Moderation

[Armchair Cyclist]

As I understand what has been said, it ain't just about squashing spam, it's about understanding it, spotting the patterns, and building better spam-traps. So spam-only mods not really a help.

Also, the day anyone proposes a +1,000 post regular like me as a mod, even one with just spam squishing permissions, I'm gonna laugh like a loon.

Because you don't think you would be capable, or because you would not be willing to act in the service of the community that makes up this site?

 

[SHaines]

What @SHaines describes is indeed important for a moderator with full rights of intervention, dispute resolution etc.

But what this thread has pointed out, and also has seen many offers of, is people willing to do a very limited, spam focussed, administrative (but not Administrator) role. That need not require the same depth of vetting judgement, does not describe a role for which those who would volunteer are less likely to be suitable that the less pushy.

Indeed, I would suggest that anypne with more than about 1000 posts to their name who is still active is not only almost certainly suitable for such a role, but also ought to be willing to take it on as as a gratitude for a service that they obviously engage with frequently that has been given to them freely.

Is there no consideration of a limited moderator role?

Hi again,

I appreciate the suggestion. It's nice to see folks putting thought into how we can help improve the community for everyone. With moderation we have a flat system. That means anyone who is a mod on our forums has the same permissions. Having to keep and track a collection of documents that tracks which mods have what permission on what forum is more than our team of four can confidently maintain.

Spam certainly seems to have been reduced by changes we made recently. One of my follow Community Managers was able to make it so folks can't add links to spam sites in their profiles, which has helped very quickly.

We'll keep doing more work to keep spam at a minimum, so future Moderators will be able to focus on issues within the community, even if they start off by simply calling our attention to an issue and letting a CM handle it.

Nothing is being ruled out entirely, I just wanted to be sure you heard our perspective.

 

[RedheadDane]

Hi again,

I appreciate the suggestion. It's nice to see folks putting thought into how we can help improve the community for everyone. With moderation we have a flat system. That means anyone who is a mod on our forums has the same permissions. Having to keep and track a collection of documents that tracks which mods have what permission on what forum is more than our team of four can confidently maintain.

I'm guessing that goes for expectations too? As in, it wouldn't be possible to say that someone has permision to act like any other mod, but isn't expected to?

 

[Axel Hangleck]

The MTB forum is full of spam recently........

 

[fmk_RoI]

The MTB forum is full of spam recently........

Have you been reporting it so it can be dealt with when folk return from the Christmas break?

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Yes, all of them!

 

[Cookster15]

Hi again,

I appreciate the suggestion. It's nice to see folks putting thought into how we can help improve the community for everyone. With moderation we have a flat system. That means anyone who is a mod on our forums has the same permissions. Having to keep and track a collection of documents that tracks which mods have what permission on what forum is more than our team of four can confidently maintain.

Spam certainly seems to have been reduced by changes we made recently. One of my follow Community Managers was able to make it so folks can't add links to spam sites in their profiles, which has helped very quickly.

We'll keep doing more work to keep spam at a minimum, so future Moderators will be able to focus on issues within the community, even if they start off by simply calling our attention to an issue and letting a CM handle it.

Nothing is being ruled out entirely, I just wanted to be sure you heard our perspective.

Hello again, recently I have used the report button to report possible spam. But we get no acknowledgment that it has been acted upon. An automated acknowledgment would encourage more members to use the report feature. I am guessing from recent posts that the new software can’t catch all spam. Thoughts?

 

[Axel Hangleck]

More spam on the MTB forum......All reported as usual.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

There are still many spam threads in the mtb forum! I have reported them twice over the last week. There is also one in the cyclocross forum that I have now reported for a third time over a similar duration!

 

[Cookster15]

I miss the old thread for banned notices, I can't recall why it was stopped? When a poster is banned it doesn't just affect the poster. It affects the forum as other members who post often wonder why the ban was issued and how long the ban is for.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Still the spam sits there. No point in me reporting it again as it seems it won't be deleted.

 

[Wvv]

I miss the old thread for banned notices, I can't recall why it was stopped? When a poster is banned it doesn't just affect the poster. It affects the forum as other members who post often wonder why the ban was issued and how long the ban is for.

Exactly, I'm also wondering why this specific member is now banned, and for how long. And I had the same with others in the past.

