After some discussion, the moderating team has decided to change the approach to moderation in FYM. Moderation has typically been fairly light-handed in general - really the only time any moderator action is taken is when forum policies are clearly violated (personal insults, trolling, etc), and even then, usually the first step is a warning. Posts are rarely deleted. This has, in general, worked out okay over FYM's history, as most people who take part in discussions do so in good faith, and with a desire for conversations to remain civil and fair.
There has always been some mean-spirited snark/mocking/ridicule in FYM, and there has been a history of people coming in with sincerely held beliefs that others find offensive, and it would be unrealistic to think we could get rid of those aspects entirely, but at the same time, the way those aspects of FYM can bring productive conversation to a dead stop and derail entire threads into personal bickering has been and continues to be problematic.
So regarding the changes in moderation: the primary change is that, instead of simply asking people to stay on topic or refrain from insults/trolling and leaving those comments up for all to see (and react to, and formulate responses to), moderators will now simply delete those comments, and leave a reminder message in their place.
For example, if someone comes in trolling with a comment like "All conservatives are racists!" rather than letting that comment stand, a moderator will delete it and any replies to it, and leave a comment like:
The goal here is to remove the power those bad comments have to derail a thread and lead to frustration between posters. This also gives those posters who had their posts deleted the opportunity to find a more constructive way to argue their point, without losing face due to a public warning from the mods. We hope this will lead to more civil conversations where opposing viewpoints can be argued without having to worry about petty jabs, trolling, or general hostility becoming too much of an obstacle to the discussion at hand.
The moderating team realizes that we are not always around 24/7 to monitor conversation, but generally speaking, we do our best to keep current on active conversations on the forum. But we do have a couple requests of those participating in FYM, though: please don't hesitate to make use of the report feature when you see posts you believe are problematic. It doesn't have to be an egregious overstepping of bounds to warrant a report (and reporting a post doesn't necessarily mean it will be deleted), it could be as simple as reporting a post to serve as a "heads up, this thread might be taking a turn for the worse" to the mod team.
The other request we have is a simple one: ask yourself a few basic questions before posting a comment or reply: 1)Is my comment going to contribute to or detract from the civility of the discussion? 2)Is what I'm replying to something that might be better to ignore for the sake of the discussion (or flagged for moderators)? 3)Is my comment engaging with the rest of the discussion in a good faith way, or am I hoping to get a rise out of someone?
If you have any questions and/or concerns, you can reach me or any of the moderators through private message.
--Diemen
There has always been some mean-spirited snark/mocking/ridicule in FYM, and there has been a history of people coming in with sincerely held beliefs that others find offensive, and it would be unrealistic to think we could get rid of those aspects entirely, but at the same time, the way those aspects of FYM can bring productive conversation to a dead stop and derail entire threads into personal bickering has been and continues to be problematic.
So regarding the changes in moderation: the primary change is that, instead of simply asking people to stay on topic or refrain from insults/trolling and leaving those comments up for all to see (and react to, and formulate responses to), moderators will now simply delete those comments, and leave a reminder message in their place.
For example, if someone comes in trolling with a comment like "All conservatives are racists!" rather than letting that comment stand, a moderator will delete it and any replies to it, and leave a comment like:
(A few posts deleted. Please refrain from trolling/personal attacks.)
The goal here is to remove the power those bad comments have to derail a thread and lead to frustration between posters. This also gives those posters who had their posts deleted the opportunity to find a more constructive way to argue their point, without losing face due to a public warning from the mods. We hope this will lead to more civil conversations where opposing viewpoints can be argued without having to worry about petty jabs, trolling, or general hostility becoming too much of an obstacle to the discussion at hand.
The moderating team realizes that we are not always around 24/7 to monitor conversation, but generally speaking, we do our best to keep current on active conversations on the forum. But we do have a couple requests of those participating in FYM, though: please don't hesitate to make use of the report feature when you see posts you believe are problematic. It doesn't have to be an egregious overstepping of bounds to warrant a report (and reporting a post doesn't necessarily mean it will be deleted), it could be as simple as reporting a post to serve as a "heads up, this thread might be taking a turn for the worse" to the mod team.
The other request we have is a simple one: ask yourself a few basic questions before posting a comment or reply: 1)Is my comment going to contribute to or detract from the civility of the discussion? 2)Is what I'm replying to something that might be better to ignore for the sake of the discussion (or flagged for moderators)? 3)Is my comment engaging with the rest of the discussion in a good faith way, or am I hoping to get a rise out of someone?
If you have any questions and/or concerns, you can reach me or any of the moderators through private message.
--Diemen