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I was going to post this to a particular story, but thought this might generate more attention and discussion as a general submission.
Seriously, what is going on with all these troll mods? Just because you disagree with someone, thus earning a "disagree" mod, does not mean that person is a "troll." To steal a definition from Urban Dictionary:
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
Just because you disagree with someone, does not mean they are trying to do the above. Be faster on the "disagree" and slower on the "troll." Under such abuse, it is hard to have a good discussion and, in itself, is trollish behavior by "generally disrupt[ing] normal on-topic discussion." Other than people disciplining themselves, a concerted effort to police such abuses, or making moderation logs public on the bottom of a comment where the score is shown now, I'm unsure of what to do about. As it stands, it is getting increasingly ridiculous to read what discussion is here on any topic remotely controversial, and is expanding outside of even those. It is starting to drive me away from the site, and I'm somewhat confident it is doing the same for others. I'd be interested to see what others think about the depth of the problem, if they even believe it even exists at all, and what solutions you all have for it.
[Ed note. This story is published exactly as received. First off, it bears repeating that complaining about moderations in the comments often leads (rightly) to an off-topic moderation. That is a contributing factor to my decision to run this story. Secondly, moderation is something that I on occasion have found I've fat-fingered and given a different moderation than expected. Thirdly, in the grand scheme of things, a comment's moderation is — relatively speaking — small potatoes. It is NOT a measure of your IQ or value as a human being. or standing in the community. Just accept that stuff happens and that as likely as not, someone will be along to moderate it the other way. Which is a good opportunity to say: PLEASE USE YOUR MOD POINTS! Lastly, if you think a comment was moderated in error, then send the CID (Comment ID) link e.g. "(#876543)" in an email to admin (at) soylentnews (dot) org. Keep in mind however that we are all volunteers here and there most likely will be a delay between when you send out an email and when we can get around to it. --martyb]
[Updated: 20190823_111312 UTC See comment from JR who far more precisely and eloquently expressed the idea I was attempting to. I concur with his assessment. If I want people to upmod a comment of mine that I believe was unfairly downmodded, then I need to be willing to upmod other's mis-modded comments. For perspective, so far this month, anywhere from ~150-~350 mod points were used in any given day. It bears repeating: use your mod points!]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday August 27 2019, @11:58PM (5 children)
Our mods aren't there so you can support your friends and smite your enemies. They're there to promote interesting discussion. See Reddit if you need an example of the utter failure of that method.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday August 28 2019, @12:23AM (4 children)
And why should what one finds interesting discussion, or not, need a justification at all? But I will not belabor the point, I asked, you answered. Thank you.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday August 28 2019, @12:51AM (3 children)
It doesn't need justification. That some folks are not in fact using the mods to that end is what we're discussing. Good or bad aren't the same as interesting, thus the old Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times".
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday August 28 2019, @09:30AM (2 children)
A little confused by what you're saying, but I don't want to go too deep here or come across as terribly critical. When I was saying about not needing justification, I was meaning the modder shouldn't need to justify their mods with a categorization of why. But if the modder doesn't need to justify the mod then there shouldn't be any need for the classification or to worry about why people downmod.
I think you're saying that the reasoning behind classifying doesn't need justification. If so, so be it, and I guess it is not my table.
But you've explained the why you (and I presume staff) feels it is necessary, and that's fine.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday August 28 2019, @02:30PM (1 child)
That's what I meant about it not needing to justify their mods as well. I'm not planning on taking anyone's birthday away for moderating counter to the guidelines aside from the Spam mod. Doesn't mean it's not worth discussing how to we're supposed to be moderating and how we're not once in a while though.
It's your table as much as it is anyone here's. If you think one of us staff types could use a good arguing with, have right at it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday August 28 2019, @03:08PM
Oh, gotcha. Thanks for the patience with my misunderstanding...
And yep, the thread is worth it. Dunno if I'm doing it less, but when to use that mod is important to think about.
This sig for rent.