Does Neowin need harsher mods?


Does Neowin Need Harsher Mods?  

334 members have voted

  1. 1. Does Neowin Need Harsher Mods?

    • Yes
      74
    • No
      260


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Well, I voted no. I think that the mods do a great job on the board. I've seen mods on boards that are too strict and power-hungry, and others that are way too lenient or altogether absent.

The best I can offer based on some of the things that I've seen so far in this thread are as follows: It is important to have separate mods for separate personalities. I hear "too strict" and "too lenient" - type sentences and accusations being thrown out for discussion in this thread. Everyone's idea for their own utopia is totally different. Heck, the Simpsons even had an episode explaining that! :D

One thing that would be interesting (though I already know the outcome) would be how surprised you guys would be if you polled some of your ideal moderator ideas and traits. I'm sure that everyone is going to have differing opinions on what their ideal moderator traits would be. My guess is that you many of you would already request for traits that these moderators already possess. I'm glad that not all the Neowin mods are similar to each other. I love the different personalities, thought processes, understanding, teachings, etc.

Everyone would simply have different ideas for their "perfect" mod. Imagine one moderator cloned by 100. You'd have 100 moderators with identical traits. You would build the moderator based on your formula. No leniency, no explaining things, no excuses. It simply cannot be done. Mods have to use their best judgment on a daily basis and sacrifice their own free time for the community.

Swear filter? If we didn't have it, I'm sure people would be doing it 100 times more than they do now. Like bangbang023 had commented on...you give them an inch and they want a yard. It's just human nature. My Thunderbird client automatically downloads emails from Neowin's site and categorizes them in folders based on what forum subsection they belong in. The last thing I want to do is see a ton of messages coming in with "****tard gets laptop stolen on bus" or something. Even if people don't see it as being offensive, it's normally not called for. I'd rather see something constructive instead of personal, and that's what most of that language comes down to. Plus, it doesn't portray Neowin as being a user-friendly place for people to come and gain information to improve their skills or seek the help they are looking for.

I went on a forum site for some support on a piece of software I had purchased. Now, there were really a few questionable practices that I had wanted to comment on and was looking for any constructive comments on it. I could like to it, but I don't want to even get into it again. Bottom line is that I felt like I got jumped by this one person in particular. To my horror, the individual is now (or seems to be) a moderator. He started getting personal, started swearing at me. Basically attacked everything I wrote down. I was so ****ed I could have traveled through the Internet like the Lawnmower Man and just...<takes a deep breath>...<takes another>...anywayz. Point being, I have never ever gone back to discuss anything there again, nor will I purchase anything from them again. I felt terrible about the whole experience. I really wouldn't want Neowin members or visitors going through any type of experience like the one I went through with that site. Express yourself, but all the swearing that people want to do can really be offensive. Maybe if you guys could give me advantages (not like you have to prove anything to a fellow member, since I hold no supervisor status) on why we should be able to freely swear without it being blocked, I could better understand. But doing it just because you can doesn't sound like a good enough reason to me.

If you're looking to see power-hungry mods, Neowin isn't where I've seen them. I can think of plenty of places, but Neowin wouldn't be one of them.

Neowin is a great place for news and help and cool discussions, etc. Plenty of people are here to make it a great community. There has to be a balance brought together by those elected to moderate and manage. So far, Neowin has been building itself up better and better IMO. There's plenty of exciting stuff coming around the corner that I'll be waiting to see! :)

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Although I think for certain infractions things should be dealt with in different ways as is sometimes done, I guess they are doing OK.

But to be honest, there should be an integrity system in place as well. If a member has a great track record and is a helpful person who rarely has any problems with other members in his/her posts, a warning should not be given out to blemish the persons reputation or at least make that person feel bad and helpess. In such a case I believe the mods should be informative to that member, but not give out a punishment right away....

Otherwise I have seen people dealt with properly. Although sometimes even in monitored cases within several hours, I believe troublesome members who are asking for it repeatedly should be right away dealt with in a temporary ban instead of just standing around watching until it gets to a certain point.

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No, I personally think neowin is too tight... I mean you cant even swear!

