Suggestions for Moderators

[javaJake]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

I've resorted to using a [ list ] to make things clearer. I hope that doesn't make it more confusing.

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=454&start=10

  This was locked (not sure if I did it, just remember I agreed) because the OP requested it...
  

  can i ask to have this removed as it anoys some people that i have double posted
  on gpx32 as well as here

  ...and because there were already threads on that subject:
  

  Over on GP32X there is a lengthy discussion on XBMC, so you might find some of that interesting. There are quite a few good threads there (and some dross too..)

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=441&start=30

  Moderator explained his actions, and even suggested feedback if anyone felt locking was unnecessary:
  

  I think that there have been plenty good answers to the OP's question, so I'm going to lock it now before it gets really Off-topic. If he feels that this is inadequate, he can PM me to reopen the topic.

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=400

  This is the same link/topic to the first link you gave.
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3&start=170

  This is really subjective. The topic was closed because everyone was repeating themselves, nothing was getting done, and the mood was generally tense (again, subjective). Perhaps this one could've been done without, but at the same time no harm was done since other threads with the exact same topic existed.
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=539

  I think I gave adequate reasons when I locked the topic. It was very much a duplicate thread:
  

  I feel your frustration, but you asked this twice already...
  viewtopic.php?p=6560#p6560
  viewtopic.php?p=6562#p6562
  ...and you were told how to solve your problem:
  viewtopic.php?p=6593#p6593
  viewtopic.php?p=6586#p6586
  viewtopic.php?p=6607#p6607

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=462&start=10

  Yea, that lock was unnecessary. I didn't make it a big deal, but this didn't need to happen, necessarily.
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=315&start=10 (i love how the thread they link to for us to continue our discussion was later closed by the same person)

  The thread you're linking is a duplicate topic made three days after the first topic was written. The second thread was closed because it was reducing to mere banter. Whether or not this is a good reason is something I can't say with authority.
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=521

  Duplicate thread. Valid close.
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=334&start=10

  The original thread was whether or not the Pandora could open 360 degrees. The topic then switched to whether or not the Pandora could be modded that way. At this point there's two topics: modding, and opening to 360 degrees. The moderator here decided that it was better to discuss any modding in the general "modding" thread. Subjective, no?
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=334&start=10

  Oops, this is the same as the link above.
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=413

  Duplicate thread. Perfectly valid lock.
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=414&start=20

  The topic was more of the same old "can we have this", which, if that's all it was, wouldn't have been locked, but on top of that it spiraled into randomness.
  

• http://forum.openpandora.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=520&start=20

  This thread was requesting the photos, and the photos were posted. The pictures were then being discussed in the News thread. This was a good lock.
  

• not to mention all the ones that have been pointlessly moved or anything else.
  funny that about half the time its the mods going off topic.

  Yes, that is one thing. Kyosys, myself, and SteveM are people I can think of off the top of my head, where I saw the posts made by these people later and thought "ouch, tad off". It's never been bad enough, though, or else I would have brought it up in the appropriate forum, or even used the report button.
  
  About the moved threads: those were moved to the right places. I've got no argument against those.
  
  
• Overall, there was only one or two bad locks, mostly good ones, and a few others were subjective and on fairly harmless threads. The moderators (including myself) might need to focus a bit more on following the rules so as to create a positive image of OpenPandora and the staff here, but it really isn't that bad... yet.

 

[Kyosys]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

I actually noticed that off-topic thing myself too later on, I've been trying to stop doing that recently

 

[amnesiasoft]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

Many of them were closed because there is another thread about it, and it doesn't make sense to have two.

Perhaps just merge the threads instead of locking them? Then duplicates are removed, and we don't have people complaining about too many locked threads

 

[TaG]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

Many of them were closed because there is another thread about it, and it doesn't make sense to have two.

Perhaps just merge the threads instead of locking them? Then duplicates are removed, and we don't have people complaining about too many locked threads

Merging threads is a mixed blessing: sometimes it just 'doesn't look right', and posters in both threads can feel aggrieved.

A few other, random, thoughts:

• Sometimes I think mods should tell people to get back on topic before closing them, although some themes seem to always degenerate which is why mods lock them on sight;
• Mods need to set the standards that are expected in terms of quality of posts, otherwise criticism of others becomes hypocritical;
• Both forums are about devices that started life as gaming machines, a topic which didn't ought to be taken so seriously that all the fun is removed;
• This thread, When this forum will be merged to GP32X? was legitimately closed I believe, but the title was a little clearer than the original Delete this Forum...All of it, so it might have been better had that title been edited.

Moderation on this board is not bad, maybe it has been a little inconsistent but with 20+ new mods that is to be expected. Set your stall out as to what the standards are and stick to them. Happy moderating!

 

[cosam]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

Merging threads is a mixed blessing: sometimes it just 'doesn't look right', and posters in both threads can feel aggrieved.

Indeed - it's often very difficult to make anything coherent out of two different threads, even if they are on the same topic. To keep disruption to a minimum, it's often better to close one thread and link to the other, especially if the former is a new or very short thread.

[*]Mods need to set the standards that are expected in terms of quality of posts, otherwise criticism of others becomes hypocritical;
[*]Both forums are about devices that started life as gaming machines, a topic which didn't ought to be taken so seriously that all the fun is removed;

Two equally good points and IMHO the two very things that should be in the back (or maybe even front) of every moderator's mind. There's a big difference between a lighthearted, marginally off-topic comment and a full-blown derogatory rant. The challenge is trying to moderate posts which fall into the big grey area in the middle ;-)

Moderation on this board is not bad, maybe it has been a little inconsistent but with 20+ new mods that is to be expected. Set your stall out as to what the standards are and stick to them. Happy moderating!

