cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Give and get support around quitting

"They Paved Paradise And Put Up A Parking Lot"

      I received a very disheartening message last night from someone who has been here awhile.

               What it said was they were considering leaving the site.

Why? The moderation and censorship that has been put in place.

I'd like to discuss when and why these restrictions came into play.

The moderation came into play after 2 days of uncontrolled spamming.

Why was it uncontrolled? BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ONE HERE TO TAKE CARE OF IT.

The profanity filter came into play after profane personal attacks were made on members that sat for two days, unmoderated.

And, why was it uncontrolled? BECAUSE NO ONE WAS HERE TO TAKE CARE OF IT.

I realize they had a bunch of people working long and hard to prevent these problems from continuing but look at the resultI

IS THIS SITE GOING TO HAVE A FULL TIME MODERATOR, 24/7 or even 12/7  (by moderator, I mean someone who can get to the site to fix a problem) OR ARE THEY JUST GOING TO CONTINUE CLAMPING DOWN ON OUR FREEDOMS BECAUSE IT'S EASIER FOR THEM, Institutionalizing people's original ideas, moving posts, etc?

If you're trying to help someone and your comment is unseen because it is in moderation because of some algorithm/filter , you've helped no one.

I myself am not leaving yet, just asking.

35 Replies
YoungAtHeart
Member

The old site functioned with the moderator receiving a text when content was reported....they didn't have to BE here 24/7.  They could fix the problem from their phone.  And - if this were the case, personal attacks could be dealt with on the spot.  If they are available, we would not need to come to anyone's defense, and the filters would not need to impact EVERYBODY ALL THE TIME.  Someone working on the bonfire, was moderated until their comments, when finally showing, made no sense. Frustrating?  Oh, yeah!   I guess they were  posting often and that was a parameter of the moderation.

We can monitor ourselves quite well with support and don't need the HEAVY HAND that has been imposed on us.

Nancy

CommunityAdmin
Community Manager
Community Manager

YoungAtHeart wrote:

The old site functioned with the moderator receiving a text when content was reported....they didn't have to BE here 24/7.  They could fix the problem from their phone. 

There wasn't any text function with the old system. There wasn't an email either. The moderator/admin had to log on to check to see if there was spam or things reported as abuse. Most of the time that things were reported it was in the comments and not in the original post so it was really hard to find out which comment the person was talking about. Sometimes it was not on the first page. You'd have to read pages and pages of comments before finding the offending post. We've come leaps and bounds since then. If three people reported the same post as abuse the person was banned. That was not ideal. Furthermore, the only option was to remove or accept the post and it was extremely cumbersome to do from a phone. If the issue was in the comments, depending on where it was in the comments, there wasn't an option to edit so the only  option was to delete in some cases. Not ideal either.

YoungAtHeart wrote:

And - if this were the case, personal attacks could be dealt with on the spot.  If they are available, we would not need to come to anyone's defense, and the filters would not need to impact EVERYBODY ALL THE TIME. 

If personal attacks happen outside normal business hours it wouldn't necessarily be moderated right away.  Again, personal attacks happen rarely. As I mentioned, I check the sites several times a day on the weekends and in evenings after work is done.  If there are personal attacks, don't respond. Just report the person as abuse and I'll take care of it. If you don't react, they have nothing to respond to. I have no problem protecting people in unprovoked attacks but it becomes more challenging when personal attacks are being thrown back and forth.  I will act impartially.

The spam filters do not affect everyone. It is actually an extremely small subset of people and it's occurring because Jive needs to determine why  some members posts are falsely being labeled as spam. We're going to work with them to get it resolved.

YoungAtHeart wrote:

Someone working on the bonfire, was moderated until their comments, when finally showing, made no sense. Frustrating?  Oh, yeah!   I guess they were  posting often and that was a parameter of the moderation.

As mentioned  above, there are some  posts that  are getting mistakenly labeled as spam. Once the filter is improved this shouldn't happen often. I agree it is frustrating.  There are many things that are factored into why something is flagged as suspected spam.  Frequency of posting  may or may not factor into some of the scenarios.

YoungAtHeart wrote:

We can monitor ourselves quite well with support and don't need the HEAVY HAND that has been imposed on us.

Nancy

I take a light approach on this community compared to previous communities I have managed.

Mark
EX Community  Manager

EX Community Admin Team
0 Kudos

I used to email Cass and it went directly to her phone. she was able to fix the problem normally within 10 minutes or less no matter where she was. Sometimes it was early in the morning like 6am eastern, 3am my time. It was so seldom, I don't think it bothered her. She was like the hero who cared and made sure things happened. Before her, spam could sit for a day or two after it was reported.

0 Kudos
CommunityAdmin
Community Manager
Community Manager

jonescarp.aka.dale.Jan_2007 wrote:

I used to email Cass and it went directly to her phone. she was able to fix the problem normally within 10 minutes or less no matter where she was. Sometimes it was early in the morning like 6am eastern, 3am my time. It was so seldom, I don't think it bothered her. She was like the hero who cared and made sure things happened. Before her, spam could sit for a day or two after it was reported.

Cas is still around but works with a different team currently.  It's been awhile since she managed the site. She sounds like a super hero though.  

I assume Cas had you email her because there wasn't a notification system to alert her that there was something to take care of.  I get those alerts now in the form of an email. Reporting as Abuse is a  official way to document such things instead of email as well. 3am your time is 5 am my time.  I'm not usually awake then  but many mornings by the school year I am awake by 3:30am Pacific.  

Most managers of online communities don't make themselves that accessible but I understand why she did under the limitations of the platform and how things were configured with Elgg.  We have a better notification system with Jive now. Comparatively to other Community Managers I make myself more accessible.  You can email communityadmin@becomeanex.org, which comes to my phone but the official way would be to report abuse.

Mark
EX Community Manager

EX Community Admin Team
0 Kudos

Yes, Cass had my email and I would send an email to her becomeanex email.

0 Kudos

per my pm it was a legacyforhealth email address

0 Kudos
MarilynH
Member

Thanks Dale and I'm wondering the same things! 

0 Kudos
elvan
Member

I received the same message, I believe.  I don't want anyone to leave, every person here has offered so much to every OTHER person, I am saddened to think that profanity filters are going to drive people away.  This person said "we are not children" and that's true, we are also not a bunch of vulgar people who feel a need to use profanity in our every expression.  I think it is terribly sad.  I spent a good deal of time with that person texting last night but I was exhausted and in terrible shape so I am not sure I offered anything that helped. I will email you later, Dale.

0 Kudos

So I found out Ellen and I were not talking about the same person but both of these people are mainstays of this community.

It may just come down to elders or filters and which helps the most.

I'd like to meet the filter that ever helped anyone quit smoking.