A few thoughts on moderation

[Gene]

Seems like there has been a lot of discussion - to me directly and on the site - on the recent removal of a certain member.  Wanted to provide some context:

 - This member was warned multiple times and had multiple complaints from multiple members over several weeks.  They will not be invited back.  There are no plans to invite any previously removed members back, either.

- I really don't care how knowledgeable someone is (there are tons of knowledgeable members still here).  If they are a rude to other members, they are gone, like a cancer that needs removal.  Not sure this is a lot different than any other Internet site.  I frequent several discussion forums and when people post things that are inappropriate or rude or vulgar, the content and/or member are removed.  Seems pretty simple to me.

- Moderation is tough, especially on a site I no longer use because people were rude to me when it started. If we don't moderate, trolls run off members.  If we 'over moderate', then people leave because they can't have passionate discussion.  People are going to leave either way.  It's like death and taxes.

 - With a site of this size, there is no earthly way you can please everyone.  I remember being in a leadership position in college and noticed with a group of just 30 people, every single decision I made disappointed or upset someone...without fail.  This site has almost 2,200 members.  Whenever a choice is made to leave or remove someone, people will be upset.

 - People who 'threaten' to leave like the site like they are some critical contributor whose departure will crater the site...please let me know if you have any problems doing so and I would be more than happy to help you!  :-)

David McIlveen Wright had a great suggestion a while back that I think we need to consider - a Code of Conduct.  Here's the example David provided.  This is NOT an official Ning or Exclusively Setters Code of Conduct, but it has a lot of positives:

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By using this Forum you agree to the following terms:

• No hostility. All discussions must be friendly and civil.

• No posts or pm's attacking other members. Teasing or jesting between forum friends is fine, but it must be in an obviously friendly manner with a smiley to make it clear you are joking. If it is clearly hostile or between people who clearly dislike each other then it will be considered an attack. If someone complains about being teased then both sides must stop immediately.

• No sectarianism. This means not posting anything that praises or criticises any prominent group (or person) on either side of the sectarian divide.

• No threats of physical violence.

• No inflammatory posts. No controversial, offensive or otherwise disruptive posts which are likely to provoke others into a hostile argument.

• No racism.

• No lying.

• No posts of an 'adult' nature.

• No swearing. Don't 'hide' swearing by replacing certain letters with others or inserting spaces.

• No spamming. Do not post or send unsolicited pm's advertising something or promoting another website without the permission of the administrator.

• No defamatory posts.

• No copyrighted material. Do not post or upload any material protected by copyright without the permission of the owner of the copyright. You shall be solely liable for any damage resulting from any such infringement of copyright.

• No more than one membership per person. Do not register or use more than one username per user. People from the same household sharing the same internet connection will need to disclose their relationship to the forum.

• No mod-bashing. Do not question, mock, criticise or complain about moderators or their decisions on the boards. The moderators will happily discuss individual decisions at length by PM only and if there has been misunderstanding then posts can be undeleted and restored to the forum.

• Do not publish any personal information about another member (eg real name, address, email address) unless they have stated they are happy for it to be posted. Please respect the privacy of other members. Do not publish an email or pm that someone has sent you privately.

 

Posts that break the above rules will be deleted. For blatant or persistent offences a number of warnings will be given before issuing a ban. The number of warnings issued will depend on the seriousness of the incident(s) as deemed by the moderators. In some cases no warnings may be issued at all before banning.

The moderators reserve the right to delete any content they regard as inappropriate. When posts are deleted an explanation may or may not be given depending on how obvious the problem is. If you notice one of your posts has been deleted and do not know why, please pm the moderators for an explanation.

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To me, a lot of the above is common sense, but you know the old adage about common sense.  Open to suggestions on improving the moderation process so it optimizes the communities enjoyment of this site.

Gene

[Torie Lancaster]

Thank you Gene.....Very well written and easy for all members to understand.......unfortunately, as good as your intentions are, I think after a cooling off period, humans being what they are, will again be back to what seems like normal behaviour on here including a few fireworks :))

[Carmel Murphy]

Well said Gene and David;o)

[Catherine Carter]

Gene,
Obviously David put a lot of thoughts into the above. It is very well written and seems to cover all points.
Thank you for posting it. It makes excellent sense! :-)

[Rhonda Fisher]

Thank you Gene and David. Printed tick :-)

[Rhonda Fisher]

Gene I would like to thank you for being a moderator that is very responsive. You are the difference between face book and ES. That is why your site is such an international forum. Thank you for posting to allow all to reply to you openly.

[Andy Benstead]

Hi Rhonda, I must say some of the facebook groups are very good. The people that form those groups are very helpful and love setters. I joined Irish Setter Lovers and have found it informative and interesting. Members are from every part of the world and you can learn so much from them. They also have a sense of humour and I enjoy that.  Please forgive me if I am wrong, but I feel you are not too keen on Facebook and I do not understand the reason why you are not. So far, I have not seen anyone be nasty to another member and no members have been thrown out. I think we could all learn from groups like that.

Kind regards

Andy. xx 

[Chantal McIlveen-Wright]

A huge thank you Gene for coping with all of us and giving us access to this super website! Sad that we have to spell out what is common sense, but as long as it works, and makes your life as moderator easier, then I am happy with the suggestion given. Lot of friendship have been made, learning possible, happy moments as well as sorrow shared, what a great community we can be part of thanks to you!!!

Best of luck for the moderation!

[Ellen Turberfield]

Yes thank you Gene as a fairly new member i just love this site, (",)

[Dee Rance]

:-) I agree Chantal...

[Dee Rance]

Thank you Gene and David, (as someone else said, David obviously has put a great deal of thought into this..and so have you)...I have to agree with other writers, that people being what they are, their personalities will show through again and again..but lets hope that agreeing to the above or something like it, we will try and modify behaviour..

I have felt, for the first time for a long time, free to put 'finger to key board' and comment without fear of being shot down in flames...thank you for making this possible again, as one of the first 400 here, on this site, it is lovely to be able to do this again...And I hope that the discussions will keep going, there is a great deal of knowledge here....we all have the rite to comment, and put our opinions forward, we may or may not be correct in what we say, or the way we say it....but we should be free to vocalise our thoughts....

Thanks again, looking forward to the debates;

[Finding_Beau]

Dear Gene (and David)

I am certain that ES will improve and get back to the way it used to be. I have to say that my experience has been the same as Dee's. Whenever I have commented on a forum topic in the past I have been "jumped upon" by a certain "little group" because my opinion differed and then I was accused of only making the comment to stir up trouble!!!

I have already noticed a positive change in ES. I also feel comfortable now in commenting on future forum topics when I am ready. I had a Facebook page but de-activated it. ES is the best on the internet as far as I am concerned. Thank you Gene!!

[Andy Benstead]

Hi Finding Beau. Could it be the positive change is due to less people bothering to comment on the site now? Kind regards. Andy