# What has happened to timely moderation here? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 4, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646 "2011-05-04T01:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/1 "2011-05-04T01:29:50Z")
This [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=607093), in the Pit, has had the address of the criminals _in its title_ for some seven hours now. The Pit mods have not dealt with it. Ok, there are only two of them. Do no other mods read the Pit? The inclusion of their address is the thread title is as blatant a call to action as I’ve ever seen, and I would have expected that this would have been fixed by the very first moderator to spot it. If the SDMB is at the point where leaving a forum unmoderated for hours–even days–at a time is fine, and if it’s gotten to the point where moderators of different forums are uncomfortable in performing no-brainer moderation of forums that they are not assigned to, something is wrong here. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/2 "2011-05-04T01:33:31Z")
No, mods don’t necessarily read forums they don’t moderate. I assume you reported the post. Did you email any other of your other former colleagues to bring this to their attention? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/3 "2011-05-04T01:34:18Z")
The address is in the linked news report. Amusingly\*, it’s wrong in the thread title. Are you saying we’re not allowed to say things in the Pit that can be said in news reports? \*For small values of amusing ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/4 "2011-05-04T01:46:49Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > No, mods don’t necessarily read forums they don’t moderate. I assume you reported the post. Did you email any other of your other former colleagues to bring this to their attention? I did report the thread. I did not PM or email other mods at random. Most of the mods here now post-date my tenure, and I see no reason that they would consider my opinion via email to have any greater validity than a reporting of the post. Which I did. I’ll note that my reporting of posts has had little effect or response lately. Therefore, I’ve assumed that the culture of moderation has changed since my time. Or the mods figure I’m an asshole. No big deal, in general. Things change; that’s life. This was a bigger deal to me, and, I would hope, the SDMB, than most of my reports. Thank you, or whoever, for editing the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/5 "2011-05-04T01:52:05Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Are you saying we’re not allowed to say things in the Pit that can be said in news reports? In fact, yes. This is a settled rule. Posters are not allowed to provide contact information in a call for action, but are allowed to link to a site that may contain such information. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/6 "2011-05-04T01:57:37Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > In fact, yes. This is a settled rule. Posters are not allowed to provide contact information in a call for action, but are allowed to link to a site that may contain such information. Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/7 "2011-05-04T04:14:39Z")
I’ll cop to the blame on this one. I checked the forums around noon, and didn’t notice the thread. I was offline for the rest of the day, and so didn’t see your thread report until just now. Sorry - sometimes these gaps in coverage happen. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/8 "2011-05-04T04:29:12Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’ll cop to the blame on this one. I checked the forums around noon, and didn’t notice the thread. I was offline for the rest of the day, and so didn’t see your thread report until just now. Sorry - sometimes these gaps in coverage happen. Well, those people are dead now because of you. I hope you’re happy. :mad: ---
**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:** [May 4, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/9 "2011-05-04T04:57:21Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I did not PM or email other mods at random. You do realize that you can check to see who’s on line pretty easily, don’t you? I didn’t notice the thread. If you had e-mailed me I would have done something about it. But I guess you didn’t think it was worth it compared to complaining about it. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/10 "2011-05-04T10:30:54Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > In fact, yes. This is a settled rule. Posters are not allowed to provide contact information in a call for action, but are allowed to link to a site that may contain such information. You get that there isn’t a call to action in that thread, though, right? I’d probably have fixed it anyway, but the settled rule doesn’t apply here. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/11 "2011-05-04T10:48:32Z")
Here is the actual Pit rule: > [@](#): > > Do not post contact information (email, phone, mailing address, etc.) to facilitate a campaign for/against a person, group, or issue > > We don’t want the board used to hassle people or groups of people. You can urge people to write their Congressperson or other political leaders, but let people find the contact information themselves. Don’t post it here. > **[Revised Forum Rules for the BBQ Pit: read this before posting](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=507985)** > > The BBQ Pit is the forum for rants about the outside world or quarrels between posters - often the first turns into the second. Although the standards of discourse are looser than in the other forums, the Pit is NOT a free-for-all - you don’t have to... And the general board rule: > [@](#): > > Calls to Action: Threads calling for folks to take actions (political, charitable, personal, etc) are prohibited unless there is prior approval from a moderator or administrator. Do not instigate members to take action for or against any issue or entity. Do not post phone numbers, email addresses or any other personally identifiable information of any entity in this regard. Exceptions for valid and noble causes may be made with the advance permission of a moderator or administrator. [FAQ - Rules for Posting at the Straight Dope Message Boards - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=384736) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-happened-to-timely-moderation-here/580646/12 "2011-05-04T11:31:03Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I did report the thread. > > I did not PM or email other mods at random. Most of the mods here now post-date my tenure, and I see no reason that they would consider my opinion via email to have any greater validity than a reporting of the post. Which I did. Sorry, I was being unnecessarily elliptical. What I was getting at was that, as a former mod, you probably know that mods don’t necessarily read other mods’ forums, and we’re probably not reading the boards for fun in the middle of the day, since a lot of us work regular FT 9-5 jobs. I usually leave a tab with my mod email up during the day, so will see if I get an email (which is how I receive post reports, communications on the mod loop, notices of PMs here, plus regular one-on-one emails from Dopers). I keep an eye on those emails, but on a busy day I don’t visit the boards unless something in one of those emails indicates that I need to. So, no, I didn’t see a problem in the Pit, which is one of my least-visited forums, and I didn’t see a post report in someone else’s forum, but I would have seen a direct email if someone had sent one.