Hello!
No matter how you look at it, there's no denying that Lebanon is in a very difficult spot right now. Corruption, protests, financial disaster, Christmas in T-shirt and shorts... It's enough to make you want to cry into your bowl of Nido and Poppins cereal every morning. Everyone is so depressed these days that talking politics runs a high risk of turning your friends and family into enemies, let alone people who are a bit more distant.
This is a shame, I think. Just as Lebanon is teetering on the edge of the abyss, it's also teetering on the edge of real, positive change. In this crucial period, people should be talking more, not less. Communities should be opening up to others, not regressing deeper into the confines that have been imposed on us, and that have arguably led us to where we are now.
I'm obviously not very good at cutting to the chase, but I'll try to do so now: I think this forum is pretty great, and I want to contribute to it by joining the moderating team. In a political climate loaded with uncertainty and fear, Oroom continues to provide a safe space to debate, discuss and argue for people who clearly care very much about the country. Of course, Oroom is not perfect. Things sometimes get out of hand, which is to be expected when dealing with the roller-coaster we're all on. Tempers flare, people get hurt, and we're all the worse for it whether we realize it or not.
I want to try and help with that. Here's what you might call my "campaign" promises:
-Fulfill my moderator duties to keep discussions respectable, but without blunting the edge of heated debate. We're not only here to hug, kiss and make friends - we're also here to lock horns and challenge our ideas and those of others. Moderating this requires a careful touch, a fact that is made painfully clear in Oroom's conduct guidelines. Also, some users who have been on the receiving end of deletions and bans feel hard done by it. I'd like to try and address that by being as consistent as possible, as transparent as possible, and as open to reconsideration as possible in the case of injustice. I won't always get it right, but I'll try my best to learn and improve.
-Improve the quality of content, and the quality of interaction. This sounds more ambitious than it actually is. For one, I'd like to allow thread creators the ability to edit their opening posts indefinitely, in the hope of granting greater flexibility to the type of content that can be created. Another thing I'd like to do is maintain weekly/biweekly general discussion threads with broad titles that allow users to engage in freer discussion with less risk of going off-topic and with less resulting clutter to more dedicated threads. Finally, I'd like to add one or two more "reactions" options that allow a wider range of negative feedback. You read that correctly. Right now, you can only show anger ? or make a joke ? out of someone's post. I'm hoping adding a face-palm ?
reaction or a disappointed ? reaction can add a bit more constructive nuance - we sometimes need to be politely disapproved of to snap out of it.
-Find ways to combat misinformation and targeted trolling, in addition to preventing important information becoming buried in noise. This one's the ambitious one. To be honest, this is something I'm hoping further discussion with outgoing and incoming moderators will help manage. It's something that is certainly not unique to this forum, but that is a problem I'd love to help solve if there's anything I can do at all.
Anyway, I'm gonna keep it at that. I promise to try my best to be always available no matter what happens in the coming months, be it in the country or in my personal life. Finally, I'd love for these points to be adopted by a worthier candidate if I fail to be voted in. Thanks for reading, and good luck to everyone!
Oh, and one more thing: I promised @Muki I'd shorten my username. I'd like to add that here ta 2ellak enno manne nese.
Also, neither Nido nor Poppins sponsored this post.
No matter how you look at it, there's no denying that Lebanon is in a very difficult spot right now. Corruption, protests, financial disaster, Christmas in T-shirt and shorts... It's enough to make you want to cry into your bowl of Nido and Poppins cereal every morning. Everyone is so depressed these days that talking politics runs a high risk of turning your friends and family into enemies, let alone people who are a bit more distant.
This is a shame, I think. Just as Lebanon is teetering on the edge of the abyss, it's also teetering on the edge of real, positive change. In this crucial period, people should be talking more, not less. Communities should be opening up to others, not regressing deeper into the confines that have been imposed on us, and that have arguably led us to where we are now.
I'm obviously not very good at cutting to the chase, but I'll try to do so now: I think this forum is pretty great, and I want to contribute to it by joining the moderating team. In a political climate loaded with uncertainty and fear, Oroom continues to provide a safe space to debate, discuss and argue for people who clearly care very much about the country. Of course, Oroom is not perfect. Things sometimes get out of hand, which is to be expected when dealing with the roller-coaster we're all on. Tempers flare, people get hurt, and we're all the worse for it whether we realize it or not.
I want to try and help with that. Here's what you might call my "campaign" promises:
-Fulfill my moderator duties to keep discussions respectable, but without blunting the edge of heated debate. We're not only here to hug, kiss and make friends - we're also here to lock horns and challenge our ideas and those of others. Moderating this requires a careful touch, a fact that is made painfully clear in Oroom's conduct guidelines. Also, some users who have been on the receiving end of deletions and bans feel hard done by it. I'd like to try and address that by being as consistent as possible, as transparent as possible, and as open to reconsideration as possible in the case of injustice. I won't always get it right, but I'll try my best to learn and improve.
-Improve the quality of content, and the quality of interaction. This sounds more ambitious than it actually is. For one, I'd like to allow thread creators the ability to edit their opening posts indefinitely, in the hope of granting greater flexibility to the type of content that can be created. Another thing I'd like to do is maintain weekly/biweekly general discussion threads with broad titles that allow users to engage in freer discussion with less risk of going off-topic and with less resulting clutter to more dedicated threads. Finally, I'd like to add one or two more "reactions" options that allow a wider range of negative feedback. You read that correctly. Right now, you can only show anger ? or make a joke ? out of someone's post. I'm hoping adding a face-palm ?
reaction or a disappointed ? reaction can add a bit more constructive nuance - we sometimes need to be politely disapproved of to snap out of it.-Find ways to combat misinformation and targeted trolling, in addition to preventing important information becoming buried in noise. This one's the ambitious one. To be honest, this is something I'm hoping further discussion with outgoing and incoming moderators will help manage. It's something that is certainly not unique to this forum, but that is a problem I'd love to help solve if there's anything I can do at all.
Anyway, I'm gonna keep it at that. I promise to try my best to be always available no matter what happens in the coming months, be it in the country or in my personal life. Finally, I'd love for these points to be adopted by a worthier candidate if I fail to be voted in. Thanks for reading, and good luck to everyone!
Oh, and one more thing: I promised @Muki I'd shorten my username. I'd like to add that here ta 2ellak enno manne nese.
Also, neither Nido nor Poppins sponsored this post.
