Do you Favor Increasing the Topical Content of Threads? (Read OP 1st)

[theDoctorisIn]

Keep this conversation on the topic of the poll. It's NOT a gripefest about moderation or your opposing political team. The reason for this poll is to get membership feedback on a possible means to reduce the troll population. Let's be frank. BOTH sides are bitching about out of control trolls. That's a fact. Frustration levels are high.. That's NOT a USMB Moderation fault. It's the way the 2 tribes have polarized this country that is the problem.

All Zone2 and 3 rules are focused on TOPIC CONTROL. If you respect the topic -----

1) You'll hardly ever hear from moderation.
2) You're not trolling.

So if you want to REDUCE the troll population, folks need to up their up their "topical discussion" game. Currently, too many only use token references to the specific topic before they haul off and WHACK someone personally or go off onto a thread diverting rant. We could easily just change the requirement to be MOSTLY topical discussion.. That would spell doom for all trolls right there.

THINK before you vote. Every one would be focusing more on topical discussion, much less on trolling or personal flaming. So YOU are making a PERSONAL commitment with your vote.

This is NOT been discussed as a Staff Issue. There are NO PLANS to change the way we judge posts and content. So it's my neck hanging out asking the question...

Well, the giant elephant in the room is what is considered 'content' in the era of fake news and a bunch of parrots constantly babbling idiot 'talking points' from their favorite Pravda site. This may seem weird to Millennials, but Stormy Daniels and sniveling about whatever Democratic Underground directs the spammers to whine about isn't actually 'content', it's just trolling and rubbish, period. Everybody knows it, so why waste time 'debating' the 'merits' of silly rubbish? If that stuff counts, then just post Onion articles or James Comey and Cory Booker speeches all day every day. Those are at least funny.

If you want a site where only conservative views can be discussed, you're in the wrong place. "Content" isn't defined as only things you agree with.

 

[flacaltenn]

I used to come here because at one time the Current Events and couple of the other forums were among the best on the net for keeping up with breaking stories and good editorials; that hasn't been the case for the last two years now, and now that we're supposed to pretend 'pedophiles have feelings too!' and make a 'safe space' for them, I don't really care what the site does, it's going to lose genuine posters and become just another sounding board for sociopaths and deviants like most of the others have, censored and PC Friendly, and one might as well just read the NYT's political puke.

USMB rules and moderation hasn't changed in about 8 years.. But the NATION has. And in case you haven't noticed ---- EVERYTHING America is being split politically. With current USMB Staff and Admin, we WON'T CHANGE our dedication to not censoring opinions and speech and content. (with few exception listed in the rules). The decline of open conversation will just have to roll over us. Because we're NOT gonna make one or both or MANY sides "COMFORTABLE" with the content..

So if you can't TOLERATE views, news, and opinion that rattle your convictions --- we don't offer safe places other than the Lounge/Coffee shop and MOST OF TIME ---- Gardening.

That Gardening reference is an inside joke amongst the Flame Zone crew..

 

[BlackSand]

...
I think it's time to either close this experiment or get back to the question of whether the MEMBERS would prefer to discourage trolling by having us raise the standard we use for post TOPICAL CONTENT. That's the TOPIC of this thread. Not general mod whipping..

I have seen some of the regular trolls here write 500 word essays in an OP.

The amount of content in the OP may help reduce lazy trolls ...
Or it may just encourage more wasted bandwidth ... When they can say the same stupid shit in less words.

.

 

[asaratis]

The rules in CDZ say trolling is not allowed. Can you not recognize troll bait when you review posts for the violations you listed?

Do you report them? I can’t recall seeing many reports from you.

You claim to be looking out for a list of transgressions.

I have reported before. Perhaps you weren't on duty.

In the past 3 years, you have made a grand total of 6 reports, all of which were handled by staff.

None of those involved posts in the Clean Debate Zone.

According to the CDZ rules, watching for trolling is on the list of moderator duties.

