What do you think about...

[lookwhaticando]

The Moderating team at FoxesTalk?

This is a topical and relevant discussion as there are complaints every day about posts going missing... so let's determine the extent of the discontent.

What do you think about the moderating team at FoxesTalk? Are they operating exactly as you believe they should, as prescribed by the guidelines they themselves have set down? Or do you believe they are operating outside said guidelines somehow?

Recent complaints posted include one particular 'post about nothing' being deleted while another one remains.

There's also the complaint that moderators are not doing enough to inform people of their errors - what they did wrong to have their posts removed repeatedly.

Discuss.

[lcfc_jme]

As the mods could probably have guessed, I voted Yes (hopefully, as that is the one I intended to vote for !) on the second question. I'll probably be in for heavy moderation now no doubt

Seriously, overall the moderating on here is fine, but sometimes it is a bit ridiculous and way OTT. Favouritism may well be an issue as I have suggested before, and am still inclined to believe. However, it has been flatly denied by moderators, and even other posters . Which is why I have cited lack of communication regarding moderated posts as my answer for numero 3.

[Anish]

I'm not going to explain my answers, but this is a great thread LWICD.

I fear that if I express my honest opinions on the mods then my post will be deleted.

[Guest]

When you logon, and you have to delete numerous posts, merge numerous threads, move numerous threads etc etc etc, you don't always have the time to explain why. Especially if you are logging on during work when you're not supposed to be etc. Remember we are people with lives.

Before I reached the lofty status of mod, I would use the search feature to find out where my missing posts were, and if it turned out to have been deleted, then I personally took the attitude that if they wanted to delete my posts, then so what? I'm not going to die or anything. I've got better things to worry about than a few missing posts.

[lookwhaticando]

Fair point regarding the workload. I don't think anyone expects individual moderators to be on top of everything as soon as they're online (probably why several mods login anonymously to avoid bombardment by inquisitive users).

However, it's not always the case that a moderator performs all their duties immediately upon login - after all, they're posters themselves and do occasionally moderate topics while posting. That is to say, they don't have a queue of threads to moderate already, and since they're posting anyway they must surely have a minute to spare to inform the punters why things didn't work out.

After all, some of the threads go disappearing late at night when the forums aren't exactly busy...

As with your second point - sure, a few missing posts isn't going to kill anyone. However, in the broader context it's often the circumstances that upset people. For instance - one person posted something a mile off-topic and their post was deleted. Meanwhile, the next poster was similarly off-topic and had theirs removed. This is the old favouritism and double-standards cookie.

Missing posts in their own right aren't a problem - it's the context and circumstance that makes them contentious mostly.

[Thracian]

Moderating/editing is an occupational hazard of the journalist and I learned at an early age to barely notice.

I just used to submit my stories and leave the sub-editors and editors to do what they wished with them.

It's the same on here really. Having done some editing and sub-editing myself I'm aware that it's not always an easy job -and certainly not one where you'll easily make friends.

I just don't take it personally. If a mod feels he needs to change something then I'm quite happy to accept that there'll be a reason and he/she must use their own good judgement.

No need for me to make their job harder by whinging. I'd imagine there's a less than 10% chance of me even noticing anything has happened.

For what it's worth I think the mods do a great job.

This remains a reasonably free-speaking site where there is considerable lattitude and, sometimes, some good debate.

I don't generally think threads are allowed to deteriorate away from subject so easily as on other sites and, although there are some clearly flippant threads, I think a reasonable balance is maintained generally.

I don't often do it now but whenever I venture into another football site I'm usually well pleased to get back here.

[Brummie-FOX]

Im glad you brought this up LWICD

2/5

Yes

Favouritism

I couldn't have put it better myself (shockin')

[JoeyB]

Im glad you brought this up LWICD

2/5

Yes

Favouritism

I couldn't have put it better myself (shockin')

same as mine

our posts will now get deleted

[Daggers]

I've come to realise that so many Leicester fans just love to moan, even for the sake of it...It really pisses me off reading people whingeing about everything related to LCFC, like they could do so much better. Who agrees?

At the minute... Yes, I have to agree.

Leicester fans - boring, miserable, grumpy whingers?

Happy New Year!

[lcfc_jme]

Leicester fans - boring, miserable, grumpy whingers?

Happy New Year!

