Freebase Dali

I agree with the first part of your post about editing a person's post while making it known that a moderator edited it. Then, if they don't get the message, take further steps. We used to do that more than we do now, and I agree in that we should implement it more. Just so long as people don't accuse us of public shaming, like it was done in the past.

As for your second part, regarding punishment not being possible a while and only on the condition that someone reports it, that's pretty much taking wheels off our bike. If we can't independently verify whether someone is breaking the rules, and must rely on someone reporting it, then this place would be a war zone. Coming from someone who has been doing this for years, and not just here, I can categorically tell you that your idea in this respect would not work.
Of course, I could be misinterpreting what you were saying, so do feel free to clarify if applicable.

We don't need gimmicks to promote good behavior. We need members that want to behave well. The fact that you think we need motivation for people to not be a problem is pretty telling in that you, at least subconsciously, know that the people in question are not interested in being good because it's their nature. Me personally, I'd rather just weed out the bad to make room for the good. I'm not going to sit here and waste time trying to convert the problem people, I'm just going to punish the ones who cause problems. And you're completely right about us needing to be stricter. I think the main problem as of late is that we were far too lenient with the problem people, and that's how this whole mess started. Fortunately for your peace of mind, I don't think we'll be doing that anymore, but I think we might like some input on how to balance the gray areas a bit better. Sopsych has some input, some of which I agree with, but I think we're missing the mark when the primary stance is to reward good behavior with gimmicks, because we're then acknowledging that people are inherently not interested in making this place the kind of place they want to be a part of. And I think that's entirely cynical and insulting.

1. We haven't requested it
2. Based on our previous experiences, it wouldn't be implemented anyway.

Whether it's a good idea or not, I don't know. If the whole idea is to not reinforce cliquish behavior, then it seems to me that a system people can use to elevate another person is completely conducive to cliquish behavior in a community such as ours. Not to mention the fact that we don't need a gimmick in order for people to behave well. We just need people to behave well. If they can't do it on their own, we have mods that can take care of it.

We're not trying to build a society of individuals who love rewards. We're trying to foster a community of people that enjoy talking about music. All we need are people that enjoy talking about music.

I agree, and have seen this myself. It works better in very large forums of thousands of active users, such as city-data. They even have cash prizes for "most helpful" competitions. In our scenario, it would only foster more competition, then after a while you'd have people bubbling up to the surface of the matter complaining that only the friends in a clique are voting their friends up, just like we already have people complaining that posts are not being replied to because of cliques.

If certain people can't see the parallel there, then I am extremely worried.

Ok now I'm extremely worried.

So then your position is that people just stop creating drama to make this place better? I totally agree!

Do you think people are elitist for not responding to your comments?
Do you know how many posts I make that go completely ignored? Lots. And I'm even part of the "elite mod group"... But when I wake up the next day, finally sober, I look back on those posts and realize they were just bad or uninteresting to people. I can't just sit there and blame everyone else because my posts weren't interesting enough to generate feedback.

I understand your feelings, however I think you're misplacing the cause here.
Also, you've been here long enough to be ineligible to claim the things you're claiming. If you had joined a week ago, your claims might hold some weight. But if you're going to blame everyone else for the fact that you haven't become as prolific as you want to be in all the time you've been here, then you're up for a pretty sore disappointment.

Stop attacking me. You see how easy it is to make that claim? I feel insulted. Please follow the rules...

Obviously you can see the value in one single person not dictating the reality of the scenario, and I hope you understand from here on out that the mods are acting on an aggregate of information when things are not clear cut. Posting an eye-rolling smiley is not an attack, otherwise we'd have it removed. Just because you feel a certain way does not make it true. It's the kind of thing you report if you feel you're being attacked, and a team of individuals will determine if it holds weight. There is absolutely no way you can sustain a community with the kind of retribution you're advocating.

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