# Jim\_B's Note should be upgraded to a Warning at least

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [May 4, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959 "2022-05-04T18:31:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959/101 "2022-05-05T18:03:08Z")

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I’m late to this discussion and I only read the first half of the thread.

One of the **best** things about this board is the rigorous, attentive, intelligent moderation. I’ve been on boards (I’m sure many of you have, too) where there was either no moderation or really dumb/incompetent moderation. Where banning was indiscriminate, personal, mean, and could occur at the whim of a mod with no appeal.

If mods here want to consult with each other before issuing a ruling, that’s a **virtue** and a sign of intelligence and responsible modding. If that slows down the response by a few hours or a couple of days, _geez Louise people_, cut them some slack.

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959/102 "2022-05-05T18:06:46Z")

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> [@Max\_S](#):
>
> You need to work in the words, “no warning this time”.

This is just a WAG, but I wonder if @Aspenglow left out the word “at”. As in, “no warning at this time”. That can certainly be misinterpreted, yes. Because saying “no warning this time” does imply that there is going to be no further moderation, and the mod note will be the end of things. (There **was** an addendum saying, “Further action may follow here after consultation with other MPSIMS staff.”)

But yes, saying “no warning this time” does imply that there won’t be any more than a mod note. Saying “no warning **at** this time” implies that there is no warning yet, but there might be soon.

A minor semantic quibble, but I think a potentially important one.

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**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959/103 "2022-05-05T18:15:41Z")

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That’s entirely possible.

~Max

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**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959/104 "2022-05-05T18:42:17Z")

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My $0.02 on this is refreshingly simple.

Without assigning gender roles, a child does something specifically forbidden.

Parent A is home. Parent B is en route from work.

Parent A tells the child to go to their room, letting the child know that they did something unambiguously wrong, and that – when Parent B gets home – the two parents are going to discuss the infraction, the relevant circumstances surrounding it, any relevant history, and any consequence they feel is appropriate for the transgression.

To me, that’s close enough to what played out here. I think the system worked, and worked well.

Kudos to the mods … again.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959/105 "2022-05-05T20:00:22Z")

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If _that_ was what Miller intended to convey in his first reply, he failed. He _later_ clarified that it was, of course, so you’re hardly telling me anything I don’t already know.

But why miss out on the circling, right? Not like there aren’t _other_ ATMB threads that could have used this enthusiastic level of all-mods-on-deck input…two weeks ago.

> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> If that slows down the response by a few hours or a couple of days, _geez Louise people_ , cut them some slack.

After more than a couple of days, we get the “too late to issue a warning now” arguments. So _some_ timeliness is good.

> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> Because saying “no warning this time” does imply that there is going to be no further moderation, and the mod note will be the end of things.

My reading of it was that Aspenglow, at any rate, wasn’t going to issue _or advocate for_ a warning.

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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959/106 "2022-05-05T20:24:48Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> No, I don’t think I “must” respect that a mod who’s been one for almost a year is paralyzed with inaction over such an _obvious_ call. One does not entail the other.
> 
> It speaks of a culture of fear of criticism in the mod staff against using their own initiative to take action against super-obvious trolls and jerks. So much for new brooms.

Hmm, why would the Mods be afraid of criticism?

And yeah, it _was_ a criticism of **Aspenglow** ’s moderation, and that first line is another one.

> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#):
>
> If Aspenglow wants to consult with the Galactic Senate before deciding on precisely what actions to take about said hate speech, that’s her prerogative.
> 
> In the future, I hope she’ll feel more comfortable going full stompy jackboots with the best of them, but it’s not **my** prerogative to arbitrate her comfort level.

Yep. exactly.

> [@Martin\_Hyde](#):
>
> to be honest I see @MrDibble 's reaction here as a reason for mods to be less open about their thinking behind their decisions. @Aspenglow was honest about her process she went through making the decision, and is basically being called out (even if it’s not intended to be individually targeted but targeted at “mod culture”) because of how she _thought about the issue_ , with the expectation being she should have been able to act quickly without thinking.

Yeah, this is correct.

> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> If you think that’s what’s happened in _this_ thread, your threshold is low.

It is clear to me that is exactly what you have done and continue to do here.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959/107 "2022-05-05T20:31:06Z")

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bs-note-should-be-upgraded-to-a-warning-at-least/963959/108 "2022-05-05T20:31:10Z")

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**Moderator Action**

Since the original issue of this thread has been resolved, and @MrDibble is now bringing issues from other threads into this, I think it’s best to close this before @MrDibble manages to turn this into a general thread about every single thing that he dislikes about the moderation here (which is obviously a very long list).

If anyone has a compelling reason to re-open this thread, send me a PM.

Thread closed.

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