I was just perusing a comment about a trainwrecked thread. There was note made that a Moderator had posted a warning. A member said they had been caught up in the frequent postings and hadn’t seen the warning.
That’s not a good excuse, just an observation. But I got to thinking, what might help with situations in which a Moderator issues official statements?
What if the Moderator dons their cap and highlights their warning in red? This might be easier to spot when a poster wants to skim a thread quickly and see if there is anything official to note.
The downside is that this is more work for the Moderator. Not too much since it’s a {COLOR=Red}…{/COLOR} addition. The bigger downside would that it would deduct even more responsibility from us for checking for official statements. “Oh, but I scanned the thread and didn’t see anything red.” or worse, a Moderated message doesn’t get marked red and this is seen as a loophole. But don’t worry, a regular member would never think of marking anything in red just to ensure that all posters and lurkers read their erudite musings.
[Coffee Talk with Linda Richman] Discuss amongst yourselves. [/ Coffee Talk with Linda Richman]
Not to be short with you here, but that’s not asking a lot. We shouldn’t have to hold your hand, treat people like they were handicapped, wipe their–well, you get the idea here.
If you’re in such a red hot hurry that you can’t be bothered to read the whole thread then maybe you shouldn’t be posting just yet. Slow down. Take a deep breath. Read. Grok. Then post.
I think all members should be required when they see a moderator posting as a moderator to take out a yellow highlighter pen and color their computer screens yellow to highlight the post on their screen.
Many of us have gone from CRT to LCD. This simplifies things.
Take an X-Acto knife, carefully carve out the Moderator’s comments from the LCD display where you see them and keep them in a pile on your desk next to the plate of snickerdoodles. Then, when you’re feeling like you’re about to post something inappropriate, you’ll have a pre-cut selection of warnings already on hand !!
Actually, I think that at least using all caps or colors or something at the start of a Moderator message might be helpful, like WARNING or Official Warning or something of the sort. Especially in long threads, or where the moderator hasn’t taken action until many, many posts after the offense (sometimes happens.) I don’t like the idea of colouring the whole post, I think that would be distracting and annoying to most readers, but I could see doing something to add some visual emphasis … I’ll bring it up for discussion.
Tuba, I don’t see why your first reaction to the suggestion is an automatic slap down.
If you’re in such a red hot hurry that you can’t be bothered to highlight the whole warning then maybe you shouldn’t be warning just yet. Slow down. Take a deep breath. Read. Grok. Then warn.
In one of the fastest Moderator discussions on record, most mods say they already do something to call attention to their moderating posts – a sig, like Cajun Man, a title to the post, whatever. Highlighting is visually annoying, and sometimes our warnings are meant to be soft and gentle rather than RED AND HARSH.
It’s just one more thing to remember to do. The task of warning someone is more than just posting; it’s also checking the back record, recording the current warning, etc. It’s enough to do without having to remember a specific format. And the membership is fairly divided on this. I used to begin each Moderator note with something like
and I got pitted for it. on the grounds (IIRC) that readers can read, and don’t need moderators calling attention to their posts that way. Kinda the opposite of this thread, methinks.
So, clear decision in favor of freedom of expression. Each Moderator can do as they choose, without the need to follow a pre-determined format. (Wait, can free speech apply to moderators, too? Sheesh.)
Dex, I can see how it’s hard for you guys to please anyone around here.
Therefore, I propose you guys conduct an email poll of all members, asking how they prefer moderators to note “official mod presence” in a thread.
Then whenever a mod has to address a specific poster, he/she will be able to check how the member responded in the poll, and the mod can mark his/her “official mod presence” accordingly.
In addition, I’d like to propose the Reader sponsor weekly massages for all current Charter Members, as well as an occasional steak dinner followed by a session of oral love-making with the mod/admin of our choice.
And now, so that you don’t need to include me in your email poll, I will give you my preference should you ever have to address me in “official mod mode:” Please post in bold, green, underlined text. I find the green pleasing to the eye, the bold text easy to spot, and the underlining very commanding (which is also very sexy, and will no doubt earn you points when the time comes for me to pick which one of you will be part of the session mentioned in the previous paragraph.)
Even if the Moderators highlight what they are saying, the person being warned may not go back to the thread to even see that they have been warned.
Is there any ‘private notification’ feature, that, when a Moderator warns a member, the warning is also sent via this ‘private notification’ to the member, so there is no doubt they saw it?
It seems that vBulletin has a ‘private message’ feature, but when I try it, it gives me the error message “You have turned off private messages. You may not view or send private messages until you turn them on by editing your profile.”
Is the private message feature turned off for the SDMB? If yes, it can be turned on only for mods.
Well, I didn’t quite comprehend everything said here. Irregardless … {snicker}
I was annoyed momentarily because I had read some stuff and comprehended. That’s why I asked the question and put the bug in your ear (gotta watch the spelling on That phrase!) :eek: TubaDiva’s second paragraph softened that.
What’s always difficult to tell (in email and posts) when a suggestion is made that someone else take action is - how strong that statement is. Is it chastising or jovial? Is it thought provoking or snide? My posts are almost always meant to invoke a “hmmm” along with an exagerrated joking response that hints at the limits. I think it went well this time. I also wanted to post a bit since I feel I lurk too much and don’t comment enough.
As to Happy Lendervedder’s suggestion - I would like my warnings to include a picture of Cthulhu.
I think it’s best not to do too much handholding. Make posters accountable for posting in context and comprehending the conversation. I was also not advocating a set style. That would be too much work and too error prone. I like the [Moderator Hat] and BLAM! statements. Noticeable notices that get noticed. Since C K Dexter Haven notes that most mods already work to call attention to their mod posts, then “my work here is done.” n (does that look like a hat’s off?)
{snicker}
n (does that look like a hat’s off?)
