For the past year or so, I have had a number of members comment to me privately and also just in general on the open forums, that there are more members getting into arguments etc.
Some members have summed this issue up as being along the lines of... "the tone of the site has changed" etc.
Now there are a number of us who are of the belief, that much of this started with a number of political threads and debates that popped up around U.S. election time in 2008.
Now the difficulty around this issue and all issues that require moderation is this...
When we moderate, or try to quell these types of threads when they begin to get heated, or when they are heated, the inevitable result is that a number of members often step forward and make the argument that moderation is not required. The arguments are typically the same, they're along the lines of we're all grown ups, it's just one person upset, what's the problem, let us have our freedom to debate, we can't openly discuss things here etc. etc.
But unfortunately, typically the pattern of what happens in many of these threads is often the same and it's this...
The thread starts out and it's someone posting their point of view, or a political joke and things start out civil, then people start responding and disagreeing, then things get more heated and then things eventually blow up. At that point, typically my PM box starts filling up with complaints and requests for me to do one thing or another. One group want me to remove the thread, some want me to lock it, some want me to take action against particular members and then there is the group that often tell me that they're disappointed in the site, that it's gone downhill and isn't the same etc.
Then when I review matters and if I decide to take action, another group gets upset and now begins to cry about us over-moderating, that the entire thing was caused by this person's actions, or that persons actions, but that in general whatever the case, very little intervention is required.
And that's the usual argument against us taking action, something that I think most will agree we don't do a lot of. And something that I will tell you that we only do, when we feel it is in the best interests of all involved and the site.
Now let me say, that I'm not saying that every single political thread has gone this way, but the simple fact is that many often do. And I'm also not saying that the only issue we've ever had is because of political threads, because I'm not saying that. But many of these heated threads originate from hot topic discussions like politics, religion etc. And time has proven that many of the issues that develop in these threads, then spill over and carry over to other parts of the site and into other discussions.
Now personally I realized all of this long ago, and so that was why back in the fall of 2008, I actually went to the work and expense of putting together a separate politics forum (politicalinterference.com) for people to use. The idea of having that site, was that people could go there and discuss these issues on a completely separate forum and for those here who didn't want to take part in these types of discussion, then fair enough, don't go join or view the other site.
And in the end, the basic request that was made at the time, was for people to go discuss politics on the other site rather than here in order to "keep the peace" as it were. Now, we did not make a hard and fast rule per se that politics were off-limits, instead it was just sort of a general request and most members co-operated. But unfortunately, the way that people co-operated was not that they went and joined the politics forum. Instead, what they did was they stop posting political threads here - or at least for a while.
Then over a period of time, the political threads began to return once again and since then we've gone through a number of cycles of flare ups, supression, flare ups, supression.
So here's the question for all of you.
What do we do about this?
As I already posted, for me, this is a no-win situation. If I do nothing, then people are mad at me. If I do something, then other people are mad at me.
So I basically can't win.
So what do we do?
Do we make a rule that political discussion here is "off-limits"? Meaning that people can't discuss these issues here and instead will be asked to go to our political site that we created to discuss these issues, or elsewhere for that matter.
Do I start closing threads at the first sign of trouble and that's the understanding of what will happen in advance?
Do I leave these threads alone and tell people that if they don't like it then don't read it and don't participate?
You guys tell me what the options are and then we'll hold a vote of the best suggestions and see what the results are.
I'll take a look at what the poll results are and will then discuss this further with JW & Gus and some select senior members of the site.
It's your turn, let's hear your thoughts.
Thanks,
-Chris
Some members have summed this issue up as being along the lines of... "the tone of the site has changed" etc.
Now there are a number of us who are of the belief, that much of this started with a number of political threads and debates that popped up around U.S. election time in 2008.
Now the difficulty around this issue and all issues that require moderation is this...
When we moderate, or try to quell these types of threads when they begin to get heated, or when they are heated, the inevitable result is that a number of members often step forward and make the argument that moderation is not required. The arguments are typically the same, they're along the lines of we're all grown ups, it's just one person upset, what's the problem, let us have our freedom to debate, we can't openly discuss things here etc. etc.
But unfortunately, typically the pattern of what happens in many of these threads is often the same and it's this...
The thread starts out and it's someone posting their point of view, or a political joke and things start out civil, then people start responding and disagreeing, then things get more heated and then things eventually blow up. At that point, typically my PM box starts filling up with complaints and requests for me to do one thing or another. One group want me to remove the thread, some want me to lock it, some want me to take action against particular members and then there is the group that often tell me that they're disappointed in the site, that it's gone downhill and isn't the same etc.
Then when I review matters and if I decide to take action, another group gets upset and now begins to cry about us over-moderating, that the entire thing was caused by this person's actions, or that persons actions, but that in general whatever the case, very little intervention is required.
And that's the usual argument against us taking action, something that I think most will agree we don't do a lot of. And something that I will tell you that we only do, when we feel it is in the best interests of all involved and the site.
Now let me say, that I'm not saying that every single political thread has gone this way, but the simple fact is that many often do. And I'm also not saying that the only issue we've ever had is because of political threads, because I'm not saying that. But many of these heated threads originate from hot topic discussions like politics, religion etc. And time has proven that many of the issues that develop in these threads, then spill over and carry over to other parts of the site and into other discussions.
Now personally I realized all of this long ago, and so that was why back in the fall of 2008, I actually went to the work and expense of putting together a separate politics forum (politicalinterference.com) for people to use. The idea of having that site, was that people could go there and discuss these issues on a completely separate forum and for those here who didn't want to take part in these types of discussion, then fair enough, don't go join or view the other site.
And in the end, the basic request that was made at the time, was for people to go discuss politics on the other site rather than here in order to "keep the peace" as it were. Now, we did not make a hard and fast rule per se that politics were off-limits, instead it was just sort of a general request and most members co-operated. But unfortunately, the way that people co-operated was not that they went and joined the politics forum. Instead, what they did was they stop posting political threads here - or at least for a while.
Then over a period of time, the political threads began to return once again and since then we've gone through a number of cycles of flare ups, supression, flare ups, supression.
So here's the question for all of you.
What do we do about this?
As I already posted, for me, this is a no-win situation. If I do nothing, then people are mad at me. If I do something, then other people are mad at me.
So I basically can't win.
So what do we do?
Do we make a rule that political discussion here is "off-limits"? Meaning that people can't discuss these issues here and instead will be asked to go to our political site that we created to discuss these issues, or elsewhere for that matter.
Do I start closing threads at the first sign of trouble and that's the understanding of what will happen in advance?
Do I leave these threads alone and tell people that if they don't like it then don't read it and don't participate?
You guys tell me what the options are and then we'll hold a vote of the best suggestions and see what the results are.
I'll take a look at what the poll results are and will then discuss this further with JW & Gus and some select senior members of the site.
It's your turn, let's hear your thoughts.
Thanks,
-Chris