We can't review ALL the content daily. Not possible. Stuff happens in the Gardening forum for Pete's sake.

About 30% of the reports are passed as "no action" on THAT POST. Because the reporter is not taking into account what ZONE the post is in --- or --- because it's an opinion (often partisan) about a thread being a "conspiracy or fight thread".. So some folks get the impression we are NOT acting on reports.

But from from the context of the quotes that appear AROUND the reported post -- about 1/2 of that 30% "no action" reports POINT to other problems in that thread and ARE acted on.. And it's neccesary to POINT us to the trouble to evaluate. Might not be the EXACT post that was reported, but it helped.

We do CRUISE on our own. But it's a SAMPLING of various forums and "active topics"..

I think it's time to either close this experiment or get back to the question of whether the MEMBERS would prefer to discourage trolling by having us raise the standard we use for post TOPICAL CONTENT. That's the TOPIC of this thread. Not general mod whipping..

I doubt that the Gardening forum needs heavy moderation. The CDZ forum is supposedly "heavily moderated".

 

[asaratis]

The rules in CDZ say trolling is not allowed. Can you not recognize troll bait when you review posts for the violations you listed?

Do you report them? I can’t recall seeing many reports from you.

You claim to be looking out for a list of transgressions.

I have reported before. Perhaps you weren't on duty.

In the past 3 years, you have made a grand total of 6 reports, all of which were handled by staff.

None of those involved posts in the Clean Debate Zone.

According to the CDZ rules, watching for trolling is on the list of moderator duties.

According to common courteousy we rely on your reports to help us. We aren't paid, we are volunteers. If your preference is to whine rather than fix it is your choice.

I did not whine in my initial post. One of my suggestions was misinterpreted as a foot "stamping".

 

[OldLady]

I think you're setting yourself up to make "good the enemy of great" if you're going to try to differentiate between the words of a troll and the words of someone who is legitimately trying to debate. One of the reasons I had the self imposed hiatus was because the memes. That seems to have dissipated so kudos on that. I understand that it is much easier to recognize than trolling. My advice is to just leave it as it is. If you want to go nuclear though; you're going to have some collateral damage. Is it worth alienating people to extinguish the nuisances? I can't answer that. But if you want to go there, I would put in a 3 strikes policy. First a week ban. Then a month ban. IF it keeps up; then the ban. It's the only "currency" that exists in this environment.

Welcome back, Candycorn!

Now see, if this were in Zone 2, I'd get this post deleted, right, if we went to troll free rules? It makes it a little hard to breathe if you go too far with your rules and regulations. Can't you folks tell a troll from a friendly (or even an unfriendly) one time quip? C'mon--our Gun Nutter Extraordinaire deserves a good insult now and then, and an off topic convo never hurt a thread if it is limited and focused. Why must it be a bureaucratic monster of another rule that will be ignored by some mods and enforced like gangbusters by others whose spleen is up? You did a fine job of defining a troll, FCT, so why is it so hard to just pull em by the hair of the head when you see them?

 

[Tilly]

Do you report them? I can’t recall seeing many reports from you.

You claim to be looking out for a list of transgressions.

I have reported before. Perhaps you weren't on duty.

In the past 3 years, you have made a grand total of 6 reports, all of which were handled by staff.

None of those involved posts in the Clean Debate Zone.

According to the CDZ rules, watching for trolling is on the list of moderator duties.

According to common courteousy we rely on your reports to help us. We aren't paid, we are volunteers. If your preference is to whine rather than fix it is your choice.

I did not whine in my initial post. One of my suggestions was misinterpreted as a foot "stamping".

Mods ask a question.
Some posters have the courtesy to try to discuss some of the issues - and then the mods TROLL the respondents
Pointless.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

You claim to be looking out for a list of transgressions.

I have reported before. Perhaps you weren't on duty.

In the past 3 years, you have made a grand total of 6 reports, all of which were handled by staff.

None of those involved posts in the Clean Debate Zone.

