Dave85
Living Legend
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2013
- Messages
- 10,122
- Like
- 14,329
Power if a funny thing. There are psychological studies that show people exercising power over others will be changed psychologically by the use of their power. There's a famous quote:
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton
My problem with board moderation is how easy it becomes for the moderators to exercise their powers. Exercising censorship powers is like a methamphetamine addiction. Once you start you can't stop. Now I understand if there were no moderation at all the site would probably degrade and become not worth reading. Yet, at the same time there should be clear examples of what is agreed upon as NOT acceptable.
If someone uses a curse word or the term "jack donkey" and is banned without any warning or even why they were banned, then I would say the moderators are drunk with power. I was banned for three days. It really made me mad. There was no warning. There was no reason given. And the TOS agreement on the site is so broad and vague it becomes purely subjective. I can't help it if I use the term "jack donkey" in referring to a Seth Davis prediction that Orange are going to lose and now they are 24-0.
I've seen moderators use the word "darn". I've seen moderators make off-topic sexual references like "Adult World" admit it was a tease! Where does it end? Where is the humility?
Again, my problem with the moderators is not everyone sees the world through their privileged morality. I have seen many other websites solve this problem by having "report TOS violation". If a post gets enough TOS violations reports it is automatically removed. If a poster gets too many posts removed her posting ability may be suspended for some time. But I think if you are going to suspend someone from posting you have to do it with the humility of giving them a detailed reason why with an exact reference to the post and why that post violates the TOS agreement.
Now every time I post something I think is funny I have to think twice. This has made this site a lot less fun for me. And when I see other people post stuff I think is funny I wonder if they are going to get banned which makes me sad also.
If the powerful moderators are going to engage in the practice of banning there should be clear examples of what is considered NOT acceptable. But generally people who are drunk with power have deaf ears with regards to the use of their power.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton
My problem with board moderation is how easy it becomes for the moderators to exercise their powers. Exercising censorship powers is like a methamphetamine addiction. Once you start you can't stop. Now I understand if there were no moderation at all the site would probably degrade and become not worth reading. Yet, at the same time there should be clear examples of what is agreed upon as NOT acceptable.
If someone uses a curse word or the term "jack donkey" and is banned without any warning or even why they were banned, then I would say the moderators are drunk with power. I was banned for three days. It really made me mad. There was no warning. There was no reason given. And the TOS agreement on the site is so broad and vague it becomes purely subjective. I can't help it if I use the term "jack donkey" in referring to a Seth Davis prediction that Orange are going to lose and now they are 24-0.
I've seen moderators use the word "darn". I've seen moderators make off-topic sexual references like "Adult World" admit it was a tease! Where does it end? Where is the humility?
Again, my problem with the moderators is not everyone sees the world through their privileged morality. I have seen many other websites solve this problem by having "report TOS violation". If a post gets enough TOS violations reports it is automatically removed. If a poster gets too many posts removed her posting ability may be suspended for some time. But I think if you are going to suspend someone from posting you have to do it with the humility of giving them a detailed reason why with an exact reference to the post and why that post violates the TOS agreement.
Now every time I post something I think is funny I have to think twice. This has made this site a lot less fun for me. And when I see other people post stuff I think is funny I wonder if they are going to get banned which makes me sad also.
If the powerful moderators are going to engage in the practice of banning there should be clear examples of what is considered NOT acceptable. But generally people who are drunk with power have deaf ears with regards to the use of their power.
Last edited:
