Some of you dislike my harsh views and you sometimes say that I don't deserve to be an admin because of this.
There are two approaches to this forum moderation thing. Some think that moderating is just a set of corresponding tasks, like moving stuff to the right section, deleting spam, issuing warnings and so on. So when you become a mod, you sacrifice some of your time but you don't sacrifice your opinions. I am in favour of this approach because it has worked well on WATRB over the last six years: less obscenities are posted, people argue in a more polite manner, we have very few instances of unsolicited commercial spam and so on. At the same time every admin/mod feels free to say what they feel needs saying within the forum rules. The way I see it, they thus remain regular fans.
The second approach would be to assemble a moderating team that would actually adhere to a stricter set of rules, not just perform moderation but be more reserved, have non-conflicting views, appear as neutral as possible, don't argue, etc. I would not fit in there. I'd call such people superfans - without derision, just not my cup of tea. This revised setup might actually work for many.
I'm a QPR supporter who is very critical, more critical than most, but a supporter nonetheless, as some of you know from meeting with me in real life, and as some others will never want to believe - it's OK, no hard feelings on my part towards the latter.
So my question is - would you want WATRB making a shift from the first approach to the second one?
The Yes vote would mean that I'd actually have no more place on the admin team and I have no problem with that. I never needed this position for selfish purposes, even if some disgruntled posters don't believe it, I just felt like helping MYU and I have done a lot of moderating over six years, ungrateful work and not always perfectly done, but had to be done by someone and not many would do it if they saw what I see "under the hood". And I'd do six more years - if I feel that I am still free to speak my mind within the forum rules. So my haters have probably already clicked Yes by now , while others might need more time to think it over. Thanks for hearing me out in any case!
There are two approaches to this forum moderation thing. Some think that moderating is just a set of corresponding tasks, like moving stuff to the right section, deleting spam, issuing warnings and so on. So when you become a mod, you sacrifice some of your time but you don't sacrifice your opinions. I am in favour of this approach because it has worked well on WATRB over the last six years: less obscenities are posted, people argue in a more polite manner, we have very few instances of unsolicited commercial spam and so on. At the same time every admin/mod feels free to say what they feel needs saying within the forum rules. The way I see it, they thus remain regular fans.
The second approach would be to assemble a moderating team that would actually adhere to a stricter set of rules, not just perform moderation but be more reserved, have non-conflicting views, appear as neutral as possible, don't argue, etc. I would not fit in there. I'd call such people superfans - without derision, just not my cup of tea. This revised setup might actually work for many.
I'm a QPR supporter who is very critical, more critical than most, but a supporter nonetheless, as some of you know from meeting with me in real life, and as some others will never want to believe - it's OK, no hard feelings on my part towards the latter.
So my question is - would you want WATRB making a shift from the first approach to the second one?
The Yes vote would mean that I'd actually have no more place on the admin team and I have no problem with that. I never needed this position for selfish purposes, even if some disgruntled posters don't believe it, I just felt like helping MYU and I have done a lot of moderating over six years, ungrateful work and not always perfectly done, but had to be done by someone and not many would do it if they saw what I see "under the hood". And I'd do six more years - if I feel that I am still free to speak my mind within the forum rules. So my haters have probably already clicked Yes by now , while others might need more time to think it over. Thanks for hearing me out in any case!
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