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A lot of people find it quite easy to have an intelligent conversation without swearing. I recommend you try it sometime.

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I wouldn't say mods are strict, if members are going to be silly then they need to look at the community rules and see what they've done wrong, not blame mods for doing their jobs.

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(Y)

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I've reported trolling numerous times and the offending comments have been taken care of only a few times.? I've even PMed Supermods and Admins about trolling and they either delete or ignore my PMs because I never get a response and the comments are never taken care of.? This sort of goes back to my original complaint.

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I have in fact reported several of the posts I am referring to, to absolutely no response.

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How do either of you know what has been taken care of and what has not? You don't know who gets warned for what post, and a post doesn't always need to be deleted or edited for the issue to be dealt with.

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Too bad some of the mods don't take them seriously.  I've reported trolling numerous times and the offending comments have been taken care of only a few times.  I've even PMed Supermods and Admins about trolling and they either delete or ignore my PMs because I never get a response and the comments are never taken care of.  This sort of goes back to my original complaint.

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I reported a thread for trolling yesterday and it was taken care of within 10 minutes...

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I seem to get that impression sometimes,

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If a moderator didn't think what they were doing was right, they would not do it. If a member then thinks that the action was wrong, there are supervisors that can be contacted :)

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another question:

Do moderators think they are always right?

I seem to get that impression sometimes,

but well in almost every forum/board

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When it comes to the rules then basically, yea ;)

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Thats just it why can't people just be nice. I mean is it so hard. If you don't share a view on something with another simply agree to disagree don't go about bashing and name calling. Althoug I will make an exception regarding threads that deal with religion and politics those two topics are always flaring up peoplr.

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Well I guess it's hard regardless. I mean, people will insult/flame/be rude to others when a person has ID10T syndrome. You don't mean to tell me you never wanted to knock someone upside the head because they said something so retarded it makes you tingle? lol

:alien:

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Overall I think the mods are doing a some what okay job. But really, it depends on which mod your talking about.

There are some mods I hate with all my heart.

While there are those that have my full respect.

~hot

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Personally I believe that keeping a forum clean is member's job is as much as Mod's job .. So people who see such things happen should report them as soon as possible so that it can be tackled without becoming a big issue ..

So .. Neowin need more active users who report the flaming posts .. :)

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I can't seem to find the insert poll so i'm just gonna leave it like this.

Anyways, the reason I ask is because i constantly see people on the forum trolling or flaming others. And some members are just plain annoying and offensive at times and I see no change in this, in fact it gets worst.

So do you guys thinks mods should be harsher on such stated members?

Yes or No? WHY?

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No. They are very harsh already (depends on the mod).

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There is only one mod I dislike but that's because he's always locking threads for invalid reasons and mass deleting user's comments and is way to harsh. He'll ban me the next time he gets a chance to and if this post means ban so be it.

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I would say that this thread has brought forward a few VERY important issues!

The first one that I identified was that due to the size of this forum, perhaps another 20 or so junior moderators should be appointed (In training so to speak!) and that they should be given very limited powers to help the senior staff with tasks like looking out for trolling, flaming, blatant post whoring, and reporting these matters so that they are attended to in a correct and expedient manner!

I am sure that there are plenty of mature MEN and WOMAN on this forum who would fit the bill pretty nicely. Prerequisites for a job of this nature would be age, (Age, disclosure should be mandatory when joining Neowin!!) are they working, do they have ANY management or people skills at all? This I know will perhaps irk the younger members, but as far as I am concerned there is no substitute for experience! I also feel that an age restriction MUST somehow be enforced at this site! (I know that this is difficult one to enforce!)

The moderating staff must also strive for consistency as this seems to be very high on the list of complaints by members who feel that favouritism is a problem.

A very important point is the tone that the person (moderator) uses when addressing an issue or member for an infraction.

One of the members also made the point that there are members who have been here for a long time and are not active at all. Some people have NEVER made an attempt to post at all and by doing this are contributing absolutely nothing to this forum. They should be deleted so that the forum represents accurate membership numbers at Neowin! :cool:

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I question a mod's integrity when he deletes/edits messages, or locks threads which discuss flaws in his company's software or marketing.