According to the CDZ rules, watching for trolling is on the list of moderator duties.

According to common courteousy we rely on your reports to help us. We aren't paid, we are volunteers. If your preference is to whine rather than fix it is your choice.

I did not whine in my initial post. One of my suggestions was misinterpreted as a foot "stamping".

Mods ask a question.
Some posters have the courtesy to try to discuss some of the issues - and then the mods TROLL the respondents
Pointless.

I suggest that you go back and read the question that was asked in this thread. You seem to be a little confused as to what this thread is meant to discuss.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Do you report them? I can’t recall seeing many reports from you.

You claim to be looking out for a list of transgressions.

I have reported before. Perhaps you weren't on duty.

In the past 3 years, you have made a grand total of 6 reports, all of which were handled by staff.

None of those involved posts in the Clean Debate Zone.

According to the CDZ rules, watching for trolling is on the list of moderator duties.

According to common courteousy we rely on your reports to help us. We aren't paid, we are volunteers. If your preference is to whine rather than fix it is your choice.

I did not whine in my initial post. One of my suggestions was misinterpreted as a foot "stamping".

When we respond to your suggestion with a definitive answer, and then you declare that we "can be overruled", that's not just making a polite suggestion. You understand that, right?

 

[Coyote]

Do you report them? I can’t recall seeing many reports from you.

You claim to be looking out for a list of transgressions.

I have reported before. Perhaps you weren't on duty.

In the past 3 years, you have made a grand total of 6 reports, all of which were handled by staff.

None of those involved posts in the Clean Debate Zone.

According to the CDZ rules, watching for trolling is on the list of moderator duties.

According to common courteousy we rely on your reports to help us. We aren't paid, we are volunteers. If your preference is to whine rather than fix it is your choice.

I did not whine in my initial post. One of my suggestions was misinterpreted as a foot "stamping".

That is what ot sounded like

The thing is...when comes to threads in stuff like structured debate...or a proposed invite only section...we mods don’t much mod it. We are only looking out for violations of major site wide rules...porn, pedo, family, data mining. Otherwise we don’t do anything unless someone complains. It isn’t partisan.

The rules in CDZ say trolling is not allowed. Can you not recognize troll bait when you review posts for the violations you listed?

Do you report them? I can’t recall seeing many reports from you.

You claim to be looking out for a list of transgressions.

I have reported before. Perhaps you weren't on duty.

In the past 3 years, you have made a grand total of 6 reports, all of which were handled by staff.

None of those involved posts in the Clean Debate Zone.

Thank you....I did not recall seeing any from him, now I know why.

 

[Tilly]

In the past 3 years, you have made a grand total of 6 reports, all of which were handled by staff.

None of those involved posts in the Clean Debate Zone.

According to the CDZ rules, watching for trolling is on the list of moderator duties.

According to common courteousy we rely on your reports to help us. We aren't paid, we are volunteers. If your preference is to whine rather than fix it is your choice.

I did not whine in my initial post. One of my suggestions was misinterpreted as a foot "stamping".

Mods ask a question.
Some posters have the courtesy to try to discuss some of the issues - and then the mods TROLL the respondents
Pointless.

I suggest that you go back and read the question that was asked in this thread. You seem to be a little confused as to what this thread is meant to discuss.

No I’m not confused. Even if you think people are going off on a tangent there’s no need to TROLL them in a thread that is about the TROLL problem!

 

[theDoctorisIn]

According to the CDZ rules, watching for trolling is on the list of moderator duties.

According to common courteousy we rely on your reports to help us. We aren't paid, we are volunteers. If your preference is to whine rather than fix it is your choice.

I did not whine in my initial post. One of my suggestions was misinterpreted as a foot "stamping".

Mods ask a question.
Some posters have the courtesy to try to discuss some of the issues - and then the mods TROLL the respondents
Pointless.

I suggest that you go back and read the question that was asked in this thread. You seem to be a little confused as to what this thread is meant to discuss.

