Standard of North-East Forum Moderating

europerson

I really feel aggrieved by the standard of moderating on the North-East forum of late. For example, this thread, which is blatent advertising, has gone unnoticed for over a day. Many other advertisements have been left up for similarly long periods of time without being removed. The two moderators are very fair and decent, but there seems to be an unacceptable absenteeism at times. What does anyone else think?

Karoma

Please specify at what date/time you last reported this or any post?
I cannot seem to see one in there...

Rb

Sarge is travelling the world, or at least he was last I checked.
PORNAPSTER is rarely around afaik, but am open to correction on that.

Could possibly do with another more regular moderator I suppose, if ads/spam are slipping through regularly.

regi

I'm sure we could find some fine upstanding person from Dundalk, or even Shelbyville to co-mod this forum

Stargal

Karoma wrote:

Please specify at what date/time you last reported this or any post?
I cannot seem to see one in there...

He replied to the offending thread to point out that it's a blatant advertisement and now a day later he's writing about it here in Feedback.

Just because he hasn't reported it doesn't mean that we should give this complaint any less credence. A lot of people simply don't know about the Report Post function and so it's underused; you know yourself that it's moderators who report the vast majority of offensive posts.

Ruu_Old

Dealt with it, if it had been reported, I would have gotten to it sooner but better here than not at all. I do peek into North East every once in a while being from that area.

Nevyn

With a post count of over 1,000 post I would think a poster would have notice the little report bad post triangle and at least moved the mouse over it and maybe have clicked it out of curioustiy Stargal.

There is a proceedure and that is to report it and that way the cat mods and smods will see it and deal with it if the mods of the forum are not arround due to having lives.

Starting a thread is an unwarrented esclation of the matter when the correct proceedure has not been implemented in the first place.

Cheers for trying to alert the mods to this matter europerson, posters who care about the forums they post in are part of what makes this place so great.

I would suggest that you do use the report post function
and if the matter isn't sorted then pm the mods of the forum first.

Stargal

I'm not disagreeing with you about reporting posts being the best way to deal with things Thaedydal, nor am I making excuses for europerson not reporting it; it's just that I've seen it happen before here on Feedback where rather than dealing with the issue, a poster is criticised excessively for not reporting the post in the first place. Yes, they should follow procedure but it's not the end of the world if they don't.

Time Magazine

stargal wrote:

I'm not disagreeing with you about reporting posts being the best way to deal with things Thaedydal, nor am I making excuses for europerson not reporting it; it's just that I've seen it happen before here on Feedback where rather than dealing with the issue, a poster is criticised excessively for not reporting the post in the first place. Yes, they should follow procedure but it's not the end of the world if they don't.

QFT.

Also Thaed, most Reported Posts aren't acted upon and are never responded to. This might well be because there's 'nothing to report', but before I became a mod I didn't know exactly what happened and presumed it just went somewhere into space.

padser

Also reporting the post in question wouldn't address the other part of the OP problem, which was the 'unacceptable absenteeism at times' on the forum.

Surely feedback is the only place to bring up this kind of issue - and using an example is the best way to illustrate it????

Boston

Ibid wrote:

QFT.

Also Thaed, most Reported Posts aren't acted upon and are never responded to.

How unlike you Ibid to make broad sweeping statements like this. tut tut. You're in no position to know about what happens in most cases. You can say that you personally ignore most reported posts, but don't speak for others.

Ibid FTL

Time Magazine

Boston wrote:

How unlike you Ibid to make broad sweeping statements like this. tut tut. You're in no position to know about what happens in most cases. You can say that you personally ignore most reported posts, but don't speak for others.

No. It's accurate. Granted, most reports don't require any work, but it's still accurate.

Ibid FTL

Personal abuse, reported!

Karoma

I didn't say it should give the complaint any less credence.
It was a straight-forward question & statement couple.

I'd say citing only one small example as a case of habitual neglect/oversight as a reason to give this complaint less credence. Not ever Boardsies, mod or user logs in every couple of hours. I'm sure the resulting email from a reported post would attract the moderator's attention, and as pointed out above, in lieu of this a CMOD,SMOD, admin, etc.

It's a little worrying that you're of the opinion that reported posts don't get looked at, bananaboy...You're speaking for a minority. Perhaps even a minority of one.

Time Magazine

Karoma wrote:

It's a little worrying that you're of the opinion that reported posts don't get looked at, bananaboy...You're speaking for a minority. Perhaps even a minority of one.

Where did I say this?

Nowhere, gingerhead man.

I said most are not acted on. By that I mean leaving a visible sign other than being read and dismissed as not ban-worthy etc. Of the twenty Reported Posts currently on page 1, there have been but three responses on thread. Most all don't need any action and I'd say any that do need action have been acted upon, but the users who reported the other seventeen don't know this.

My inference is that non-mods might think (as I did) that a reported post goes into a hole that nobody looks into.

Karoma

Fair enough. I had a narrow view of that, TBH. Once it's reported, it's viewed, and acted upon in the vast majority of cases - either in-thread, or via PM. But,yeah...I can see where you're coming from.

Crash

Or part of it may be that most mods don't use the reported posts forum. I don't. I get them in my inbox, I open them directly, check if action needs to be taken, and if not, delete it. done and done.

Time Magazine

&#231 wrote: »

I get them in my inbox, I open them directly, check if action needs to be taken, and if not, delete it. done and done.

I never claimed that reported posts weren't checked, but I'm just quoting this part to clarify my point. Often, if you report a post, it's read, dismissed and deleted. Granted, maybe nothing needed to be done. But in the absence of knowledge exactly where a reported post goes, and no PM/etc from a mod saying "Thanks but.." people might think reporting posts are a waste of time because often nothing is seen to be done.

Grand. Bed time.

copacetic

Ibid wrote:

I never claimed that reported posts weren't checked, but I'm just quoting this part to clarify my point. Often, if you report a post, it's read, dismissed and deleted. Granted, maybe nothing needed to be done. But in the absence of knowledge exactly where a reported post goes, and no PM/etc from a mod saying "Thanks but.." people might think reporting posts are a waste of time because often nothing is seen to be done.

Grand. Bed time.

Not that anyone cares, but I agree with Ibid on this, I've often used the report post button like a good little boardsie. Now some of them are to point out spam, and some maybe didn't need an action in the mods opinion. However it is nice to know if someone has read the report and why they may have decided to do nothing. Some mods are great and reply and let you know that you are an eejit and there was no action required for instance. Some don't bother, which I guess is fine too, but at least half the time it does appear that reported posts go in to a black hole.

Maybe a reported post could appear in the users CP with an status of read/closed/actioned. Would be no real extra mod work and helpful to users and possibly encourage greater use of the button.
Maybe the newer vbulletin versions have this option?

padser

daveym wrote:

Maybe a reported post could appear in the users CP with an status of read/closed/actioned. Would be no real extra mod work and helpful to users and possibly encourage greater use of the button.
Maybe the newer vbulletin versions have this option?

The button is def underusilised. An advantage from a mod's POV would be that if it was utilised more, then the amount of work for mods would decrease - they wouldnt have to trawl through threads that don't interest them.

From the perspective anything that encourages the buttons use might be a help

Blowfish

Ibid wrote:

I never claimed that reported posts weren't checked, but I'm just quoting this part to clarify my point. Often, if you report a post, it's read, dismissed and deleted. Granted, maybe nothing needed to be done. But in the absence of knowledge exactly where a reported post goes, and no PM/etc from a mod saying "Thanks but.." people might think reporting posts are a waste of time because often nothing is seen to be done.

Grand. Bed time.

Maybe the people who report stuff that doesn't need reporting need to learn what should and shouldn't be reported.

