Discussion on Moderator impartiality

[Orange Gelato]

Hi People!

I am fairly new to this forum, but i am starting this thread beause I witnessed something that really disturbed me about this forum and behaviour of several moderators here.

The role of moderator on a forum is kind of a special one. They should try to keep imparital as best they are able to. They really should only jump into conversatiosn when they have something to add to the conversation in a polite, civil way or if they see really bad user actions and must take the steps to correct them.

I'm starting this thread because I think it is important to have a place on this forum for this conversation. A forum is a little like an online democracy, where the users are the people, the moderators are like the police, and the system admin are like the government.
What moderators should not be, is people who abuse a trusted status and act like angry deities. They have a duty and a ressponsibility to try their very best to remain in the neutral state and not be too for or too against anyone...just fair. A user should not feel bullied or like they are prejudiced against and powerless to speak up for fear of retribution.

My hope is that this thread can be a place where people can discuss their concerns or compliments regarding moderator behaviour to "keep them being honest" or "applaud them".

I will start off with the concern which triggered me to start this thread. First off, i should say that both the "Harry T" user and the "Dr. Drib" user have never acted in any negative way against me, but I am telling about this incident in the hopes of better transparency and justice. I am not calling either of these moderators here partial or biased, but I am providing evidence of things which I think are really questionable behaviour for their role. Here it is:

A little while ago, a user called "Inktelligent" made a thread in the "Which one should I buy?" and posted a link to his you tube video comparing a few e-reader sizes. For reason I can not understand, he was instantly swamped with really negative comments. The first one of these came from a moderator called "Harry T" who described the possibility that "Inktelligent"s video had "ghastly" music before he even saw it. For record, the music was kind of like hotel lounge or jazz music maybe.

Later, as other users, who, I think, mostly unfairly piled on to ""Inktelligent" about his video being really wrong in showing ereader sizes, another moderator "Dr. Drib" posted several comments either agreeing with the "hazers" without evidence or plain out saying that ""Inktelligent"s video was bad, again without giving any evidence.

Now, I do not know the full history of "Inktelligent" on this forum, but I can not see a good reason for displaying such blatant negative comments toward his video. I have liked what videos i saw, and can not see why he is getting such a bad ride here.
Do you think these moderators have shown a signature of being partial in this case? Are there other similar cases of things like this for other users?

Comments on this, or other experiences are welcome...but please support your comments here with your evidence. Saying "so and so was really bad and biased" might be what you feel but it does not really help...so if you have an incident or perspective to share, please provide your evidence...for good or bad actions by moderators. Good luck to everyone and hopefully we will have more good stories than bad stories to share

[PeterT]

Remember that mods have the same rights to post as anyone else. The majority of the time they are posting as a private user, the same as you are.

When they are posting as a mod you will clearly see the difference in how they post.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Remember that mods have the same rights to post as anyone else. The majority of the time they are posting as a private user, the same as you are.

When they are posting as a mod you will clearly see the difference in how they post.

A moderator post will be in green. Any other color is just the person's opinion.
Can I please get one of our moderators to please moderate this post in some way?

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Orange Gelato

They really should only jump into conversatiosn when they have something to add to the conversation in a polite, civil way [...]

This goes for all users, moderators or not

I'm starting this thread because I think it is important to have a place on this forum for this conversation.

By all means discuss it, but keep in mind that, according to the posting guidelines:

"discussions or questions about the actions of the Moderating Team are not permitted on open forum. Moderation actions are confidential between the team and the member in question. If you have any questions about an action, please address them to the team or other member by Private Message."

A little while ago, a user called "Inktelligent" made a thread in the "Which one should I buy?" and posted a link to his you tube video comparing a few e-reader sizes. For reason I can not understand, he was instantly swamped with really negative comments. The first one of these came from a moderator [...] who described the possibility that "Inktelligent"s video had "ghastly" music before he even saw it.

