# A call for clearer moderation. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 29, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438 "2006-03-29T18:51:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/21 "2006-03-29T20:39:50Z")
> [@Winston Smith](#): > > Mmmm. Mushrooms. Wrong sort of mushrooms. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/22 "2006-03-29T20:43:33Z")
\*\*Upon review . . . \*\* SkipMagic DID formally Warn Winston Smith. Error is mine, I misread. Apologies to all. I will restate in the ATMB thread on the subject. Winston, that’s a formal warning against you. This means that whatever else negatively you might do that’s gonna follow you around, at least for a while. Like some years. It’s comparable to points on a license. Because every situation and every poster is different, the weight given to this varies. Some may wish to see this as inconsistency but it’s weighted more toward fairness, towards the whole picture of a poster’s time on the board and their actions in that time. That’s the most fair thing I can think of, to be judged on what you do here. If you never act the fool again, it won’t be a problem. Which is really the answer to enforcement, isn’t it? If you don’t misbehave you don’t get warned and it’s not an issue. TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/23 "2006-03-29T20:46:06Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Wrong sort of mushrooms. Well, then; allow me to _blow your mind, man…_ > [@](#): > > Shrooms > Shrooms > Shrooms > Shrooms > Shrooms! > Shrooms! ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/24 "2006-03-29T20:48:48Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > \*\*Upon review . . . \*\* > > SkipMagic DID formally Warn Winston Smith. Error is mine, I misread. Apologies to all. > > I will restate in the ATMB thread on the subject. > > Winston, that’s a formal warning against you. This means that whatever else negatively you might do that’s gonna follow you around, at least for a while. Like some years. > > It’s comparable to points on a license. Because every situation and every poster is different, the weight given to this varies. Some may wish to see this as inconsistency but it’s weighted more toward fairness, towards the whole picture of a poster’s time on the board and their actions in that time. That’s the most fair thing I can think of, to be judged on what you do here. > > If you never act the fool again, it won’t be a problem. Which is really the answer to enforcement, isn’t it? If you don’t misbehave you don’t get warned and it’s not an issue. > > TubaDiva That being the case, can’t I just pay a couple extra bucks on my annual _membership_ and we’ll call it even? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/25 "2006-03-29T20:52:33Z")
> [@Winston Smith](#): > > That being the case, can’t I just pay a couple extra bucks on my annual _membership_ and we’ll call it even? Monetary bribes won’t work here. You need chocolate, man! And not the cheap kind either. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/26 "2006-03-29T20:53:31Z")
> [@Winston Smith](#): > > That being the case, can’t I just pay a couple extra bucks on my annual _membership_ and we’ll call it even? Ahem: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/27 "2006-03-29T20:53:46Z")
There is no Annual Moderators and Administrators Gala Buffet With After-Dininer Dancing Fund. More’s the pity. TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/28 "2006-03-29T22:59:57Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > There is no Annual Moderators and Administrators Gala Buffet With After-Dininer Dancing Fund. More’s the pity. > > TubaDiva I thought the punchline went “Moderators don’t have balls.” ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/29 "2006-03-29T23:33:45Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > I thought the punchline went “Moderators don’t have balls.” No, that would be the Admins. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/30 "2006-03-30T00:40:06Z")
> [@Xploder](#): > > No, that would be the Admins. 🙂 **Dex** and **Ed** are both admins, and **Noodles** is a former admin, and they’re all men. While I have not asked them, nor have I seen them naked, I assume that all three have the usual male ornaments. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/31 "2006-03-30T00:42:00Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Anyway, I post on another board which has a formalised warning level system. Everybody has a little warning bar under their name (only visible to the individual concerned, and to the mods). It’s expressed as a percentage, and you’ll “cop a 5%” for a typical transgression of a minor nature, with larger ones getting more. Bannage at 100%, and warnings do expire after a while. The rationale is that it provides a consistent record of precedent when a mod is deciding how to deal with a particular matter. But I don’t like it. It’s too rigid, and doesn’t take into account individual circumstances. I’m used to the SDMB’s clunky, vagues system. It pisses me off sometimes, but I kinda like it. If the software supported something like this, I’d rather like it. Dunno if vBulletin offers such a warning system, though. I know that AIM has a warning system that has a bar showing the warning level. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/32 "2006-03-30T00:48:12Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > If the software supported something like this, I’d rather like it. Dunno if vBulletin offers such a warning system, though. It exists, at least, as an [addon](http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93669&page=4). I don’t know if it’s officially supported by vB, or if it will be available in future releases, however. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/33 "2006-03-30T00:52:01Z")
