Edit post time limits?

[Steve_S]

Will, I ran BBS (Bulletin Board Services) using dial up modems, fidonet mail and various softwares "ages" ago and have BBS'd then Forumed ever since, so it HAS been decades and sadly as you say below... Sad but True. Over the years we've used many "descriptive's" for those folks, some funny, some not so much.

Also, seeing full-grown men complain and argue about what battery chemistry is best, drives me nuts. We have members here that cannot be trusted. They are emotional and weak, and we need to keep them in check.

There are also those who insist on being Argumentative on every point, even when the proof & evidence of what they are saying is wrong. I think this is partially a malaise that has developed over the past 15-20 years, where people are just plain angry at whatever and dump it everywhere. Of course there are those who "must be offended" at everything, most especially when they ask a question and do not get the answer "they want".

MOST IMPORTANTLY, This Forum has 95+% Good People who are Keen to Learn or Share what they have learned , which in my opinion is wonderful. There is a very LOW Toxicity level here which is also great. I'm glad this Forum exists HERE, if it was on FacePox I would have never posted a single pixel of info. Never joined it and never will.

 

[Dzl]

Yes it is disabled for good now. One of our members got in an argument with other members, was angry, and edited his old posts with porn. It took me over an hour to selectively delete all of them. I will never let that happen again. Tired of this problem happening over and over.

This (deleting info out of spite, posting porn) is a really shitty, immature thing to do. I can understand your frustration having to deal with people like that and the desire to prevent future occurrences.

We have members here that cannot be trusted. They are emotional and weak, and we need to keep them in check.

There will be some bad apples, some overly argumentative types or those who always feel personally slightly, or just people lacking basic social skill or emotional intelligence. But I question whether I hope you will question whether revoking editing rights for all members is a proportional and necessary response to the actions of a few. I am not in your shoes but from where I stand it seems like it might a bit too drastic.

I would assert that most of what you are trying to prevent, would be prevented with an edit policy in the ballpark of a few days to a week, especially if regulars take a more active role in reporting content that violates the rules or spirit of the place

If you see someone acting like an idiot, call them out on it. I will leave those posts up. I think we need to keep each other in check to keep this forum helpful for others. Mods cannot "enforce" every single post.

I agree, I think one of the most important things we can all do is try to set the right tone and foster the right culture, by trying to remember to be positive, helpful, open minded, friendly, and civil even when we are frustrated. Tone is somewhat contagious, if most of us here model a positive tone, many newcomers are likely to do the same. It takes work though, and we all occasionally behave less excellently than we should (part of why I like to be able to edit my posts, I frequently go back and soften language). I believe you (Will) are a big part of why this site has such a generally positive community, you consistently model an attitude of friendliness and excited curiosity in your videos and elsewhere. I appreciate that.

I wonder if a balance might be struck by

1. Instituting a slightly more relaxed editing policy for all members (or all members with over 50 posts or something).
2. Adopting the policy you mentioned of granting greater editing privileges for regular members in good standing
3. Regular members taking a more active role in defusing conflict before it becomes an issue, and reporting offending content.

edit: edited for clarity, fixed formatting

edit 2: I also want to explicitly say, as it may not be obvious, that I very much appreciate the work you and the mod team do to make this forum what it is, generally speaking, I think ya'll do a great job, and appreciate all the work that I know goes on behind the scenes. This is a great community and a great learning and sharing resource, and you all are an instrumental part of that.


edit 3: further clarified language so its not misinterpreted

 

[Steve_S]

I wonder if a balance might be struck by

1. Instituting a slightly more relaxed editing policy for all members (or all members with over 50 posts or something).
2. Adopting the policy you mentioned of granting greater editing privileges for regular members in good standing
3. Regular members taking a more active role in defusing conflict before it becomes an issue, and reporting offending content.

Good ideas BUT #3 puts members into a situation ripe for conflict. Members should not be in a position of having to "police" anything, that's why there are Forum Moderators. That itself can be a very stressful position to be in as well and takes a thick skin and serious tolerance.

 

[JoeHam]

This is a really shitty, immature thing to do.

Look in the mirror much?

Seems a bit uncalled for IMHO

 

[Dzl]

Look in the mirror much?

