(((pat)))

it is hard...
it is hard...

in a similar vein...

i have some questions:

1) would people prefer it if there wasn't moderator intervention AT ALL?

some things to think about here are that there are limits on what you can say IRL (e.g., the examples I offered before of yelling 'fire' or 'bomb' or libel or slander). I don't think we are supposed to talk about other boards? But I will say that if you want an example of an unmoderated board where anything goes then check out usenet. There is a danger that with no moderation people will feel free to post such things as 'I think you should just %#@&#! OFF alexandra_k you USELESS SACK OF %#@&#! you aren't wanted here and WE HATE YOU'. Some people prefer total liberty but the problem with having total liberty is that other people have total liberty to say whatever they please to you... That could result in the boards being more hostile and less supportive.

I guess some people will jump off the boat here and say that they prefer no moderation.

I guess that most people will conceed that some moderation is neccessary, however.

So then the million dollar question becomes:

2) How to decide on the best moderating / sanctioning system?

And that IMHO is where the real issue is...

I've been thinking about one of the rules in particular. The one where we aren't allowed to discuss administration issues on the main boards.

Lets imagine that people could discuss administration issues on the main boards. Here are some possible costs to that:

- People could get involved in long debates which takes their time and energy away from offering support to others (so the boards become less supportive as a result)
- The debates could turn hostile (so the boards become more hostile as a result)
- The administrators feel they need to jump in to justify their decisions (or whatever) and they may get burned out in consequence (which could harm the boards and the moderators)

Here are some possible benefits:

- People might benefit from seeing that others have smimilar feelings about moderator desicions as they do (which could result in increased support)
- The debates could help people figure out that they are responding more to past issues then present issues (which could result in the boards being more useful to the people involved in the discussion)
- The administrators might actually save time by responding to lots of people with one post rather than responding to each person individually by personal message. This could result in their feeling empowered and more effective (which could benefit the moderators and participants)

And there are pros and cons of not discussing admin stuff on the boards as well (which might be different from the above or not)

Basically...

I'm too drunk to tell.

Hic.

Need to sleep... zzzzzzz