I like things loose, like they are. Rigid rules make for bad decisions. Zero tolerance has been the bane of high schools everywhere, when the rules are “broken” innocently and justice is Draconian. I’d just as soon trust the Mods and Admin to do the best they can for the money they are being paid. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/34 "2006-03-30T00:58:24Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Is there somewhere we can go to view our Official Warnings? That way, if we’re going to go on a rant, we can check first to determine how full of piss and/or vinegar we are free to be. You can always email a mod and ask. I did, and got a quick reply along with a link to the offending post. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/35 "2006-03-30T01:28:35Z")
I can offer a little commentary here. Strangely enough, Administrators and Moderators are human. They make decisions with fairness, sternness, compassion, an eye to the circumstances, all those things that guide human beings in judgment. I’m an administrator on another board, with the power of the Almighty Suspension Button at my fingertips. I use it very sparingly. But I’ll give you two examples: One member made about 45 posts. Of them, easily 35 were belligerent and cantankerous. Five were direct flames of another member in violation of the rules. He replied offensively to quite gentle guidance from the moderators as to what the problem was and how to fix it. He completely ignored a final warning from another administrator. He seemed to have no idea of how to conduct himself in a civil fashion on a message board – or to care. And I banned his ass. Another member has been around for years, though inactive for better than a year. He’s an interesting person: a divorced man, for whom the board is an important social contact. He is quite literally kind to kittens and small children: he has two of the former and, being disabled, watches two of the latter while their mothers work. And he’s an alcoholic. And worse, the kind of alcoholic who gets mean and vicious when he drinks. And he got into a series of hostile-exchage posts that made a typical Pit trainwreck here look like children dancing to the “sunrise” movement of the Peer Gynt Overture in a field of daisies by comparison. We warned him. Repeatedly. And suspended him for a week. And then let him back, and warned him again. Repeatedly. The last warning seemed to do the trick. He’s on the wagon now, posting interesting and supportive posts. And I don’t regret a bit of the effort I put into him, the extra chances he got. Because he was a decent man with problems who deserved it. Two extreme cases. But I think you get the point. Perfect justice includes mercy; that’s a staple of ethics. And while our Mods. and Admins. here are probably not perfect, they do a damn good job. I occasionally ask myself, “How would Tuba handle this one?” in my role over there. People **do** lose their tempers. That’s a part of being human. And the management here know that. In part, it’s how you conduct yourself in response to the problem that matters. In part, it’s how you conduct yourself on the board as a whole. I have a junior staffer there who recently made a misjudgment and included a _verboten_ link in one of his posts. And if I hadn’t had to use it as an example here (just now), I’d probably never have thought of it again. Because it was not a part of any pattern of intentional malice or rule-breaking, it was a slight error of judgment on the part of somebody sincerely trying to help. Having been in their shoes in a different jurisdiction, I **know** how good a job the management here does. Some of those judgment calls actually put me in a cold sweat – and there have been very few here in nearly seven years that I’d even think of arguing the other way about (and I guarantee they argued some of them out behind closed doors before reaching a decision). ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/36 "2006-03-30T01:31:24Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > **Dex** and **Ed** are both admins, and **Noodles** is a former admin, and they’re all men. While I have not asked them, nor have I seen them naked, I assume that all three have the usual male ornaments. Well shit…I forgot about Ed and for some stupid reason, I thought Dex was female. Been here a long time but I don’t recall ever seeing Noodles but I’ll take your word for it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/37 "2006-03-30T01:31:35Z")
**PORTIA** : \*The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea; Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there\*. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/38 "2006-03-30T01:42:06Z")
> [@Xploder](#): > > Been here a long time but I don’t recall ever seeing Noodles but I’ll take your word for it. Noodles is **Arnold Winkelried**. ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/39 "2006-03-30T01:55:10Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Noodles is **Arnold Winkelried**. Don’t mind me…I knew that too…I’m just gonna go sit over here in the corner and dribble for awhile. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438/40 "2006-03-30T03:55:44Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > **Dex** and **Ed** are both admins, and **Noodles** is a former admin, and they’re all men. While I have not asked them, nor have I seen them naked, I assume that all three have the usual male ornaments. Oooooooooh. You mean like [this](http://www.bucklesofestes.com/images/Western%20buckles/A134%20Spur.jpg) ? Or, more along the lines of [this](http://www.neon-nites.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=5246) ? 😃 😃 😃 ( both links completely work safe ) Cartooniverse, who always has admired Unca Cecil’s ornaments from afar… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-call-for-clearer-moderation/350438.md?page=3)