a bannable offense but there are a number of threads that this has been going on in them with no response. It seems that you guys rarely step in to control it and I can tell you that you are losing members because of it. I know of several people that have decided not to make this a home because of the foul attitudes here.

So the question is, are you guys just under staffed or do you simply not care?
 
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I think the amount of infractions I have received recently proves otherwise. Seriously, compared to other "moderated" forums I regularly visit, MacRumours is certainly the best at picking up infractions.
 
There were new mods added very recently, which would mean they're still working with their new mod glow and happy hands. However, I have seen a few things slip lately. Thread bumping, duplicate threads (like yours), personal insults albeit petty but still according to this place, a bannable offense and such. I've personally given up on reporting much of anything but it seems as though I'm either not understanding the rules or it is just not something that bothers whichever mod gets the report at that moment.

That said, your gripe is best taken up by sending a message to a mod or an admin to discuss. If you have specific instances then that is even better. Otherwise, your post comes off as whiny without substance.

As for losing members, for every member lost there are 10 more on their way. At least that seems to be something that I've noticed.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-gb) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I would suggest using the report button or simply ignoring it. You're using a forum that's largely full of pompous Apple fans who think that they are superior to everyone else, what do you expect?
 
It was a simple question in the site feedback for the mods. Dupe posts are really no big deal and clearly the infractions aren't working. As I have mentioned, I know of two people who would have been huge assets to this forum that have decided to avoid it because of the juvenile attitudes on here. Heck, in one thread this morning a new guy asked a question about the iPad and the first response was him being flamed as an idiot for not knowing the answer. It is also difficult to find relevant information here as you have to wade through the BS to get to the answer.

Maybe I am whining a little but if every thread that I open is nothing but flame fests then there is a problem don’t you think? Could be that I am simply overreacting or this site is just not suited for me. Either way,
Having a site that has member longevity is the way to go, not turnover...

I’m not asking them to go nuts, just react and clean up threads that have gotten way out of control.
 
wpotere said:
Maybe I am whining a little but if every thread that I open is nothing but flame fests then there is a problem don’t you think? Could be that I am simply overreacting or this site is just not suited for me. Either way,
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Maybe it is the quality of the threads you are starting? ... and yes you are overreacting :cool:
 
It's been said before, but it can never be said too often:

With the number of members and new posts each day, we are dependent on post reports. If you see a post that contains a rules violation, hit the report button to let us know. All post reports are read. Difficult or borderline cases are discussed before action is taken. If a rule is violated, then we act.

Since the new mods have come on board, we've been able to cut the response time down quite a bit.
 
I will admit there are a few threads out there that have probably lasted longer than they should and are nothing more than bickering and name calling. I doubt many of the Mods ever venture in them any more, myself included, and they rarely have post reports. They just call each other names and jump up and down while saying the same things over and over. People usually grow tired of them eventually and stop responding and they die on their own. But to actively Mod them would take a full time paid staff because they catch like wildfire and with no post reports, they look completely out of control. If they are closed, a new one opens immediately and they resume their game-play until one of them is pushed and skins their knee and comes whining and crying saying they were abused, when they likely asked for it. Most of the flame wars could be averted if posters would just type their response and then hit "preview post" and read it themselves instead of hitting "submit". Where there is no fuel, the flames go out.
 
wpotere said:
I moderate on several websites as large as this site and I am dumbfounded at how you guys allow the flaming that goes on here which is a direct violation of your own rules...
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Should I report wpotere?:
Please ignore the dolt above. Each Itunes...

:rolleyes:
 
Some members complain about over-moderation, some complain about under-moderation, and the others go on about their day. No site will ever satisfy 100% of the visitors in every way.

With around 5,000 new posts a day we definitely can't inspect everyone on an individual basis. Most mod actions are a result of following up on reports from every day members. At least from my own perspective. I do catch a bit while I'm browsing, but most of my modding is in response to vigilant members reporting posts who care about the site.

Also, complaining about moderation only half an hour after you reported some post, you seem to think moderation should be instantaneous. It's generally not. Mods are here at different times of day and most have day jobs.
 
Fair enough (thank you both for the response) and I will report them as I find them to help out where I can. It is just disheartening to see a site like this fall victim to childish behaviour. I know that modding is difficult so thanks to you guys for doing what you do.
 
Since we are on the topic of the report button, just out of curiosity, is there a punishment if someone abuses the report button?