Seems a bit uncalled for IMHO

I'm going to assume you misinterpreted something I said, but I wish you wouldn't jump straight to such a negative interpretation, when I took a lot of care to comment in a way that I felt reflected my honest opinion but was intended to be balanced, respectful, and generally positive.

I believe you maybe think I was calling WIll shitty and immature, which I was not.

To make things crystal clear, this is how you should interpret my exchange with Will

Yes it is disabled for good now. One of our members got in an argument with other members, was angry, and edited his old posts with porn.

This [getting angry, deleting content, and posting porn] is a really shitty, immature thing to do. I can understand your frustration having to deal with people like that and the desire to prevent future occurrences.

 

[Dzl]

Good ideas BUT #3 puts members into a situation ripe for conflict. Members should not be in a position of having to "police" anything, that's why there are Forum Moderators. That itself can be a very stressful position to be in as well and takes a thick skin and serious tolerance.

I agree. I very consciuosly chose the word 'defuse' over 'police' or 'enforce' for this reason.

I am not saying regulars should act as mini-moderators, or feel obligated or empowered to enforce anything. In fact I think we explicitly should not do anything bordering on enforcement. Mod's have theoretically been vetted, regular posters have not, trying to enforce anything would create more problems than it would solve, and enforcement is the role of moderators.

And we have all participated on forums where cranky regulars spend half of their time mashing "SEARCH!" and "Read the rules" on their keyboards, and I think we can all agree its not the tone we want here (even if both those things are good advice).

What I mean by defuse is de-escalate conflict or at the very least don't add to it, help keep threads on topic and constructive, or nudge them in the right direction if they get de-railed, model good behavior and be helpful and friendly, acknowledge points of agreement even when you disagree on some points or acknowledge the validity of the other persons perspective, if someone is rude to you or entitled or otherwise less than excellent, find a way to address that (or just ignore it) constructively and don't let your ego or emotions call the shots. Basically do what we can to keep things constructive, copacetic, and friendly.

For the most part, if we (people in general) feel heard, respected, and understood, we tend to get along even when we disagree. By defuse conflict, I only mean behave in a way that works towards these ends. There are several members here that are quite good at that (and if I were to stereotype I would say that you Canadians are generally pretty good at this).

 

[JoeHam]

Yep. I misread that. Sorry.

 

[Dzl]

Yep. I misread that. Sorry.

All good man, I wasn't as clear as I could have been, I edited my comment to be more clear.

 

[Will Prowse]

That seems like a lot of work for the mods but I'm ok with that.

I am the only mod with real power. This is because we had some issues with past mods, so I stripped away a lot of privileges.

In the beginning, I trusted my mods and members greatly. That was a mistake. Now I deal with issues directly on my own. Only way to ensure that things will be handled in a mature manner.

 

[Will Prowse]

I like to "let it be", most times. I browse the forum a lot without responding. This is the best way to learn the behavior traits of my members, then I follow the trouble makers. If I see a pattern of behaviors, then I will act. If someone gets huffy puffy once a month, I don't mind. Everyone has bad days. But I need to keep my eyes peeled for the bad ones. They can ruin a forum.

The best way to enact enforcement is to "report" a post. If you see something illegal, or against our site policy (such as porn, which happened last week), or someone is getting emotionally reactive about something petty (their favorite battery chemistry, for example), report it.

 

[Supervstech]

Good ideas BUT #3 puts members into a situation ripe for conflict. Members should not be in a position of having to "police" anything, that's why there are Forum Moderators. That itself can be a very stressful position to be in as well and takes a thick skin and serious tolerance.

However... we mods SIMPLY CANNOT READ EVERY POST.
PLEASE! All members need to hit the report button on every belligerent or unruly post.

The WORST thing a member can do is respond to a bad post.

Hitting report is completely private. Nobody but the mod staff knows about it, and we don’t talk.

Please. Don’t ignore or attempt to argue with a bad post. Report it and move on. We will deal with it, and it makes the forum so much better.

Thanks everybody!

 

[BiduleOhm]

I am the only mod with real power. This is because we had some issues with past mods, so I stripped away a lot of privileges.

In the beginning, I trusted my mods and members greatly. That was a mistake. Now I deal with issues directly on my own. Only way to ensure that things will be handled in a mature manner.

Ok, I see. I just hope this sytem doesn't put too much work on to you.