My goodness, we're all so fragile, aren't we. If a thread turns into a train wreck, simply move on to a discussion that strikes your fancy.
You don't like things phrased in ways that acknowledge emotions? How about something more rational? This board exists because people WANT to spend time here. If there are a few assholes wandering around, making disparaging comments about other people who are presenting their thoughts and feelings in a good-faith manner, fewer people will want to spend time here. Who wants to spend time with assholes? In order for the board to thrive, it has to continue to be a place people WANT to spend time. Spending time here is a voluntary activity. It's not a sign of fragility if someone has the sense to avoid a place they don't enjoy.
What if the originator of the post had the ability to "flush" comments they felt were not appropriate? Then moderators could enforce flame and troll control? From reading the comments above, the majority are positive and protective of this site. So why tolerate or allow a minority to crap it up?
We do tell people they don't own the threads they start. And it does seem like it could lead to a sort of echo chamber? I don't know.
Emotion is fine as long as the negative isn't piled on anyone or any group. Let's keep it productive. That's not saying you can't say something is crap, just not make it personal to or toward anyone.
That isn't possible in XF, and it would probably wind up with a whole raft of shit about who deleted whose posts and why - not to mention OPs spitting the dummy and flushing perfectly good discussions
This puts a lot of trust in the thread starter unfortunately. And I don't think it's possible in xF without plugins or custom development. It's best to leave this to moderators I think.
Agree. They don't "own" the thread but the thought and therefore they should be able to somewhat control the temperament. Moderators and staff can then decide if their judgement is not in line with the site. Sadly, adult supervision is not always present and one man's negative isn't always bad. I guess the main task is to keep explosive negative feces flinging events from occurring. Maybe locking a thread is another option?
more moderators or sub moderators may be the answer - it is possible to create a layer of subs who can move but not delete or ban (that's essentially the power community volunteers have , but our role is to file and sort, not to deal with live situations)
See, that seems more silencing than just moving the thing. I don't think it's practical to have a solution that requires the moderator to laboriously read and judge the thread--it's just too much work--but I wouldn't like to see threads regularly shut down without reading and judging.
yes, this is an unfortunate possibility as well. How about appointing an AI to delete and nuke trolls and crap? lol I'm not sure of the answer. We are living in a Trumpster Fire world right now where verbal abuse, insults and free swinging is presidential. I prefer a good discussion, no matter if I agree, it's still a good potential to learn something as long as it's not made into a personal fight.
Even if it prevent a shit storm directed at someone? I'm not saying heated discussion is bad or should be silenced. Only personal attacks similar to walking away from assholes in public or even walking away from a physical confrontation.
That's one of the benefits to drawing a line in the sand and removing off topic posts after it. The moderator doesn't have to read through past posts, just posts after their warning. Reports will also surface the worst offenders.
I should clarify--when I say "that would be more silencing" I'm not actually saying that's bad. I'm saying that if the concern is that moving the thread would silence it, locking it would silence it more. Locking it and leaving it in place would also leave the ugliness in the non-debate area.
that still requires a moderator to sit on the thread though, like a destroyer waiting for a Uboat to move off the bottom... not really reasonable particularly on new years eve Back when I used to moderate a canal boat forum I had a tee shirt that said "Moderators are people too" You'd think narrowboats would be fairly peaceful but we had a kick off over pump out toilets vs cassette toilets that made diversity gate look like a minor tiff...it was undoubtedly true that everyone involved was talking shit
I tend to kick any locked and dead debatey threads I find lying around while I'm filing into the debate room
Holidays are a special case I guess, though threads can be temporarily locked if it's that bad. I don't see why we should permenantly lock threads, just because they're messy on holidays though. At the end of the day, moderators do need to read some posts. It's their job! I was a mod on the official forums for an MMORPG once. That was a crazy ride.
