# Junior Modding **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 10, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802 "2020-12-10T23:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/1 "2020-12-10T23:05:00Z")
Now that we have a new board and new Mods, I would like clarification on a answer I got years ago. Is a polite request to get back to the OP considered Junior Modding now? That was Ok in the past but I would like a clarification. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/2 "2020-12-11T01:04:59Z")
Was this your thread, or someone else’s that you wanted to control? ---
**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:** [December 11, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/3 "2020-12-11T02:12:47Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Now that we have a new board and new Mods, I would like clarification on a answer I got years ago. > > Is a polite request to get back to the OP considered Junior Modding now? Assuming that your are talking about this post: > [@Explain the Sad Puppies (Science Fiction Controversy)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-sad-puppies-science-fiction-controversy/927019/207): > > Guys, can we get back to the OP, please? And that you were modded for it by a new mod: > [@Explain the Sad Puppies (Science Fiction Controversy)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-sad-puppies-science-fiction-controversy/927019/211): > > Modhat: Please avoid Jr. Modding. This is The Café and the question has been answered. The answer really should be self evident. As with other moderation, the context needs to be taken into account. That was a very long thread in which the OP had already been answered. After 200 posts some thread drift can be expected. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/4 "2020-12-11T02:20:43Z")
As a reader, I’m far likelier to respond positively to something like this: > [@](#): > > Getting back to the OP, I have some insight into the Sad Puppy debacle, given my close personal friendship with their leader. Here’s that story… > > (Also, that stuff about Warhammer is super-cool–maybe it’d do better in its own thread?) That suggests that you want to get back to the OP because you have something significant to add, and aren’t just fussing at people who are enjoying the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/5 "2020-12-11T02:23:23Z")
It was my thread. I’m not the one who reported it, for the record. I have appreciated every post in that thread, both on - topic and off. It reminds me why I love science fiction. But I was not bothered by the polite request to get it back on track. ---
**Author:** ![FigNorton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fignorton/32/5619_2.png) [@FigNorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FigNorton)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/6 "2020-12-11T02:58:39Z")
This isn’t criticism\* but it is funny that a couple of the top topics in this category are about the same mod discouraging a hijack in one thread and defending hijacks in the other. \*I do see there are different spelled out rules for each category. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/7 "2020-12-11T03:34:28Z")
Not specifically no. And sure, I wouldnt expect a Mod to step in and warn everyone for a hijack, thread drifts happen. But that wasnt the question. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2020, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/8 "2020-12-11T03:36:56Z")
ditto ~Max ---
**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:** [December 11, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/9 "2020-12-11T03:59:16Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But that wasnt the question. But you’ve been here long enough to know that there is no possible general answer to a question as vague as yours. As I said, context matters. What might be OK in some circumstances might not be in others. > [@FigNorton](#): > > \*I do see there are different spelled out rules for each category. To the point, one thread is in Great Debates, where a focused discussion is preferred. The other is in Cafe Society, which is much more chatty, and people are freer to just shoot the breeze. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/10 "2020-12-11T04:17:44Z")
I agree with @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness that your request could have been phrased better, perhaps along the lines he demonstrated; but I was one of the hijackers of that thread, and I didn’t read your comment as snippy or snarky at all. However, @Spice_Weasel was another eager participant in the Bujold hijack, and, as she was the OP, that seemed to give tacit permission for the conversation to veer off into the Vorkosiganverse. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/11 "2020-12-11T04:20:18Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But that wasnt the question. So you are politely requesting to get back to the topic of polite requests to get back the topic? ---
**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:** [December 11, 2020, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/12 "2020-12-11T12:13:30Z")
Yes, it’s not just the request, it’s the phrasing - it almost comes across as issuing an instruction, really, and for a thread that one wasn’t even the OP for. FTR, I _did_ report it. If one wanted to discuss the OP, one could just go back to discussing the OP, no need to harsh everyone else’s buzz. It’s the Cafe, not GD or GQ. Or use the flag button. Although I suspect the _real_ reason was given in this followup post: > [@Explain the Sad Puppies (Science Fiction Controversy)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-sad-puppies-science-fiction-controversy/927019/213): > > Well, since the train has left the tracks anyway, I just want to state that I wont have anything to do with Warhammer due to Games Workshops unscrupulous and unethical business practices. i.e. it wasn’t that a hijack was happening, but the subject of that hijack, that was the problem for the OP. People were having _the wrong kind of fun_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/13 "2020-12-12T04:52:34Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > i.e. it wasn’t that a hijack was happening, but the subject of that hijack, that was the problem for the OP. People were having _the wrong kind of fun_ . Except that i thought I made this clear- my OP has _nothing whatsoever to do with that thread._ It was a general request for a clarification. Not related at all to that thread. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/14 "2020-12-12T04:58:57Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Except that i thought I made this clear- my OP has _nothing whatsoever to do with that thread._ Whatever your intent, it _does_ have something to with that thread, since that thread is an example of it. And therefore something that could quite reasonably be discussed to elucidate the general principle. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2020, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/15 "2020-12-12T07:51:48Z")
_Sure_, buddy. Nothing at all to do with _a current thread where you were noted for junior modding_. This thread was _completely_ “unrelated”. Just a random thing. What a coincidence! Rhetorical question (so no answer required) : Do you really think we’re all _that_ stupid? ---
**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:** [December 12, 2020, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/16 "2020-12-12T09:12:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Except that i thought I made this clear- my OP has _nothing whatsoever to do with that thread._ As clear as welder’s goggles during an eclipse when the power goes out. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/17 "2020-12-12T14:13:21Z")
I’m going to speak to his defense. **DrDeth** thought sometime last year a Mod mentioned in an ATMB thread that a polite nudge to get back to the Op was allowed. I let him know I wasn’t aware of it but that might have been for GD and P&E, but not for ones like The Cafe. He asked about starting this thread and I said it couldn’t hurt, I was interested if anyone found it too. So the inspiration for this thread was from that modnote I guess but it is not directly related to that modnote. I don’t think we have a rule allowing jr. modding even in GD. We have a specific rule that counters it if anything. > [@New Rules for Great Debates and Elections – January 2020](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-rules-for-great-debates-and-elections-january-2020/845726/1): > > **Junior Modding.** It is not the task of posters to enforce the rules. Doing such can derail debate. If you feel a post is breaking a rule, report it and allow staff to determine if this is a issue and how to deal with it. The staff may or may not agree with you. So best to flag threads going off target, choose the Something Else reason and just explain the thread needs a mod to get the thread back on Topic. If a post is glaring as the cause of off-topic, this would be the exception where “off-topic” will work. * * * As **Colibri** answered, Cafe threads will lose focus often after answered and become conversational. That is fine, I do it myself. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Getting back to the OP, I have some insight into the Sad Puppy debacle, given my close personal friendship with their leader. Here’s that story… > > (Also, that stuff about Warhammer is super-cool–maybe it’d do better in its own thread?) IMHO, this is a good example of trying to nudge a thread back to the original focus. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junior-modding/927802/18 "2020-12-12T14:34:54Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > So the inspiration for this thread was from that modnote I guess but it is not directly related to that modnote. That’s a distinction without real difference. This thread would not exist if he wasn’t noted. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > I don’t think we have a rule allowing jr. modding even in GD My comment wasn’t to say that junior modding was allowed in GD or GQ, but that the idea of a thread sticking to the OP was more in keeping with those forums, and not the Cafe. At least, not after the actual OP question was already covered.