Again from the guidelines:

"Do not comment about other member's possible guideline violations on open forum. Instead, please use the "report post" button to report any post that appears to contravene these guidelines. It is the button at the lower-left of posts and the upper right of private messages."

So, if you think some posts are unnecessarily harsh or impolite, please report them, from a moderator or from anyone else.

But anyway, just as it is everyone's job to be polite towards others, it's also others' job to understand that everyone likes different things, and that comments are, in general, not meant to be offensive, even when they are on the dry and blunt side. (I mean, when someone says "oh, my, that's crap", well... I don't see that as sanctionable, but it depends on the context, of course. And here I'm talking as an individual, not as moderator.)

As PeterT says, moderators are normal members most of the time. While they have a responsibility to maintain order and good behaviour, not everything they do is on their moderator role, just like policemen can also enjoy a football match when they are not on duty.

Moderator Notice
If, on the other hand, you have complaints about a moderator's actions as a moderator (deleting a post, closing a thread, banning a member), as indicated above, do not discuss it in a public forum like this, instead send a private message to the moderator in question or to some other moderator.

(That's what it looks like when we want to make it clear that we act as moderators)

[eschwartz]

What are the options, anyway -- that forum moderators need to keep track of a second account specially for moderation use?

It is much easier to simply note when they use a green moderation notice, or specifically state that they are acting as a moderator -- and otherwise assume that they are acting as a regular user.

Don't worry -- anyone who's been around for a while knows better than to be afraid of disagreeing with moderators on their off time. We disagree with them all the time -- they're just opinions.

...

All in all, this forum does a good job of maintaining the right balance, or at least I think so.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

What are the options, anyway -- that forum moderators need to keep track of a second account specially for moderation use?

It is much easier to simply note when they use a green moderation notice, or specifically state that they are acting as a moderator -- and otherwise assume that they are acting as a regular user.

Don't worry -- anyone who's been around for a while knows better than to be afraid of disagreeing with moderators on their off time. We disagree with them all the time -- they're just opinions.

...

All in all, this forum does a good job of maintaining the right balance, or at least I think so.

I think so too.

[Kumabjorn]

Couldn't agree more. Mobileread is absolutely one of the best moderated forums around. Spam is removed instantly, and when I have breached some rule I'm reminded in a polite and non-offensive manner. I've had intense discussions on many issues with the moderators and have never felt that this has influenced their moderation of my postings.
The rules are clear and it is only when you infringe those that moderators see any need to intervene. Both HarryT and Dr Drib are long time moderators and they have seen it all by now. Their first attempt at moderation is always a nudge and reminder about the rules. If that doesn't help they become sterner, and it is first when a thread has gotten out of hand that they implement any actions.

Twitter is to communications as haiku is to literature.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Couldn't agree more. Mobileread is absolutely one of the best moderated forums around. Spam is removed instantly, and when I have breached some rule I'm reminded in a polite and non-offensive manner. I've had intense discussions on many issues with the moderators and have never felt that this has influenced their moderation of my postings.
The rules are clear and it is only when you infringe those that moderators see any need to intervene. Both HarryT and Dr Drib are long time moderators and they have seen it all by now. Their first attempt at moderation is always a nudge and reminder about the rules. If that doesn't help they become sterner, and it is first when a thread has gotten out of hand that they implement any actions.

Twitter is to communications as haiku is to literature.

Same here. I have been moderated a few times myself.
But they have never moderated a post because we disagreed.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Couldn't agree more. Mobileread is absolutely one of the best moderated forums around. Spam is removed instantly, and when I have breached some rule I'm reminded in a polite and non-offensive manner. I've had intense discussions on many issues with the moderators and have never felt that this has influenced their moderation of my postings.
The rules are clear and it is only when you infringe those that moderators see any need to intervene. Both HarryT and Dr Drib are long time moderators and they have seen it all by now. Their first attempt at moderation is always a nudge and reminder about the rules. If that doesn't help they become sterner, and it is first when a thread has gotten out of hand that they implement any actions.

