Like the others, I would appreciate a combination of re-opening and thread bans for the problem children.
Otherwise, if someone starts another Musk thread, the same thing would happen and Musk, Twitter, and the fate of the universe could not be discussed on the SDMB, which would be unfortunate.
But that’s the job you agreed to take on. If you’re not willing to keep a thread on track that the vast majority of responders here think is worthwhile, then you’re not doing your job.
Yeah–I’d be happier if it were reopened and the folks who were getting snippy either got threadbanned or at mildest one-more-chanced-before-warning-and-threadbanned. There’s definitely a lot of interesting stuff there, and even while the thread’s been closed there’s been significant updates in Musk’s wacky Twitter adventure.
None of which I’ve seen. Because the thread was closed.
That comment is unfair to What_Exit.
It’s a job we agreed to take on within reason. These are unpaid positions, and there is a limit to how much time and effort any mod should have to exert to keep a thread on track. The threads are fast-moving. We just finished a long weekend, and even mods like to spend time with their families and friends when the opportunities present themselves.
I think what you advocate is going to make it even harder going forward to get folks who are willing to give their time to moderator efforts. @What_Exit puts in a lot of time already here.
Ooooh, please tell!
Me too, on reopening the twitter thread. It has been fascinating, even if I frequently don’t understand all the legal/financial niceties and especially what is/isn’t the proper way to judge programming.
BTW, besides thread and full-on banning, can the mods do time-out type bans? You know, tell a misbehaver to go sit quietly in the corner for a bit? That would give more options – one day, then two day, then a week of no posting if they keep being bad? But only if it can be automagicked, too much of a burden for a mod to have to remember when to come back and change their settings back when their sentence is over.
Absolutely a fair comment, though now we’re going rather far off topic. My motivation in posting the OP was not at all to criticize @What_Exit – whose judgments I mostly agree with – but simply to express the straightforward message that I think closing the thread was the wrong call. I guess my position on this is that if a thread is becoming combative, closing it is certainly the easiest option to deal with it, but an even easier option if time is short and you’d rather be spending time with family is … not dealing with it at all for the moment, instead of depriving posters of the ability to share further news and thoughts on a particular topic. Unless it’s exceptionally toxic, which this thread certainly was not.
ETA: Among the many things going on since the thread was closed, that we haven’t been able to discuss …
If the thread is reopened – and that’s up to others, not me – I will help watch the thread. But if it is, my moderation will be strict. As will the other IMHO mods, I suspect.
I just reviewed the thread and there were 5 mod notes for personal attacks. That should be more than enough for people to pay heed.
I think thread bans for those who continue to disrupt are appropriate. But just so you know, thread bans require a fair bit of documentation on our part.
I don’t think any mod should have to babysit a thread, just pay attention to flags. At some point, posters need to take responsibility for the content they post, as well as look for and take mod notes seriously.
I found the thread useful as a lurker. It went off the rails with that stupid sidetrack about “What does Sam Stone know about the number 88 and when did he know it!?” But that could be solved with a mod note to leave that topic for the pit and treat the Twitter thread as a breaking news thread, which you mods do an excellent job keeping on track.
The thread was derailed by the usual suspects who can’t just be happy keeping their petty crap in their stupid “gotcha” long running pit thread about a single poster. The posts should be memory holed and the posters banned from the thread.
Wrong, someone asked for special attention paid to the thread. That is what I’m not willing to give that thread unlike the Ukraine thread or some Gun threads.
Closing that problem child of a thread was doing my job.
Wrong, it was closed by people harping and harassing the few posters trying to defend Musk a little. One of my favorite posters was among the worst at attacking other posters.
The so-called gotchas were not a major issue in that thread.
You folks have no problem at all handing out warnings awfully damn quick when it suits your purposes. Why not warn the offenders and be done with it?
I agree. But doing so would be a moderation choice, not something forced from the outside. It’s a choice to decide that waiting on reports won’t deal with problems fast enough. I’m not saying that judgement is incorrect, but that it is still a choice.
The part that made me sympathetic to @wolfpup’s post is the implication that a moderation decision would be based on what the mods feel like dealing with, rather than principle.
IMHO, we shouldn’t have a board where certain ongoing topics can’t be discussed because some posters can’t behave well enough. I would rather the thread continue but have posts that are slow to be modded (or even missed altogether). I’d rather have posters thread banned or even topic banned.
As for tightening moderation: I think mod instructions to everyone would help. Tell us what we should report. Tell us what we should not report. Let those who like the thread do the babysitting.
Boy that first sentence doesn’t say all so much about the sincerity of the second.
As a wiser Calamari once noted,
Exactly. I loved that thread!
Nert Dern Yer JERB!!!
Maybe step away from the keyboard. Have a deep breath. A drink. What have you.
I should add that while I was a huge fan of that thread and wish it hadn’t been closed, I don’t want to disrespect What_Exit or any other mod. Having been a moderator myself on another board, I know how thankless the job is. I’m assuming that thread closure seemed like the only practical solution because too many reports were coming in.
Among the other suggested solutions that don’t involve locking the thread, could it be moved to the Pit? Let’s face it, any thread about Elon Musk is going to attract heated commentary eventually, even if it’s technically for breaking news.
Yeah, I agree. As a site user, I figure I can put in a suggestion–but it ain’t my job to tell the volunteer mods what their job is.
I appreciate the work you’re putting in, @What_Exit, and understand what a hot mess that thread was turning into. If you or someone else is willing to reopen it, I think there’s a place for the thread.