topic Re: Forum Moderators! in Plusnet Feedback

Forum Moderators!

thisoldman — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:33:18 GMT

I would like to know how the moderators here get appointed, to whom they are accountable, and why ordinary members like myself have no say in their appointment or dismisal.
In a democratic society, I have thropugh reading these posts by moderators, come to the clear conclusion that they are a law unto themselves.
The new list of rules is an example of power gone mad.
Its high time plusnet organized free democratic elections of mods who would then truly represent the interestrs and views of the members of these forums.
I am of the view that there is a danger of these mods acting like fascists, doing what they like, when they like, without ever having to consult the members or even being responsible to the members of the forums

In a democratic society, the continuation of this situation should not and can not be tolerated

Re: Forum Moderators!

Steve — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:39:56 GMT

I think they are picked If a lot of members recommend to the mods that someone would be a good mod, People like me or yourself could post to a current mod and say who we think should be one and why, I have no problems with the moderators here, Best bunch I have came across EVER.

Re: Forum Moderators!

jelv — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:43:19 GMT

The majority of the current moderators were elected (all? - I suspect one might have been re-appointed following a break without being elected although I suspect he may have been elected previously).
Elections in the past have been very painful drawn out affairs which in the end attracted pitifully few votes - the average turnout for a by-election for a parish or town counsellor would be extraordinarily successful by comparison.
A couple of those elected in recent years were absolute disasters - one of those left in a huff and wreaked absolute mayhem by deleting loads of his posts before his activity was spotted and he was stopped.
Edit: Correction - due to the failures of the election process two recent moderators were appointed who had been original moderators when the forums were first set up many years ago - they were invited to be moderators by Ian Wild (anyone who has been around for a while will know who he is). They were both highly respected moderators and their appointment was welcomed by anyone who remembered them from their first stints.
Edit 2: I've just been advised one of the two was invited to be a mod by the original mods (he was already a mod when I started posting on the forums).

Re: Forum Moderators!

fourfourdevon — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:44:25 GMT

The mods seem fair enough to me, certainly I've been on many forums where the mods were far more power crazed and officious.
Also, Plusnet is not a democratic anything, it is perfectly within its rights to choose or allow to be chosen whoever it wants by whoever in whatever way.

Re: Forum Moderators!

thisoldman — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:48:00 GMT

txs jelv

Re: Forum Moderators!

jelv — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:57:42 GMT

Another complication in the whole history is that there were originally separate sets of forums for the vISPs - these community forums were a great step forward in bringing everyone together.

Re: Forum Moderators!

Be3G — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:02:09 GMT

For clarification, this is a brief history of the moderator selection processes through the ages…

Initial moderators of portal forums (2003): responded, if I recall correctly, to a call for volunteers from Ian Wild when the original portal forums opened. I am one of these.

Next few moderators (2003-2005): these were selected and asked by the original moderators, with no public elections. It takes a certain type of member to make a good moderator, and we therefore felt that we were best placed to pick such members.

2005–2009*: this is when elections were used. The reason the selection process changed to using elections is because Plusnet went through a very controversial period, which sparked increasing allegations towards the moderators of a lack of impartiality. It was therefore thought that allowing the forum members to pick their own moderators would help reduce those claims.

2009 onwards: having experienced a number of issues with elections (which jelv mentioned earlier), it was decided to go back to asking people to become moderators. Moderator elections had effectively become popularity contests; and, again, the most popular members weren't necessarily those who made the best moderators.

* It's quite likely that I've got the dates a bit wrong there – I wasn't actually a moderator during much of that time so I can't remember exactly.

Re: Forum Moderators!

thisoldman — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:11:12 GMT

ok letme take this one step further.

On the dubious assumption that mods were elected , what is their terms of reference, what is their job/task specification.
How are they regulated to stop them abusing power.
Who controls the mods.
or......once appointed can they do what ever they like?

Re: Forum Moderators!

jelv — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:11:34 GMT

Here's an indication of the level of participation on the elections: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,73528.0.html
The leading candidate achieved a massive total of 64 votes - not sure how many registered forum members there were at that time.

Re: Forum Moderators!

jelv — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:12:42 GMT

Quote from: thisoldman
ok letme take this one step further.

On the dubious assumption that mods were elected , what is their terms of reference, what is their job/task specification.
How are they regulated to stop them abusing power.
Who controls the mods.
or......once appointed can they do what ever they like?

If you read the forum rules you'll find that is all covered.

Re: Forum Moderators!

thisoldman — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:14:30 GMT

txs jelv but could you please address the q uestions i posted in last post plz

Re: Forum Moderators!

Be3G — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:21:39 GMT

Quote from: thisoldman
Who controls the mods.

Plusnet. They are nearly always happy with what we do, but if they weren't, they would have the ultimate power to do with us as they wished. Which is to be expected, as these are Plusnet's forums. We most certainly can not, therefore, do whatever we like.

Re: Forum Moderators!

Spider — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:22:53 GMT

Quote from: thisoldman
txs jelv but could you please address the q uestions i posted in last post plz

Out of interest why should jelv address the questions you posted?

Re: Forum Moderators!

jelv — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:25:09 GMT

Quote from: jelv
Here's an indication of the level of participation on the elections: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,73528.0.html
The leading candidate achieved a massive total of 64 votes - not sure how many registered forum members there were at that time.

I'm told it was 10224 - although a number of them will be Plusnet staff.
A 0.623% turnout - very impressive!

Re: Forum Moderators!

pierre_pierre — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:27:04 GMT

if you read the rules, you wil find the answers to your question in the first couple of paragraphs, and the link to them is at the botton left of this page

Re: Forum Moderators!

thisoldman — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:30:44 GMT

spider jelv is not a mod and hence his views would be impartial and he is despite my often disagreements with him, knowledgable and respected for such

Re: Forum Moderators!

zubel — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:32:31 GMT

If you have any complaint about a particular mod, you may address your complaint via PM to one of the other forum moderators.
If you are not happy following that, feel free to raise a ticket for the attention of the Digital Care team, which will investigate the merits of your complaint and make their decision.
Cheers
B.

Re: Forum Moderators!

nadger — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:37:44 GMT

Anyone who has " modded" a forum knows how difficult it can be to be totally impartial. It's a thankless task and it has to be remember that they receive no form of reward for their services.
I think that we are pretty fortunate with the current mods and see no reason to change either the system or their powers.

Re: Forum Moderators!

thisoldman — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:20:34 GMT

well and this is my opinion..............i sincerely believe that some of the mods no names mentioned are in grave danger of abusing their position.
Some of the proposed rules and the recent poll calling for a ban on text sms speak smacks of sheer stupidity and a complete ignorance of disability discrimination legislation.
Any attempt to intoduce a ban on text speeech will be dealt with by the EHRC.
there are members who for various reasons medical etc can not type fully what they wish to express and i am totally disgusted at any suggestion of a ban.

Re: Forum Moderators!

Chris — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:27:22 GMT

The recent poll did not 'call for the banning of text speak' it was there to ask a question. At no point has anyone said it is going to be banned, the poll was to gauge the reaction of the Community as a whole.