[stretch37]

Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse

As I demonstrated on the other recent the thread concerning moderation, I believe it simply isn't practical to moderate just by PM'ing members to change their posts themselves.
By the time that member comes back and changes what they've written, half the forum have read and replied, and we have to sent out a whole new batch of PM's asking people to edit their replies, by which time more people have waded in, and on and on and on.

No, just PM'ing members on its own won't solve the problem. Locking threads will need to continue. Deleting things that are really bad will need to continue. But I still think a simple email system, after the thread is locked down, giving the user a chance to edit his or her own work directly after a sentence or paragraph is *altered* by the mod, and giving them a timeline to reword it in a more respectful manner would work wonders for reducing backlash regarding "taking a machete to the thread". The entire system is automated, creating very little extra work for mods, and at the same time, enforcing respectfulness with less backlash.

Deleting stuff without a PM sounds great for heat of the moment situations...as long as it doesn't remove/change a point someone is trying to get across.

Eg.

Famous Singer, you sounded great today!

~~~~ you! you didn't wave at me though you dick! :P

Till next time!
Matt

Could be altered like this without altering the meaning/changing context (no PM involved IMO):

Famous Singer, you sounded great today!

*defamatory remark removed by mods*

you didn't wave at me though! :P

Till next time!
Matt

The following is more of a case where I think an automated PM system would work great and cause less of the backlash we've seen this week from the culling of words from threads. While I think we as users need to do our part to ensure we are respectful, and govern ourselves before we hit reply, I've seen handfuls of us who are pretty shook up about their stuff being removed.

The Situation

Eg. "Sally insults Emanuel for the 5th time, without the use of swear words, deciding once again from cellphone video, shot at a school talent show and uploaded to facebook with terrible sound, that he can't whistle. Sally posted her thoughts, The mods haven't seen it yet, and Emanuel responds, understandably upset."

Sally:

Emanuel is so out of tune, and out of time. I had to stop listening almost right away....its time for him to think about retiring from talent shows I think...He's had a good run, but honestly for the past 5 times, he's been out of tune like this, and I just can't stand listening to him anymore...he's way past it...He sounded great in grade 5, but the last good 5 years he's just been out of tune and its embarassing.

Emanuel:

Sally-anne Parker, I'm sorry but you are flat out wrong, as always! You really don't know anything AT ALL about whistling!! That video was terrible quality, and I'm crying now thanks to you! HAPPY NOW ASSHOLE? Its people like you that remind me why I don't let others see me whistle! Why the ~~~~ do you ALWAYS have the nerve to come on here if you have no respect for me, knock my stuff, and make me upset when I am trying my best out there for you!? How about you take your judgy self, go learn the craft, and then try doing it in front of the whole school for 2 hours shit face and see how nervous you feel after!

CASE 1

The post is later edited by a mod:

Sally-anne Parker. That video was terrible quality, and I'm crying now thanks to you! Why do you come on here if you have no respect for me, knock my stuff, and make me upset when I am trying my best out there for you!? How about you go learn the craft, and then try doing it in front of the whole school for 2 hours and see how nervous you feel after!

Emanuel is shocked that his own words, written in self defence, were changed and outright removed with no explanation. Why was he disciplined this way, when the other person could have been far more polite in saying she didn't like his whistling. And, unbeknownst to the mods, he felt that she had been bullying him for years, so consistently and frankly that he finally got so upset that he stood up for himself and went a little over the top...He felt that his own self defence was silenced without explanation. He doesn't come back to the forums for 6 months.

CASE 2

With the edit-notifications in place, The mod edits the post in exactly the same way as Case 1. Only this time, when the mod clicks "save" on the edit post window after entering some basic instructions into a text box, an automated email goes out to Emanuel:

Dear Emanuel:
Your post has been edited because it did not follow our forum's posting guidelines (Please see them here). If you wish to re-write your own post, Please click the link below to obtain temporary edit privileges. These privileges will expire in 48 hours.

Reason:
I know you are upset, and understandably so, but our forum policy forbids the hurling of personal insults, curse words, etc. Please take a moment to cool off, and re-write your post in a way that gets your point across in a respectful manor. In the event that the post is not re-written respectfully, further discipline may occur as per forum policy.

Emanual realizes that he flew off the handle, and feels rather sheepish about letting that happen. He re-writes his post as follows:

Sally, once again I am upset that you have this opinion of me..The video was terrible quality, and those that were watching applauded loudly and I got mostly rave reviews. I'm not sure why you have to keep taking digs at me, but when you do, it makes me wonder why I perform ever! I feel that you really have no respect for my work. You consistently keep coming on here and knock it. If you don't like it, what's the harm in saying it politely? Its hard work going up there in front of everyone, try it some time!!!

Emanuel is still quite angry, and he knows he broke the rules, but he is glad he had a chance to re-write the post, and he'll think twice about breaking the rules next time...Far easier to just post rather than worry about receiving discipline. He notices that most others on the thread are quite respectful, and although some don't prefer his performance, other's love it. He starts to feel somewhat better, and knows that next time, as long as he remains respectful in the way he says things, he can say whatever he pleases in self defence without worrying that it will be deleted. He feels empowered enough that he PM's Sally and asks her to please be more kind if she doesn't like what he writes. She puts him down in a similar way 3 months later, and Emanuel PM's the same friendly mod, who decides to edit Sally's post and give her a chance to be more appropriate. Things begin to improve and Sally and Emanuel can now tolerate each other's company on the forums.

Originally Posted by The Flying Mouse

I believe that the only way to stop a mod editing/deleting your posts is to.....

Consider the know facts.

Be fair minded.

Find a way of posting your point of view that shows respect and consideration for the opinions and feelings of others........

........before you hit "Post Reply".

That is something that is in the hands and capabilities of each and very member of the forum.

THIS.