WhiteWashMan

stargal wrote:

Yes, they should follow procedure but it's not the end of the world if they don't.

but on the other hand it seems that we should hang any mod that

a) doesnt personally get back to you to talk to you about your reported post
b) doesnt reposnd to you witihin 3 minutes of you aking some sort of complaint
c) doesnt call around to your house, sit down with a nice cuppa tea and explain that your reported post insisting that you are insulted by the previous users opinion on the 'endangerment of wildlife habitats' isnt actually something that you should report, but that its something you will just have to live with
d) asks why you didnt report a problem post

personally, i value the report tool. it what i work on. i look over an awful lot of fora. i dont read 99% of threads on those fora, so im not oging to see a post complaining about spam.

i have always asked that posts be reported, but i dont feel the need to get back to everyone about any of them. if something appens, a note is left on the thread, if not, well, you see nothing. its because i have a life, and i do other things in the day than sit on boards.ie waiting for the next reported post to action. maybe if boards.ie paid me for my time id be more inclined to do so.

further more i think its a bit rude of the OP to start out by telling us hes aggrieved at the level of moderation going on in.
i can understand there being some frustration and aprehansion, but aggreieved?
mods arent bound by law to do the bidding of users, they are there to keep the foums running. if they are not doing that, then lets look at helping them out, or as alast resort replacing them.
thesooner people start realixing the verbage they use is going to have a big impact on the reaction they receieve, the sooner they will find that people will help them more instead of just getting everyones back up.

seriosuly, its the definition of stupidity here. people just keep doingthe same thing over and over again, and yet expect different results.

europerson

Where to begin...?

Thaedydal wrote:

posters who care about the forums they post in are part of what makes this place so great.

An important point, methinks.

stargal wrote:

I'm not disagreeing with you about reporting posts being the best way to deal with things Thaedydal, nor am I making excuses for europerson not reporting it; it's just that I've seen it happen before here on Feedback where rather than dealing with the issue, a poster is criticised excessively for not reporting the post in the first place. Yes, they should follow procedure but it's not the end of the world if they don't.

Firstly I have used the 'Report Post' feature before, but I, like many Boards users, am unsure of what actually happens when the button's clicked and the form filled in. From reading this, it seems to be that the forum moderators are e-mailed about it with the link to the appropriate post/thread. Is this right?

Ibid wrote:

Also Thaed, most Reported Posts aren't acted upon and are never responded to. This might well be because there's 'nothing to report', but before I became a mod I didn't know exactly what happened and presumed it just went somewhere into space.

I've only received replies from mods, whom I've PMed about issues.

padser wrote:

Also reporting the post in question wouldn't address the other part of the OP problem, which was the 'unacceptable absenteeism at times' on the forum.

Surely feedback is the only place to bring up this kind of issue - and using an example is the best way to illustrate it????

This is what I thought. Moving away from the North-East and generalising a little, surely moderators ought to be expected to make some sort of regular checks on their fora. It can't be expected that all of the standard users like myself will always uphold the rules and charters on Boards, but the problem may not be noted by someone all of the time. Note, however, that I don't think it's right that people would break the rules.

daveym wrote:

Not that anyone cares, but I agree with Ibid on this, I've often used the report post button like a good little boardsie. Now some of them are to point out spam, and some maybe didn't need an action in the mods opinion. However it is nice to know if someone has read the report and why they may have decided to do nothing. Some mods are great and reply and let you know that you are an eejit and there was no action required for instance. Some don't bother, which I guess is fine too, but at least half the time it does appear that reported posts go in to a black hole.

I'm in complete agreement with this.

padser wrote:

then the amount of work for mods would decrease - they wouldnt have to trawl through threads that don't interest them.

Oughtn't moderators to be overlooking fora, in which they have an interest? Isn't that the whole point, i.e., that moderators ought to be interested in what they are moderating? That's why we have a doctor and people with long-term illnesses overseeing the Long-Term Illnesses forum, to give only one example. The only exceptions perhaps would be very large fora like After Hours or something. Obviously CMods and SMods are a different case too.