I look over some of the threads that get closed, and I see the same people pushing the envelope in every one. These are people who seem to immediately take an agressive or unpleasant tone, turn it personal or snidey/insulting. Instead of dealing with the topic itself, they deal in unpleasant accusations or nitpicky attacks against people on the thread. These comments may be worded in a way that doesn't get them a ban, but they are still provocative,—sometimes, I reckon, deliberately so. Perhaps a word to these perpetual stirrers from the mods via a personal message might serve to get the point across. Threads get shut down often (and no, I'm not specifically referring to that one of mine that turned so toxic recently—I'd have shut that one down myself if I'd had the power to do so) when they are actually valuable topics to discuss. The ideas behind the threads themselves aren't toxic, but the commentary soon turns that way. This can happen on ANY thread. Sometimes it's as if we're using a sledge hammer to crack a nut—threads get toxic, they get shut down. Everybody gets 'punished.' Obviously we're not all going to agree on everything. But surely, among writers, we can learn to disagree rationally and with respect to each other—and stay on topic. I can certainly sympathise with the mods, who wake up in the morning and think CRAP, not AGAIN. But if they were to issue occasional specific warnings to constant offenders, that might be a way to tone things down? Just point out that they've gone off topic on a particular thread and are getting too personal with their comments? Would that be a way to deal with the issue? Just walking away from a deliberately provocative remark doesn't work, because sure as shooting somebody else is going to take umbrage, and the discussion deteriorates anyway. And sometimes the stirrers just go looking for another person to attack. And locking a thread gives them the opportunity to go screw up another one. And another. As long as they moderate their language, they avoid a ban. But it keeps on happening. That's not good for the forum. As for locked threads, I'd be in favour of moving them out of their current placement into a Locked Threads section ...where they would be left to rot. Anybody interested in what gets a thread locked, or what kinds of threads get locked, could just take a nose into that section. (I'm pretty sure a pattern would emerge.) But these threads wouldn't be left to clutter up the rest of their original sections.
The problem is, threads that get locked can start off promising and then go sideways due to trolling. I started a Diet and Exercise thread in the lounge ended up going off due to someone who eventually earned the custom strikethrough username. The thread avoided getting locked due to mod intervention, but that's not always the case. I think things are fine as they are now. Sure, sometimes threads go bad for a while before management steps in, but that could be as much a function of none of the babysitters volunteering to stay behind during the holidays as anything else. I also think that, given time, most of the more troublesome members either reform or earn that strikethrough. Just takes time...
The mods here are quite good at warning people who are getting out of line, and perpetual 'edgelord' behaviour does get people banned, it just takes longer than the out and out troll. One thing I would say is that kick offs don't happen in a vacuum - when you look at locked threads you will see the same people being nasty and snidey and the same people arguing with them... the latter group (in which I sometimes sit - I actually asked Wrey to ban me from the president trump thread for example (actually I asked him to ban me from the debate room but they can't do sub forum bans just threads)) need to take ownership of their behavior and its impact. If we don't argue with edgelords they'll get bored and go and bother someone else, and if we start shooting back and calling them names or making unpleasant accusations about their morals, or whatever then we are nearly as guilty as they are when the thread crashes and burns (the more so when we let them provoke us into calling each other names)... and we are giving them what they want.
High away on planet Alpha councillors gathered at the horse shoe of all Decision. ‘The issue today is the interlopers of bigotry here in our own sacred and lofty chamber,’ said the Speaker. His hologram buzzed the warm orange glow, his back drop space, and his foreground the arranged great dignitaries of our Decidifus. Councillor Meathook of the Kilfolk asteroid thumped his desk. ‘Remove the alien presence, by force if and when necessary. I will do it myself, those fucking aliens fucking with my…’ ‘Order order,’ said the Speaker, ‘Councillor Longwind.’ Longwind stood, glitter like tiny stars tumbled from her locks. She shuffled the 6000 folios held in her fist and began her sensible narration. An hour passed. ‘If I might interject graciously..?’ said Weeble the crustacean of wisdom. All of a sudden fifty alien teens with their play tazars rushed the room. The guards were overpowered, Meathook reached for his Blast zooka . He fired in his great joy and decapitated a great clutch of the naughty youngsters. Only the brave Baby Zedtits reached boldly for the distant microphone stand. ‘Eat my shit you dead fuckers!’ he cried, and he died. ‘Order order!’ said the Speaker.
