Let's welcome our new moderators!

Hey everybody, and welcome to Midnight Modding with Iain.

I'm just going to share The Secret to My Success, or How I Became a Mod:

I didn't use to* need to have the last word.

I know there are little groups here, and I'm probably a member of one or two of them, and I know that we don't all get along, so here's the trick: When the thread starts getting wonky, check to see if you've gotten your say in. If you haven't, it's fair to speak your piece, but then just step back. Unlike a face to face conversation, your opinion doesn't disappear if it's not continually repeated, but if you find yourself going back and forth with someone, a little more heated each time, it's going to end badly, because now, if I need to...

I can and will have the last word.

(God this would be a great place to lock this thread!)

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Congratulations and salutations to our new overlords. All three are, as far as I have seen, worthy additions to the staff.

 

so that's carte blanche for one single post, State my view and opinion then zip it. Unless a proper follow-up is required not meaning to have the last word.

 

Well, yeah, providing "your say" is something relevant to the thread and all. Drop in with "Nukinator is a big doody-head who shouldn't be allowed to talk" and we're going to have issues .

But seriously, most of the problems I've seen here are from endless rounds of people trying to get the last word in, in things that boil down to matters of opinion.

There are still people out there fighting in a war that began in 1983:

 

Of course! If it's relevant to the threat. Let's see what did I call it, nonsensical circular argumenting. What are you busy just say the same stuff while trying to act Superior the other person

 

Probably doesn’t include license to speculate as to the intelligence or ancestry of the person you’re replying to, or the relative branchlessness of their family tree.

 

That's a debatable thing, for instance of a certain member claim she is a descendant of Queen Elizabeth the first. I might take issue with it.

 

Good choices and you're all great for volunteering. Thanks.

 

Okay, I laughed. But he's right. This is exactly the sort of thing that will give me 'issues' as well.

Actually, I reckon somebody will have the last word in any discussion, and some folks are more motivated to be that 'somebody' than others. Some issues will never be resolved to everybody's satisfaction. That's not really a problem in itself. It's only a problem for me, as a Mod, if the exchange becomes nasty and personal. Or—to a lesser extent—if the discussion becomes so repetitive that non-participants lose their grip and topple off the branch.

 

Which 0ne's which?

 

For us to know and you to find out.

 

It's not like Sleepy, Dopey and Grumpy ...oh, wait....

 

Now now, those all explain me

 

Oh, that's rich. Which witches switch?

 

I've been quite absent the last few weeks due to day job madness, and no patience for drama when I have made the attempt to dip my head in and sort of said "Nooooooo thank you" and backed right out again. I've put so many users on Ignore in the past few months that a lot of recent threads make no sense at all from all the missing posts.

I'm thrilled to hear there will be more moderation, and by three members who have my respect and trust. I hope this means I can hang out here more often, and with more enjoyment as well.

 

I, for one, welcome our new forum overlords.
I ask only that my elimination be swift and painless.

 

Congrats! These are some well deserved promotions.

I'm optimistic -- it definitely makes sense for the staff to become more involved here. My suggestion is to focus on conduct, specifically targeting the rude tones that make the difference between a constructive disagreement and a fight. If a thread turns sour, locking the thread often does not solve the root problem, because the same ill feelings still exist in the community, and the same people are apt to keep starting fights. But if the people who are actually engaging in the fights are steered onto a more constructive path, then we can have longer term healing and we can see discussions continued and improved rather than derailed and ended. There are some topics like diversity in fiction that have been hard to discuss lately due to disagreements being on a more personal level than a polite, calm one. I hope we can get to a point where we can talk about things like that politely, focusing on fiction and writing most of all, and keep the discourse civil and constructive.

 

That is exactly my goal as a Mod. Thanks for the support.

 

It makes sense that new members will sometimes get overly enthusiastic about their forum participation and commit the occasional gaffe.
I think the best thing that longer time members like myself and you can do is to just say out of it, rather than fan the flames, and let the mods handle it if there is anything that even needs handling. The three new mods in question are mature and responsible and are going to do a great job.

 

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This springs to mind:

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Often the "endless rounds" are an attempt to point out the error(s) of someone's conclusion(s). These conclusions are founded in reasoning - at least one would hope. Which makes it different animal altogether from a preference-opinion.

I'm all for moderating abusive language. But so long as a conversation has the potential to be informative/instructive for the participants - or anyone who might read the thread - I think prolonged "rounds" of debate should be permitted.

 

Whether or not a specific reasoning or conclusion is in error, requires its own conclusion. Yes. But that's true of most topics that are worthy of long conversations.

But so long as the participants aren't breaking the rules, and are on-topic, I don't see a reason why they shouldn't be allowed to keep volleying arguments back and forth. I guess if it appears everyone is spinning their tires, the participants could be directed to the debate room.