Is this appropriate moderation?
From this thread: https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=634302&page=2
Post that received the warning (#75):
Warning (#88):
I think it’s bad form to warn a poster for calling someone else stupid while backhandedly calling them stupid.
Par for the course. (manhattan was a mod at the time)
That said, TPTB do tend go easier on newbies, which Smid is not.
Don’t think I could get upset about this one even if there were money in it for me.
Yeah, but it always seemed to me that that snarky style of modding had died out.
I agree it isn’t particularly insulting, but I do think mods should be held to, at minimum, the same standards as posters. And I don’t think a poster would be able to reply to a poster asking who was stupid by saying “you.”
I’m fine with throwing a little snark into moderation occasionally. This isn’t a “quit having fun guys” post. Just not a fan of mods calling people stupid.
Am I reading this right? In 2011, morbo called some fictional characters stupid. In 2019, smid called him stupid. Chronos moderated this with a little snark.
I’m pretty okay with that moderation (although I probably would’ve done a note, not a warning).
Mods can call posters for trolling even though it’s forbidden for non-mods to do so.
As far back as I remember, mods have been allowed to say things out loud that the rest of us can only think. That includes saying that something is stupid.
There’s nothing wrong with that moderation. It was good moderation.
I don’t see anything wrong with the moderator there, give it a rest.
Yeah, I thought it was OK moderation, too. That’s why people won’t become mods. They get picked on for every little thing.
Looks Ok to me, sound moderation.
I concur, just straight-up call the warned poster stupid! They don’t the mods various types of jackboots for nothing.
CMC fnord!
Vulgar things too? Violent ones even? Where do you draw the line?
Of course Smid deserved the warning but the way it was issued makes me feel the fight against ignorance made one step back here.
My mama always said, stupid is as stupid does.
Looks like a good moderation to me, too.
I’m sorry Wrenching Spanners, but I think this particular warning was quite tasteful.
~Max
Vigilantism may be popular in the West but I for one find it distasteful when mob justice is stirred and led by the sheriff himself.
Was the mod wrong? Probably. Was that last comment a bit extreme? Definitely.
I don’t know. Maybe the boards have changed since you joined. But nothing about that comment struck me as extreme or unusual. I’ve seen numerous mods call a poster stupid for being stupid. As I said, they can call a troll a troll and a jerk a jerk. Describing the offense has to be allowed.
Nor do I think that slippery slope arguments apply. In the eighteen years I’ve been reading mods I’ve never seen behavior go beyond describing the offense. No name calling, no abuse. The line has always been apparent, and this doesn’t cross it.
This post should consider decaf.
Even if it was me I would almost appreciate the snark and learn from it more than some sugar-coated just-the-facts-mam kind of response or note. I wouldn’t want every moderation to be like this but in context and considering the players it may almost be picture perfect.