Mod Voice
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Honestly, I think itās a bit weird that admin accounts can block people. How can you admin if you canāt see half the shit youāre supposed to be dealing with?
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Now that Iāve taken a step back I realize I was probably being reactionary when I agreed to a separate mod account and itās not necessary. I donāt even think thereāll be a necessity for a lot of āmoderationā, at least I hope not. You guys can probably just get away with a highlight, but if conversations are getting so out of control that a mod needs to step in? I assume the thread can just get locked, and a separate post can be added with the explanation.
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@farfalla Two googles later, Iām not seeing anything obvious, but I put up a post on the official NodeBB forum asking about it.
she/they
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@bear_necessities said in Mod Voice:
I assume the thread can just get locked, and a separate post can be added with the explanation.
Eh, depends. I can see plenty of situations where a mod can wade in and be like āokay, calm it downā before things get to the state of needing a lock. I wonder how many hog pit shitfights wouldāve cooled to a simmer if someone outside of the situation would come in and say āback to your corners and calm down for a bit.ā
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@Tez Thank you bb but itās not that big a deal, haha. I was just saying there can be reasons to want to block that donāt make someone un-admin-worthy. I think I fall on the side of just putting ADMIN: before anything. Easy.
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My suggestion for separate accounts is because historically, the community (at large) has had HUGE difficulties telling between. The āis that a mod voice?ā was definitely the biggest āthingā that was difficult about modding MSB. Itās the most absolute, obvious way I can think of to remove the point of confusion.
If folks can be better about other people being able to tell than historic attempts, I think it would be fine. I WILL say the suggestion is not because of the recent dust-ups over there, but instead something I have been advocating for for a long time, just to remove the stupid confusion and take it off the table.
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I very much dislike the idea of a separate mod account. Even with attaching a name, it is false separation and I feel it very easily dilutes accountability.
Honestly, my first thought is that, to mod, you cannot behave as confrontationally, familiarly or annoyingly as you would as a general community member. I do not mean to say you cannot have opinions, but whether youāre using your main account or some mod exclusive account, you have power on this forum. By accepting the position, I feel you also have a responsibility to act with more decorum. If you cannot accept that, then do not mod. Not because youāre a bad person, but because not everyone is oriented toward what the position requires (obviously just my opinion of the position requirements).
So my real suggestion is, if youāre a mod and youāre about to post something that is not mod-related, the standard for your tone needs to be higher.
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@glitch Youāre a good egg and IāM TELLING EVERYONE.
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Honestly, my first thought is that, to mod, you cannot behave as confrontationally, familiarly or annoyingly as you would as a general community member.
I was thinking the same thing as I was ruminating on this whole mess this morning.
. o O ( If I was a mod - no wait, fuck that, i would never mod this community because then i couldnāt have fun there any moreā¦ )
Itās a thankless job. Good luck, guys.
On Dragon Wings Ā· https://pern.gaslightswitch.com Ā· pern.gaslightswitch.com port 4201
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I very much dislike the idea of a separate mod account. Even with attaching a name, it is false separation and I feel it very easily dilutes accountability.
This is a good point, but at the same time, I worry the insistence on labeling people as mods will subtly ostracize the mods and divorce their interests from usersā as they become the Them to our Us. Iām not sure how accommodate your concern and mine, though. Perhaps instead of dedicated mods, it should be a temporary, rotating position we all take our turns at so we all live in both worlds?
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@GF Honestly, I donāt see that happening much in this particular community. The users are (as weāve seen) not likely to put mods on a pedestal or treat them much different. Pre-this current blowup, mods werenāt treated any differently, and I think it was just the personalities involved that had it blow up. None of the current administrators insist on any sort of āauthorityā - when we act, weāll tell you why, and take responsibility for it without demanding ORDER AND RESPECT.
Aside from the respect Iād like as just a person, of course!
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Two thoughts:
- As long as the community has trust in the mods, any decision they make about this will work as long as itās made with thoughtfulness and intention.
- No mods should ever be making jokes about banning, locking threads, or any other mod power. Even when not in āmod voiceā.
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@GF Honestly, I donāt see that happening much in this particular community. The users are (as weāve seen) not likely to put mods on a pedestal or treat them much different.
Rather, I think we have an anti-authoritarian streak strong enough that instead of idolizing mods, weād be more likely to treat them with suspicion or even hostility. Donāt forget, the comment that prompted mine is one that seemed to be distrustful that if a modās name isnāt attached to everything they do, then they will be tempted to deceive and abuse.
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Donāt forget, the comment that prompted mine is one that seemed to be distrustful that if a modās name isnāt attached to everything they do, then they will be tempted to deceive and abuse.
In our group chat thing, I raised a similar issue. When weāre setting policy or making decisions like this, I tend to err on the side of āokay, not us obviously, but what about someone else thatās brought on later?ā i.e. How is someone else going to try and break this?
ETA: And this is partly why weāre asking for your input. The main reason being is that we serve the community, not the other way around, but additionally, itās just a fact that you trust us for now, but new people may come and old may go, or the novelty of the new forum will wear off and weāll lose our lustre or something.
So setting standards and policies now is a step toward not needing to blindly trust mods/admin so much.
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@Pavel I think the siteās owner should be quick to remove such a person from power, not necessarily permanently. Simply removing their power until a public conversation can be had and an agreement reached about the severity of their offense, which might be determined to be no big deal and worth reinstating them, would be a great show of good faith from the bosses.
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I think the siteās owner should be quick to remove such a person from power, not necessarily permanently.
Thatās the ideal.
But we know thatās not a guarantee. The more we put down into actual words and doctrine, as it were, the better.
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@Pavel this is true. But fire anyone who ruleslawyers.
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Hello, I have returned with a Brand New Opinion, and it is:
Donāt borrow trouble.
Debates around āMod Voiceā on MSB were not actually a common occurrence. The instances I recall tended to center around two mods who at least some part of the community did not feel were a fit for a moderation position because of the way they tended to engage in the board just as users. It meant that the delineation was not as clear because they already had a habit of being in the midst of debates, and because they didnāt really make it clear when they were speaking as mods.
I think this is just ā a tonal thing. Treat the moderation end of things with Serious Voice. In my experience, it actually shouldnāt be difficult to tell the difference if thereās any real effort to just ā make it apparent.
I dunno. I agree with just not joking about the mod end of things ā banning, locking threads, etc. ā with the general understanding that lots of users may not know you and your overall joking style. Just joke about other things, use a serious voice when youāre actually forced to moderate, and I think mostly itāll be fine.
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