No I’m not confused. Even if you think people are going off on a tangent there’s no need to TROLL them in a thread that is about the TROLL problem!

No one is being "trolled" in this thread.

 

[Coyote]

Honestly...Sassy, Tilly, and As running around tacking smilies on everything isn't stamping feet? It is pretty childish. What do you expect to accomplish with that?

 

[OldLady]

Trolling is often hard to define because it can be in the eye of the beholder. For us mods determining content level is often easier.

I get the sense that sone folks want safe space, for want of a better term, to discuss things with like minded folks without the usual sideshows.

I have seen other places that have seperate sections for conservative, lib, indie only members. Maybe that is a possible solution.

I'd be bored with that.
It is not really so hard to tell a real troll, is it? They go for the personal rather than the topic at hand, or they smoothly try BUT BUT CLINTON. Or Obama's many documented conspiracies to turn a topic.
I agree with Toobfreak that a mod reminder to get back on topic is often as helpful as aggravating people by taking down their posts. If a mod reminder doesn't work, then have at it.

 

[TheOldSchool]

I hereby volunteer to serve as a mod to enforce topical posting

 

[asaratis]

Trolling is often hard to define because it can be in the eye of the beholder. For us mods determining content level is often easier.

I get the sense that sone folks want safe space, for want of a better term, to discuss things with like minded folks without the usual sideshows.

I have seen other places that have seperate sections for conservative, lib, indie only members. Maybe that is a possible solution.

I'd be bored with that.
It is not really so hard to tell a real troll, is it? They go for the personal rather than the topic at hand, or they smoothly try BUT BUT CLINTON. Or Obama's many documented conspiracies to turn a topic.
I agree with Toobfreak that a mod reminder to get back on topic is often as helpful as aggravating people by taking down their posts. If a mod reminder doesn't work, then have at it.

Yes. Post #127 above is spot on.

 

[Pumpkin Row]

According to common courteousy we rely on your reports to help us. We aren't paid, we are volunteers. If your preference is to whine rather than fix it is your choice.

I did not whine in my initial post. One of my suggestions was misinterpreted as a foot "stamping".

Mods ask a question.
Some posters have the courtesy to try to discuss some of the issues - and then the mods TROLL the respondents
Pointless.

I suggest that you go back and read the question that was asked in this thread. You seem to be a little confused as to what this thread is meant to discuss.

No I’m not confused. Even if you think people are going off on a tangent there’s no need to TROLL them in a thread that is about the TROLL problem!

No one is being "trolled" in this thread.

Maybe you're not, though from the snotty way you reply to the member's concerns, it's easy to see how people can come to that conclusion.

Your replies have all amounted to some level of mocking, statements that nothing will change, and claims that others are off-topic.

Screenshot
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Screenshot

Looking over your posts, I'm starting to wonder if the staff sent you into the thread to get a rise out of the more easily bothered members, so the thread would have a reason to be closed.

Of course, to come to that conclusion, I'd have to completely ignore that this is how you always act.

 

[DrLove]

This appears to be a suggestion box, so here's mine:

Move anything involving Birtherism, racism, sexism, Islamophobia and conspiracy crap from Infowars immediately out of Current Events and Politics.

That would often signal normal folks not to participate in what most often ends up being an immediate and unproductive yell-fest.

 

[Coyote]

A few years ago we had pitchfork rebellion by the left which resulted in an exodus of some members because we wouldnt change the board in the direction they wanted. Now are having the same demands from the right. In both cases they complained about trolling (but only from the other side) and unfair modetation (but only from the other side). Dejas vous.

USMB is not a partisan echo chamber. That is not it's intent.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

Honestly...Sassy, Tilly, and As running around tacking smilies on everything isn't stamping feet? It is pretty childish. What do you expect to accomplish with that?

My post in this thread....number 31. Is that you? Sit down please

Funny x 2
bodecea Coyote

Thank You! x 1
jon_berzerk

Winner x 1
miketx