No, I didn’t count, planning for this conversation nearly sixteen years later. : old rolleyes : I do have strong memories of almost being sympathetic as they spent most of their time bitching and moaning about the liberal bias of the board. Now there are many more and they still spend most of their time bitching and moaning about the liberal bias of the board. Enough more, and more active, that the board sometimes feels like it’s almost taken a rightward tilt.
There’s plenty of bitching about “liberal” bias.
There is plenty of bitching about “there is NO liberal bias”.
I don’t recall seeing much bitching about “conservative” bias.
Therefore, I can conclude that there IS probably some liberal bias.
An equally likely explanation is that liberals don’t care about moderator bias.
So, liberals are some how DIFFERENT types of humans?
Sure…
Even funnier…if anything IMO liberals are the first to bitch about being oppressed by “the man”… aka Dougie Howser.
Yes, liberals are a different type of human. That’s why we have a different label. You may also be surprised to learn that you, billfish678, are different from other humans, with your own unique features, responses to stimuli, and so on.
Yeah,
Keep telling yourself that…
As long as it isn’t aimed at them, why should they?
Regards,
Shodan
You just haven’t been paying attention. We have had several posters, notably Der Trihs, The Second Stone, and Habeed, complain bitterly about the anti-left-wing bias by the mods.
Actually, it’s the most biased posters, on both the left and the right, that claim that the mods are biased against them. That’s the most consistent pattern.
Yes, I HAVE been paying attention.
Unless you HAVE numbers, you are just talking outa your behind like everyone else.
This board almost definitely leans liberal IMO, both in the membership and the mods. As Shodan and some others have pointed out, it is almost going to be a given that the moderation is going to lean that way.
Sure, you guys and gals and claim otherwise but IMO you are just fooling yourselves. And as Shodan and other’s have pointed out there probably is no other way to fix that.
It is what it is.
And for that matter, if this was a right leaning board, it would probably be the same way.
I’m conservative. But I have the self awareness to realize I am probably biased. It’s the nature of the beast. But what do I know…I’m not some self enlightened liberal…
PS…was it you that ignored my last reported post lately?
There are a lot of people who just know that the moderators here are biased, because it’s obvious (well, according to them). However, the last time this came up, I proposed a simple experiment. Post the bias of each moderator, and show something from the board to back it up. I set the bar pretty low (though a bit higher than just “I know it to be true because I feel it”). All anyone had to do was find something in that moderator’s posting history from their entire time on the SDMB that showed their political leanings. It could be anything, any kind of comment in any kind of post. Like I said, I set the bar pretty low.
For something that was supposedly obvious, and so many people “just knew”, there were only a few moderators whose political leanings could even be determined. Not only could people not show bias in moderator’s actions, but for most moderators, no one could even determine what that moderator’s actual political beliefs and leanings were.
But people just knows it, so it must be true.
It was a silly experiment.
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.
[As an illustration, imagine a jury in which 4 people are known racists and the other 8 have no identifiable position either way as to racial issues. Do you think that’s an unbiased jury because no one call tell the bias of most members of the jury? Unfortunately obligatory disclaimer: this is not to say that moderating bias is in any way comparable to racism - this is just an illustration of how bias works in group form.]
Shodan’s opinions on this are entirely worthless, since he has repeatedly demonstrated himself to be extremely biased on the issue.
As I said, it’s the most partisan posters, on either side, who perceive bias, because they are the ones who are most biased themselves.
You also seem to be contorting yourself in trying to find bias, as you did in the OP.
Understood that this is a very sensitive subject for you personally. Sorry about that.
Oh baloney.
Shodan’s views on conservative vs liberal bias may be full of baloney because he is is a “conservative”.
His analysis of the dynamics of the situatiion however are pretty fucking insightful IMO.
And another point. There are posters that get butthurt because they got modded. And posters that get upset that the OTHER side didn’t get modded. And then there is the third group. That third group REALLY needs to be listened to IMO.
PS again. You never said whether it was you or another mod that ignored my recently reported post.
Double PS. When push comes to shove I don’t give crap about any “liberal” bias here. I just know to watch it a bit here…but it IS funny as hell to watch the self congradulatory circle jerk around here.
The only post report I see in the system from you in 2016 so far is one in Great Debates that was reported on 2/7. Is this the post that you are referring to? Any moderation actions (or inactions) would have been done by the moderators of that forum (tomndebb, Gaudere, Jonathan Chance).
That’s probably it.
Apparently it WASN"T Colibri that dropped the ball on that one. So, my apologies to him for that implication.
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…
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?
[Bolding mine]
You’re a customer?
It’s not part of our standard procedure to respond personally to the originator of all post reports.Some moderators will send a response if they think no action is necessary, others don’t. I personally don’t.
Most forums also have more than one moderator, so while one moderator might not see any need for action, another mod might.
As always, if you have a question about why something was moderated the way it was, or wasn’t moderated at all, feel free to contact us. You can send us a PM or you can report the post again and ask for an explanation.