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Yeah. That is a problem. :angry: Though most of the time people just profusely bash their software with four letter words and untasteful adjectives ('crap' comes to mind).

Remember, you could always PM a supervisor if that particular mod gets too carried away in this type of moderation (some may see it as censorship).

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I personally think that the mods are doing a fine job. They are fair and have been nothing but supportive and helpful in times of need. Forgive them for filtering immature/repetitive posts, but that is their jobs. Mind you I'd never kiss ass to get a higher rank in an online society, and I'm glad that I've not seen it here. Keep up the good work mods.

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I personally think that the mods are doing a fine job. They are fair and have been nothing but supportive and helpful in times of need. Forgive them for filtering immature/repetitive posts, but that is their jobs. Mind you I'd never kiss ass to get a higher rank in an online society, and I'm glad that I've not seen it here. Keep up the good work mods.

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I completely agree.

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I personally think that the mods are doing a fine job. They are fair and have been nothing but supportive and helpful in times of need. Forgive them for filtering immature/repetitive posts, but that is their jobs. Mind you I'd never kiss ass to get a higher rank in an online society, and I'm glad that I've not seen it here. Keep up the good work mods.

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I would have to agree with you 100% on this. The mods here do a very good job and make this my favorite forum to visit.

Thanks Mods!

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i think mods are at time too tight.. for example "Chad" . a typical mod- i once stopped spam posting/flame war on a news topic based on Tiger. some guy posted windows was better than xp etc and tiger is a service pack more than a OS- typical kids posting flame wars.

So i ended explaining it all to the guy- in the process calling his comments stupid- because of his stupidity :/ chad decided to give me a warning -based on another users comments that "i gave a personal attack"

in the end the flame war continued (during which i decided not to post any more replies) and Chad ended closing the topic due to the flame war- which innitially i tried to stop :(

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What bothers me the most about some moderators is that they refuse to discuss or explain their certain actions and threaten other members to "respect" the mods' decision or be warned. This tendency is also often seen in Neowin IRC chat-room and it really degrades the joy(?) of chatting.

I wouldn't mind a bit harsher or more strict moderation as long as the moderators would act reasonable and do not abuse their power in order to pursue their personal agenda/opinion.

Here are examples of some power-abusing actions.

- If someone posts negative opinion about Linux, the post would be regarded as merely a "rant" and be moved to The Soapbox. I never knew Linux section was only for praising how great Linux is and that the criticism was never allowed. How disgusting.

- In the IRC channel, when one guy says something that sounds slightly inappropriate yet does not recognize it himself, the mod would simply kick him out of the channel. Further explanation or discussion regarding that action are refused and the mod threatens the member to shut up or "else."

There are some more regarding one certain mod's excessive love for Canada or Macintosh, but I'm sure those don't need much explanation.

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Here are examples of some power-abusing actions.

- If someone posts negative opinion about Linux, the post would be regarded as merely a "rant" and be moved to The Soapbox. I never knew Linux section was only for praising how great Linux is and that the criticism was never allowed. How disgusting.

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You must be talking about the off-topic claim that Linux users are Cyber Terrorists that I recently moved. :rofl:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=386724

It was a rant, so that is where it goes (or it could have been deleted as off-topic flame-bait). It wasn't in the Linux section. It was a Back Page News thread that was being derailed. Check the Linux section and you will see that positive & negative discussion is allowed (but "Windows suxx" or "Linux suxx" comments are not). This is all per the Neowin Rules.

Or are you citing some other Linux rant moved to the soapbox? :ermm:

If that is what you were referring to, I recommend you really re-check your facts and find a new viewpoint.

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Haha this thread just made me laugh.

The first thing that came to mind was what to name such a group?

Then it hit me: post-37120-1133802588.png

It would be great. You could call the group "A friend of a friend" :laugh:

In all honesty, I think the mods here do an excellent job with the group of 12 year olds they have to deal with.

As fred666 once said "1% of the members take up 50% of the moderators time"

-Ax

Edited by Axon
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