moderation!

[jopar]

To reiterate this post was started by me, to discuss the MODERATION SYSTEM not for to discuss individuals within that SYSTEM...

Points for discussion...

Do you like Anonymous moderation?
Are you happy with the grievance procedure currently in place?
Do you like Editing/Deletion’s of posts?

These are the basic questions being asked...

Not to discuss whether Ken and Sue are doing a good job or not as Monitors, nor is it to return to old ground that has passed or a chance for those that continue to bare grudges in other forums to take a advantage.

Ken and Sue over-all do a good job...

For me having anonymous Moderators isn’t good for several reasons..

Lack of perceived accountability
Negative eye candy, When you see moderators all called Moderator 1, 2 3 etc in bold green, it begs the question why?
It’s also giving an unfriendly feel...
For friendly sake, giving them a name such as fred firkin, doris muppet would have seem much more friendly and a lot better on the eye.. After all eye candy is a very important part of any forum..

As to editing and deletions..

Some are totally understandable, and I doubt any member other than the poster, would argue,
But editing probably causes the most troublesome issues. As editing individual posts has to be done with care and caution as this facility and implantation, can have a major impact how it’s perceived, both by the individual and/or the members..

As to the Monitors..

Well should they have the same powers of editing, deletion etc as the moderators, my opinion on this is that no they shouldn’t totally based on, if they do then why has this position been created and what is it’s the point, just as well call them moderators!

 

[cugila]

Not being funny Jo.........haven't we been here before.....

Ken

 

[cugila]

As Monitor's we have certain powers. They may or may not be different to Moderator's who also have certain powers. That was an Administrator decision. His choice.

I am sure if certain members were to decide what, if any powers we had then things might be VERY different here. Not quite so open and friendly as many members have stated in this thread and elsewhere. International members who come here and state this is the best Diabetic Forum on the net ! We don't pay them to say that. They just do because of the help and information they get here. Impartial help and information.


As for the position of Forum Monitor........

Forum Monitors are long-standing forum members who have proven over time to act in the interests of the diabetes community. Being a Forum Monitor on this forum is a mark of respect. This is a closed group, new members can only join upon invitation of a group leader.

Something that is from the forum area. That's why.......again a decision of the Administrator, his opinion I presume. He is at liberty to change/demote/delete as he sees fit. His Forum you see.
Happens in many places usually because of majority opinion, not just a few lone voices who possibly have an agenda.........not you Jo. I know you haven't a spiteful bone in your body.

Ken.

 

[Talos]

Around and around and around we go.
This is doing nothing but harm to a brilliant informative and helpful forum,
How many I wonder have now decided not to bother with this one, and been pushed into one of the other often misleasing manufacturer led ones. :evil:

 

[Administrator]

I don't quite understand what has happened to a group of people mostly motivated (or am I being naive?) to find help/support/solidarity for themselves and/or to help others.

Nor me, hence wanting a resolution. I feel SURE that if 'we' were all in the same room, considerable progress could be made. However, as that isn't possible, I'm going to give this thread another 24 hours. If it descends further it'll be locked.

When you see moderators all called Moderator 1, 2 3 etc in bold green, it begs the question why?

Jo, with due respect, I've answered this question already.

I think you make a good point regarding 'eye candy' as you call it, and I will work towards making the system more friendly. I think your point regarding post editing also raises some important questions.

However, the Monitors are called Monitors as a mark of respect. This shows their seniority in relation to the forum and the sheer amount of people they have helped. They are not simply moderators.

 

[jopar]

Dan

Would it be possible to look into 'reward system' to see if it could be extended in some way...

Perhaps a Senior?

The senior being individuals that also put time in etc, but have no privileges bestowed on them?

The problem for those who may be offered, invited to be Monitor they have to except the privileges that go with this title..

By bringing in a third title without privileges, give the ability to recongise individual members who wish not to have the privileges bestowed to the Monitor...

 

[iHs]

Not sure if my comments on this will be taken on board, but since I joined the forum in 2008 I have witnessed quite a few messages being deleted, edited and sadly members banned simply for questioning a moderator or monitor's comments.

