Is polarizing moderators a good thing?

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Depleted

Guest
#1
#1
I admit it. I'm very polarizing. You have to either agree with me or disagree. And I'm not afraid to give my opinion on anything... until now.

But that's why I would be a lousy moderator. I think mods have to be very level-headed and lean into extreme kindness with a good dose of benefit of a doubt. If such a picture of someone was able to be placed in a dictionary, it certainly wouldn't be me. Matter of fact, I'd be the antonym of that picture.

I see people like me are mods now. I don't think that's a good idea. There's too much of a fear of disagreeing. And when we can't disagree, all we're going to do is try to agree. I don't see that as a good thing either, particularly if it's done just to stay on this site. Especially when agreeing means hurting others.

So, these are ways I see to handle it. Suggestions that probably won't be listened to anyway, but...
1. Only have very, very kind, level-headed people willing to lean over backward to give a benefit of a doubt as moderators.

2. Have mods take off their mod jackets when debating, and then they cannot ban someone in that post. Nor can they trump up charges in another.

3. Give a list of the tenets of faith required on here so we know where this site stands. (What do you think about God healing everyone? What do you think about how to keep the Sabbath? What do you think when a very kind member asks another kind member a question, but it's perceived as an attack? It has to be concrete now because of the changes.)

"Do as I say, not what I do" has never worked for me, even when I was little and the person telling me that was Mom. Right now it feels like what we're being told is to act meek and mild... unless you're a mod, then game on!

I should NOT be a mod, but I can say that about some mods now too and that scares me.

(And, remember this is merely a suggestion board, so I'm not telling anyone how to run their business. I'm merely giving a suggestion.)
 
blue_ladybug

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
#3
Feb 21, 2014
70,869
9,601
113
#3
Most all the mods here are chat room mods. The only forum mod I ever see in here is Oncefallen.
 
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Depleted

Guest
#4
#4
blue_ladybug said:
Most all the mods here are chat room mods. The only forum mod I ever see in here is Oncefallen.
Click to expand...
Look closer. Some of our used-to-be-fellow-arguers are now mods.
 
Blain

Blain

The Word Weaver
#5
Aug 28, 2012
19,212
2,547
113
#5
The thing about being a mod is that just as you said depleted you have to be level headed and I don't know how mods are selected or how one becomes a mod but there are certain people I know of that I would recommend as a mod such as blue lady bug and tourist to name a few or rather a couple lol.

The bible discussion forum is a great place to weed through people who would make a good mod, things to look for are how and when and why they debate how they react to attacks if they can debate in heated war threads without losing their cool if they show love and the heart of God if they back up a lot of their words with sound logic and reason,scripture and especially if they have a kind heart.

Asa mod you have a position of authority and you can't be quick to ban people without a good reason for it because if we misuse the ban hammer we are no better than those who in this world are in a position of power and misuse their power. But at the same time even if it upsets people we have to be able to bring ourselves to ban those who need to be banned and a lot of times the reason of the banning is not for the public to know and so they question the reason of the banning and even get upset but I don't think mods are suppose to tell why
 
blue_ladybug

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
#6
Feb 21, 2014
70,869
9,601
113
#6
Depleted said:
Look closer. Some of our used-to-be-fellow-arguers are now mods.
Click to expand...
Every now and then I see CS1 and sparkman. Who of the arguers are mods? I don't pay attention to the arguers on here..lol
 
blue_ladybug

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
#7
Feb 21, 2014
70,869
9,601
113
#7
Blain said:
The thing about being a mod is that just as you said depleted you have to be level headed and I don't know how mods are selected or how one becomes a mod but there are certain people I know of that I would recommend as a mod such as blue lady bug and tourist to name a few or rather a couple lol.

The bible discussion forum is a great place to weed through people who would make a good mod, things to look for are how and when and why they debate how they react to attacks if they can debate in heated war threads without losing their cool if they show love and the heart of God if they back up a lot of their words with sound logic and reason,scripture and especially if they have a kind heart.

Asa mod you have a position of authority and you can't be quick to ban people without a good reason for it because if we misuse the ban hammer we are no better than those who in this world are in a position of power and misuse their power. But at the same time even if it upsets people we have to be able to bring ourselves to ban those who need to be banned and a lot of times the reason of the banning is not for the public to know and so they question the reason of the banning and even get upset but I don't think mods are suppose to tell why
Click to expand...

