Should Mods

[davebro3]

be allowed to moderate threads that they they have already been contributors to?

[jourdain2]

Well, yes they should.  They are contributors to this site, as are others.  They're not sitting there in judgement ready to strike.

If something comes up, then they need to be able to act - whether or not they have already contributed.  Fairly straightforward and generally I find them fair.........sometimes puzzling, but fair.

[andy-hughes]

jourdain - // 

Well, yes they should.  They are contributors to this site, as are others.  They're not sitting there in judgement ready to strike.

If something comes up, then they need to be able to act - whether or not they have already contributed.  Fairly straightforward and generally I find them fair.........sometimes puzzling, but fair. //

Thanks for that.

You can't please all the people all the time ...

[gulliver1]

Yes.. They are sitting there in judgement  ready to strike. Especially the secret ones,,,They are the real cowards..The secret key board mod warriors.

[jourdain2]

^^^ QED andy-hughes! :)

[andy-hughes]

Jourdain - Since I'm not, and never have been 'secret', I can't see how your QED refers to me.

But since I don't  care, I don't have to wonder about it ...

[jourdain2]

I was jocucularly referring to Gulliver's post, a-h. Sorry. :(

[andy-hughes]

jourddain - // I was jocucularly referring to Gulliver's post, a-h. Sorry. :( //

No problem - somewhat terse response withdrawn, with apologies.

[Khandro]

Should not the question really be, 'How necessary are mods at all, anyway?'

I don't think there is another forum on the entire internet on which I have ever seen so many deleted posts.

Who is supposed to be being protected, and from what ? 

[Peter Pedant]

teachers pet

[andy-hughes]

You'd soon find out if we weren't here!!

[Peter Pedant]

But since I don't  care, I don't have to wonder about it .

er sorry - you have posted so you are wondering about it.

I love it when a mod issues a crushing one-liner which is a mish-mash of inconsistency

but as a mod wd say - its all in a days work on AB !

[Mozz71]

There are times when the place is somewhat overmodded, but on the whole, the mods do pretty well with a thankless task. I've had "heated discussions" (😉) with both Andy and Naomi in the past, either could easily had removed comments or closed the thread, but neither had. 

[Old_Geezer]

Contributing does not nullify the duty of a moderator. To suggest otherwise is to push for moderators who can not afford to contribute. As it isn't paid employment, why would anyone volunteer for that ?

[tomus42]

I don't see why not. 

[tomus42]

//Should not the question really be, 'How necessary are mods at all, anyway?'//

I think they're very necessary. The place would soon degenerate into a toxic pile of garbage (like twitter has) otherwise. 

Genuine discussion is still just about possible on here largely thanks to the mods.

[Barmaid]

I remember the days when Chatterbank was such a cess pit it was closed and the main chat moved to Body and Soul.  It was AWFUL.  There were all manner of threats (including death threats or threats against the family - including minor children - of members), offensive remarks, off-site harassment, links to porn etc.  OK, that tended to be in the evenings, but even so it was disgusting what people would post while there was little moderation.  It was vile.

Slowly that has been stamped out and that is for the better.  

It is not perfect, but this is a free site.  I really do not understand why people whinge that it is dreadful or "a joke" but stay.  If people think it is that bad, then there are loads of other sites.  Crack onto twitter and see the sort of personally offensive stuff that is posted on there (openly and not so openly) if that is what you enjoy.

But in reality, this site is in effect "good enough".  It is not perfect, not everyone gets it right all of the time, but good enough is doing OK.  

And yes, of course moderators should be able to moderate threads they have contributed to.  It is when that moderation is abused to the moderator's advantage that action needs to be taken by the Editorial team.

[tomus42]

Well put barmaid. 

If there are mods that abuse their position I don't think they last long.

They are after all being moderated like the rest of us.

[THECORBYLOON]

If a thread has been closed inappropriately by a Mod, would one of the Eds not re-open it?

[THECORBYLOON]

The same question applies to posts.