Moderation

[jaminjim]

All things are good in moderation the saying goes. So that would mean a heated conversation would be good.

If we have nothing but a sanitized version of what has been posted, it is hard to understand why some members have a case of the red arse at another member. Or why they responded to a member the way that they did.

Yes, yes, and yes again I know this is not "our" board and that the owners can, and will run it as they see fit. And yes if things are not controlled, it can be nothing but a flame fest. But to edit and drop some posts out of a thread does not do a thing to help others understand why some people have more heated comments towards another member.

It's the same thing when two or more get into a heated conversation in the "Soap Box" and it spills over on this General forum. A resent example would be BP, Oh wait I was forbiden to bring up a deleted post. Example would be a new person comming here today for the first time will wonder just how in the #%@* could anyone fight about Blood Pressure.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Jim...I am with you..theres a distinct baised towards certain member/members that whenever they post they get flamed one way or another. Why? Who knows but it's childish. Old saying if you can't say anything nice to someone don't say anything at all. applies here.

BTW...There was a fight over BP?? shesshhh

 

[jaminjim]

A few examples: Rose colored Glasses, Law suits, a new forum about money management, low overpasses, and one of my favorites, DIP STICK and NIMROD (not one of my finer moments)

 

[Lawrence]

The reality is whenever you have as many people as we do - it needs to be policed. It’s just like rolling down the interstate – everyone is safely rolling down the road at 70 MPH – when all of a sudden you have a super-trucker blow the doors off at 90 MPH.

Someone has to do the unpopular - thankless job of pulling over the offender and citing him. We have been doing this since 1999 and I am confident that our Admin and Moderators are the best on the www. It isn’t easy doing what they do. Give them a little credit. Sheesh.

Lawrence,
Expediters Online.com

5 out of 4 people don't understand fractions.


37% of Americans agree that while they would hate being British, they wouldn't mind having a British accent.

99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.


I hate the country, all those animals walking around un-cooked.




-----------------------------------------
Thanks For Visiting EO!



http://www.expeditersonline.com/hotnews/sterling_eo_forum.jpg


Please Help Us Get The Word
Out About Expediters Online.com!
-----------------------------------------

 

[jaminjim]

Maybe locking a thread would allow for us to see why some people are pi$$ed with one another and to have an understanding of some of the history between members.

It has been stated that this is a family safe forum, safe enough for an eleven year old. Well don't eleven year olds argue? I don't think anyone here is saying that they want to see constant flaming, but I don't want to be reading something that is safe for a three year old all the time.

 

[terryandrene]

"All things are good in moderation the saying goes. So that would mean a heated conversation would be good."

It also means a moderated conversation on a professional forum would be good, or better.

There are times when some of our members disagree with the motives behind, or content of a particular thread. In providing opposing viewpoint, one or more members, on occasion, show a lack of respect for the author of a comment and a thread takes on an unprofessional air of name calling and attempts at verbal one-upsmanship. At that point that the thread serves no useful purpose for the general membership or visitors to EO, a moderator or administrator may either lock, archive or remove.

We trust that everyone realizes that the primary purpose of the various EO forums is to exchange information about trucks, carriers and ways and means of improving our lot in life as expediters. Secondarily, the forums are useful in developing a camaraderie among fellow drivers while sharing anecdotes and tales of adventure, prosperity and troubles. These EO Forums have never been, and should never be, a vehicle for airing personal grievences between two or more members; EO private message or e-mail options are best used for that purpose.

The moral of my story is: keep it civil, keep it professional and we'll all benefit.

 

[jaminjim]

Lawrence, great point. Never said that the mods do a poor job, for the most part I think they do a fine job.

But to use your example if I were to remove the road that the "super trucker was traveling on, people would wonder what the heck a truck was doing all the way out there with a cop sitting behind it.

AGAIN: this is not, and was not about Moderators. It is about the direction of the forum.

 

[CozDream]

You raised some intersesting points. Anyone who's read these forums for any longer than a month or so, have seen the pattern of abuse.

