Anyone else bemused by the moderation here?

It could be something as simple as threads which go everywhere and anywhere make it very difficult for people who are searching for information to find it.

And we do tell people to search, when they post a question which has been asked many times before.

There IS a forum for off topic stuff here - the Clown Bin. Perhaps if it was renamed The Clown and General Odds and Sods Bin that would accommodate off DR topic stuff :cheeky:? Although General Odds and Sods does have a DR ring to it.........

some people get very irritated when some idiot posts something off topic to their sensible question - ahem anyway....moving on...it would be rather a dry old board if it was only questions and answers , in my opinion

Sometimes posters make requests from behind the scenes for a post to be closed.

We also know from experience, well before my time as a moderator, that certain topics (both DR and non-DR related) never end well.

And yes, some mods have more patience than others. We are only human after all.

your sailing Board

I would suggest that perhaps the posters on your Sailing Board are just better mannered and more mature than we are....

there are lots of passionate people here, Latins and wannabes...

We attract a global .. sorta... readership and posters

even our most civilized guys, with graduate degrees in economics,,, some of them, can stoop to vicious name calling....

lots of posters who have been belligerent, or just plain irritating, have been banned from the forum....

I guess that since we are an English Board in a Spanish country, a lot of us use this place as a sort of "virtual pub" as it were, to hang out, to compare notes on life here... and I suspect that without the mods there would be even more brawls.

I question the moderating too...but

To answer your question and give my opinion, yes I am often bemused by the moderating on DR1 and for me it's the inconsistency but within the inconsistency there is a bit of a trend meaning the moderators are quite predictable. There are some who are active, semi-active and those who are absolutely dormant. Meaning no action is taken although they are on the board daily and most likely they probably don't read the thread(s). Threads go off topic, there are personal attacks or insults and then thread takes a complete downhill turn.

In the same vain, you do see some good moderating in certain forums which make for very informative threads which in the long run serve as a good reference. IMO, good moderating is needed otherwise a potentially productive message board loses its focus. It can not be a 'post whatever you want free for all' or else it defeats the purpose of trying to have a message board where people can exchange informative ideas and information about the DR. Yes, you are going to have some off topic data and sometimes it's needed in a discussion or debate to make a point but when posts like those change the topic of the thread completely, it's unfair to the OP who is truly seeking some informative data, ideas etc. based on people's experiences.

The moderators who are actually moderating do have a difficult job IMO, no doubt but I am often baffled at some of the posts that remain in some threads and there's no apparent action taken. However, overall I think DR1 is a good site with posters who have good intentions and what works for me is when posters get out of hand or constantly disrupt the flow of threads, I just lie low for a while or try not to posts in those forums where there's little or no apparent moderating.


-MP.

slrguy,

This is not the first time someone asks what you are asking. And this type of thread usually ends up getting closed because it opens the door for the offended to march in with their complaining (most considered whining). To be honest with you being a mod on this board is not an easy task. The owner of this board instructs to remove/close posts that are not DR related. Also, no abuse or personal attacks are to be allowed. These have been the number one rules since I joined this board in Jan of 2003. With that said there is a fine line between what is and what isn't DR related. And mods have different styles of moderating. As Chiri mentioned we are only human. Speaking for myself when I delete or close a thread I do it following what has been the number one rule. And before I close/delete a thread I think it over and over. That is because I have a lot of respect for people in general. Specially the "elders" if you will.

People have to understand that this is a privately ran website with companies that pay money to advertise here. Some companies look at the ambient of site's message boards when deciding whether to advertise or not with the site. If they see that there is only negativity of all sorts (hate mongering, name calling, racism) they might just take their business elsewhere and that means DR1 will loose business. If I were the owner I would not allow it either. That will be like taking food out of my mouth!

This is DR1...

