I would like to announce my candidacy to become a moderator on the forum. The forum can use a fresh face and a different style of moderating.
In the past couple of years, quality of discussions has deteriorated. The forum became a place where members spoke past each other and not with each other. Discussions devolved into pissing contests and toxic mudslinging. It has created a bitter, hostile environment for everyone. It is time to start working on ensuring what caused this does not happen in the future. That is going to require some work from moderation team, and I have some suggestions. But ultimately it comes down to every member making an extra effort to focus on discussing ideas rather than character. Moving away from labeling other members would be a good place to start.
Moderator code of conduct.
The moderator code of conduct is a good place to start for every moderator in the forum. It is there to give guidelines for the mods to be impartial towards all members. Having said that, it does fall short on one occasion. A new code should be added to say: Moderators should not moderate discussions they are part of. Note I say discussions and not threads, because the concern is partiality towards members moderator is directly interacting with. Following this code will make sure a moderator is never put in a position where they can abuse their power over someone they are having a disagreement with.
In the past, I took a more laissez-faire approach towards moderating. I seldom deleted entire posts -- I preferred to edit. But now I think some deletions are in order so that we can keep threads clean and on-topic. The deletions will NOT be arbitrary, and they WILL be impartial.
Member code of conduct.
As moderators have a code of conduct, I propose a member code of conduct. These are not official forum rules so not adhering strictly to them will not penalize you, but they are guidelines to keeping discussions on the forum civil and pleasant, even at moments of intense disagreement. They also make sure forum rules are not being broken.
While the following can be debated and amended (and further deliberation will be held by new moderation team I suspect), they are an idea of what I'm leaning towards. They can be added to the Orange Room Etiquette (which should be a stickied thread) and referenced in the forum rules.
Separation of moderator vs. personal opinions.
While the idea of having two separate accounts -- one moderator and one personal (main) username -- is a great way to start in separating between moderator's opinions and personal opinions, I think it is a hassle for the moderator who is after all doing a volunteer job. For example, 90% of the time I spend on the forum is done through my mobile device. You can probably see why I would not be looking forward to logging in and out of the two accounts every time I want to moderate or post. (For the record, my account is permanently logged on).
But I do have a compromise that I feel would address the issue. I am not familiar with the technical side of this forum's server, but maybe @Jo can add a feature that allows mods to use moderator tags when they are posting content related to moderation. I have seen it done on other forums that do not use XenForo and it looks like this:
Anything posted by a mod inside moderator tags is content related to moderation. Anything posted outside is personal opinion.
Rule changes.
I propose adding the following rules:
-No threats of any kind. Threatening other members, in public or via PM, with real-life dangers will get you an immediate and permanent ban.
-Zero tolerance for harassment. Harassing other members (or moderators), in public or via PM, will get you an immediate and permanent ban. Evading the ignore feature to deliberately harass another member will get you banned.
-No sock puppet accounts. Creating sock puppet accounts, whether you've been banned or not, is a no-no. Repeatedly breaking this rule will result in permanent ban.
Reputation system.
I propose implementing a reputation system in the forum. A reputation system ultimately depends on how it's implemented and how it's being used. In the past, a similar system of like and dislike was implemented on the forum, but it was implemented with no clear guidelines and became prone to abuse. Therefore, I am drawing on my experience with other forums that have implemented a reputation system successfully in order to voice my opinion on the kind of reputation system we should have here on the forum. Again, I have zero clue about the technical side of this or whether it is possible to implement.
The goal is to improve the level of speech in the forum. A reputation system may motivate members to pay attention to how they are crafting their arguments.
Having said that, a reputation system in an online forum is one of those tools that are most prone to abuse. So, the following are simple guidelines to follow in order to minimize the chance of abuse. Do note that they are not strict and they are quite arbitrary as they are drawn from forums that are much bigger in size, and we can play with the numbers till we get it right. I may also be forgetting something, so if you see a concern that I have not addressed, feel free to voice it.
