Feedback on moderation

[bob carnie]

I think this site is fantastic and is worth logging on each day, I learn a lot here and sometimes throw in my 2 cents.

Like any site there are lots of wankers, basically just ignore and think twice before hitting the post reply button.

[Lou Baleur]

It seems to function just fine the way it is. Although there are still instances of "armchair moderation" by those that disagree with some posts--they can hit the little "report" button, but they prefer to make comments instead. Unfortunate, but these behaviours will change so long as the moderators keep to their policies and policing.

Good job, moderators. You guys deserve a raise.

[Pfsor]

It's BAD, really really bad... We are losing our community, they won't come back... We are bleeding good people...

+ 10x

[Louis Pacilla]

It seems to function just fine the way it is. Although there are still instances of "armchair moderation" by those that disagree with some posts--they can hit the little "report" button, but they prefer to make comments instead. Unfortunate, but these behaviours will change so long as the moderators keep to their policies and policing.

Good job, moderators. You guys deserve a raise.

Could not agree MORE w/ this Lou and all the other comments that support the moderators and their effort to clean things up.

Keep up the awesome work!

20x+++

[Ralph Barker]

The numbers speak for the masses and that is all the matters. What do the numbers say? Is participation in the forum increasing or decreasing over the period of current moderation?

The statistics available within the vBulletin software don't provide much in the way of granularity, so it is difficult to arrive at useful conclusions. For example, we can't separate FS/WTB activity from discussions in the primary sub-forums. And, activity here is also affected by external factors, such as market conditions, the level of interest in film photography in general and LF in particular. I don't know of a source of market data (e.g. LF film sales) that would allow comparisons.

Looking at available data for posts, threads, and registrations, the past fiscal year is approximately level with the 2006-2007 fiscal year (the earliest period available since we moved to vBulletin), but below the peak activity during the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

Because we are non-commercial, however, we are not "driven" by marketing-oriented statistics that might otherwise support ad rates, etc.

[Tin Can]

As a well known Wanker, thanks Bob Carnie LOL I think we are doing just fine.

Oren Grad and Ralph Barker are doing what they think best and nicely balance each other.

Remember that somebody MUST moderate and it is obviously a thankless job.

I have been chastised, always deserved.

Thank you moderators. Don't let the Dark Slide win.

[Taija71A]

... Things like "communicate this by PM" is not helpful when the PM inbox size is so small and limiting...

This is not exactly true...

The allotment for messages stored was just recently very 'graciously' increased -- From 100 to 200.
Also, if one needs to save more than 200 Messages... There is always the option of 'Archiving' older Messages.
--
Yes... Keep up the great work Moderators and 'cheerfully' ignore...
The few, vocal naysayers and troublemakers.

Your efforts are 'Truly Appreciated'. Thank-you!

[Ralph Barker]

Things like "communicate this by PM" is not helpful when the PM inbox size is so small and limiting, sometimes a discussion can go on for weeks before a sale is made, meanwhile all the pertinent info is deleted because there's not enough space.

The size of the PM box has been increased, but there are limitations of what we can do on the donated resources that support the forum operations. One obvious solution for active sellers would be to move communications with buyers to e-mail after the initial PM exchange.

Actual for-profit business are encouraged here while the regular people are discouraged. The whole point of this site not having a subscriber model was to avoid favoritism toward commerce oriented posters.

That is simply wrong. We are not "encouraging" anyone at the expense of others. We softened the "dealer" restriction to allow small brick-n-mortor posters to increase the availability of gear for members. They are not, however, given any preference, and must comply with the same set of rules.

People with useful info's posts are deleted because it violates some unknown rule, except most of the knowledgeable people don't have the time to waste reading every single new rule all the time or remembering them all, only those who spend their lives on the forum could possibly remember. The people who are actual DO-ERS don't have that kind of time, they see their post deleted and they stop bothering. This leaves us with a forum full of opinions and no knowledgeable people.

Comments in FS threads that don't act to clarify the listing are deleted in accordance with the revised guidelines to avoid those threads from being "bumped" within certain views/searches to keep the playing field level.

This forum has gone down hill so fast and good people are bailing. The majority still posting often have virtually nothing of informative value to contribute because they have no real world experience, just pre-read knowledge and regurgitated opinion.

I suspect opinions will vary on that issue.

And it's all because one person is on a crusade to "fix" things.

Again, not true. The guidelines were changed, after months of discussions, to strike a balance between function and the resulting moderator workload. All of these decisions, however, are discussed between all of the moderators. During the last few months, Rick has been too busy with family and work-related matters to spend much time here, so Oren has picked up much of that slack.

Any serious effort to acknowledge the problem is eventually deleted from existence by that person when they start to look bad, like the previous MULTIPLE "too much moderation" threads which have all been deleted.

Unlike most online forums, we encourage feedback and consider it carefully. Many of the complaints, however, come from individuals who merely want things to be run their way, which isn't always conducive to long-term forum viability. "Clean-ups on aisle 7" are occasionally appropriate.

It's BAD, really really bad... We are losing our community, they won't come back... We are bleeding good people...

Again, opinions will vary. I won't get into a discussion about particular individuals.

It's just all so unreasonable, people have lives, they can't all be expected to know all the rules and it turns people off to have their work deleted.

Gosh, what can I say? If some people don't want to bother to read and understand the guidelines, they end up learning the hard way.

Try messaging someone for once "hey, just so you know, this post isn't good because of X, can you go and fix it please?" (This would require allowing a larger edit window before something is no longer editable) or simply LEAVING THE POST ALONE with a kind PM "hey, just so you know, in the future can you try and avoid X?" That's much more friendly and welcoming.

We do a lot of behind-the-scenes messaging. You don't see this because, well, it's behind-the-scenes. And, we often edit posts at the request of the OP after the edit period has closed. The edit window (IIRC 60 minutes, or until there is a response), is set to avoid situations where responses are nullified by subsequent changes to the original post. In those cases, a follow-up correction is usually the best approach.

[MikeH]

Could not agree MORE w/ this Lou and all the other comments that support the moderators and their effort to clean things up.

Keep up the awesome work!

+1

[Jonathan Barlow]

My solution to the super-micromanagement and stifling policies that have taken over the for sale forum here, is to spend more time on APUG.