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Friday 18 March 2016

Moderation in all things

The comments on AW have been brilliant since the reboot. Not that we all agree, not much hope there. But disagree and disagreeable are different things. Thanks to everybody who has kept the discussion on track.

I know it's preaching to the choir, but given that I've just had to delete an 'intemperate' comment, here's a little clarification on how things work at the moment.
  • There is no moderation in the first instance. Comments are automatically published. Blogger's system of emailing comments for prior moderation isn't foolproof. When I restarted AW I found more than 60 comments that had been sitting in the system for six long years. 
  • In the event of a flame I can (and will) trash it, but it usually won't happen straight away... believe it or not, I don't spend my whole day sitting beside the laptop (though it sometimes feels that way).
If anyone can think of a better procedure, or would prefer active moderation, this is the thread to use. I'm open to suggestions. 

5 comments:

Byker Bob said...

I like the idea of having new comments appear in real time. That enhances the level of discussion, and some of that gets lost if the comments need to be subjected to pre-moderation.

I used to be involved in one of our local dirt track racing forums, and generally if someone crossed the line in expressing themselves, they'd be warned and the post would be removed upon first offense. If they failed to get that gentle and subliminal hint, there was suspension, and finally out and out ban. Apparently, the forum moderator wanted to keep discussion family friendly.

We deal in information on the so-called dissident discussion/recovery sites. It would be very nice indeed if people needing that information were not offended by language, possibly turning a deaf ear, and tuning us out.

BB

Jim Baldwin said...

I note that my comment to "The End Times" did not appear. Was it because of crossing the snarky level or because of who sent it? Or did it vanish into the cyber space?

Gavin R said...

No, don't recollect that, Jim. I would definitely have remembered your name. The only comment removed (other than obvious spam) was on the climate thread.

Anonymous ` said...

As long as there is some system for purging gratuitous profanity and other forms of intemperance. I get enough of that from seeing Donald Trump on TV.

Near_Earth_Object

Pam said...

I have been very pleased at the civility on here, and with your personal approach to what could be inflammatory topics but doesn't have to be. Please keep doing whatever you are doing. :-) You have a right to set whatever "tenor" you want to for your own blog. That is one of the things that gives it a particular "character" rather than just being a clone of every other exWCG blog. Good on ya, Gavin.