The dreaded 'Moderator'

4 posts / 0 new

Topic locked

Tue, 2001-05-15 19:07

I'm sorry in advance if this question has been covered in other threads, but I don't get the time to read them all so I have to dip in and out.

I'm just curious about the fear of being moderated. I'm not sure that the principle of free speech is in danger by having someone from ABCtales check postings for personal criticism. If it's there, then surely a private email from Emily or Mark just asking politely to tone it down isn't so bad.

I know how easy it is to upset people via e-mail (I did it myself with 'dogplop') whether it's inadvertant or deliberate.

We're all 'moderated' to some extent in our lives - even (especially?) as writers; how many competitions do we see that state there should be no bad language or sex in stories? (I'd be up @!#$ street without bastard waders if I couldn't use bad language.)

As a community, which I hope we are, there has to be a line drawn which is agreed by common concensus regarding personal comments. In an ideal world, that line would be drawn by common sense and not need formalised rules, but some of the posts I've read seem, to me anyway, too personal. I'm not sure the argument about subjectivity that Mark put forward convinces me greatly. 'What you see is what we are' says Mark.... I'd like to believe that what we see is us striving for something better. We're adults in an adult world, not children in a playground. We can be funny without being snide (just dip into the stories on the site), we can be critical without being personal, and we can let the 'prats' know they're being prats without becoming 'prats' ourselves.

I believe in free speech. I believe in personal freedom. I believe these rights should be fought for and defended... but should my freedom to speak my mind allow me to call another contributor a 'naughty' name? Or ridicule them? I'm involved in mental health in the community and I encourage the people I know to express themselves in poetry. Having sent some of those people to this site, I would hate to see any of them being involved in one of the personal 'discussions'.

Sometimes we think we know 'who can take it' and who can't. Let me stress - sat behind a pc on our own, none of us know 'who can take it' and who can't. We only learn that the hard way. The anonymity of the internet can be a wonderful thing, but let's not forget how dangerous it can be. The people who run a site do have some responsibility as to the content of that site, whether we like that idea or not. No-one wants heavy censorship - certainly not me, but I do want to feel comfortable when I log on that the contributors to the site value each other.

Or am I just an over-sensitive wuss?

(I'm just thinking in print here, but I wonder how many contributors would vote for some kind of gentle 'nannying' when a post is personal. Maybe there's a way of polling the people online - we have an election coming up after all. Or should we make the discussion threads available to people only after they've logged on - I'm not sure whether that would make much difference overall, but it's just a suggestion.)

Sorry for going on a bit (... a bit???) but I'd love to know the ratio between 'non-moderated' and 'moderated' ABCtalers. Surely a vote on the front page (not here in threads) would tell us one way or the other. You have the facility to know when we try to vote for ourselves so fixing the vote shouldn't be a problem. As Mark said, we live in a democracy.

Thanks for listening.

Tue, 2001-05-15 19:29

andrew pack

Very good topic Simon. There have been occasional cries for moderators before and they have been politely declined by Mark. My personal view is that I am wholeheartedly in favour of free speech; but that I think it is possible to disagree with someone's opinion without that person being an idiot or pretentious. It is better to put forward your own case rather than descending into abuse. By the same token, I would say that there have been occasions when people on all sides have been provoked. It is important to remember that text posted up via e-mail has an immediacy and lacks the subtleties of speech - it is easy to offend someone without really meaning to. The one thing I would like as a rule is that arguments held inside these forums should not be taken outside them. At the end of the day, there are serious threads here and light-hearted threads. I think all of us here should be capable of contributing to and enjoy both. If you tend more to the humourous, spend more time on those and leave the serious conversations alone; if you want to be serious, there are plenty of opportunities for that here. As Mark Y-B has said a number of times, this forum is the bread rolls, it isn't the main meal. There is an easy answer for anyone who is really sick to the back teeth of it (or do I mean me ?) just use the site for its prime purpose of posting and reading stories.

Wed, 2001-05-16 10:40

mark y.b

Simon, I really appreciated the time and you put into your arguement considering I just exploded with indignation. That's why I love this place! As a Christian who tries to stick to what non-christians would feel is just a narrow path, I feel I do understand about the need for certain types of `moderation` but concerning the site, I've found that in the end we are `trying` to moderate ourselves, I mean, I've read enough apologies on the site. As someone who has the power to `delete ` stuff, albeit with advice from my boss, I know only too well the responsibility that entails. Also we have actually removed stuff that has had potential for terrible offence. Overall , I would say leave it as it is, but if need be keep it a live issue, Thanks again, and thankyou Andrew.

Wed, 2001-05-16 12:15

Diana Bird, Editor

Thank you all for your comments. All the staff at ABCtales read and contribute to the discussion rooms so we are normally aware of what’s happening. We try to leave people to say what they want, we all believe in freedom of speech, but we do draw the line of offensive remarks and discussions. We have on occasion deleted posts and have emailed people we feel are over stepping the mark. If you feel there are particular things you find to be offensive please email me and I will investigate the matters. We are out here but we are keen not to restrain people’s thoughts and comments. We hope that people use their judgements and not resort to offensive comments, but please let us know if people do. Thanks, Diana

Topic locked