I wouldn't say they're boring, miserable, grumpy whingers as such. They've been expressing their opinions on matters LCFC and in the General Sport forum throughout the afternoon. Now, they're taking a short break from doing so and discussing an increasingly sensitive issue on this forum - the moderating. I think forums are about debates and discussion, and this is a discussion many people have been wanting to have but haven't had the balls to start through fear of being heavily moderated. I applaud lwicd for starting this discussion, and look forward to seeing peoples opinions on the matter. Freedom of speech and all that

***I have not implied or stated that LCFC fans are whingers - I have simply quoted the title of Anish's thread as a source of the quotations - Dave.***

[Brummie-FOX]

I wouldn't say they're boring, miserable, grumpy whingers as such. They've been expressing their opinions on matters LCFC and in the General Sport forum throughout the afternoon. Now, they're taking a short break from doing so and discussing an increasingly sensitive issue on this forum - the moderating. I think forums are about debates and discussion, and this is a discussion many people have been wanting to have but haven't had the balls to start through fear of being heavily moderated. I applaud lwicd for starting this discussion, and look forward to seeing peoples opinions on the matter. Freedom of speech and all that

***Nor did I, if you look, it is the title of the thread I took the quotes from. Happy New Year. Dave.***

Good to see him starting it. If I started it it would have been deleted. Oh silly me I have a topic posting <_< <_<

[Lemon Harpic]

let's determine the extent of the discontent.

I think all the moderators are basically decent people.

What interests me is the sheer arrogance of which some moderators are capable.

As the complaints pile up, rather than examining their own role and trying to work out, as objectively as possible, if there might be room for improvement regarding how they use their power, some mods instead act in a completely dismissive manner. They try to pretend that there is no problem, they smugly laugh off people with legitimate complaints as oversensitive or troublemakers, they generally downplay or ignore anything that they don't like, anything that suggests that the mods themselves are less than perfect. Not a very adult way of dealing with things.

My personal suspicion is that there are some mods who get a buzz from exercising power over other FT posters. I think they know this and realize how truly pathetic it is, so they simply cannot accept that it is part of their personality. To deal with this incongruence, they make-believe that all is well and good in the world of FT moderation, although the clear evidence is that it's not.

Some of the mods would make interesting psychological case studies!

[Joe.]

Lots of favouritism.........

Very annoying. <_<

[Libertine]

Get in with the mods then. You have to make a few sacrifices and maybe do a few things that you might not be proud of looking back, but it's great once you're in.

[Deathside]

I just bumble along through life and foxestalk without ever being aware that moderators exist

[dandannieldanok]

They do a good job, but a few of my posts have disappeared without any reason.

[Deathside]

They do a good job, but a few of my posts have disappeared without any reason.

There was a reason...

[lookwhaticando]

While we're at it, might I ask what exactly it takes to get oneself banned?

I'd have thought violations of the 'BIG RULES' would be grounds for serious punishment - particularly when the same rules are violated repeatedly.

Just curious as it's been noted that a particular 'big rule' has been violated by particular users repeatedly without any punishment handed down, so it would seem.

[Finnegan]

Basically, to be honest, I'm too cool to give a flying fook. I'd have to take the forum a gozillion times more seriously to even start.

[Master Fox]

While we're at it, might I ask what exactly it takes to get oneself banned?

I'd have thought violations of the 'BIG RULES' would be grounds for serious punishment - particularly when the same rules are violated repeatedly.

Just curious as it's been noted that a particular 'big rule' has been violated by particular users repeatedly without any punishment handed down, so it would seem.

OMG!!

[lookwhaticando]

OMG!!

Problem?

[Master Fox]

Basically, to be honest, I'm too cool to give a flying fook. I'd have to take the forum a gozillion times more seriously to even start.

[Master Fox]

Problem?

Not really, sorry for ruining your forum point dexter

[Daggers]

While we're at it, might I ask what exactly it takes to get oneself banned?

If you have a complaint(s) about the running of the forum then why don't you simply direct them at the Admin via a PM.

If you have complaints/concerns about a post/poster then why don't you direct them to a member of the Admin or Mod team via a PM including a relevant link.

[Nationwider]

I try to avoid deleting posts when at all possible. However, I do delete repetitious posts in threads, posts that consist of a smiley(s) and the no-brainer posts that cross the boundaries of decency, racism and personal abuse - the stuff that obviously transgresses the FT rules.

If someone PMs me about a deleted post or a query, I try to reply, even if I only say "Dunno, sorry".

Things do slip through the net - the system is not 100% perfect. Different people have different tolerences. I've deleted stuff that has been reinstated by another mod/admin, and vice versa.

The most contentious subject seems to be favouritism. What the frig do people expect? Of course there is favouritism to a certain, fairly moderate extent - again, it's going to be a personal thing depending on the individual mod/admin. I wouldn't have been posting here for 2-odd years if there weren't like-minded people here whose posts I enjoy reading. Similarly, there are posters I tend to gloss over. My general feeling is that a contentious opinion is worth far more than a vapid one - I would never delete a post simply because I didn't agree with it.

Respect on a forum, like in any other section of life, is earned. If you went into a pub for the first time and tried to butt into every conversation the regulars were having, you'd get told where to go pretty quickly.

So it is in FT.... read the rules, don't go spamtacular or start millions of topics in the first weeks. This forum is actually a lot less cliquey than a lot of other forums I've read in the past. The admin on this site actually do a very good job - I say this without agenda as I've never met anyone on this forum in person, and didn't actively seek the mod role I have.

But anyone who didn't vote for me in the the End-Of-Years can expect to be heavily censored in 2007.