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Is this site being over moderated

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  • 09-01-2009 8:53pm
    #1
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭


    Juat a general question to the members, In a recent thrend out of 25 posts 10 were from moderaters backing each other up,

    This is a great site with great information, but its getting very quite lately.

    I cant help but feel people wont post because they feel they cant air there views and opinions without being moderated. I understand certain things have to be deleted due to legal reasons and all that but its seems like a dictatorship latly.

    As a side note i wonder how long this thrent will last!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

    Is this site being over moderated 155 votes

    Yes
    0% 0 votes
    No
    38% 59 votes
    Not enough
    61% 96 votes
    Post edited by Shield on


«13

Comments

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    #2
    Sully
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    Wrong forum...

    Ill move this to Feedback where comments on the site are welcome.

    Oh and welcome to Boards. Interesting first post.

    Topic Moved


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    #3
    EKRIUQ
    Registered Users Posts: 4,386 ✭✭✭EKRIUQ


    In some area's boards is very tightly controlled, others it's not as bad. After Hours is the busiest forum and everything goes smoothly most of the time where as Personal Issues has alot of posters afraid of posting for fear of getting a ban.The mods have there reasons for keeping it strict

    In general as long as people behave there's no problem, but there's no point ever complaining about a mod as your above post points out that publicly each mod stands up for each other but behind the scenes I'm sure it different.










    Sully tag "Little Mickey man" lol


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    #4
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    But what if the mods are wrong???

    Generally in the forum if my point of view isnt the same as the mods its dis regraded. You can send them a pm all you want but it falls on deaf ears.
    Im not the only one to bring this up, many people has mentioned it before and are treated with a ban straight away.

    The reason for starting this thrend was to try open discussion on the waterford city forum about how the site was being moderated and how it could improve as alot of posters are unhappy with it.

    To be honest by moving the thrend to "feedback" shows that there afraid to have a depate and let posters have there sayin the waterford city forumn.


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    #5
    Économiste Monétaire
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,208 ✭✭✭Économiste Monétaire


    I chose: 'Not enough'. I assume that means the fora which we frequent are under-moderated, to some extent.


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    #6
    abouttobebanned
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,943 ✭✭✭abouttobebanned


    I said to a mod...and my exact words were.... "That's a little bit intense for an internet forum mate"

    He deleted my post and banned me.

    So to answer your question....


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    #7
    AlmightyCushion
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 35,079 Mod ✭✭✭✭AlmightyCushion


    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    To be honest by moving the thrend to "feedback" shows that there afraid to have a depate and let posters have there sayin the waterford city forumn.

    But the waterford posters can post here as well as in the waterford forum. And if as you say the mod bans people who don't agree with his opinions then surely they will post their views here more freely.

    Generally in the forum if my point of view isnt the same as the mods its dis regraded. You can send them a pm all you want but it falls on deaf ears.
    Im not the only one to bring this up, many people has mentioned it before and are treated with a ban straight away.

    You'll just have to agree to disagree on some things. If it's to do with the rules of the forum then sometimes this can't be helped. For example I banned a poster before for calling another poster an idiot. He felt he shouldn't be banned because he feels the poster is an idiot. So on this occasion his point of view was disregarded simply because personal abuse isn't allowed no matter how much the person thinks it's accurate.


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    #8
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    Suppose feel to post your experiences befofe we all get banned


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    #9
    abouttobebanned
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,943 ✭✭✭abouttobebanned


    Well out of curiousity, do you think my ban was fair?


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    #10
    dr.bollocko
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 35,943 Mod ✭✭✭✭dr.bollocko


    abouttobebanned wrote: »
    Well out of curiousity, do you think my ban was fair?

    Well you could have chosen a username less likely to remind a mod that he should ban you.....:P


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    #11
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    Go and have a look at the waterford city forum and you'll see in majority of thrends the mods are constanly editing or deleting posts. I understand they are times when they need to but not as often as they are.
    Posters are getting banned for stupid reasons that dont warrent any action at all. IMO Part of the reason the forum is so quite is people wont bother posting ans they feel hey cant have there say.
    There is one mod in peticular who seems to be using his powers to get back at socity or something. You have to be imparsial to be a mod no???


