If they start moderating over “stupid” posts - the entire site will grind to a halt.
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Quality of Moderation on MacRumors Forums
- Thread starter SchilPhiller
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The only reason I can think of is that people wanted to be the OP, and so the envelope getting pushed, that is people creating earlier and earlier pre-order threads. I've not followed it terribly so I can't say for sure. I've largely been out of the iPhone market since I've been very happy with my iPhone 12 (though I now have a 15 pro)
There was a thread about that very same topic a while ago. Back then, it was decided that pre-order threads are not to happen until after the actual announcement.
However, it seems that moderation practice did not go anywhere. I agree, that type of inconsistency really irks me. Also, it's the type of things that end up distorting things.
OR... just ignore the threads that don't interest you...
Actually I don't have a problem with those threads. It's the fighting between members that becomes the issue. Hence why those threads, IMO, should be posted only by mods, or just make them into a Wiki-thread.
It's not that simple. The pre-order threads, presumably, are to discuss and track pre-orders. As in, I've pre-ordered, and I'm showing a delivery date of x, and this other person is seeing a date of y, and the site is down, and the site crashed during pre-order, and my pre-order this, and his pre-order that. Whatever. Hard to have that content three months ahead. Then, when it's actually pre-order time, there are pages and pages of useless babble, continuing through and after the opening of pre-orders when people quote the nonsense and keep the babble going. The result is the entire pre-order thread is trash.
Personally, I do ignore the pre-order threads because they are pointless to me. But whatever utility they have for others would seem to be eroded by having one started months and months ahead of the actual pre-order.
Agreed with this assessment. However, to prevent infighting, it's best to make them Wikis and the original poster be a moderator.
Some one posted something that was delete-worthy and you had a post that replied or fed off of the offending post... so when they clean up the thread, subsequent posts to the offending post are also removed.
It's worse than that. I reported several of the comments and in each case the "moderator team reviewed the post and concluded that no moderation action was warranted."
Yes- more of the inconsistency I am seeing: post about a preorder thread and go slightly off topic at times - delete and suspend, but make some pretty political lightning rod posts - nothing needed - business as usual.
I will say that if one moderator is strict on one aspect of rules, and another moderator is more lenient this will produce a measure of inconsistency. My perspective is generally don't sweat the small stuff, and minor off topic posts, is just fine, but it appears one of the staff members feel so strongly about it that he lowers the boom on offenders.
How the hell is this considered abiding in the rules:
At the very least if a reports a coming in on a thread that has PRSI content, the staff ought to do the right thing and review the entire thread. The screen shot above was easily found within seconds
As another data point, I read through that whole thread and what I see are fairly obvious joke posts. While I agree they stray off topic I don't really want to live in a world were no humor is allowed. I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to posting meme's etc. and I enjoy most of the humor of others in the community.
I consider off topic/organic conversation to the most troublesome things to moderate and while I don't agree with every moderation decision MR makes I generally find they do a great job maintaining a balance between the rules and fostering a community.
Perhaps a /s or two would have fixed this? I tend to use those any time I am kidding around but on occasion others have not picked up on my sarcasm.
Delete, sure, that happens all the time. Suspensions are usually the culmination of your moderation history. I doubt that anyone has been suspended over a single off-topic post. As a matter of fact, off-topic is probably one of those things that you would need to do repeatedly to get a visit from the ban stick.
Indeed but suspending for a minor violation is way over the top and totally unnecessary. The reminders, warnings and even suspensions are there to alter a person's behavior, this just seems like punishment.
In its current state I can see how some might feel this post is serious but I just see an obvious joke. Would you or any others here feel differently about this post if it had /s or laughing emojis on it?
Maybe I'm wrong about this members intent but I feel that post is an obvious joke.
I would agree but I don't know if this occurred or whom we might be discussing, apparently there were a number of members mixed up in the pre-order thread fiasco. As we generally do not know any other members moderation history it is impossible to tell. Let's say for example that you are guilty of being off-topic daily, even thought it is a minor violation you would have to think a suspension will happen eventually? Right?
The joke implies a certain position on the political / social issue.
I have had many of my own political / social jokes moderated. The problem here is the inconsistency.
How is that even allowed on here? How was that allowed to slip past the moderators? I think that's an example of inconsistency.
I am disappointed that the Moderation team has allowed a useful, public-service topic to become infested with ridiculous conspiracy theories and inflammatory PRSI comments.
Curious about what the "standard" duration of a suspension might be? A day? A week? I don't think I've noticed anyone being suspended permanently ("banned") in quite a while...
That comment was likely made for comedic effect. Do we really want to set the moderation bar so low that it prohibits any comment that may be offensive to only the humorless and self-important?
That's fine but does that mean all political jokes are now allowed?
Actually, nearly all threads are kept open. Only the most severe or risky threads are locked, and often late since it isn't really known how people will react.
Threads are locked more often in Political News, obviously, and for good reason. (The amount of homophobia in Tim's coming-out was absolutely atrocious, but it serves as a reminder of how people felt about the LGBTQ+ community back then.)
My preference is "no", as long as context is taken into account. I think jokes and humor (this does not include disinformation, conspiracy theories, propaganda, or simple reposts of hash tag and video memes) should be allowed on most articles but are out of place on certain topics.
To me, a public service announcement about an alert that is being pushed to every cell phone in a country is one of those topics.
As per the rules, the moderation uses escalation to try to alter a member's behavior, so they interact within the rules. That escalation includes suspension lengths. I'm forbidden from talking about how moderation is applied other then what's stated in the rules. So I'll just say that a suspension can last from 1 day all the way up to a month. How they get to that is hidden behind closed doors.
As for permabans, I know of a handful members, who are part of other social platforms and they have been banned here, so it still occurs. To what frequency is anyone's guess as that's not information that is provided by the staff.
Personal opinion... I don't take the post in question as a "position" on any topic per se versus a being a joke about conspiracy theorists or theories in general.
I could be wrong, I'm not the OP, that is just how I take that post. So here you can see how difficult moderation is, I find no issue with that post while you feel it should be moderated based on it being either off-topic or making a PRSI statement in a thread not tagged as such.
IMHO you are being a bit too black and white on this. The post in question is pretty obviously a joke at the expense of conspiracy theorists/theories and not a specific issue and I think that is where MR might be drawing lines.
Again, moderation in moderation is not easy, if you ask 10 members you might get 10 different opinions on how the rules should be applied.
Edit: I think most political jokes are allowed but only inside threads tagged as such and as long as they do not fall afoul of other rules.
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