I haven’t seen that many posts edited, and for the most part I think it’s for the benefit of the whole. There have been some links that just got chewed up, and some sites that got rejected due to . . . bad content:)
Honestly, though, there’s a reason there are SO MANY people registered on this board - it is one of the most well-moderated board I’ve ever come across. Granted, I’ve only been perusing boards for five or so years, but I’m only a member of two boards out of the dozen or so I’ve read.
Maybe you should try to be a moderator on here. Tell us how easy it is. Then you can complain, mm’kay?
Welcome Wood Thrush, ssskuggiii, hypergirl, Digitalmuse, monster104, welfy, . . . you get the idea. There are a fair number of underage posters on this board.
While they may be intelligent enough to find hard-core porn on the net, the SDMB will not be a party to such. Besides, in the event that a link is posted and later removed, usually whoever posted it is willing to email the URL to any interested parties.
It is because parents cannot control what their children do and see that the SDMB controls some content. It is illegal to allow access to things such as hard-core porn to those who are under the age of 18 (in the United States). SO while they may be able to get it elsewhere, they won’t get it from here if the moderators have any say.
There are any number of places people can get all sorts of “questionable” material. The SD is not designed for such.
As I said . . . if someone posts a link that’s later removed, you can always ask the OPer for the link. They’re usually happy to oblige.
But this is not a board for displaying links to porn. It never has been, and I seriously doubt it ever will be. As it’s sponsored by the Chicago Reader, such would be illegal.
You do? I don’t see anybody else complaining about it.
Not for nothing, but if it was deleted and by that I’m assuming that you didn’t see it, how can you be the judge of whether it should have been deleted or not? Majority doesn’t rule. This is a privately owned website, and as I said before, the fact that the MB is moderated is one of the facts that you agreed to live by when you signed up.
Warning or not, there is no firewall that keeps children from acessing this site. Yes, it may be easy for them to find disgusting images on the net. But they’re not going to get them from us. (An frankly, if I were a kid looking for that kind of stuff, the threads with the warnings would be the FIRST place I would look!)
Yeah, I agree with you, parents should be aware of what their children are doing on the net. My daughter has her own AOL screenname, but the computer is here in the living room where we can see what she is doing at all times.
Unfortunately, we also live in the real world, and not all parents are responsible for their kids. We, at The Straight Dope have a responsibility and a presence on the web that we want people to respect. If word gets out amongst the less than responsible kids that they can pick up porno or other less than seemly images from OUR website … well, that’s the kind of publicity that we don’t need.
And like I said before; we are an adult site and many of the things we discuss are of an adult nature. But kids do come in, and while we can’t (and shouldn’t) control what they access on the web, we do have to be responsible for they can access through our site, at least.
[Edited by Eutychus55 on 09-29-2000 at 08:07 PM]
Ok, so since you ** personally ** can’t recall any deleted item that didn’t have a remark in front, that means it never happened??? One of the threads that I alluded to in my first response, said simply “click here” and a link. Which then opened to a site that caused a bunch of new windows to open, wouldn’t let you close them, and at least 3 of us (the ones who posted) had to re-boot our computers to get them off. A BIG thank you to the mods for deleting that little gem.
And, regarding your “self editing” mode - The problem is that SOME of these posters didn’t “self edit” before posting - in that they posted links that were a clear infraction of the user agreement. THOSE threads were deleted. I personally get enough spam in my mailbox without finding more when I open threads here, thank you. So another big THANK YOU to the mods for deleting those and taking steps to insure they don’t happen again.
You aren’t required to like the rules here. You aren’t required to post here. However, if you CHOOSE to post here, you ARE required to follow the simple rules here.
Ummm, what? Since you’re the one bitching, I would think it’s the opposite. I assume you read the terms when you signed up. If you want unmoderated, go to usenet. The signal-to-noise ratio makes it pretty tough to find anything useful most of the time, though.
Another Teeming Million (hmm, shouldn’t that be a Teeming Single?) that doesn’t have a problem with moderation. The rules are very clear. The mods just enforce them. I agree that you can usually figure out what was edited - as a matter of fact, the mods nearly always leave a note telling you what was changed. I’m really not sure what all the fuss is about. Some links would be extraordinarily helpful.