DR1 is a community made up of...
37 Forums
6 Archive Forums
4 Admin forums

Comprised of...
56,000+ Registered Members
of whom over 3,200 are considered "Active"

At any given time there are many, many posters...
just under 600 are on line as I type this
with an all time high of 2,543 at one time in 2007

Generating...
76,500+ threads
approaching 750,000 posts

Moderated by...
20 individual Mods and Admins in three categories
with varying responsibilities and powers

FYI, for the most part, individual Mods only have moderation powers in their own specific Forums; in other Forums they are no different than any other poster. There are two Mods who have broader based powers, only as relates to SPAM prevention and of course the two Admins have full God-like powers - LOL. In general the Mods are left to their own devices to set the standards in their own areas of concern (within the general DR1 parameters we all recognize) and while this can and does lead to some inconsistencies, that Mod is the best suited individual to keep his/her thumb on the local pulse.

For example, when Wud and I took over the Travel Forums, DR1 was not relied on by many travelers (IMHO) as DR1 had a reputation of jumping all over newbies. We have mitigated this, at least to some degree in the travel forums, and we now get new posters who actually ask questions and receive answers, not criticism for their choices. While we are less tolerant than the General Stuff Forum (For all those questions without a home. Not for the faint hearted or easily offended!), we are far more tolerant than the Visas Forum which is fact based and opinion intolerant - but that's how those who use the forum want it.

We are a community and as such we cover the full spectrum of posters and opinions for this reason moderation is sometimes necessary. Mods are human and are subject to all of the human frailties which colour our day to day performance, just like you. Believe me when I say that being on this side of the Control Panel is not as easy as you may think. This is the third board on which I am/have been a Mod or Admin and I can state to a certainty that this is by far the most challenging...

and the most fun.

Gregg
Mod.

P.S. - And unfortunately as El Tigre said this type of thread often gets closed when those with agendas appear out of the woodwork - maybe we'll be surprised this time...

I have participated in maybe 30-40 various message boards over the past 10 years.
I have never seen a successful non-moderated message board or one survive very long.

Please post a link to your sailing forum, so I can take a look at what they are actually doing.

I think a great deal of this has to do with the ideological perspective of the various moderators. Some are more tolerant of various and different ideas and points of view than others are.

The more conservative tend to be the most protective of "their" domains. There are exceptions, of course, but the inconsistencies that the original poster referred to are a natural reflection of the spectrum of ideologies.

The basic question becomes, is there a "perfect" form of governance? Should the people rule themselves without government (anarchy), with limited government (varying forms of democracy), with a strong elected central government (a republic, for example), or a strong central government, which isn't elected or representative of those who are governed (a monarchy or dictatorship??

In this case, the owner of this enterprise has a distinct stake in how DR1 is run, and therefore has a right and an obligation to ensure things are run in an orderly fashion. (And no, I am not an owner or investor, unfortunately.)

This leaves us where we are, with a decent and fairly well-run forum, which makes some mistakes, from time to time.

Marianopolita said:

I am often baffled at some of the posts that remain in some threads and there's no apparent action taken.

Click to expand...

Just to pick up that one point - we don't always read every single post, especially if the thread is on a non-controversial topic. Posters are encouraged to report problematic posts - this could include spam, abuse, off-topic comments, trolling, sock puppetry, etc. You click on the ! icon on the top right-hand side of the post.

Take care not to click the wrong icon and end up giving them reputation points. I know, I've done it more than once.:ermm:

slrguy said:

Index : Cruisers Forum : Latitudes & Attitudes Magazine

At what they are ACTUALLY doing? I assume that when you see that I was being truthful, you'll respond with "Yes, they ACTUALLY are a well-organized, non-moderated board...". I guess there's a first for everything, eh?

Click to expand...

yeah, pretty easy when you have about 10 users posting LOL

The only thing that I agree with the OP is the lack of a non-DR related forum, but over than that, the moderators are doing a great job here. I once was a member of the Univision baseball forum and when they decided to leave it unmoderated the forum went to the sinkhole, I got out of there and never looked back.

Look guy, I am moderator, not a censor. I tend to let people express themselves and threads continue on unabated unless things out of control and way to personal or insulting.

I only post here to help and ask for help. I think you can see whatever you want in any Board. Considering the size, I think they do a Great job. There are some people who go off the deep end on any topic. Sometimes they need to be slowed down or stopped. The Forum has helped us a lot and we hope we have helped some people. Nothing is perfect, Welcome to the DR.

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