You hit the nail on the head there, too. I think that because this was always supposedly going to be a temporary solution, little attention was paid to setting up things like standards or rules. Without this, we have pretty much been winging it based on past experience, which in some cases may not exactly be extensive. Rest assured that it is being worked on.

 

[Kyosys]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

Time is a factor too. We haven't had this board for very long, eventually, things will work themselves out.

 

[PoisonedV]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

1. alright
2. the topic was done, no need to lock it. if you lock these topics you get even more new topics asking the same things. also, everyone knows moderators dont listen to the members
3. no it isnt
4. the other threads that were closed. and new ones were made, later on, saying the exact same thing. shows that locking is actualyl clogging up the forums MORE
5. the guy asked everyone forever without getting a response. you are the moderating team, make sure craig is aware, and he wouldnt be making these topics. he didnt go noticed before, so he will keep making more.
6.
7. fair enough. but the topic they told us to move the discussion to was still closed.
8. it was on another forum, and how does that warrant a close, because its a duplicate? natural selection happens in forums. trust me, people wont keep on posting if theres no need to. in an inoffensive thread like that, with no arguments or anything going, no one would post again unless they had a valid reason
9. why does all mod discussion need to be taking place in one thread? again, theres that whole 'threads will die out on their own' thing
10. my bad
11. it came before. why not lock the other thread and direct them to that, hm?
12. reasonable, but i dont think more replies would have followed

i dont think locking is harmful in most occasions so much as pointless and annoying. even though i dont like it much, it would be better to move some of the threads

 

[javaJake]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

5. the guy asked everyone forever without getting a response. you are the moderating team, make sure craig is aware, and he wouldnt be making these topics. he didnt go noticed before, so he will keep making more.

We're here to moderate a forum. Making sure Craig knows what's going on in his official forums is up to him. If the user has a specific complaint or question that they'd like Craig to pay attention to, they should e-mail him instead of posting here.

7. fair enough. but the topic they told us to move the discussion to was still closed.

The topic that everyone was referred to was closed a week after the duplicate thread was closed. There's no way we moderators can check back-links like that.

8. it was on another forum, and how does that warrant a close, because its a duplicate?

I think you answered this one. Just because it's on another forum doesn't mean it's not a duplicate. It's easier for everyone if there's only one topic about it in either forum, and that's the same logic used to close any duplicate threads created on the same forum.

9. why does all mod discussion need to be taking place in one thread? again, theres that whole 'threads will die out on their own' thing

12. reasonable, but i dont think more replies would have followed

Better safe than sorry. By closing it we make sure that the discussion doesn't ramble on, instead of hoping.

11. it came before. why not lock the other thread and direct them to that, hm?

The other thread was getting more attention and had more posts, and so it probably could have been merged. I agree that there was a slip-up on the moderator's part, but no real harm was done.


A lot of this will be resolved when a solid set of rules, which we're working on, is published.

 

[Tom`]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=462&start=10

Yea, that lock was unnecessary. I didn't make it a big deal, but this didn't need to happen, necessarily.

Well...I would have locked that if I had gotten to it first. Were you around for the Anna Hong thread on gp32X? It was pretty bad.

 

[PoisonedV]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=462&start=10

Yea, that lock was unnecessary. I didn't make it a big deal, but this didn't need to happen, necessarily.

Well...I would have locked that if I had gotten to it first. Were you around for the Anna Hong thread on gp32X? It was pretty bad.

that wasn't about her being a female, that was about her being some kind of miracle worker.
furthermore, I used 'teat' in referring to the pandora girl revised edition, and got banned
awesome

 

[.Gogeta§§J4BR.]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

ok, so it looks my complains weren't so absurd...
now that both of the sides (users/mods) know what to do, I guess there's nothing else to discuss.
topic locked.
( )

 

[javaJake]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

Well...I would have locked that if I had gotten to it first. Were you around for the Anna Hong thread on gp32X? It was pretty bad.

No, I wasn't around, and thank goodness for that.

now that both of the sides (users/mods) know what to do, I guess there's nothing else to discuss.
topic locked.
( )

I would agree, except locking would be a tad extreme.

To PoisonedV, so far you haven't brought up a valid point on which we should reconsider our actions (except for us being model forum users). I think you know why you got banned because we told you what you were doing wrong, so that's the end of that.

I'm going to let this thread sit around in case anyone else has something constructive and helpful to say.

 

[TaG]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

Why not change the thread title, if roberto.cr doesn't mind, to something like "Suggestions for Moderators" if you are going to leave it around for constructive criticism / constructive comments.

(You can always put the original title in the first post.)

 

[PoisonedV]

Re: suggestion for this board: not locking every f**king topic

To PoisonedV, so far you haven't brought up a valid point on which we should reconsider our actions

ive brought up several.

 

[Kyosys]

No. All you have been doing is nag about absolutely everything and everyone

 

[PoisonedV]

what i got banned for wasn't a flame.
i know I flame, all the time. would it kill you to take a little effort looking through half a page of my posts and ban me for something i did do?

 

[javaJake]

what i got banned for wasn't a flame.
i know I flame, all the time. would it kill you to take a little effort looking through half a page of my posts and ban me for something i did do?

We do. Thus, the banning. (Edit: just so I'm more clear, flaming isn't allowed, and you were banned last time for continuing an argument that was flaming, and one that I even had requested come to an end.)

Since this thread has served its purpose, no one has come up with anything more to say, and the new rules are explicitly against this sort of topic, I'm going to lock it.

Please bring any more suggestions to the appropriate moderator.