Community Feedback Poll [read clarifications in OP before voting!]

[Neapolitan]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

21. Black & white moderation will lead to an unhappy community afraid of expressing themselves.
- "Black & white" moderation means: Moderating strictly to the set rules, regardless of any considerations whatsoever, and forsaking independent judgment of situations and gray areas. This ties into several of the options.

I think what is more important than the mod team to whip the forum into shape with Draconian measures is to maintain the site's reputation... There isn't a forum out there on the internet that doesn't have rules to safe-guard itself from disruptive members. I have no complaints about the current mod team, I like Conan, Pedestrian, Vanilla, FB, Janszoon, (I mention them since I more familiar with them, the others I am no so well acquainted with - but I'm cool with them.)

There are really no hard & fast rules to cover all situations. Should Mods use their own discretion? In most cases I would say yes, I'm all for members trusting the Moderators with the job they do. But what happens if a Mod has a personal axe to grind with a particular member? Or what happens if a member gets railroaded because he or she doesn't fit into the clique? These are situations where both sides have to be weighed, to see what side is not as bad as they are made out to be. It's hard enough for one person to be objective let alone a whole group - and there should be more understanding coming from the members once the mod team makes a decision. I think when it comes to the rules it does not to have it so black & white but to have some fail-safe where it can protect a member from unfair treatment, and that goes for both sides of the dispute (which is basically Moderator discretion.)