Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebase Dali
The thing is, we have no problem with the ability to enforce the rules. It's that when we do, the complaints go from one arena to another. The issue is balancing this, not simply taking a hard line... not if we want a community that can feel free enough to discuss things comfortably, but also be personally responsible for not taking things too far. And I think this is not in the hands of solely the moderators, but the community in general, which you seem to be absolving any responsibility for.
But ultimately, this is beside the point. The original discussion presented here was about the community itself being prone to more drama than music. And I wholeheartedly agree with you that removing the source of drama is well within our abilities and should be well within our priorities. All I'm saying is that it doesn't have to be black and white, across the board. It just needs to be contextual, and we just need to balance decisions carefully, not haphazardly in an effort to become "feared".
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Generally speaking, I think the best way to get good behaviour is by encouraging good behaviour. I have the naive, positive belief that if people are allowed to become closer as friends, they will be friendlier. Maybe members meeting up in real life or hanging out on plug.dj or chatting with eachother over Skype would make people friendlier. I think it's too bad MB can't do more to facilitate that (ex. have a skype/plug.dj-ish chatroom as part of the site). If you have a simple karma system that allows you to +1 members for good posts, perhaps that could contribute to things getting friendlier.
People behave in part according to the environment they find themselves in and in this simple forum solution, there are not that many ways of promoting good behaviour besides moderation. I know I'm repeating myself here and sorry if you've heard it before, but I think a change of environment could lead to an environment with less need for strict moderation in order to achieve general niceness.
As MB is now, more power to more decisive and stricter mods seem to be the most feasible way of getting a more friendly environment in my opinion, but I wish there were better ways.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sopsych
I too have seen the red text used for public notices, and I like it. Editing out inappropriate content would encourage third parties to police themselves and sometimes would reduce the need for deletions and the drama they can cause. Also, I like Tore's suggestion of gradual implementation. I think changes should take place slowly, with formal punishment (infractions and bans) not possible for a while. I don't want more bans around here.
The hard part is deciding to how to de-gray the gray. I think images are the first place to start. It should no longer be okay to post images to insult or mock members. Including posting pictures of trolls. In addition, it should not be okay to publicly accuse someone of trolling (in that case, the red text should be like "Please report that, with evidence, to a moderator instead of saying it here"). Another suggestion is to delete posts that publicly celebrate others' attacking words
An even harder part is that moderators would have to refrain from doing any of those bad things themselves. Otherwise, credibility would be damaged and people would disregard the rules.
I've been waiting to hear other ideas.
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It may be social suicide
But I generally agree with this.