We have one individual, whose post always will result in the piling on effect. It's a childish act, but without mature leadership of those in the position to curtail such activities.....these so-called moderators have ultimately created this monster. Once this pattern of leadership abuse is publicly displayed......they did nothing but promote the 4-5 other regulars to join in on the fray. If you were to go back and anlyize the culprits of all this abuse....it's 99% limited to the moderators and these 4-5 indivduals.

The ROOT of the problem undeniably rest on the shoulders of the moderators themselves by definition.

Main Entry: 1mod·er·ate
Pronunciation: 'mä-d(&-)r&t
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin moderatus, from past participle of moderare to moderate; akin to Latin modus measure
1 a : avoiding extremes of behavior or expression : observing reasonable limits <a moderate drinker> b : CALM, TEMPERATE

On numerous occasions, the ADMINISTRATORS had no choice but to delete and/or trim post simply because those below them failed to properly do their job. Obviously, this is one of those occasions you're referring to. Once again, the ADMINISTRATOR had to step in and clean things up.

All of this nonsense could end immediately if the mods + the 4-5 regs ended the reign upon this one individual.

 

[greg334]

I somewhat agree with Terry but I must add that this is a community, albeit a virtual community, it is a community. Within all communities, there are some who can’t say much without being called on it or trashed. With All communities there are all types of personalities and egos that sometimes get in the way of the message. Also with all communities, there is a history between some who for a lack of better words is like a bad marriage.

To play nice all the time gets boring and human nature seems to find conflicts of personalities as much as conflicts of information. I don’t mean by any means to have chaos and hatred in the threads, but what I mean is that if we want a Barney type forum, it will get pretty boring very quick and the community will fall apart, seen it happen a bunch of times. Seeing that this is a forum about a profession, an adult profession, we should not worry about a 13 year old reading this, they are exposed to a lot worst than this forum will ever be, but we should be able to tolerate a little of this and that as we do in real life.

I really like sparing with most of the people on EO (in the soap box) and it allows me to challenge myself more than any other forum. In my long internet career that included a lot of forum, I find that EO is about the best, the community, the moderators and the staff is all are top notch. The job that is thankless is being a moderator and most of the time the most misunderstood job. But EO’s staff seems to have it together and supports the moderators, which does not happen at many forums.

 

[jaminjim]

Well said Greg. As I said this in my less than humble opinon(sp) is not about our moderators.

I think locking a thread is more along the line I am talking about rather than deleting it. People should be able to see why there is a conflict. Not just try and guess.

Here is a reason I say what I'm saying.

Weave, Doc, Teacel, Olko, Wildbill. Law suits, deleted posts.

 

[jaminjim]

For people that have been here for less than a few years do a search and see if you can find the root cause of there departure. I mean where everything took a big crap, and some of our best posters went away. Not to say that all of our great posters went away, (after all I'm still here).

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Jim... I understand where you're coming from. But why would a newb want to view laundry, dirty or otherwise, from a website? Ppl are here for knowledge of the industry. If they want soap operas, I suggest singles sites.

Regardless of who left when and why, there are things that posts don't show. There's always something behind the scenes... emails, msgs, phone calls, and yes, mod communications. So in the threads of which you speak, ppl may get half the story. The other half is lost in history.

EO is here for a purpose. When that purpose gets threatened, the mods have to act. If that means removing a post, locking a thread, etc, it's for a reason common sense dictates... chaos breeds more chaos. If things are left to their own devices, they get out of control, and EO would be history as so many websites have proved. There's a reason EO has done what it has for so long... the mods. Some can't handle that. But I think most respect the fact we try to keep a clean house.

-Vampire Super Slooth Trucker!!!

 

[FAMILYEXPDT]

Isn't part of that purpose "to make money?" I am fairly certain from my experience of web design and hosting that there is a certain fair amount of money earned....controversy makes people read..people read and click on links....links clicked on and web page visits = more money.....now figure out why things are allowed to transpire past an acceptable point.



