Who's interested in becoming a Moderator?

[thelerner]

The board could use more moderators. If you're interested or think someone would be good then put down there names. I suspect the final decision will lie with the current moderators and Sean.

 

Moderation isn't easy, but its probably a worthwhile experience. Maybe the way to grow wise is to put yourself in a position where you have to make hard decisions, deal with difficult people with equanimity and wisdom.

 

If you're a serious practitioner of a wisdom tradition the board needs you. Real life tests us, being a moderator is a chance to practice and grow in leadership and judgement.

 

[thelerner]

Zerostao would be good. So would Stosh and Vaina. There are many people here who'd be excellent.

Edited May 28, 2013 by thelerner

[Flolfolil]

equanimity

 

This is exactly what i want out of my practice. The feeling comes and goes but one day i hope to make it permanent. Long way to go though

 

i have moderated another site before and that had me making lots of tough choices, especially considering the nature of that site.

 

i'm already used to being disliked for making choices that are made for the best. So i think i could handle being neutral in regards to learning exactly what is meant by the rules, and how to enforce them - and then doing it without throwing in too much personal bias, but also staying true to myself. Also, i have loads of free time and am on the boards pretty much nonstop everyday

 

i volunteer

[eye_of_the_storm]

Protector and Marble seem pretty eager too

Edited May 26, 2013 by White Wolf Running On Air

[eye_of_the_storm]

NAJA is also eager... message relay:

 

Who better to balance the weight of moderation than "the other side" of the spectrum?

If the moderation "team" isnt balanced with both extreme yin and yang and subtle yin and yang, then the moderation team is in direct contradiction with Tao, and therefore unfit to "rule" as such they are currently doing.

So long as people are governed; so long as people are taxed; so long as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are considered "constitiotional" yet not INTRINSIC rights; so long as FREE WILL is not the basis of LAW; so long as the human heart is placed second behind the human brain, the madness will NEVER END.

[Stosh]

Zerostao would be good. So would Stosh. There are many people here who'd be excellent.

That's very nice of you to say, and I agree zero is sound and moderate,

But for me , I prefer to just be one of the bums, without having to live up to a position of responsibility, moderation looks to be a difficult and often thankless task., and authority has little draw for me.

[Protector]

oh I'll balance everything out, and oversmoothen it

[rene]

Here's a few methods that served me well in the past, some of which you might be already doing:

 

1. Always have at least one, preferably more, Mods who are tech savy enough to 1) keep spam-bots at bay; they can reek havoc even while in the 'Validating' stage; 2) shift topics into the appropriate forums and other required tech tasks.

 

2. If and when you need more Mods, put out the word if you must - but ask members to PM a current Mod if they're interested in helping; saves face/hurt feelings. A better way might be for Mods to PM members who they think might be able to help. Regardless, it will be interesting to see what outcomes thelearner has put in motion this day.

 

3. When the (my method/master is better) wars start, as long as it stays in one thread, leave them alone to fight it out. If the flames get too hot*, or when the same war evolves into multi-threads, move them ALL into The Pit. [*If it's just one or two members obviously trying to derail a thread by forcing it into The Pit, one public warning then 3-day suspend both of them, and leave the thread where it is.]

 

4. Never, ever, close or lock a controversial or offensive thread. If the thread/posts are or become overly offensive, but might be still this side of ToS violation, dont try and decide which posts are 'okay' and which ones are not - move the thread to The Pit. Doing this will also help Mods to NOT have to take time deciding or debating between themselves if something is offensive or allowable.

 

Entering The Pit requires members to log in - so somebody cant 'accidently stumble' into The Pit and then complain about an offensive stink. After the thread is in The Pit, if the thread/posts violate the ToS - delete the whole thread, without comment, period. They'll know why it's gone.

 

5. Toughest-skinned Mod (viator, lol) gets Pit duty.

 

6. Recall always, we teach people how they can treat us.

 

 

Good luck!

[Immortal4life]

What is required of a mod? That might help people decide or consider it. How often are you required to log in? What tasks do you need to do? How much time does it require to perform them?

[Apech]

Moderation is not really about stopping anything or controlling anything or about punishment. Its about allowing. Allowing conversations to progress, allowing people to express themselves without fear or favour. So for instance the 'no insult' policy is about allowing the conversation to continue without descending into flaming or abuse, about preventing members expressing an unpopular view from being shouted down, or certain people being picked on and so on. It prevents bullying, belittling and gives a voice to all. The same goes for preventing topic derail or hijacking into personalised obsessions ... these tend to close down debate or make it meaningless and repetitive ... so it is helping the board to steer things away from this. The exceptions are of course spam, porn and other offensive material.

 

That's how I see real moderation skill.

[Mal]

If you're interested or think someone would be good then put down there names.

 

Experience, wisdom, compassion plus a desire to learn ... You yourself have ALL these skills :-)

[Mal]

What is required of a mod? That might help people decide or consider it. How often are you required to log in? What tasks do you need to do? How much time does it require to perform them?

24/7 monitoring of the board with the confidence to survive constant and often abusive questioning of your actions.

Seriously, that is what moderation can require, which is why there is a team to spread the load. While the ability to function on 90min of sleep is useful, the greatest help is a friend who you can contact and rely on for advice. That may only take minutes and when you need them having (or being) that person is what REALLY helps

Most mods usually spend few hours a day. The housework stuff like sweeping out the bots and practice forums is lots of fun and enjoyable. The"issues" are however rather consuming ... basically if you are on site you will be either doing or thinking about moderating

[cheya]

Here's another aspect of this that I've been chewing on for a long time. Others probably won't see it this way, but here's what I see.

