I had assumed the rules there were the same as in Great Debates since the subforum was split off from there, so I’m confused because I’ve seen thread after thread in Elections hijacked with off topic garbage and I’ve not seen any moderation taking place. Many of the existing threads did have hundreds of posts, so I thought perhaps those threads were allowed to drift and the introduction of new subjects was being intentionally ignored by the moderators, but this recent thread is headed down the same path.
Is the Elections subforum a free-for-all or should I be reporting hijacks? What rules apply in the Elections subforum?
I am the backup moderator in that forum, and I usually let Marley do most of the heavy lifting, since I’m just the backup – but I did finally step in on one thread in there this morning, and I’m going to continue to do so.
Yes, the rules are pretty much the same as GD. Please continue to report disruptive and off-topic posts, and we’ll start dealing with them more promptly and more firmly.
Thanks for your concern,
twickster, Elections moderator
Assistant deputy backup courier Rhythmdvl thanks you.
That’s a good start, but it isn’t sufficient.
A full reboot is required. Close down every single thread, since they’ve all been derailed by Recovering Republican singlehandedly. None of the long-running threads have anything to do with their titles, and all have become Tourette’s-like repetition of off-topic posts.
(Pit thread for those who want more info. Like many people there, I don’t have an ignore list, but I refuse to waste my time with responses. That effectively puts the entire forum off-limits.)
Once the current threads are closed, then you can start monitoring for behavior. Some topic drift is inevitable, but whenever a thread stops talking about the Republican candidate in the title and becomes anti-Obama glurge, you need to step in and call a halt, either by warning the offenders or closing the thread. Rinse. Repeat as often as necessary.
Because someone out there will misunderstand this, the obligatory “I don’t care whether you critique Obama and every single one of his policies as long as you do so in proper context and not turn the thread into nothing else.” There is a whole 'nother forum to do exactly that.
Moderators, stop being invisible and start moderating.
Thanks for the recommendation, Exapno – Marley and I will discuss.
What about instead of closing you re-post the OP (or a cut version of it) with mod instructions to stay reasonably on topic and to take comments regarding the major derailment to another thread?
To answer the main question in the thread: yes, the rules in Elections are the same as in GD.
Recovering Republican has been mod-noted several times for taking threads off topic (although it usually takes two people or more to get a hijack going) and warned once. If a firmer hand is needed, that’s where things will go from now on. Today or tomorrow morning I will review the last couple of days of posts in the Elections forum threads.
Thanks for the responses, I really wasn’t sure if that subforum was being handled differently with rules more like the BBQ Pit or something in between. I’m aware that not all tangents are off topic enough to require moderator intervention, but knowing that the same rules as GD apply I’ll start reporting hijacks when I notice them and hopefully other people will bring problematic posts to the moderator’s attention as well. I was enjoying reading (and posting occasionally) in that subforum until recently and I’d imagine that subforum will get more traffic as the election cycle deepens.