Karma system enabled, applaud or smite

[Cap-Z-ro]

I am also in agreement that racist views like the thread topic " Are the Israelis serial killers and psychopaths?", have no place here.

Having said that, such provocative threads and inflammatory postings can easily be countered and diffused with rational reasoning.

Also there is the intentional baiting and sweeping generalized insults, cryptically directed at specific members...to me that is a far more serious problem.

Regards...

[hansvonlieven]

LOL Cap-Z-ro,

With us "controversial Characters" ad hominem attacks are the order of the day. I am thick skinned enough to cope with that.

Hans von Lieven

[Trino Cularoid]

Moderation can be a tough job, on both sides. Boards with relatively tight control already exist (I think http://www.energeticforum.com/renewable-energy/ is one of them). I think censoring should be done as transparently and automatically as possible. For example (I don't know if this would work though or would be technically feasible), postings that are inappropriate are not edited or deleted but they are moved to a special topic (like a waste basket) that is not accessible by spiders or non-registered users (but should not be restricted to "secret societies" like moderators or "TPU Elite" or some such) and where the (automatically notified) author could revise it within a certain period before it is automatically deleted.

Of course there will need to be rules (in the very simplest case a list with blacklisted words) but sometimes they can become quite complicated (like on http://torrents.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1045) so they probably need to change (by design) every now and then to be kept "simple".

[fuzzytomcat]

Moderation can be a tough job, on both sides. Boards with relatively tight control already exist (I think http://www.energeticforum.com/renewable-energy/ is one of them). I think censoring should be done as transparently and automatically as possible.

Hi Trino Cularoid,

You got http://www.energeticforum.com/renewable-energy/ right on "NO" hanky panky there at all .... on topic little deviation of subjects and with a waiting list 2 month long to get in. The Administration there has zero tolerance the "Terms of Service" are enforced no question.

The SMF forum software has some limitations but moderators can be assigned sections and can only modify their section or area, only a global moderator can do modifications, delete, lock, move a subject or thread anywhere in the forum. A member can receive infractions to a semi or full ban this can also be a user name ban only or a full IP, user name and e-mail ban, depending on if you ever want the member back.

But again ...... It's up to the administration to make the "Term of Service" and relay to the moderators what to do, moderators can get banned also thats why there are administrators.

Regards,
Fuzzy

[Trino Cularoid]

You got http://www.energeticforum.com/renewable-energy/ right on "NO" hanky panky there at all ....

I understand their motive ("safe space"). However, if, for example, posts show up about unfair or unclear moderation, and those then also get removed, that could also take away from "safe space" if not done openly.

Possibly the mentioned new karma system will help the board to regulate itself somewhat. We'll see. I think the previous karma test run could mostly be used to steer off the drama (if so desired  ). While obviously abused, I think some people also voted for how they thought or felt about the truthfulness or honesty of some users (and not about the correctness or rationality of posting content).

[To continue above paragraph: My assumption would be that somebody who is in error but truthful would sooner or later correct the error and then there will be progress, but somebody who withholds or pretends could easily interfere with others despite the postings appearing to be helpful/correct/rational. Hard to moderate that one by following rules.]