-Reputation system will be implemented on trial basis for a three month (or 90-day) period. After that, it will be evaluated by the moderation team and a decision will be taken on whether to continue or discontinue it.
-Members (and mods) can give positive or negative reputation points.
-Maximum of 2 reputation points per member per day, so choose wisely.
-No one can give a negative reputation point before earning 200 positive reputation points.
-Every reputation point given must have a corresponding comment. Users and moderators MUST know why you are giving a positive or negative reputation. Reputation points can be removed if reason is deemed unacceptable.
-As you may have deduced, that means reputation points, the comments, and those who give them are all public information. All in the interest of transparency and accountability.
-Members must have minimum of 50 posts before being able to use the reputation system.
-You must give reputation points to 5 different users before being able to give reputation points to the same user again. This is to prevent people from giving positive rep to their friends or negative rep to their adversaries.
-A thread sampling examples of posts/reasons to give positive and negative reputation points shall accompany the launch of this reputation system, to serve as guidelines for members to use in determining when and how to give reputation.
-A member's feedback thread will also accompany launch of system, and concerns of members regarding system will be addressed.
-Members will have the ability to file complaints or appeal negative reputations.
Great, but why should you care about the reputation system? Why does positive reputation get you? How does negative reputation harm you?
Ultimately, the satisfaction of having your opinion valued by fellow members and the fact that you would be contributing to a healthy, clean atmosphere where exchange of ideas is welcomed and encouraged should be enough reward. But I think something more substantial can be offered.
For members with high negative reputation, I suggest hiding their posts and preventing them from being able to create threads. For members with high positive reputation, I suggest giving them temporary ORS access and ability to give more reputation points the higher positive reputation they earn. Suggestions for rewards/punishments are always welcome.
If you're still with me, boy do you not have a lot of time on your hands. But thanks for reading and I hope to get your vote. Let's Make the ORoom Fun Again!
Also, don't forget to vote today (if you're in the US). Remember- employer cannot penalize you for taking time off to vote.
In the past couple of years, quality of discussions has deteriorated. The forum became a place where members spoke past each other and not with each other. Discussions devolved into pissing contests and toxic mudslinging. It has created a bitter, hostile environment for everyone. It is time to start working on ensuring what caused this does not happen in the future. That is going to require some work from moderation team, and I have some suggestions. But ultimately it comes down to every member making an extra effort to focus on discussing ideas rather than character. Moving away from labeling other members would be a good place to start.
Moderator code of conduct.
The moderator code of conduct is a good place to start for every moderator in the forum. It is there to give guidelines for the mods to be impartial towards all members. Having said that, it does fall short on one occasion. A new code should be added to say: Moderators should not moderate discussions they are part of. Note I say discussions and not threads, because the concern is partiality towards members moderator is directly interacting with. Following this code will make sure a moderator is never put in a position where they can abuse their power over someone they are having a disagreement with.
In the past, I took a more laissez-faire approach towards moderating. I seldom deleted entire posts -- I preferred to edit. But now I think some deletions are in order so that we can keep threads clean and on-topic. The deletions will NOT be arbitrary, and they WILL be impartial.
Member code of conduct.
As moderators have a code of conduct, I propose a member code of conduct. These are not official forum rules so not adhering strictly to them will not penalize you, but they are guidelines to keeping discussions on the forum civil and pleasant, even at moments of intense disagreement. They also make sure forum rules are not being broken.
While the following can be debated and amended (and further deliberation will be held by new moderation team I suspect), they are an idea of what I'm leaning towards. They can be added to the Orange Room Etiquette (which should be a stickied thread) and referenced in the forum rules.
Separation of moderator vs. personal opinions.
While the idea of having two separate accounts -- one moderator and one personal (main) username -- is a great way to start in separating between moderator's opinions and personal opinions, I think it is a hassle for the moderator who is after all doing a volunteer job. For example, 90% of the time I spend on the forum is done through my mobile device. You can probably see why I would not be looking forward to logging in and out of the two accounts every time I want to moderate or post. (For the record, my account is permanently logged on).
But I do have a compromise that I feel would address the issue. I am not familiar with the technical side of this forum's server, but maybe @Jo can add a feature that allows mods to use moderator tags when they are posting content related to moderation. I have seen it done on other forums that do not use XenForo and it looks like this:
Anything posted by a mod inside moderator tags is content related to moderation. Anything posted outside is personal opinion.
Rule changes.
I propose adding the following rules:
-No threats of any kind. Threatening other members, in public or via PM, with real-life dangers will get you an immediate and permanent ban.
-Zero tolerance for harassment. Harassing other members (or moderators), in public or via PM, will get you an immediate and permanent ban. Evading the ignore feature to deliberately harass another member will get you banned.
-No sock puppet accounts. Creating sock puppet accounts, whether you've been banned or not, is a no-no. Repeatedly breaking this rule will result in permanent ban.
Reputation system.
I propose implementing a reputation system in the forum. A reputation system ultimately depends on how it's implemented and how it's being used. In the past, a similar system of like and dislike was implemented on the forum, but it was implemented with no clear guidelines and became prone to abuse. Therefore, I am drawing on my experience with other forums that have implemented a reputation system successfully in order to voice my opinion on the kind of reputation system we should have here on the forum. Again, I have zero clue about the technical side of this or whether it is possible to implement.
The goal is to improve the level of speech in the forum. A reputation system may motivate members to pay attention to how they are crafting their arguments.
Having said that, a reputation system in an online forum is one of those tools that are most prone to abuse. So, the following are simple guidelines to follow in order to minimize the chance of abuse. Do note that they are not strict and they are quite arbitrary as they are drawn from forums that are much bigger in size, and we can play with the numbers till we get it right. I may also be forgetting something, so if you see a concern that I have not addressed, feel free to voice it.
-Reputation system will be implemented on trial basis for a three month (or 90-day) period. After that, it will be evaluated by the moderation team and a decision will be taken on whether to continue or discontinue it.
-Members (and mods) can give positive or negative reputation points.
-Maximum of 2 reputation points per member per day, so choose wisely.
-No one can give a negative reputation point before earning 200 positive reputation points.
-Every reputation point given must have a corresponding comment. Users and moderators MUST know why you are giving a positive or negative reputation. Reputation points can be removed if reason is deemed unacceptable.
-As you may have deduced, that means reputation points, the comments, and those who give them are all public information. All in the interest of transparency and accountability.
-Members must have minimum of 50 posts before being able to use the reputation system.
-You must give reputation points to 5 different users before being able to give reputation points to the same user again. This is to prevent people from giving positive rep to their friends or negative rep to their adversaries.
-A thread sampling examples of posts/reasons to give positive and negative reputation points shall accompany the launch of this reputation system, to serve as guidelines for members to use in determining when and how to give reputation.
-A member's feedback thread will also accompany launch of system, and concerns of members regarding system will be addressed.
-Members will have the ability to file complaints or appeal negative reputations.
Great, but why should you care about the reputation system? Why does positive reputation get you? How does negative reputation harm you?
Ultimately, the satisfaction of having your opinion valued by fellow members and the fact that you would be contributing to a healthy, clean atmosphere where exchange of ideas is welcomed and encouraged should be enough reward. But I think something more substantial can be offered.
For members with high negative reputation, I suggest hiding their posts and preventing them from being able to create threads. For members with high positive reputation, I suggest giving them temporary ORS access and ability to give more reputation points the higher positive reputation they earn. Suggestions for rewards/punishments are always welcome.
If you're still with me, boy do you not have a lot of time on your hands. But thanks for reading and I hope to get your vote. Let's Make the ORoom Fun Again!
Also, don't forget to vote today (if you're in the US). Remember- employer cannot penalize you for taking time off to vote.
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