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    #12
    abouttobebanned
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,943 ✭✭✭abouttobebanned


    dr.bollocko wrote: »
    Well you could have chosen a username less likely to remind a mod that he should ban you.....:P

    :D aye...Hopefully that wasn't an influence in my ban...it's only a name after all...tongue in cheek one at that.

    I will say, to give all the facts, people were warned against questioning mods. But i think that itself is a bit silly...and I was only pointing out that the mod's language was a bit intense, not the modding.


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    #13
    Dudess
    Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    Juat a general question to the members, In a recent thrend out of 25 posts 10 were from moderaters backing each other up
    Which thread? I think the context would be important to ascertain.
    This is a great site with great information, but its getting very quite lately.
    Is it?
    As a side note i wonder how long this thrent will last!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
    It might get locked because there's a similar thread here (the one about chiefs and indians) or it might get merged with it. That's what's usually done with duplicate threads.
    EKRIUQ wrote: »
    In some area's boards is very tightly controlled, others it's not as bad.
    Yep, the level of moderation varies from forum to forum so I don't think making a blanket statement about the entire site is very relevant.
    After Hours is the busiest forum and everything goes smoothly most of the time
    A lot of idiots act the ass there though, so there is a fair amount of warning/infracting/banning.
    where as Personal Issues has alot of posters afraid of posting for fear of getting a ban.The mods have there reasons for keeping it strict
    Well I personally, even as a n00b, never felt afraid of posting there. I think you just need to remember it's a serious forum with some often very serious issues being addressed (e.g. suicide) so banter, off-topic comments, arguing with moderators, smart-assed comments, sh1t-stirring, pointless comments... are not tolerated. It makes sense surely.
    In general as long as people behave there's no problem, but there's no point ever complaining about a mod as your above post points out that publicly each mod stands up for each other but behind the scenes I'm sure it different.
    You'd be spot-on there. Mods aren't some big homogenous group having love-ins every so often - believe me. All the mods of a particular forum have to present a united front on that forum, but that's only after they discuss things and come to some sort of agreement. Mods from different forums DO argue with each other on forums that they're not moderating. And outside of the forums they moderate, they are treated as regular members. I've been banned as a moderator.
    The backing each other up thing - it's really not like that. They're just more able to see the point of view of the other moderator moreso than a non-mod would. A non-mod doesn't realise the crap that moderators have to put up with. I've seen plenty of examples of moderators disagreeing with the decisions of other moderators here.
    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    But what if the mods are wrong???

    Generally in the forum if my point of view isnt the same as the mods its dis regraded. You can send them a pm all you want but it falls on deaf ears.
    Im not the only one to bring this up, many people has mentioned it before and are treated with a ban straight away.
    Bullsh1t. Moderators do not reprimand based on having conflicting opinions to those of certain posters - if they did, they'd be hauled up for it in private. Moderators reprimand during heated discussions if a poster is squabbling/being abusive/st1rring up sh1t... not because they disagree with their point of view.
    The reason for starting this thrend was to try open discussion on the waterford city forum about how the site was being moderated and how it could improve as alot of posters are unhappy with it.

    To be honest by moving the thrend to "feedback" shows that there afraid to have a depate and let posters have there sayin the waterford city forumn.
    Eh... no. It's because the Waterford City forum is not a suitable place for discussing aspects of how this site is run.
    abouttobebanned wrote: »
    I said to a mod...and my exact words were.... "That's a little bit intense for an internet forum mate"

    He deleted my post and banned me.

    So to answer your question....
    You haven't given the context but I take it you were questioning a moderator's decision on-thread. I'm outspoken as a poster, but quite patient as a moderator, and I can tell you that that is really irksome. If you've a problem with a moderating decision, send a personal message to the moderator, don't derail the thread.