Sometimes authority can go to peoples heads so in the interest of keeping the forum running nice and smoothly can I politely ask for Ken and Sue to leave posting on the forum as a monitor or moderator for 2 weeks and just see if we can all be nice and civil to each other, helping people by answering their questions without any involvement from a mod or mon unless comments start to be really nasty and hurtfull ending in a load of stress for the person who posted the message in the first place. If a moderator does need to step in, then their comment should just be to remind people to keep things civil. Obviously spam is a different matter and so those do need to be dealt with but I am sure that those type of messages can easily be reported.

 

[Anonymous]

As one who posts only infrequently preferring to lurk I think the suggestion whilst it has some merit smacks more of somebody wanting to be a part of the team here. If I can't be a monitor can I be a prefect, a senior. Please sir, please !

I have been on other forums where they have so called senior members, many of them seem to be lacking in knowledge of anything other than the particular area that they specialise in. Do we really need any more badges here. Surely what we have at the moment works well until this thread was started up, for all the wrong reasons as far as I can see. So the other members then end up being juniors. Very school playground stuff !

Many forum rely on the mod teams quite happily. There will always be a vocal minority who want to change things. This place is a great place for information and support, not something you find on many forums. The monitors in particular do a great job, the mods too. This place is a beacon for diabetics. As someone else said earlier. If it ain't broke - don't fix it.

 

[sugarless sue]

Sometimes authority can go to peoples heads so in the interest of keeping the forum running nice and smoothly can I politely ask for Ken and Sue to leave posting on the forum as a monitor or moderator for 2 weeks and just see if we can all be nice and civil to each other, helping people by answering their questions without any involvement from a mod or mon unless comments start to be really nasty and hurtfull ending in a load of stress for the person who posted the message in the first place. If a moderator does need to step in, then their comment should just be to remind people to keep things civil. Obviously spam is a different matter and so those do need to be dealt with but I am sure that those type of messages can easily be reported.

Neither Ken nor I are power crazed, we do a 'job' that is all, sometimes, like now, a very thankless task. We could both walk away but we don't.

WE post here because we like to help fellow diabetics and we also have the time to do it. As has been explained when we post as ourselves we are Ken and Sue two experienced members. As Monitors, we use our title to differentiate.

Members are not banned SIMPLY for questioning a Monitor's comments. Like an iceberg, what you see on the board may be only a small part of what has happened. Do we argue back and forth with a member for hours on a decision just because they don't like it or do we get on with answering posts that need an answer ?

If you remember at the beginning of the year the forum was unmoderated for a time. It quickly filled up with spam and, once more, we had members arguing and insulting one another on the board. In a perfect world everyone should be nice and helpful to each other but, sadly, it just does not happen !

We have lost count of the number of times we have stepped in to try and keep a thread on track and civil but been totally ignored by members. Do you remember that thread from the boy from Iran ? Also the thread on Do Diabetics have to queue ?

Do you want that again, we don't.

 

[Ardbeg]

Time to lock this one off I think.

It has exhausted all possible avenues of conversation now and is, as others have pointed out, now just going around in circles.

 

[Hobs]

Many forum rely on the mod teams quite happily. There will always be a vocal minority who want to change things. This place is a great place for information and support, not something you find on many forums. The monitors in particular do a great job, the mods too. This place is a beacon for diabetics. As someone else said earlier. If it ain't broke - don't fix it.

Spot on SF and well said. If any member does not like it here or the way it is run, then the answer is simple .. cancel your membership and start a new forum and run it the way YOU want it run.
My feelings here are that it is time this thread was closed before 'we' as a forum start to loose members or deter newbies from joining. This forum has a very important role for those of us inflicted with diabetes and also for those charged with caring for children and older people with diabetes AND it does the job very well indeed.... marks out of 10? TEN!!

 

[Anonymous]

We agree.

As the 24 hours given by the Administrator has now passed we are locking the thread at member's request.

Mod and Monitor Team.