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| From your moderator https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17619 |
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| Author: | Randy Hees [ Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:16 am ] |
| Post subject: | From your moderator |
I am very sorry to have lost Ed as moderator. I understand and support the action he took.I missed the last several posts of the discussion in question (and no, as moderator, I don’t have magic access to missing or deleted posts) but even before the end, the discussion had a side conversation about photos rights, and a discussion of who knew certain facts first, rather than a discussion of facts, which had the hair of my neck standing up.As a moderator: We rarely have to get involved. We do have to read every post, and revisit them with some regularity, and look at the links provided.When a thread goes “wrong” it can go wrong fast, or it can drift at the edge for a long time before dropping off down the slippery slope.For every time we get involved, there are two other threads that we watch closely.If it is a gray area we look at the posters previous posts.We do sometimes e-mail each other before and after and compare notes on what we saw. Since things happen fast, it is more often afterwards rather than before.We watch other boards, and how they work, how discussions evolve there and who is posting. This does affect how we moderate this board.This isn’t science, at some point we have to make a decision to take action. Choosing the right point is tricky.There are a number of actions we can take: We can participate in a conversation, trying to steer it in a productive way. We can make a public statement or warning as a moderator about the direction of a discussion.We can use private emails. (getting a private email from us is not necessarily bad, you may have been pouring gasoline on a fire or just playing with gasoline without knowing it. Sometimes stopping the flow of gasoline is sufficient to end a problem)We can lock a discussionWe can delete posts or whole threads (the system is a bit tricky, and both Ed and myself have deleted entire threads when trying to delete a single post)Finally we can declare a topic to be forbidden for a period of time.I am more forgiving if a post is about nuts and bolts, boiler courses and staybolt caps, or FRA boiler issues than if it is more railfan oriented (i.e. chasing steam) or general pronouncements of which locomotive should be preserved by those not participating. There are several “subjects” which reappear on the board which seem to lead to dissention, rumor mongering, name calling, and general chaotic discussion. Examples include Steamtown, various former Reading locomotives, and to a lesser extent any discussion of big mainline steam. With that said my home email is hees@RCN.com. Private questions are welcome. Randy HeesRYPN Moderator |
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| Author: | Bob Kutella [ Sat Jun 04, 2005 7:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: From your moderator |
I am sure it is a thankless job, and I am grateful for the work you and Ed have done and for the personal help Ed has given my via private e mail when I did not think the info would be appropo to the forum.I am co-moderator on another board and we have that set up for all messages to be previewed and approved. Even though it is a much smaller board that can be a real pain and I doubt I could keep up with the volume on a board this big. In at least one case we were grateful that feature was in place (a very sticky situation). But if kids will not play nice I wonder if that would be another option?I have little patience for all the critics who have not walked in those shoes. You both have my support.Anyway, Thanks Ed, Thanks Randy.Bob Kutella |
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