The Heavy-Handed Moderation Has to Stop
 

Look, we all understand that GreekChat is free and that ultimately, final decisions rest with John.

But this is officially banoodles.

I am really sick and tired of moderation that is inconsistent across the board.

We need standards NOW.

We need a democratic process for selecting moderators NOW.

This is absolutely ridiculous and I don't like it one bit.

I agree consistency is key and needs improvement across the entire span of moderators not just in heavy traffic forums.

That is one of the best ideas I have ever heard.

I want change that we can believe in

^^^^ I am not picking on you, but I will just say the first thing that comes to my mind....

What makes the current moderator cohort the ruling class? Why not actually put it to the users themselves, including the moderators?

ETA: I guess I'm saying it shouldn't matter if any current mod vehemently opposes anything if it hasn't been put to the people to decide.

LOL @ "banoodles".

Banoodles needs to be added to the GC Dictionary.

That's a good question, but we have no real official way of determining such things if John isn't around. He has discussed the idea of moderator standards with us before and we have something very very very very very extremely loose there now, but nothing concrete.

The other boards I'm active on on the net are very extremely moderated. I personally would like to see a more comprehensive TOS/Moderator code of standards and behavior put in place. For example, in the past, on the Mod's Corner, I have suggested this as a possible example:

http://www.fictionalley.org/tou.html

Obviously a lot of that doesn't apply to us as we're not a fanfiction forum or whatever, but it's an idea.

I just don't see any way at this point that this could be accomplished without John around... your idea of the users writing up something is fascinating but I'm not sure how in practice that would work.

Banoodles came from Making the Band, Season 2.

It is also where we got such jewels as:

"Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, and Dylan"

and

"Let em fight! Let em fight!....... ain't enough room!"

I definitely agree. I've seen two or three threads closed lately that were completely unnecessary - yes, a disagreement was in place, but not in a negative way. Each time, it was closed by the same person.

Irritating, and stifling.

from what i have read on greek chat, i agree. however bear in mind that one should be careful of what you ask for. some of the best boards i have seen and been a part of had just about a zero tolerance policy for violation of tos. the moderators let threads change course and what not. but they did not let them get derailed by matters that where not part of thread or of the board. worked great to keep trolls and sock puppets off of board. and there was no such thing as personnel attacks or comments. now keeping just those two points, which are just two rather random ones, review a few threads here and picture just what they would look like. and as someone posted in another thread i believe today, the moderators, if they had to clean something up that may have been of some question (trolls not included), did communicate with poster. i should add that they did act as moderators and not posters. very rarely did they post on their own. and generally when they did, it was to start a thread or add factual information to it. and copy write laws, fair use was strictly enforced. post a line or two to explain the story and the link and then include the link.
policy was just about three strikes and you were out. warning, suspension and then banned. and while i am not sure, i have a strong feeling that ip code was recorded.
and there was no tracking of amount of time spent on board or how many postings. general posters where all equal. first time or new members were monitored, by the moderators, for several postings.

A little GC History is in order here per my observations:

Pre-2000 John Hammell purchased a different forum format than what is currently used--vBullentin BB. Other forums for purchase are Jelsoft and phpBB--which is free but requires some level of programming ability.

During the switch, sometime in 2003 (I think), we now use the vBulletin format. At the same time, several moderators for the boards were lost, no longer post, for whatever reasons.

Now, some organizations, like my Sorority, has policies, procedures and protocols mandating how we are to represent ourselves online as members. Through discussions with several supermoderators and moderators, we all understand how we will govern the AKA Ave. So I don't care if a newbie poster is a 2 year old Mensa in the National Academy of Sciences with 5 doctorates, if that poster asks inappropriate questions about Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. his or her post will be deleted or closed.

I will remain heavy-handed in the moderation of the AKA Ave. as long as I decide to maintain my moderation. I do not care what anyone thinks, the FACTS are that if the poster forms an inappropriate thread or post on the Ave. it will be deleted. We state that in SEVERAL places on the AKA Ave. I am sorry if someone chooses to ignore the information, but having just coming off probation on another board I frequent, folks have to "suck it up" and learn from their mistakes.

That make be true, because we all uniformly agree (NPHC organizations) that membership intake, etc. are questions that if not on the International websites, campi or local alumnae chapters, are deemed inappropriate.

However, on the other areas we frequent, such as chit chat, greek life and sometimes recruitment, we see all kinds of questions being asked, sometimes infringing on our organizational rules, legitimacy, and other silly irrelevant matters. The senior GC membership may be inconsistent in dealing with these matters.

Having more rules or standards may or may not cause folks, especially newbies to do searches. IDK? What is the pleasure of the group.

Of course certain mods are going to oppose any type of moderating standards. It goes again their "own agenda" type moderating where they have free reign to reject or accept threads. Having certain "across the board" standards would make it harder for them to follow their own agenda & "justify" it.