WhiteWashMan wrote:

i can understand there being some frustration and aprehansion, but aggreieved?
mods arent bound by law to do the bidding of users, they are there to keep the foums running. if they are not doing that, then lets look at helping them out, or as alast resort replacing them.
thesooner people start realixing the verbage they use is going to have a big impact on the reaction they receieve, the sooner they will find that people will help them more instead of just getting everyones back up.

I don't believe "aggrieved" is a particularly strong word, especially in comparison to "frustrated" and the not-so-synonymous "apprehensive".

seriosuly, its the definition of stupidity here.

I am, however, not a stupid poster, by any stretch of that adjective's definition. As a user, who has never caused any trouble on Boards, and someone, who gets on with their posting in a quiet and respectful way, especially in comparison to some other users, I think it rather unfair that I should be deplored for starting this thread. Similarly, I am anything but rude, as users who know me will testify.

padser

europerson wrote:

I don't believe "aggrieved" is a particularly strong word, especially in comparison to "frustrated" and the not-so-synonymous "apprehensive".

LOL,

Apprehension:fearful expectation or anticipation

Also I never understand why WWM feels the constant need to abuse posters, I know its been brought up before (at least in Personal Issues) but I would have thought that as a Cmod you might make some effort to attempt the behaviour that moderators are on are supposed to prevent.

I know that it would be possible to construe you comment as saying the post was stupid rather then the poster but TBH I just don't see where to need to be constantly so disparaging to users.

WhiteWashMan wrote:

thesooner people start realixing the verbage they use is going to have a big impact on the reaction they receieve, the sooner they will find that people will help them more instead of just getting everyones back up.

Pretty much the point I was trying to make actually

Nevyn

europerson wrote:

Firstly I have used the 'Report Post' feature before, but I, like many Boards users, am unsure of what actually happens when the button's clicked and the form filled in. From reading this, it seems to be that the forum moderators are e-mailed about it with the link to the appropriate post/thread. Is this right?

When you fill out the report a post form two things happen.
First an email to all the mods of the forum is generated and sent.
This containts the contents of the report a post forum and a link to the post that has been reported.

Second a thread is created in the report a post forum.
This thread constains the information from the report a post form,
a link to the post reported and a link to the profile of the person reporting the post.
Threads created by this system in the report a post forum can be seen by all the mods, cmods,smods and the admin of boards.ie.

If you were to report a post and simply put the term spam in the report
one of the wonderful smods would have dealt with it in a couple of hours.

If the post was something that requires a judgement call by the mods of that forum then they will be alerted by the new thread in the report post forum and the report in thier email.

Did you look to see what time either of the mods of that forum were last active on boards ?

There are time I would be on boards but would not have posted or have taken any mod action, but that does not mean I have not been browsing about the site.

I don't read every thread in every forum I happen to moderate but I certainly will look at a thread or post if it is reported.

europerson wrote:

This is what I thought. Moving away from the North-East and generalising a little, surely moderators ought to be expected to make some sort of regular checks on their fora. It can't be expected that all of the standard users like myself will always uphold the rules and charters on Boards, but the problem may not be noted by someone all of the time. Note, however, that I don't think it's right that people would break the rules.

Yep, pretty much you are learning the that ever vilgiant mod acting like a parent watching over a 2 year old does not exist and we are all as posters expected to be on our best behaviour cos the mods/parents are not always in the room.

Mods do come back and see the mess and hand out warnings and punishments but we can't stop people from being idiots and misbehaving in the first place.

europerson wrote:

Oughtn't moderators to be overlooking fora, in which they have an interest? Isn't that the whole point, i.e., that moderators ought to be interested in what they are moderating? That's why we have a doctor and people with long-term illnesses overseeing the Long-Term Illnesses forum, to give only one example. The only exceptions perhaps would be very large fora like After Hours or something. Obviously CMods and SMods are a different case too.

Even if a mod is passionate about the content and subject of a forum that they mod their real life can get in the way of them getting on line and having the time to read boards never mind every thread in every forum they mod.

This when the email report comes into it's own to alert a mod who has not been on boards for 4 to 8 hours or more.