 

[Bonimenier]

Exactly, I'm also wondering why this specific member is now banned, and for how long. And I had the same with others in the past.

If you're talking about who I think you're talking and looking at which posts have since been deleted, I'd say the reason was inappropriate comments about Colbrelli.

 

[Finn84]

I think it would be good if there was different word under those who have been banned permanently compared to those who have got temporary ban.

 

[Netserk]

I think it would be good if there was different word under those who have been banned permanently compared to those who have got temporary ban.

A timer would be most excellent.

 

[King Boonen]

I miss the old thread for banned notices, I can't recall why it was stopped? When a poster is banned it doesn't just affect the poster. It affects the forum as other members who post often wonder why the ban was issued and how long the ban is for.

It was removed because discussion of moderation isn't allowed. A way to show how long bans are would definitely be an improvement.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Weren't there two threads on the old forum for a long time ? One closed to everyone except mods which just gave basic details of bans and one which was a discussion thread open to everyone. The discussion thread was often amusing - especially since it sometimes resulted in more bans but I don't think anyone was that surprised when that was locked / removed for good. Maybe Cookster15 is referring to the thread with the basic details of bans which had no discussion ?

 

[King Boonen]

Weren't there two threads on the old forum for a long time ? One closed to everyone except mods which just gave basic details of bans and one which was a discussion thread open to everyone. The discussion thread was often amusing - especially since it sometimes resulted in more bans but I don't think anyone was that surprised when that was locked / removed for good. Maybe Cookster15 is referring to the thread with the basic details of bans which had no discussion ?

There were. I'm not going to argue semantics but both threads were discussing moderation and had to be removed unfortunately.

 

[Netserk]

There were. I'm not going to argue semantics but both threads were discussing moderation and had to be removed unfortunately.

There were two discussion threads (https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threads/moderators.7152/ and https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threads/member-suspension-appreciation-depreciation-thread.17330/) and a now deleted announcement thread that was always locked. You could argue that stating the reason for the ban in the announcement thread was "discussing" it, but you could just do without that and only post the length of the bans.

 

[King Boonen]

There were two discussion threads (https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threads/moderators.7152/ and https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threads/member-suspension-appreciation-depreciation-thread.17330/) and a now deleted announcement thread that was always locked. You could argue that stating the reason for the ban in the announcement thread was "discussing" it, but you could just do without that and only post the length of the bans.

The first thing in the post you quoted agrees with the premise of there being a discussion and an announcement thread. Both the reason and the length is discussing moderation, both threads had to be closed. You can disagree with that, but that's what happened.

 

[Netserk]

Offering no opinion, no argument, no subjective statement, no interpretation; only, absolutely only, offering clarity of the objective duration of a ban. I think that's a stretch to view as discussion. Going down that road, is the status marker that says a poster is banned in itself also discussing the ban? Is your "Online now" marker discussing your activity here on the forum?

 

[King Boonen]

Offering no opinion, no argument, no subjective statement, no interpretation; only, absolutely only, offering clarity of the objective duration of a ban. I think that's a stretch to view as discussion. Going down that road, is the status marker that says a poster is banned in itself also discussing the ban? Is your "Online now" marker discussing your activity here on the forum?

Sigh

The following activity is expressly disallowed within our community:

• Harassment, threatening, embarrassing or insulting other users, including sending unwanted messages, attacking/denigrating race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
• Discussing moderation actions or re-opening removed or locked threads or topics is not permitted. Users requesting information regarding moderator actions should contact community@futurenet.com.

Banning a member is a moderator action, it can't be discussed. The mods sign up to the same rules everyone else does.

I personally never had a problem with discussing moderation, but we were explicitly told these things shouldn't be discussed.

 

[King Boonen]

Maybe just going to the old thread and reading the last post there would help: https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threads/moderators.7152/post-2433658

 

[Netserk]

Sigh



Banning a member is a moderator action, it can't be discussed. The mods sign up to the same rules everyone else does.

I personally never had a problem with discussing moderation, but we were explicitly told these things shouldn't be discussed.

I get that. What is not clear from that, and which I don’t get, is that informing of the duration qualifies as discussing.

 

[King Boonen]

I get that. What is not clear from that, and which I don’t get, is that informing of the duration qualifies as discussing.

See my next post.