I’m not smart enough to know what this means.
The Mods I believe are correct in that it is Junior Modding.
However, it possibly raises the issue of the rule about Junior Modding- is it that bad that a poster tells another to “dial it back”? In the past it was always acknowledged that Mods can’t see every post so it would seem a comment such as that “could” be helpful. Of course if it escalates the Mods can always invoke “don’t be a jerk” which seems to cover all anyway.
Of course, if it is an essential platform of enforcing the rules I don’t have an argument.
The Mods may not be able to see every post, but any post can be reported.
Acknowledged - and Dex always maintained he’d prefer a post to be reported often than not at all- but I don’t think you are answering the main point I raised.
What was your main point?
This is a stupid note as is the whole concept of junior modding. If a poster is too dumb to notice that another poster doesn’t have a moderator title, that’s on them.
Junior modding is really just a variety of being a jerk. It’s jerkish to use phrasing that looks like you’re telling another poster what to do when you don’t have that authority.
Whereas if they’re smart enough to notice it, it just pointlessly inflames the argument. Now on top of whatever jerkishness and ill intent is already going on, you add a layer of unproductive kvetching about junior modding and not junior modding.
If you’re here for actual discussion, that’s unhelpful. If you’re not, why are you here?
JohnT’s use of dial it back looks to me like a shorter way of saying what LHoD said to TokyoBayer in the thread about his warning a little bit ago. Something to the effect of, “the way in which you are responding to me is unpleasant and I’m not interested in continuing the conversation”. Now maybe you think everything could be couched in lots of touchy-feely therapist language, but I think it should be ok to be blunt sometimes.
It rather looks to me like the only reason this became an issue is because the mods like to use dial it back when they’re modding. I expect soon no one will be able to clear their throat either.
It doesn’t come off like that at all to me.
If JohnT had said “dial it back or I’m not interested in continuing this conversation”, that would have been fine. But just saying “dial it back” (and nothing else) comes off as an instruction about what someone else can or can’t post. Users cannot issue instructions to other users. That’s why it was noted for junior modding.
It’s not that it is “magic words” that we moderators use or that it’s too blunt. It’s issuing an instruction to another user. If what you intend to say is “dial it back or I’m not talking to you any more” then say that. That doesn’t come off as junior modding.
This post is so full of logical knots, non sequiturs and random kvetching that I don’t know where to start.
Perhaps I’ll just leave it at this:
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there’s no general privilege yo “be blunt” that’s a free pass to break rules
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“being blunt” and telling someone else what they can or can’t say have nothing to do with each other
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there’s no particular virtue to “being blunt” if what you mean by that is rude, presumptuous, and bullying language
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“touchy-feely” language is not required to avoid telling someone else what they can or can’t say
It’s very clear to me that the “Dial it back” that was modded was junior nodding, it was jerkish behavior, and nothing about that phrasing was necessary in order to communicate bluntly.
The rules of this board say that you don’t get to tell other posters what they can say and “dial it back” is unambiguously telling someone else what he or she can’t say. It’s as simple as that.
Whatever. It just seems incredibly petty that this is what gets everyone all wound up.
OK, so I’m putting on my nit-pickers hat. I’m not trying to be snarky, either. Help me fight ignorance.
Is the decision not to allow “dial it back” based on the words themselves, or their intent? Because I’ve seen admonishment when others have used, “Lighten up, Francis.”
Are we going to end up creating a list of verboten phrases because they all have an intent of junior modding?
[ul]
[li]Dial it back[/li][li]Lighten up, Francis[/li][li]Put a sock in it[/li][li]…[/li][/ul]
The phrase “dial it back” itself isn’t forbidden. The phrase (alone, without any sort of modifiers) comes off as a command, so in most cases, using it will come across as an attempt to tell others what they can or can’t post, which would be junior modding. However, I’m quite sure there are ways of using the phrase that wouldn’t be a command to another user, and therefore wouldn’t be moderated.
Same for other items on your list. “Lighten up, Francis” almost always comes across as being a jerk, but I’m sure there are ways to use it that would be more humorous than jerkish.
I think it would be rather silly and counterproductive to try and come up with any sort of list. It all matters in how the phrase was used.
Most of the time it’s just going to get you a mod note anyway, so we’re generally not talking about something severe enough to generate a warning.
Chill, bitch?
If you ask me - I mean, not that anyone did, but supposing someone had - the moderators are taking themselves way too seriously with all this junior modding stuff.
The proper objection to junior modding is where a non-moderator purports to tell someone else what the forum rules are. Forum rules are the purview of the moderators, and unauthorized instructions confuse things.
But that doesn’t mean that a non-moderator shouldn’t be able to tell someone else “what you’re doing is not constructive in this particular conversation”, with no reference to any SDMB rules but simply as one person to another.
Rotate it in reverse?
Adjust it aftward?
*Frankly, I don’t think your post is constructive in this particular conversation. An emotional response is not the same as a reasoned argument. *
The mods can comment on that, but I wouldn’t call that junior mod’ing.
ETA: My response was to F-P.
Nm
Thank you. This is what I was looking on on this. The moment a list is created everyone starts testing the limits with other phrases. The all-encompassing “Don’t be a jerk,” admonishment should stymie the game-playing.