Are the Mods handling these forums as well as they could be? How can we help them?
Let me begin by congratulating the mods on the job they are doing here, as one who has had experience doing the very same job on forums it is a usually a thankless unpaid task that garners no friends in any quarter!
That being said I am of the belief that just deleting posts that are deemed inappropriate is not the best way to handle the rabble rousers who are left free to perform said actions again and again and again. This is a select few who are well known to the majority but can and do spoil many a decent thread and have indeed caused a number of once regular contributers to go "dark". My proposal would be for the mods to tally up infractions for inappropriate posts and after a certain points limit is hit then an automatic ban should occur, the severity of which would be decided by the mods based on the manner of the infractions. I have found that if posters know there is a system in place that could limit their freedom to post they usually think twice about said posts and if not , well soon enough they become irrelevant anyway.
I am also accustomed to the mods being well known to other members, not faceless entities although this is not the end of the world just a little odd from my previous background.
What do the Audiogon membership think on this matter?
I sincerely hope the mods do not remove this thread as it is not intended as direct criticism , rather as a tool to help them possibly deal with the increasing problem in a way that the membership would be most comfortable with.
Of course I cannot know that for sure , maybe a mod will actually chime in and explain. But from what I have seen so far, certain members would be LONG gone, and they are not, so at this stage it is my assumption only, nothing more, nothing less.
@cleeds Yes of course we can report posts but surely it would be better if there were far fewer posts to report? That is my point,I know we all can't play nicely in the same sandbox at times but no call for outright hostility.
Let me try another way to explain my view. What defines civilised society? Following rules and regulations. You may not agree with them but you follow them and are fully aware there could be potential fallout if you do not eventually. Why should an online forum be considered any different? We can all make our points and views known without succumbing to name calling and open hostility. Maybe I am being naive but I guess that’s a result of my mother’s upbringing and one which I am sincerely proud of. If you do not see it this way or agree I completely understand, modern times have modern morals which possibly just go against my grain. If the mods see fit to close this thread so be it.
The mods are doing a fine job. It would be nice if one or two of them were qualified technicians, to keep a safety handle on some of the dangerous pratices that some non qualified members tell the gullible members to do, especially regarding mains related fiddling issues.
On the whole, I don't have an issue with the moderators on this forum. I like the fact that they added the feature wherein any member can edit (time limited) or delete their own post.
The one feature I would like to see added, is to allow the OP of a thread moderate their own thread, and delete some of the postings as they see fit. I say this because some of these posts go so far off the rails that they become plain silly, and useless. Allowing the OP to moderate their own thread, even delete the whole thing, may help keep a thread topic "on track".
@georgehifi Quite an admirable sentiment, however as they remain faceless we do not know whether any actually are?
@jmcgrogan2 I also believe they are doing a fine job...up to the point I have brought up of course. As to an OP self moderating....nice thought but sure it would go too far the other way as most OP are severely biased towards their own thread...lol. Now as far as I am aware the OP can delete their own thread at any time, all posts included.
I still think that heading off the silly and irrelevant posts at the pass would be the better way...but of course...I am biased........
If I wanted censorship, I would go live in Russia, China, N. Korea, etc. There is absolutely no need for that here. I think some of us have way too much time on their hand. I just skip over the derogatory posts.
@geoffkait Exactly, well put. NOBODY ,certainly not myself ever mentioned censorship as part of this deal. But maybe a further layer of moderation would not go amiss.
@stereo5 Do you not think it would be better to not HAVE to skip over the derogatory posts? Would it not be better to just get to the meat without so much extraneous fat and gristle?
@geoffkait And I would prefer to see that fixed where it starts, having the poster just not do it at all! Rather than waiting for mods to remove which is then too late for some who will have gone off on a tangent already! And that may be achieved by member timeout possibility...or it might make zero difference at all
Who knows... As they say...common sense is the least common of all senses
I still think that heading off the silly and irrelevant posts at the pass would be the better way...but of course...I am biased........
Would it not be better to just get to the meat without so much extraneous fat and gristle?
Somebody did mention censorship but it is not something I was reaching for or condone
@uberwaltz, you sound conflicted to me. You want someone to delete silly and irrelevant posts, get to the meat without the fat.....but you don’t condone censorship?
Someone has to determine what is silly and what is irrelevant. What may be irrelevant to one, may be helpful to another. What may be fat to one, may be meat to another.
Surely you have heard the phrase: "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure".
So whomever is determining what is appropriate for the forums is in essence censoring the forums to suit their own personal values.
@jmcgrogan2 No I do not condone censorship and I am not conflicted...I think..lol. Moderation is what I am referring to, maybe more layers but not censorship at all. I am trying to get across the principle that self censorship or moderation is the key element here. In other words it really needs to start with poster, not rely on a mod to clean up their act which in certain cases is too late as we cannot expect them to be watching 24/7 and reacting to every post. Of course there is always the viewpoint that ANY moderation is censorship
Quite an admirable sentiment, however as they remain faceless we do not know whether any actually are?
If any of them were licenced technicians, there’d be no way in the world they would sit back and let some of the outrageous dangerous mains stuff posted here go by un-moderated. As I think they could be held liable, if something were to happen and it was proven they had full knowledge post happening.
The TOU here, like most boards, prohibit posts that are abusive, harassing, etc, and permit the PTB (Powers That Be) to remove offending posts or terminate accounts. In my experience, boards have a culture and are within that culture, self-moderating; in other words, posts that go beyond the norms are either reported or there is push-back from other members. I played consigliere to one board some time ago (having nothing to do with audio). The amount of time devoted to dealing with zany users, snark fights and the like, was considerable. This board seems to be fairly tolerant in allowing some in-fighting among posters, but will zap stuff that gets political or is otherwise inappropriate. I don’t think there’s much more that you can ask for; from my perspective, the moderation here is not heavy handed, and doesn’t seem biased. I do wish the technological capabilities of the board were a little more advanced, but it serves its purpose.
georgehifi If any of them were licenced technicians, there’d be no way in the world they would sit back and let some of the outrageous dangerous mains stuff posted here go by un-moderated. As I think they could be held liable, if something were to happen and it was proven they had full knowledge post happening.
Not really sure what you are trying to say here, rules will never happen?? We live in a world governed by rules for better or worse, without them you descend into anarchy.
Now if you meant rules will never happen on here, well they are not "my" rules at all. I am only suggesting a possible update to the rules that already exist here. Nothing more, nothing less. And .....sooner or later change is inevitable just like time. To think no changes may ever occur here on these forums is a little outdated.
What Agon really needs is a grid view for buyers with pics of all items for sale. Get with the times! Most all sites that sell things including competing sites to Agon have this but the high end audio site does not unless seller decides to pay for it.
Rules already exist for this site, unfortunately a select few continue to ignore them. It has NOTHING to do with being butt hurt, at least not from my perspective. It is just pretty annoying to keep seeing posts removed which at times makes the subsequent replies confusing and meaningless. Just my opinion....
I am wondering if the forum software used here has an “ignore list” feature that can be implemented? I have found this to be a very helpful feature on other forums. You can add members to your list, and the content of their posts will be hidden when you view a thread. You can still see that they’ve posted, and have the option of making individual posts visible again, if you wish.
If a moderator is viewing this, please to look into it.
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