This site is owned by The Chicago Reader. They have every right in their power to do as they please with this site. If they were to decide to go strictly G rated on this site, that is up to them and the management.
That said, I believe they are pretty forgiving in many areas and work to ensure that crossing the lines of absolute disgusting and inflammatory posts and threads are not a part of their site. Simply piecing stuff together based on your ability to read can not give you the entire picture of the situation.
As a mod on another board we have come up with similar issues and knowing the SD Mods and Admins they don’t take “censorship” lightly. This is a board for everyone to share but if a line is crossed I assume, from my own experience, that the powers of the SDMB work very hard to avoid making difficult decisions that may not be popular. But making these decisions is important for the community no matter the outcome and the admins/mods are not here to win a popularity contest. They are here to ensure the community of the SDMB remains a fun and interesting place for all that visit and are a part of.
Anyhow, I admire the work they volunteer for as with a board of this size it can not be an easy task.
It would be cool if for one week you could sit in on a moderator doing his/her job so you can see the crap that they have to deal with behind the scenes. With a board this size I gather it’s 1000 times more difficult than what I have experienced/seen in my short time on another board as a mod.
So yes, I am content with the decisions they make even if I don’t always agree. At least I have found an internet community that makes me feel safe and comfortable.
< techchick, back to lurker state for a while, she is in need of some R&R from the world as a whole >
…then the Chicago Reader would have been bought out and Hell will have frozen over on the same day!
Fully agree. It owns us and can do with us as it pleases.
I’ve been “moderated” some lately and richly deserved it. I have expressed slight disappointment at some of the closures, but they probably deserved it, too.
Stoid, I don’t share your perceptions or history, so maybe that’s why I can’t agree.
This place is run (and paid for) by the Chicago Reader. ::koff::
It ain’t exactly (or even remotely) the stuffy, soulless, charcoal-gray-pinstripe bastion of reactionary silverbacks of stereotype. But it still has to function within the litigious (i.e. expensive) contemporary arena.
And quality counts. It’s a messy, contentious, bright, outspoken lot here, but banal idiots clog bandwidth and try the patience of even this motliest of crews. Speaking for no one but myself, Usenet etc. is boring as hell because the gabbling, cursing, white-noise banalities drown the substance.
The rules here are pretty generous, and generously interpreted. Any nitpicky issue I’m tempted to second guess or debate pales in comparison to the tsumami of illiterate, unthinking dreck that swamps other venues.
I ran into one too many “moderated by…” notes this morning and decided to whine. I told you I was done!
And when referring to the thickness of my skin and tolerance level I was talking about my ability and willingness to deal with nasty links, rude remarks, offensive images, etc…all the stuff that the mods mod.
And the fact that I don’t care about the mods deleting porno links doesn’t mean “Oh, I’m so happy they removed that link so my delicate sensibilites won’t be offended.” I’m not looking for mods to “protect” me from anything. So please don’t assume that anyone who doesn’t agree with you on this issue is easily offended ; it simply isn’t the case.
I don’t know about the rest of these people, but I’m 18. I do not consider myself “underage” anymore. And I don’t like being talked down on as if I’m a young child. Besides, aren’t you 18?
There does not seem to be much of a moderator problem on this board. The old AOL board teemed with trolls, but it seems a bit more friendly here (with the exception of some argumentive people in the Pit, but those people don’t seem to be hard-core trolls).
Euty, please understand that I wasn’t criticizing the board or the Mods, however, I stand by my original statement. The PARENT is responsible for everything her child does, not you, the SDMB, or the Chicago Reader.
I very much agree with you that the parent should be responsible for what their child does, but that’s different from saying that the parent is in control of what the child does.
Say a child clicks on a link to a porno site. The parent sees, is very upset, maybe not even blaming the child, but then goes back to see where he got the link from. Son of a gun, he got it from The Straight Dope. This puts us in a very bad light, and net-wide could have serious repercussions. Perhaps even lawsuits. Remember that lawsuits do not have to have merit to become a serious headache.
It’s more a matter of how we choose to represent ourselves on the web, and the reputation that we’ve managed to build for ourselves over the years.
