In this thread and this post, moderator Idle Thoughts clamped down on a particular post. I think the moderation was too broad. Instead of “Don’t post this way,” a better response would have been “Tone it down a notch.”
The actual content of the objectionable post was valid and relevant, just a bit too strident.
[Answering as mod]Usually I am like that and agree with you, pretty much, that that’s how it should be said most of the time.
I was harder than usual with that note, though, because–being a new poster with only 3 posts–it seemed more like an over-the-top, exaggerated attempt in posting to get a reaction rather than an honest opinion being posted.
I was making it clear that type of behavior wouldn’t go far here.
This is the forum for comments about moderators. I had a comment to make, and I made it.
Interesting point; I didn’t notice he was new. Anyway, not an earth-shattering dissent, just something that struck me as worthy of posting about. (Just typoed “posing about.” I promise not to do that!)
But, then, it’s an opinion forum. “My Humble Opinion.” It wasn’t expressed humbly, and for that deserved a rebuke. But having an agenda is part and parcel of having an opinion.
The IMHO forum is more refined and genteel than the Great Debates forum. (And then there’s the Pit…) Moderating for gentility, yes. Moderating against being opinionated? Negates that point, doesn’t it?
Well, there are agendas, and then there are agendas. I meant, as Idle Thoughts put it, “an over-the-top, exaggerated attempt in posting to get a reaction rather than an honest opinion being posted.” There’s a word for that, but it can only be used in the Pit.
Idle Thoughts was spot on with that mod note. As I was reading that post, my eyes were rolling so hard I gave myself a headache (and I actually agree with the point that poster was making; I’m no fan of republicans/conservatives in America). I am glad it got a note, and a harsh one at that.
From the OP, I was completely unprepared for how moderate the actual moderation was:
(emphasis mine)
I count three places where the moderator’s note is very specific about the problem, where the OP here led me to expect a much more generalized smack-down. I would very much have characterized this as a “tone it down” type note than a “don’t post this way” type. The latter characterization had me expecting something like, “You’re new here, so you’ve got time to stop being a jerk. But not much.”