I WOULD NOT want to be a mod.. I'd ban the trolls, people I don't like, etc.. lol
 
Blain

Blain

The Word Weaver
#8
Aug 28, 2012
19,212
2,547
113
#8
blue_ladybug said:
I WOULD NOT want to be a mod.. I'd ban the trolls, people I don't like, etc.. lol
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lol well at your honest:) i would not mind being a mod but I don't know if I fit the qualifications to be one or not all I posted above about what I think is important as a mod may not be me lol
 
blue_ladybug

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
#9
Feb 21, 2014
70,869
9,601
113
#9
Blain said:
lol well at your honest:) i would not mind being a mod but I don't know if I fit the qualifications to be one or not all I posted above about what I think is important as a mod may not be me lol
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Other than the trolls, there's only one person here whom I can't stand. He's been consistently rude, hostile and vile the entire time he's been here. I'd DEFINITELY ban him. He's been reported by several members multiple times, so I dunno why he's still here, but... His mouth will get him banned sooner or later, so I ain't worried about it..lol
 
Blain

Blain

The Word Weaver
#10
Aug 28, 2012
19,212
2,547
113
#10
Banning would only be my very last resort and only when it's absolutely necessary, I could never allow my view of a person or my feelings about them influence my banhammer but I would have to be able to ban people when necessary even if I don't to but one must have the discernment to know when a ban is required or not
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#11
#11
I truly respect anyone brave enough to be a mod. I'm not that brave, (along with my other flaw of I'd make a lousy one for the same reasons Blue gave. lol)

I do remember an old site I went on that was just new enough to the Internet and dumb enough to picking mods that they picked me to mod. (And, in their defense, it was AOL, the first competition for Compuserve, so absolutely no one did know how to work social media sites, so they really couldn't know anymore than I knew, who would make a good mod. 1994 a completely different time.)

But they had one thing I think would help for this problem. There really were mod clothes. (Not in a hippie sense of mod. lol) When I did mod duty, I was no longer the user known as AtWhatCost. I was "Moderator." I walked into a cyber room and everyone knew to act right. And I didn't tell anyone that I was ATW in plain clothes. That way, as me/ATW, I didn't make anyone feel like a nun or a grandmother or a cop was with them. And I had to separate -- compartmentalized. If someone annoyed me as me, I couldn't take it out on them as mod. And vice versa.

I was a mod, didn't like it, so quit, but mod-me wasn't me-me. I knew as a mod I represented the company, not me. That too could work, if RobOp et. al. are interested in such suggestions.

But I'm biting my tongue to avoid this turning into attacking anyone. I just don't think the recent choice of how to do things was the best choice. I do think the choice to change things is good, even as the opponent of some of that change.

I agree with the motives, but not necessarily the method. And it's not my responsibility to come up with Da Rulez, but we were given a forum where we can voice suggestions on how to improve. That's all I'm doing and I really don't want this to break into an argument against people either.
 
T

Tintin

Guest
#12
#12
I don't even know who's a mod any more.
 
Magenta

Magenta

Senior Member
#13
Jul 3, 2015
55,864
26,030
113
#13
OnceFallen no longer has "moderator" under his name, has not for some time now.
 
blue_ladybug

blue_ladybug

Senior Member
#14
Feb 21, 2014
70,869
9,601
113
#14
Magenta said:
OnceFallen no longer has "moderator" under his name, has not for some time now.
Click to expand...
He never had "moderator" under his name anyway. He used to be an Admin. He DOES have mod powers, though.
 
C

coby2

Guest
#16
#16
Depleted said:
I admit it. I'm very polarizing. You have to either agree with me or disagree. And I'm not afraid to give my opinion on anything... until now.

But that's why I would be a lousy moderator. I think mods have to be very level-headed and lean into extreme kindness with a good dose of benefit of a doubt. If such a picture of someone was able to be placed in a dictionary, it certainly wouldn't be me. Matter of fact, I'd be the antonym of that picture.

I see people like me are mods now. I don't think that's a good idea. There's too much of a fear of disagreeing. And when we can't disagree, all we're going to do is try to agree. I don't see that as a good thing either, particularly if it's done just to stay on this site. Especially when agreeing means hurting others.

So, these are ways I see to handle it. Suggestions that probably won't be listened to anyway, but...
1. Only have very, very kind, level-headed people willing to lean over backward to give a benefit of a doubt as moderators.

2. Have mods take off their mod jackets when debating, and then they cannot ban someone in that post. Nor can they trump up charges in another.

3. Give a list of the tenets of faith required on here so we know where this site stands. (What do you think about God healing everyone? What do you think about how to keep the Sabbath? What do you think when a very kind member asks another kind member a question, but it's perceived as an attack? It has to be concrete now because of the changes.)

"Do as I say, not what I do" has never worked for me, even when I was little and the person telling me that was Mom. Right now it feels like what we're being told is to act meek and mild... unless you're a mod, then game on!

I should NOT be a mod, but I can say that about some mods now too and that scares me.

(And, remember this is merely a suggestion board, so I'm not telling anyone how to run their business. I'm merely giving a suggestion.)
Click to expand...
nr 1 we have on one Dutch forum. You could say absolutely anything. They banned noone. But one day a man debated with a practicing homosexual who preached there that God thinks it's okay and he was nasty, he wanted gays to get the death penalty, so after a few weeks of real biting and eating he got a ban and the topics about homosexuality were closed.
I think nr. 1 is not a great idea.
 
C

coby2

Guest
#19
#19
I would ban noone and just say: sweety can't you be a bit nicer next time? On another forum they asked me to be a mod, because they didn't have enough mods. No thanks. I'd just let it turn into one gigantic mess I'm afraid. Lol then later they banned me.
 
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