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    #14
    Bards
    Registered Users Posts: 2,778 ✭✭✭Bards


    can this thread not be put back into the Waterford Forum as I think maybe the OP wanted to run a Poll on Waterford Boardsies and the mods for that forum???

    I personally feel the the Waterford forum has become over moderated in the last while


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    #15
    Terry
    Registered Users Posts: 26,061 ✭✭✭✭Terry


    This is a privately owned site.
    Irish internet laws are quite strict when it comes to slander, libel and such.

    The moderators are here to ensure that anything that could potentially land the site in trouble (read court) is removed.

    Example: In other parts of the world you could get away with calling John down the road a complete wanker who abuses kids and get away with it. Do that here and John could sue the owners of the site.

    I know it can be tough to know where you stand at times.
    When I first started posting here I earned myself a good few bans. When you get used to the way things are run, you will find it to be a great place.

    Christ, I moderate After Hours despite being banned from there two or three times when I first joined.

    If you read the specific forum charters you'll get a feel of how the place is run.

    Moderators generally don't ban people for no reason (shut up. I get bored sometimes), but if they do then you can come here and question the ban (although it's better to PM the mod in question first and argue your case).

    If htere is anything specific that you disagree with, you should link to it so that others have a reference point.

    We're not bad people, we're not power-tripping egomaniacs and we're not unapproachable.

    We're just people who give our free time to help in the running of the site.

    We're not infallible either. We do make mistakes and we are called up on these mistakes when we do make them. The owners of the site do not tolerate moderators abusing their position.

    Please give the Waterford mods a chance to explain their actions and link here to anything you see as over moderating.


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    #16
    Sully
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    But what if the mods are wrong???

    Generally in the forum if my point of view isnt the same as the mods its dis regraded. You can send them a pm all you want but it falls on deaf ears.
    Im not the only one to bring this up, many people has mentioned it before and are treated with a ban straight away.

    The reason for starting this thrend was to try open discussion on the waterford city forum about how the site was being moderated and how it could improve as alot of posters are unhappy with it.

    To be honest by moving the thrend to "feedback" shows that there afraid to have a depate and let posters have there sayin the waterford city forumn.

    Didn't know this was about the Waterford forum! But sorry, feedback threads about any area of the site go here. Not my policy its been that way for years!

    If any user has a problem they can always pm me as iv said numerous times. Anybody that ever did has been satisfied with my response. I assume the same for takola and muffler judging by pms!

    I'm happy to listen to any suggestions or examples and will gladly act on feedback where appropriate as well my fellow mods as they have said before. Ill also respond to questions.

    Abouttobebanned: I think muffler banned you as you ignored his request to stop going off topic. Wasn't because of what you said, its not nice to lay blame without giving the background! Ill speak to him later about it and see what the story is but you probably should contact him yourself and clarify!

    Hope that helps


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    #17
    abouttobebanned
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,943 ✭✭✭abouttobebanned


    Thanks Sully, I sent him a pm but to be honest, I'll do the time. I'll put my hand up and say that I didn't really read much of the thread, his post just stuck out to me...I thought he was a nice enough lad from previous posts but that post, imo, seemed to undermine the other mods on that forum and as I said...was a little too intense. It could be the way he posts all the time, I guess I'm just a newbie.


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    #18
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055455679

    This thrend is the latest example. There is hardly no discussion or debate with the constant intervention of the mods.

    Also would like to note this is where the mods answers questions about boards.ie so hence there would be alot of mods in this section as they would be regular posters in the waterford section. Hence the reason for the current result poll at the moment.
    I wonder would you get the same result if you let the poll run in the waterford section where it would be seing by posters of whom its directed at. Just a tought


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    #19
    Sully
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    abouttobebanned wrote: »
    Thanks Sully, I sent him a pm but to be honest, I'll do the time. I'll put my hand up and say that I didn't really read much of the thread, his post just stuck out to me...I thought he was a nice enough lad from previous posts but that post, imo, seemed to undermine the other mods on that forum and as I said...was a little too intense. It could be the way he posts all the time, I guess I'm just a newbie.