Twitter is to communications as haiku is to literature.

Thank you for the kind words.

Concerning spam: If not for the help of the members here, spam would quickly get out of control.


Don
(Moderator)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Thank you for the kind words.

Concerning spam: If not for the help of the members here, spam would quickly get out of control.

Don
(Moderator)

That's for sure, 'cuz we know that the lions won't get rid of it

[John F]

You have to admit, the music was "Ghastly".

Moderators are entitled to thier opinions, they are human (I think) after all.

And remember Opinions are like moderators: every forum has them... No wait that's not the right quote.

As someone who has butted heads with the moderators in the past... Thank you to all the moderators for doing a great job.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by John F

You have to admit, the music was "Ghastly".

Moderators are entitled to thier opinions, they are human (I think) after all.

And remember Opinions are like moderators: every forum has them... No wait that's not the right quote.

As someone who has butted heads with the moderators in the past... Thank you to all the moderators for doing a great job.

Well now I think one of the moderators may be from another planet but it is a cool planet.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by John F

Moderators are entitled to thier opinions, they are human (I think) after all.

Not too sure about that... There are a few that I think are not of the human race, but as Cinisajoy already said, from another planet.

But, on one thing I am in agreement with the OP: a moderator should always be an exemplary poster. Which doesn't mean he or she can't have an opinion! Please let them have one, it makes discussions a lot more interresting. It's just that they should never post so that they have to be moderated, so to speak...

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Not too sure about that... There are a few that I think are not of the human race, but as Cinisajoy already said, from another planet.

But, on one thing I am in agreement with the OP: a moderator should always be an exemplary poster. Which doesn't mean he or she can't have an opinion! Please let them have one, it makes discussions a lot more interresting. It's just that they should never post so that they have to be moderated, so to speak...

I read the thread in question and none of the moderators ever said anything that could be remotely moderated.
Might I also add that none of the moderators stepped in when the OP started name calling but let him be.
So are you saying the moderators cannot have an opinion but a poster can call them trolls?

All HarryT and Dr Drib said was that the OP's video was misleading and not good.
The OP got offended when people didn't say his video was great. Then the OP that started this thread was vaguely threatening people (not the moderators) in that thread.

The moderators did nothing wrong except state their opinion,.
Matter of fact, I thought they were rather nice. They didn't delete the thread when it became obvious that the original post was nothing more than a guy promoting his own video.

And to me this thread is nothing but sour grapes.

I will shut up now.

[The Inktelligent]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I read the thread in question and none of the moderators ever said anything that could be remotely moderated.

Actually, you were a major participant in the thread in question and were responsible for several of the comments to which Orange Gelato referred. So let's get that out of the way first and have no "innocent" mistake about your partiality on the issue. As I was the person who started the thread in reference, and as a contributor, I am also by definition not impartial, but I think it is important to clarify that point.

The OP got offended when people didn't say his video was great.

This is not what happened in my opinion, but I refer people reading this to examine that other thread to make their own informed decision.

Then the OP that started this thread was vaguely threatening people (not the moderators) in that thread.

What are you talking about? There was nothing in the OP's comments on my thread that are REMOTELY threatening in any way. Once again people are free to verify this for themselves, but I have to admit that it is really incredibly irresponsible to make that such an accusation without providing a single shred of evidence.

Anyway, I applaud the OP for starting this thread and think it is an important conversation being had.

In addition, Sweatpea's assertion that:

But, on one thing I am in agreement with the OP: a moderator should always be an exemplary poster. Which doesn't mean he or she can't have an opinion! Please let them have one, it makes discussions a lot more interresting. It's just that they should never post so that they have to be moderated, so to speak...
Today 01:19 PM

Simply is correct....no if, and or buts..... it is just right and the right thing for a moderator to do. I don't see how this behavior can cause ANYTHING bad to happen for anyone but, on the contrary, will have the tendency to uplift the dialogue of the forum.