Edit by Doctor Q to insert the answer: It hasn't been an issue. If a user frequently reports posts that aren't rules violations, because they misunderstand the rules, we let them know so they don't waste their time or the time of our moderators.
 
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angelwatt said:
Some members complain about over-moderation, some complain about under-moderation, and the others go on about their day. No site will ever satisfy 100% of the visitors in every way.
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True, but I would rather it not be to the point of chasing folks away.


angelwatt said:
With around 5,000 new posts a day we definitely can't inspect everyone on an individual basis. Most mod actions are a result of following up on reports from every day members. At least from my own perspective. I do catch a bit while I'm browsing, but most of my modding is in response to vigilant members reporting posts who care about the site.
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Also true and not easy but it is also the reason you volunteered to do it. If you have mods that can't put in the time then perhaps they should be replaced. I have stepped down when I couldn't put the time in.

angelwatt said:
Also, complaining about moderation only half an hour after you reported some post, you seem to think moderation should be instantaneous. It's generally not. Mods are here at different times of day and most have day jobs.
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I wasn't expecting a quick results (as I mentioned, I mod on sites as large or larger than this) so please don't put words in my mouth. I started this thread to complain because it is a huge problem on this site. I figured I would start a thread to discuss it after I fired off those reports and after watching the flame fights for the last few days. Frankly I am growing tired of it as well which is why I thought I would ask you guys about it in what I thought was a place to do so. You trying to throw me under the bus is part of the problem and just because I just started this thread does not mean that the problem has not existed long before I brought it up.

millerj123 said:
Should I report wpotere?:
Please ignore the dolt above. Each Itunes...

:rolleyes:
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Absolutly..... That was the reason I started this thread. A post like that would have stayed had I not reported it (which I did) as would mine if you don't report it. I called him a name thus I deserve to be warned or even banned (by their rules). The point, is if they were actually moderating the site that I would not have had to even post a response like that because the original post would likely have never been made out of fear of being banned. (yes, you will get the occasional person that will break the rules for the sake of doing it.)

You made my point, thanks...
 
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roadbloc said:
Since we are on the topic of the report button, just out of curiosity, is there a punishment if someone abuses the report button?
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It hasn't been an issue since I've been modding, but I've always wondered about that. There's a report limit just like a limit on how often you can post. Abuse would be stopped easily though since only members can do it and it's not hard to ban a user :)

Just so it's clear there's no issue with people reporting problems that are false-positives (not real issues). It's the mods job to determine if the problem is a true problem and we have extras tools to investigate with.
 
dejo said:
I'm curious. What sites would those be?
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MINI related.... MINI2.com (former mod there) and TotalMINI.com. I have also modded on several computer sites over the years. One that used to be very busy and is now just a shell of what it was (Dalantech) and I also helped on MaximumPCs forum back when it was just starting and also known as Boot.
 
Well, TotalMINI has 3450 members afaik. Can't say that is even remotely close to MR.
 

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wpotere said:
MINI related.... MINI2.com (former mod there) and TotalMINI.com. I have also modded on several computer sites over the years. One that used to be very busy and is now just a shell of what it was (Dalantech) and I also helped on MaximumPCs forum back when it was just starting and also known as Boot.
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This sounds like a size problem.
 
IMO, people think they have some right not to be offended. They want things that offend them moderated but don't want their comments moderated. I think it's because they were raised by parents who told them everything they said was important and probably played little league where everyone got a trophy.
 
OK, TM was just started a whopping year ago and you can't compare the member count unless the admins purge the users that aren't posting any longer. This site has been up and running for a long time and has collected users over the years. It does not mean they are active users

Also, it is pointless to argue size... You create a mod team to meet the demand of the site. My point was that I do moderate/administrate, my apologies if I offended anyone by saying it was "bigger".

So, I am not going to argue that point any longer. :rolleyes:

You folks are so quick to argue over stupid crap... Sheesh.
 
I would say this is not an argument, more of a discussion. You raise your point. Other's raise their's.
 
rdowns said:
IMO, people think they have some right not to be offended. They want things that offend them moderated but don't want their comments moderated. I think it's because they were raised by parents who told them everything they said was important and probably played little league where everyone got a trophy.
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??? whatever......

People have a right to not be jumped on the first post they make. Then again, I have seen your posts...

Alright, I am done. This site is just crap. Keep it.
 
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