    The poster in question kept ignoring our requests but after a pm convo all is okay. In your case I can't comment on really but ill chat with muffler to clarify things to be sure. Your a generally good poster and I'd hate to think this would put you off posting


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    #20
    Beruthiel
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 42,362 Mod ✭✭✭✭Beruthiel


    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    Generally in the forum if my point of view isnt the same as the mods its dis regraded. You can send them a pm all you want but it falls on deaf ears.

    I'm a tad confused.
    Considering that you have four posts, all of them in this thread, can you explain to me how and where your point of view was disregarded exactly?


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    #21
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    Long time reading the posts but only recently signed up

    And as a typixcal mod comment on the waterford forum

    Stay on topic


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    #22
    Beruthiel
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 42,362 Mod ✭✭✭✭Beruthiel


    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    Long time reading the posts but only recently signed up

    Yes, that maybe so. But I'm still not getting where your point of view was disregarded?


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    #23
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    The whole site is turning into a dictorship.

    No Discussions

    No debate.

    other sites in the locality like www.upthedeise.com are flying. plrnty ochat and facts and a welth of information about waterford.


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    #24
    Sully
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    houseswap: Explained all in that thread and in fairness the topic messed up as a result of posters continuing to drag it off topic! The poster in question has seen why we acted that way and seems happy after we discussed it. As is the other poster who wa banned.

    Hope that helps.


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    #25
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    Beruthiel wrote: »
    Yes, that maybe so. But I'm still not getting where your point of view was disregarded?

    Look at the thrend i posted a link to and that is a example of what goes on a regulat basis, Have seen it a load of times. Just look at any travellar thrend and you'll see the heavy hand approach of the mods. Im not going to post links to all forms that this has happened. Read through them and you'll see.

    Id like to see how the poll would do if it was left in the waterford forumn.

    Im a poster on a few discussion sites and the mods on this are by far the worst


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    #26
    Sabre0001
    Registered Users Posts: 7,499 ✭✭✭Sabre0001


    Houseswap1 wrote: »

    To be honest by moving the thrend to "feedback" shows that there afraid to have a depate and let posters have there sayin the waterford city forumn.

    It was more than likely moved to general feedback because your title says "is this site....." rather than anything about the Waterford City forum. Also, any issue regarding individual forums are usually raised in feedback too because it's...........feedback.

    🤪



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    #27
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    Sully, Why cant you and your fellow mods leave a thrend evolve and let people have there opinions without having to step in the whole time and give out warnings??

    I totally understand at times yu will have to delete and edit posts but not at the rate ye are, The mods are draging the quality of the forum down. If ye just relaxeda bit and not be on people's back the whole time the forumn would open up


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    #28
    samhail
    Registered Users Posts: 2,699 ✭✭✭samhail


    I actually just smiled to myself on a post about 20min ago in motors i think, something about indicating when you are coming back to your own side of the road after over taking someone.
    Some guy made a statement such as, you dont we know your coming back in that they dont need to tell us (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58522985&postcount=3) - like he had to make sure that he wouldnt be seen to be attacking the OP.
    i like smiles !

    All i say to myself is its One-Mods-Opinion.




    another quick point - i dont feel like i should be re-reading every sentance i write in some forums where moderators might annoy me with their opinions and threathen to ban me of what ever i say - so i simply pass by the threads on those forums.


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    #29
    Houseswap1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭Houseswap1


    Sabre0001 wrote: »
    It was more than likely moved to general feedback because your title says "is this site....." rather than anything about the Waterford City forum. Also, any issue regarding individual forums are usually raised in feedback too because it's...........feedback.
    I not going to dispute that as you have point but is only a small technicality that could of being changed


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    #30
    Steve
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 22,584 CMod ✭✭✭✭Steve


    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    Look at the thrend i posted a link to and that is a example of what goes on a regulat basis, Have seen it a load of times. Just look at any travellar thrend and you'll see the heavy hand approach of the mods. Im not going to post links to all forms that this has happened. Read through them and you'll see.

