stevestory
Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005
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Argy asks:
| Quote | Steve,
What's the moderation policy around here these days? Do annoying "Paley, you are, uh, blithering again" posts disappear entirely, or will there be use of the bathroom wall? |
This is a good question. Let's start by looking at Wesley's rules for the board:
| Quote | Antievolution.org Discussion Board Rules
* MetaRule 1) DO NOT respond to inappropriate messages with a message.
* MetaRule 2) DO NOT enter inappropriate messages.
* No illegal messages. Posting an illegal message will be considered excessively annoying.
* No obscenity or foul language. There is no need to express a message in vulgar language.
* There are many different fora. Be sure to pick the *most appropriate* forum for your message. That could be at a different board.
* Advertisements should be limited to items of a scientific interest and should not be posted by those with a vested interest in the item being sold, unless specifically requested by another participant.
* Messages which insult or attack an individual are not appropriate. As those messages should be regarded as inappropriate, it is also inappropriate to follow up such a message with a reply. Use email for such correspondence, or to register a complaint with the moderator(s). Pointing out gaps in fields of reference (otherwise known as "ignorance") is *not* an attack.
* Messages making claims about the actions, beliefs, or intentions of identifiable participants are an implicit call for discussion. The claimant is responsible for such claims. Failure to retract unsupported claims about other participants is grounds for banishment.
* Each user is requested to consider the quantity and quality of his/her messages. One specific item to be aware of is that repetition of the same quoted material at a frequency greater than once per month is considered annoying.
* Science makes no claim to be a source for all truth, i.e. events and activities which are unobservable and/or untestable are outside the realm of scientific inquiry. Religious beliefs that are outside the limits of science may be true or not; science is silent on the issue.
* *Supporting* or *attacking* religious belief is inappropriate on this discussion board. A variety of other fora are more appropriate for such discourse.
* Moderation messages not entered by the moderator are NOT appropriate on the board. Responses to moderation messages will be made via email, not on the board. Violators may be deemed "excessively annoying" at the moderators' discretion.
* :Annoying: The state of being a hindrance to harmonious, or even interesting, discussion. Repeatedly being annoying will be considered excessively annoying.
* :Excessively annoying: The state of being a hindrance to harmonious, or even interesting, discussion to such a degree that immediate termination of access is warranted or demanded. |
Glancing through those quickly, I think I've violated 90% of those rules myself. Argy even violated one of them by publicly asking me about them. So we can safely say that these rules will be generally followed, but not all that strictly. You can violate the rules somewhat. and as long as there's some meat to what you're saying, I won't object. Although Wesley still might--my moderation powers augment his, they do not replace his.
What I'm most concerned about, is threads staying on topic. I don't care if the topic is a lovefest or a shouting match, as long as there's substantive discussion. We all hang out here and make snarky jokes and such, and those don't threaten threads. Sometimes comments are made which introduce a big meaty topic which isn't relevant to the thread, and those I might move to the Bathroom Wall at times, if there isn't a thread fit for it. People put effort into their comments and it's usually very rude to just delete their work. That said, there have been a few comments I have just outright deleted. They're the type of throwaway comments that make you roll your eyes. You know the type. "Hey you creationist, suck my balls".
Enforcement of these rules is kind of like enforcement of speeding--spotty at best. For the same reasons. And if you want a rough estimate of how mean I am, there have probably been 500 comments since my moderation began, and I've deleted about 8.
My moderation is going to be imperfect, but I don't think it's going to hurt anybody. And it'll help me if everyone sends private messages to voice their opinions about the matter.
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by mistake. 
