Spoiler:
Very well-worded post, Doc. I'm going to add a few comments, not to steal your thunder but rather to add to it (and quoting all mods and everyone who took an interest)....
Doctor MJ wrote:So, just a few thoughts based on what folks have said:
1. Always keep in mind that moderation is done as much behind the scenes as possible. It's not supposed to be a thing where everyone on RealGM knows when a poster is getting in trouble. So, if it seems out of the blue what happens to another poster, well, don't expect that it seemed out of the blue for the poster.
To be fair, we have experimented with trying to consistently make things more "transparent" (e.g. where we'd edit into a person's post with the bold blue font, stating the perceived offense and "warned"), even at the expense of potentially embarrassing the poster in question.
fwiw, this was not done as a means of public shaming, with the thought that perhaps that would generate greater compliance to forum rules and expectations (if that's how it was perceived).
We were trying this for two primary purposes:
1) Illustrative purposes, so other posters could literally see action and consequence, and thus be better informed about what type of behaviours we're discouraging.
2) To avoid the "that's not fair" complaints we frequently receive for no other reason than posters are not kept informed about what goes on behind closed doors. Example: a thread devolves into a flame-war between two or more posters; one of us warns two altercating posters who are both at fault and out of line, and then locks the thread which has become thoroughly toxic. Then one of the posters PM's that moderator a scathing message along the lines of "So and so did this and he didn't get in any trouble. But yes, by all means warn me for calling out his obvious BS/baiting. Great job moderating."....
.....Something like that. To which we're compelled to point out: "How do you know he didn't get in similar trouble? Do not assume that other actions were not taken simply because we didn't inform you of them."
For a time we perceived we were dealing with that kind of response A LOT; that posters had an inclination to feel like they were being somehow singled out when the only moderator actions they perceive are the ones directed at them. So we've tried making it more public/transparent.
That said, Doc is right: there's a lot that goes on "behind the scenes", particularly by way of internal deliberations.
Doctor MJ wrote:
4. I think probably the most important thing to understand is that it's not some theoretical thing that negative posting drives other posters away. A while back one long-time poster PMed me informing me that they were leaving the project in response to how I handled the Mikan issue, which One_and_Done as at the center of. It wasn't a threat or an ultimatum, they just told me that if this was how the project was going to be, that they'd rather not deal with it.
If after that point there'd been no further issues with One_and_Done, One_and_Done would still be in the project. Instead things continued from there.
5. Last thing I'll say: Among mods, sometimes we say about posters "He can't help himself." This essentially means that while we may see a lot of good in a poster, he does not seem to be able to keep himself from doing the thing again and again that got him in trouble. The statement is a lament, but we just want to see the poster figure out where the thresholds are and stay within them, but if he can't do that, then the consequences naturally escalate leading to suspensions and bans.
I think posters tend to think that when a big consequence comes down it must be because the poster did something awful that they never had done before - or that the mod in question had an axe to grind I suppose - but when we're talking about longer term posters, that's typically not the deal. Rather at a certain point it becomes a question of whether to simply give up and let that poster do whatever they want regardless of the complaints and violations, or to acknowledge that the poster just isn't ever going to color inside the lines laid out, and so they can't remain a part of the community in question.
These two sort of run hand in hand, and are fabulously-worded, btw, Doc.
I want to hammer home that last point, because I think this is very important for everyone reading to understand: the VAST majority [almost ALL] of our most drastic actions (such as lengthy suspensions and forum bans) have NOT come as a result of a single really REALLY bad action, but rather by lengthy accumulation of many many small offenses and annoyances, for which we have finally had enough. Death by a thousand cuts, as it were.
They're frequently offenses that, taken singly, are not at all severe; and from that standpoint a severe moderator action may seem out of the blue.
However, they are small offenses that repeat and repeat and repeat; and we warn and we warn, and we PM and we PM, and perhaps we suspend and suspend.......and yet they just keep doing it. "He can't help himself."
We'll let out as much rope as is reasonable, and try to give them some specific feedback about what needs to change; and speaking for myself, I love a redemption story and always want to believe people can improve. But sometimes they just don't. And there is a definitive end to our patience.
If action related to O&D seems more abrupt than "usual", bear in mind it's because of the vehicle it was occurring in. The Top 100 Project only happens once every three years, and is the highest profile and perhaps most important project we do. More than most threads/projects, it is not something in which we want to tolerate seeing tenured and respected posters alienated to the point of walking away from it in order to make room for ONE very opinionated and occasionally off-putting poster.
And lastly, I will And1 the sentiment that negative posting driving people away is not just a theoretical thing. As Doc alludes to, we have had posters tell us flat out that they'd like to participate more, but they just don't have the emotional surplus to withstand "so and so's" behaviour on a daily basis. And sometimes if we're not forceful enough in dealing with "so and so", we'll see those tenured posters sort of disappear for weeks/months at a time.
Anyway, I'll stop there.