 

Most of the mods have been people who were doing really high quality posting. When they started being mods, their Taoist content posting dropped dramatically. I know they worked hard on the board, devoting many many hours to it, and some in particular often were harrassed by pigheaded souls unhappy with particular decisions who seemed to think that all the mods had to do in life was answer questions and justify decisions. Moderating seemed to take a lot of time in technical or refereeing stuff, leaving mods (a lot!) less time for the juicy content posting they used to do. Finally they resign from modding, and then we don't hear much from them, sometimes for a very long time! That makes me sad!

 

So I actually DON'T want Lerner and Zerostao to be mods!

 

So who could moderate? Picking the most level headed, wise, and mature content posters may help the board with moderation, but I think it lowers the level of content posting, and even ends up driving these people away after the board "uses them up." Picking people who like to post a lot but don't seem to add much to content doesn't seem likely to raise either the moderating standard or the content standard... and certainly we don't want folks who tend to be contentious to be mods! If modding the board uses up all the best content posters, what happens when we run out of willing people? Do we need to pay someone to moderate? Of course then we'd all have to pay to play, or at least to post.

 

Does anybody else see this as a problem?

 

Or maybe there's some way to have moderator helpers, a way to take some of the load off the mods. More appreciation would probably help, and maybe even more pressure on pigheaded (sorry, that's the word that keeps coming up for me) folks who can't just surrender to the fact that thetaobums IS a sort of dictatorship, in that we are having a conversation in "Sean's drawing room", not in city hall! It is NOT a democracy. So get over it!

 

I don't have the computer system, tech skills, or the time to help with modding, and frankly, I'd rather post content than try to make decisions about okay vs not okay. But I do really appreciate the time and energy many good mods have put into making TTB the great board that it is, and I'd like to see us find ways to ease the toll the job seems to take on these generous people.

[eye_of_the_storm]

hahah

more hypocrisy aye?

[eye_of_the_storm]

You can't see it? ah well...not concerned really.

Man... the spoiler makes that cat thing so much funnier... awesome

[eye_of_the_storm]

Meh over it.

[Celestial]

I am very interested actually. I have years of moderation experience. There's a lot of trash that needs to be taken out.

[Immortal4life]

There's a lot of trash that needs to be taken out.

red flag

[Flolfolil]

where does the trash go when one takes it out?

 

right back into society, where you still have to put up with it. Good luck getting rid of things you disagree with

[Celestial]

where does the trash go when one takes it out?

 

right back into society, where you still have to put up with it. Good luck getting rid of things you disagree with

 

I don't see how this applies to an internet forum where people can be silenced either permanently or temporarily based on their actions. Key words are "their actions" not "what opinions I disagree with."

 

Just to clarify for you, in case you misunderstood my post.

 

Case in point (regarding trash):

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/28678-email-from-jim-mcmillian/?p=443021

 

It's gone on long enough with these Mo Pai trolls. It's no longer about having a civilized debate. They've made it a personal mission of theirs to do whatever it takes to convince others that they have the answers. That's just one comment of many made by these trolls. Shall I cite more?

 

So either do something about it, or resign as Mod. (This is directed at Mods in general, not you in particular Flolfolil)

Edited June 20, 2013 by Celestial

[Immortal4life]

Whatever it takes to convince me to believe they have the answers?

 

They couldn't even entice me to click on their threads.

 

Let's keep some perspective haha.

[Celestial]

Whatever it takes to convince me to believe they have the answers?

 

They couldn't even entice me to click on their threads.

 

Let's keep some perspective haha.

 

"They've made it a personal mission of theirs to do whatever it takes to convince others that they have the answers."

 

Others as in other people, but not necessarily the entire member base of this forum. How's that for perspective?

 

Also let me just add that it isn't just threads that they create (those, like yourself, I can choose avoid), it's posts inside other threads.

Edited June 20, 2013 by Celestial

[Immortal4life]

I have nothing against you or either side of whatever argument is going on. It seems very interest specific.

 

Moderating IMO requires impartiality though. That's all.

[Celestial]

I have nothing against you or either side of whatever argument is going on. It seems very interest specific.

 

Moderating IMO requires impartiality though. That's all.

 

I agree about impartiality. I was just using myself as one example because it was the easiest post for me to pull up without have to scour through pages of the same drek directed at other members.

 

One more thing, just because you choose not to engage (ie, not click) doesn't mean trolling should be tolerated. It's like saying just because you choose not to engage in criminal activity it's still okay to let it go on even though there are people put in place to stop it.

 

Does this make any sense, or am I taking crazy pills here?

 

Also, do you have any experience in forum moderation? I'm just curious. Because, I actually do. And I don't mean for this to come off as trying to trump you or whatever, it's simply a fact.

Edited June 20, 2013 by Celestial

[Immortal4life]

Well, that all hinges on the specific definition of what you are calling trolling. You liken it to criminal activity.

 

I certainly don't think criminal activities should be promoted or allowed, and I don't think they are.

 

To some people trolling could mean playing a joke, or being in a heated argument. To other people it might mean stalking or revealing personal information.

 

Moderators are just there to ensure forum rules are followed. They can't allow their personal opinions, biases, or interests to influence their actions. They can't allow themselves to be pressured by people, and users can't be banned because you, or even a bunch of people, disagree with or have a problem with their opinions or statements. Disputes must be allowed to run their natural course, for better or worse, so long as they don't devolve into breaches of the rules. Even....if it makes some people butt hurt. Butt hurt isn't a reason for moderator action.

Edited June 20, 2013 by Immortal4life