# A striking example of moderator bias **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 9, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641 "2016-02-09T18:09:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/101 "2016-02-18T04:19:31Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > But if someone reports a post and doesn’t get a “thanks, we will look into it” or even a “quit bitching you whinny fuck” or a “we aren’t seeing it”…well that is just some crappy customer service…and I don’t think this the first time it has happened to me (and I think I reported about one post a year here)…but that is probably another thread… I virtually never reply personally to post reports either; first, because we get a lot of reports, and second, it takes an extra step to reply since we need to cut up and paste the poster’s email address in another message - we can’t reply directly to the report. And third, because as far as I can see most posters don’t regard it as any big deal if we do reply or not. If you report a post, and it gets no action, it _probably_ means that all the forum mods saw the report and decided it wasn’t worth acting on. _Sometimes_ it means that for one reason or another it was overlooked. If you’re really concerned by the lack of action, as **engineer** says, report the post again or PM a mod. I will usually respond if asked directly about why a report was not acted on. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/102 "2016-02-18T04:43:21Z")
I have never received a personal response after reporting a post. I have never felt butthurt about it, either. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/103 "2016-02-18T15:03:07Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Bolding mine. > > I find that rather telling, because one of the things my “silly experiment” did prove was that one moderator was clearly identified as conservative. > > So, confirmation bias? Selective memory? What’s the story here? You appear to have misunderstood what I wrote. “Identifiably conservative” was meant in the context of the paragraph which preceded the one you quoted. The fuller quote was as follows: > [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > There are a many people who are not all that political. These people will not tend to post on political topics, so it will be hard to tell what their leanings are. Other people are more politically oriented, so it will be easier to tell. The first group will also be less inclined to be biased than the second group. > > Now here’s the point. The claim being made is not that every single moderator is personally biased. The claim is that collectively, the moderating staff is biased. What’s relevant therefore is that there are some moderators who are identifiably liberal, and some who who are not identifiable in terms of orientation. There are no moderators who are identifiably conservative. Therefore, the collective weight of the moderating staff leans left. In the thread you refer to, one moderator (Loach) announced that he had very rarely voted for Democratic candidates. Leaving aside the issue of whether that implies that he’s a conservative (1) he’s in NJ, where the scale is somewhat shifted left, and 2) it’s not clear how often he’s voted altogether), the point is that he’s not “identifiably conservative”. Loach is not a conservative voice on this board, and he rarely if ever argues the conservative position in discussions here. This suggests that to the extent that he’s a conservative altogether he’s not a very politically oriented guy. It’s for this reason that he’s not identifiably conservative, and for this reason that political ideology would form a smaller part of his mindset than it would for someone who is more focused on such matters. It’s not comparable to the liberal side, where there are several moderators who are identifiably liberal in the sense described. Tomndebb and Miller come to mind offhand, but there are others too. Not all, of course, and there are undoubtedly some centrists or apolitical liberals. But collectively, the weight of the staff leans left. FTR, I personally have no problems with the moderation of this board. I think the leftward skew is inevitable on a board which itself skews left, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. If you are a conservative who wants to participate on a left-oriented MB, that’s just something you have to deal with. So far I’m doing fine. But I do find it interesting as a discussion topic. And one of the points of interest is the level of denial that the moderators are in. Bias is part of human nature, and the moderators are all human. As I alluded to above, it’s inconceivable that anyone would fail to recognize that a jury in which several members were known to have a strong bias about the matter and the rest were ambivalent would be collectively biased. Somehow the mods here have deluded themselves into thinking that they’re (collectively) above that. I scoff. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/104 "2016-02-18T15:47:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I virtually never reply personally to post reports either; first, because we get a lot of reports, and second, it takes an extra step to reply since we need to cut up and paste the poster’s email address in another message - we can’t reply directly to the report. And third, because as far as I can see most posters don’t regard it as any big deal if we do reply or not. > > If you report a post, and it gets no action, it _probably_ means that all the forum mods saw the report and decided it wasn’t worth acting on. _Sometimes_ it means that for one reason or another it was overlooked. > > If you’re really concerned by the lack of action, as **engineer** says, report the post again or PM a mod. I will usually respond if asked directly about why a report was not acted on. I’ve PMed the mods a few times when reported posts were not acted on, and I’ve always gotten a nice response from one of the mods. I agree that it would be a ridiculous burden to expect a reply to every reported post. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/105 "2016-02-18T15:59:01Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > As long as it isn’t aimed at them, why should they? Why shouldn’t they? We often have threads in ATMB where people weigh in on specific instances of moderation that were not aimed at them. [You](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18545959&postcount=36) [certainly](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19055890&postcount=7) [seem](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18230099&postcount=34) to have an opinion about moderator actions that are not aimed at you, and lots of liberals post in those threads too. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/106 "2016-02-18T17:28:29Z")
Why do liberals post to those threads if they don’t have a problem with it? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/107 "2016-02-18T17:32:20Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Somehow the mods here have deluded themselves into thinking that they’re (collectively) above that. It’s possible that various moderators have made the decision to make an active effort to be “objective” in their duties. It seems to me that it is obvious that in such cases, claims of bias are going to be meet with resistance. Most of the complaints of unfairness generally involve socio-political threads and topics. (I doubt that anyone claims unfairness in topics covering physics, for example.) I am not sure “deluded” is a fair term to use for a mod who makes the effort to be fair, but falls just a touch short based on what may very well be a subjective scale after all. (As I view politics to be inherently subjective.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/108 "2016-02-18T17:51:15Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Why do liberals post to those threads if they don’t have a problem with it? > > Regards, > Shodan So you want to understand how the Liberal GroupMind operates? Have you tried inquiring at [spokesperson@liberalheadquarters.com](mailto:spokesperson@liberalheadquarters.com) ? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/109 "2016-02-18T18:35:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So you want to understand how the Liberal GroupMind operates? Have you tried inquiring at [spokesperson@liberalheadquarters.com](mailto:spokesperson@liberalheadquarters.com) ? Nice try. That link redirects to the Canadian Liberal Party not the American one. Your tricks won’t work on us. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/110 "2016-02-18T18:47:02Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Nice try. That link redirects to the Canadian Liberal Party not the American one. Your tricks won’t work on us. You got me. The _real_ link is [spokesperson@liberalheadquarters.org](mailto:spokesperson@liberalheadquarters.org) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/111 "2016-02-18T18:56:22Z")
FFS. I’m going to get so much spam now. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/112 "2016-02-18T18:58:55Z")
Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/113 "2016-02-18T19:03:16Z")
It’s alright. I reported the post so a mod can break the link. My Canadian counterpart is of course on his own. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/114 "2016-02-18T19:05:33Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s alright. I reported the post so a mod can break the link. My Canadian counterpart is of course on his own. Thank ghod the mods work for us-makes it a lot easier. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/115 "2016-02-18T19:37:34Z")
Just don’t post the .gov address, I don’t need people blowing up my inbox while we’re preparing for phase III of the chemtrail project. ---
**Author:** ![UberArchetype](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/2bfe46/32.png) [@UberArchetype](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UberArchetype)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/116 "2016-02-18T19:49:10Z")
I just wish posters could keep their political penis in their pants once in awhile. Like for example when discussing criminal activity related to a politician. It leads off on tangents that blur any understanding of the real issue. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/117 "2016-02-18T19:51:02Z")
> [@UberArchetype](#): > > I just wish posters could keep their political penis in their pants once in awhile. Like for example when discussing criminal activity related to a politician. It leads off on tangents that blur any understanding of the real issue. Apropos of wtf? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/118 "2016-02-18T19:55:40Z")
He’s mad because nobody will take him at his word that he’s got high level clearance and knows that Hilary did Bad Things with her email. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/119 "2016-02-18T20:08:42Z")
As long as she disposes of the email in the proper receptacle and washes up afterwards, I don’t see what the problem is. ---
**Author:** ![UberArchetype](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/2bfe46/32.png) [@UberArchetype](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UberArchetype)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641/120 "2016-02-18T20:23:28Z")
You need industrial strength had sanitizer to get rid of that goo! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-striking-example-of-moderator-bias/745641.md?page=7)