[wp-forums] Forum moderation

[Michael B]

I've been quite busy with offline issues, but have tried to keep an eye on
these threads.  I just re-read the thread at issue, and aside from the
typical mac user slam from deko, the thread was civil.  Then a comment about
not liking the french, then Lara's comment crossed the line, IMO, as hers
was a personal attack, vs the generic, common mac user stereotype made by
deko.    Obviously deko took offense to the acne comments and the like, and
retaliated with his own comments. I think Handy handle the situation fine.

Perhaps both comments should be removed, however the bigger issue is how
such should be handled in the future.  Warnings are one thing, but making a
user inactive for a week might be a better solution.

Obviously the desire to keep volunteers around is important, but not to the
point of alienating other users and volunteers.   When one particular
"volunteer"  continually is at the center of issues that really don't occur
that often in the forum, then notice should be taken of that.
Perhaps one issue is the thread was completely not WP related, therefore was
allowed to venture into general discussion.  I know I didn't really follow
the thread for that reason.

I'd like to thank Handy for his work in the forum, as personal life has
taken several other mods away from spending as much time in the forums as
they used to, or at all.  It's not an easy task, and having your judgement
put under a microscope isn't fun.  Again, I think he handled the situtation
just fine by asking for civility, and then closing the thread.  As I stated,
perhaps both comments could be removed, but that is a delicate matter that
some are not a comfortable with as others.

Michael




On 7/2/06, Lara @ Anubis Marketing <lara at anubismarketing.com> wrote:
>
> HS - This was not in any way an attempt to secure your head on a platter,
> your soul in a jar, nothing like that.
>
> However being a new mod, you should be open to receiving a little critique
> when people disagree with your way of handling things. It's not about YOU,
> it's about the fact that you're a new mod, and that you should WANT to
> know
> how people feel about the job you're doing as such.
>
> At this point? A really honorable thing to do would be to "fix what's
> broken" if you could, and learn from it. I agree with not re-opening the
> threads (shows a lack of consistency, ok fine), however do you really feel
> that it's okay to leave insults like the one I've received
> (http://wordpress.org/support/topic/77213/page/2?replies=56) up like that?
> After reading all of this, do you, or any other mod for that matter,
> really
> think that not deleting these sorts of things (as outlined in the Forum
> Rules post) is GOOD for the forum as a whole? It degrades the entire forum
> to a 6th grade level... and anyone who reads it is bound to wonder what
> the
> hell they went there seeking help for.
>
> (For the record, I'm not claiming total innocence here - I made a
> reference
> to the possibility of deko being "a pimply faced kid locked up in his
> "goth"
> bedroom..." - however that was after his repeated stereotypical insults -
> my
> comment was said in kind, and then he made it personal - went to my
> website,
> saw that I was overweight, and proceeded to hit with the lowest blow he
> could muster. In my opinion, the last 10 or so posts on that thread should
> be gone, as well as those where deko made his stereotypical insults...
> that's when things started, and there were at least 4 people involved with
> either useless comments or insults...)
>
> No one's trying to beat you down here - but rather talk about how these
> actions make us feel - how we think they reflect on the forum as a whole,
> and how they should be improved upon now, and in the future. You're not
> the
> only one who's done it (Podz even said he's guilty of it too) but it just
> so
> happens that I think we'd rather nip things like this in the bud rather
> than
> have it happen again - and maybe by going through this, the other mods
> will
> think about the ways they react as well. We're not faulting you for being
> a
> new mod - just asking that you revisit your process and guard against this
> kind of thing in the future... that's all.
>
> Everyone makes mistakes - it's up to us as individuals to fix them, and
> learn from them.
>
> Thanks,
> Lara
>
> _______________________________________________
> wp-forums mailing list
> wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
> http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums
>