    Id like to see how the poll would do if it was left in the waterford forumn.

    Im a poster on a few discussion sites and the mods on this are by far the worst
    I'm a regular user like you.
    I think you don't understand that when you read a thread that 'heavy handed' moderation has been applied that there has generally been a lot of stuff deleted so we can't actually see what went on. the mods have a tough job especially when threads like traveller issues come up and then sometimes there is a certain amount of pre-moderation required to keep things running smoothly.
    All I'm saying is bear in mind that you can't judge the moderators without knowing all the facts / based on the sanitised version of the thread and bear in mind that they're actually normal people like you and me, not divine entities who are incapable of making and owning up to mistakes.


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    #31
    Sully
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 24,056 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sully


    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    The whole site is turning into a dictorship.

    No Discussions

    No debate.

    other sites in the locality like www.upthedeise.com are flying. plrnty ochat and facts and a welth of information about waterford.

    Thats not entirely true. I know the owner of that website and I wont starting pointing out its bad points but it most certainly does have them and I can think of one example where you would consider the mods acting like a "dictatorship". No forum is perfect. I like the website, its handy enough but what's posted there usually is posted here or isn't of much interest to me. It also has some excellent information. The owner is very enthusiastic and means well also.

    On the flip side, Boards.ie is much much MUCH larger then that website will ever be. Its got a much larger user base and viewer ship. When you take this consideration you will see Boards is going to be moded completely different then a small site for obvious reasons. Its common sense really. Sites of different sizes are moderated differently because they have to.
    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    Look at the thrend i posted a link to and that is a example of what goes on a regulat basis, Have seen it a load of times. Just look at any travellar thrend and you'll see the heavy hand approach of the mods. Im not going to post links to all forms that this has happened. Read through them and you'll see.

    Id like to see how the poll would do if it was left in the waterford forumn.

    You gave one example. The thread was fine until one user came in out of the blue and started poking fun at the mods without any reason. We (the mods) felt by his posts he wanted to post slanderous comments against businesses which you cant do on Boards. I'm not going to explain why, as its been explained already in that thread and in this thread. The poster in question has got in contact with us and the matter has since been resolved. The poster is happy with the resolution. The other poster who had issues with that thread seems also satisfied with how things went and has raised concerns which we will definitely work on.

    Traveller thread is more or less the same reason. Its not as bad as it used to be but sorry we are not going to allow a thread where you can post insults and abusive remarks towards other members of society. Read the charter and other posts in such threads to see why.
    Im a poster on a few discussion sites and the mods on this are by far the worst

    I think I explained earlier in this post why we may come across worse. The mods on this site take Feedback seriously so if anything genuine comes up that is valid its definitely worked on to avoid a repeat.

    Houseswap1 wrote: »
    Sully, Why cant you and your fellow mods leave a thrend evolve and let people have there opinions without having to step in the whole time and give out warnings??

    I totally understand at times yu will have to delete and edit posts but not at the rate ye are, The mods are draging the quality of the forum down. If ye just relaxeda bit and not be on people's back the whole time the forumn would open up

    The forum has improved a lot since it became moded. A lot of the trolls and idiots were removed after many many warnings (some give out we let them stay to long) so the community that we have in the forum are a great bunch and lately we rarely have a problem.

    At the end of the day we cant fix a problem unless someone points out to us nicely that there is one. This just takes a PM and the users who have done so have been satisfied with the action taken based on their Feedback. Whats annoying is when you get hostile people on the forum ranting and raving in threads about us and dragging threads of topic.

    We aint perfect but I don't think we are to heavy handed and lately has been pretty quiet on the moderation front. Last two topics removed were spam which isnt allowed on Boards. Only bans recently were in that thread and id only consider over turning one but thats not my call.


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