Post#376 » by Doctor MJ » Thu Sep 21, 2023 3:39 pm
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.
2. Practically speaking, most of the mod action I take in this project is in response to complaints from others. I don't think I've ever reached out in PM to any of the posters in the projects to talk about issues without a complaint from someone else. This is not to say that I don't use my own judgment when deciding about what to do about said complaints, but I've acted as more of a peacemaker/advisor to folks getting complaints against them than anything else.
3. This is where I'll also note that I haven't been an active mod, in terms of disciplining posters, for a long time. I still have the Moderator title because of the projects I run and my track record in community building. So if anything, I think other mods would call me lax on this front.
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.
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