RE: [DML] Moderation, yes or no? (was: Re: Limit users.)

["Michael Substelny" <msubstel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As a member of the (currently idle) moderating team I’ll point out that I would have approved many of the most controversial posts by both Bill and Claude (and everyone else). Generally we have always allowed opinions and personal, first hand stories. But a lot of the noise we’ve been seeing centers on two areas that I squashed every day as an active moderator:

 

1)      Off topic messages. I would not approve messages about cars other than the DeLorean, or conversations about Back to the Future that have no bearing on the DeLorean. If you want to discuss these things find another forum. For example I would have rejected this message because it is about the Torino and the Grand Prix:

 

Videos of front end barrier tests of traditional metal body on ladder frame vehicles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kfW_-8BdqA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEyjUiS65kc

Obviously air bags would have helped, because the vehicle stays mostly intact after the frame itself makes contact with the barrier, as would be expected.




 

2)      Meta-conversation. The DML always tolerated some limited discussion of the DML itself and its subscribers, but lately the level of this has become so ridiculous and unproductive that I would have stopped it. The message you are reading right now is an example of meta-conversation.

 

The Ad Hominem attacks are something new. Obviously they would be rejected by any active moderator.

 

I would be willing to resume moderating duties, and in James’s poll I voted in favor of doing so.

 

-          Mike Substelny

-          DML Moderating Team

-          VIN 1280 for 19 years

 

From: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of soma576
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 6:32 PM
To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [DML] Moderation, yes or no? (was: Re: Limit users.)

 

  

I'd have to say I agree 100% with Mike. It was getting to the point where only a couple of us were on the moderation schedule and half the time I would log in and there would be no messages. Then we would wait until the next day, or the next day, and finally there are a couple messages. Hard to get moderators engaged and when it takes a week to get a few reponses to a question, no one wants to ask them anymore. The DML was on life-support and we had little choice but to give unmoderated messages a try.

I like the instant responses coming through, but there is a saying that if you want to get the milk from a cow you might have to step around the cow pies. There are a couple of posters on here that in my opinion are the cow pies, but other times I find the back-and-forth pretty funny.

I understand some readers are fed up with it, but the alternative is not much better. 

Anyway, enough of this. It's a beautiful day and I just got my new pump hoses from DMCMW. Time to turn a couple wrenches.

Andy

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmcnews%40yahoogroups.com> , Michael Griese <mike.griese@...> wrote:
>
> I am not displeased.
> 
> The thing to remember is the rules for the list. It is about the car, the man 
> and the company. Bill talking about putting carburetors on his car or any other 
> modification does not break any of the site rules. It's when the discussion 
> disintegrates into personalities is when we start to run into problems with the 
> rules. 
> 
> 
> As far as moderation goes, I get about the same number of complaints about a 
> moderated list as an unmoderated one. Towards the end of the moderated phase, 
> the list was not seeing much traffic and discussion continuity was suffering. 
> And quite frankly, there wasn't enough traffic to keep the moderators engaged, 
> so the delays between when a post was submitted and when it went through was 
> unpredictable and lengthy. The ratio of post that went through was almost 100%, 
> so all the moderating team was doing was adding delay.
> 
> Unmoderated we have a lot more traffic, but we also seem to have a lot more 
> noise. A lot of the noise is down to the fact that responses go through 
> immediately and we wind up with bursty behavior. The funny thing is, the level 
> of noise and the rate of posting is completely up to the participants. 
> 
> 
> Let's try an experiment. Pretty much everyone involved with the list recently 
> has been around a long time and should have a darned good idea of what content 
> in a post would pass moderation and what would not. How about, for the next 
> couple of weeks, everyone puts on their moderator hat and takes a good look at 
> what they are writing before pressing send. If there is any question in your 
> mind - fix it or click delete. 
> 
> 
> --
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: James Espey <james@...>
> To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmcnews%40yahoogroups.com> 
> Sent: Wed, March 21, 2012 2:21:55 PM
> Subject: [DML] Moderation, yes or no? (was: Re: Limit users.)
> 
> 
> Mike, are you pleased with the results?
> 
> What about everyone else?
> 
> I started a poll â€" your choice will be kept anonymous. Poll will close and 
> results made public April 4th.
> 
> http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/surveys?id=3093782
> 
> James
> 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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