IF a mod is going to be away for a while ( and it can happen with all the mods of a forum ) they tend to ask other's to keep an eye.

If a reported post was in the reported post frum and not acted after a few days on and clearly it needed to be a catmod would look at it, or you could pm the catmod yourself.

europerson wrote:

I am, however, not a stupid poster, by any stretch of that adjective's definition. As a user, who has never caused any trouble on Boards, and someone, who gets on with their posting in a quiet and respectful way, especially in comparison to some other users, I think it rather unfair that I should be deplored for starting this thread. Similarly, I am anything but rude, as users who know me will testify.

I don't think you were rude, but I do think you came across a bit stroppy.
Like a 9 year old complaining as the parent/childminder didn't clean up the mess a two year old had made in the corner of the sitting room and instead of telling the parent/childminder about the mess you drew an arrow saying mess here on a colouring pad and left it beside it.

As wonderful and a well done as your warning sign was, next time please use the reported post function and remember mods have lives too.

Nevyn

daveym wrote:

Some mods are great and reply and let you know that you are an eejit and there was no action required for instance. Some don't bother, which I guess is fine too, but at least half the time it does appear that reported posts go in to a black hole.

Have you any idea the ammount of reported post a busy forum generates ?
Have you any idea the ammount of time it would take to answer them ?
Have you any idea the ammount of time it would take to try and not get into a discussion or debate with someone about why a post is not actionible ?

daveym wrote:

Maybe a reported post could appear in the users CP with an status of read/closed/actioned. Would be no real extra mod work and helpful to users and possibly encourage greater use of the button.
Maybe the newer vbulletin versions have this option?

That might be a solution if it were possible.

RuggieBear

Reporting posts is the way to go. Wish people would use it more often.

copacetic

Thaedydal wrote:

Have you any idea the ammount of reported post a busy forum generates ?
Have you any idea the ammount of time it would take to answer them ?
Have you any idea the ammount of time it would take to try and not get into a discussion or debate with someone about why a post is not actionible ?



That might be a solution if it were possible.

I don't really, if that's the problem just say so like a grown up. How would I know? As I said the whole thing is a mystery to the average user like myself. If this is the problem does it not imply that we need more mods rather than that I am an idiot for giving my opinion? Maybe it's both?

Besides, your earlier advice to 'pm a catmod if nothing happens after a few days' is a bit silly if there is no way for the user to know if the reported post has been deemed ok.

Nevyn

The advice stated if the post was clearly actionible ie spam, personal abuse, posting p0rn ect and was not acted on pm a cat mod.

Time Magazine

Thaedydal wrote:

and not acted after a few days on ... you could pm the catmod yourself.

... and remember mods have lives too.

They can be mutually exclusive.

Where's the line? Take 36 hours as a case in point. That's quite a long time for action if there was a personal insult, but it's also pushing it on the "mods have lives" front.

Without a pretty strong knowledge of what's going on in the background, it's hard to know what to do. Particularly if the 36 hours example is regular, what else to do other than a Feedback thread? Maybe now that people know what exactly reported posts do they can give it a bump and report it twice or whatever.

copacetic

Thaedydal wrote:

The advice stated if the post was clearly actionible ie spam, personal abuse, posting p0rn ect and was not acted on pm a cat mod.

Surely a user thought the post was 'clearly actionible (sic)' when they reported it? How is the user supposed to get into the mind of a mod on whether they will agree or not?

copacetic

Ibid wrote:

They can be mutually exclusive.

Where's the line? Take 36 hours as a case in point. That's quite a long time for action if there was a personal insult, but it's also pushing it on the "mods have lives" front.

Without a pretty strong knowledge of what's going on in the background, it's hard to know what to do. Particularly if the 36 hours example is regular, what else to do other than a Feedback thread? Maybe now that people know what exactly reported posts do they can give it a bump and report it twice or whatever.

As you say I now know 10 times as much about what happens when a post is reported so I'm delighted this thread was started.

I would say however that most users wouldn't take an active interest in what goes on in feedback and this info would be a candidate for addition to charters or faqs.