But perhaps I am wrong and this is a totally free non-commercial endeavor.



-charlotte


p.s not sayng it can not be informative....

 

[Tennesseahawk]

All I said was EO was here for a purpose. I didn't say what the purpose was. Ultimately, any commercial site is expected to gain money, so that's a given.

That's like asking you if you're a fleet owner cause you want to give drivers jobs. We all know your motivation is making money. Dontcha love capitalism?

As far as things transpiring the way they do... I can only speak for myself. A certain amount of controversy is good for any site. The flow if ideas and opinions thrive in that atmosphere. But you have to know the boundaries of where that controversy turns into chaos. And I think the mods do a great job, and the members as well for understanding that.

-Vampire Super Slooth Trucker!!!

 

[jaminjim]

Ummm wait a minute, if the owners are in this to make money (as I am sure they are) great, and if they need to keep a clean house (as I am sure they have to) great. I guess I'm asking how clean is clean enough.

I'm all for locking threads going the wrong way. Just not deleting ones that might be headed the wrong way.

Now T-Hawk If you said my mother wears army boots, I would want hat erased right now (it's been a family secret for years, but don't tell anyone). But if you said she kept a boot up my behind for years, you would be correct.

 

[FAMILYEXPDT]

Absolutely I love capitalism......and I do not begrudge anyone making money.....but I think that things do go too far at times....I have yet to see a moderated forum that doesn't. I even have a forum for a mmorpg game that i play and let me tell you...those guys get wicked. Some things I do not understand are the usage of other handles to post because you do not want peole to know who you are....easy to fix but still allowed.....cliquiness among posters....some people are continually bashed no matter what they post....some moderators join in on the bashing when impartiality would be a bigger benefit. I understand and have had it explained to me that certain posters have a "history".....who cares about their history? Many people like me have not been coming here since God created expediting and judge posts by their merit at the time. I could care less about a person's history...they learn and they grow and they change....if we base our judgement on their history, we are limiting the value they can add as a part of a community.

Moderation is moderation....not censorship....and if you are going to moderate do so from the start and not let it get out of control then "pulling" the thread rather than locking it.

Flamethrowers are dangerous toys...in forums and in trucking



-charlotte

 

[LDB]

Here's a somewhat abbreviated version. There is conflict because of personality differences. Some people are "hit and run" speaker types. They give you the minimum required, from their viewpoint, to fulfill the need. Others are "educator" speaker types. They give you the complete history as well as all available data on the subject at hand. The first type is similar to the legend of the woman who approached President Coolidge saying "I bet my friend I could get you to say at least three words." Coolidge replied "You lose." The second type will tell you when and where it was said, who else was present, what they were wearing, what they had for lunch prior to the exchange etc. etc. etc..

The second problem arises from some disagreeing with others and rather than being able to engage in a discussion of the differences using facts, data and experiences instead resort to belittling and insulting in their respons. Each subsequent exchange escalates the problem until such point as every exchange rapidly degenerates to the same.

Such exchanges are not instructive and provide nothing useful to newcomers in their quest for information and education. Good discussions, including heated discussion, are encouraged as long as the "heat" is from facts and data and actual experiences and not from name calling and demeaning and dragging in prior things that are not relevant to the current discussion other than to discredit one or the other of the parties.

Rather than suggesting we keep such stuff around how about just supporting the forum and moderators and trusting they are doing what they consider in the best interest of the forum members?

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[jaminjim]

"Rather than suggesting we keep such stuff around how about just supporting the forum and moderators and trusting they are doing what they consider in the best interest of the forum members?"

So when Hilary says "Trust me, I know whats best for you" I should?

I would have put that little devil face thingy here but it never seems to work.

 

[LDB]

Fuji apples are much more delicious than oranges.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[davekc]

So when Hilary says "Trust me, I know whats best for you" I should?
=======================================
Now why would you ever question Hillary? :7 o
















Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator