From my perspective only (I don't speak for the others), derailing is the least dangerous beast in forums. The issues which I prioritize are, as you pointed out, racism, sexism, objectification, harassment, stalking/posting other peoples info, and other blatant offenses. Those are the harmful ones. The trickiest part of being a moderator (bearing in mind I am coming up on the two year mark across games), is moderating moderation. If you slam people down for the little things, people feel they are in some sort of police state and don't post. This is why we tend to take action more decisively on blatant offenses such as racism. I agree that the mob mentality is an issue. It does happen a lot in forums and it does concern me. But I can't force people to be nice to each other. I am also not so sure that the most effective and long-term way to combat this is by bringing down the ban-hammer, but instead by attempting to foster a more positive atmosphere in general. That being said, if there is one person who makes a habit of derailing it to threads in a way in which I can collect evidence for, then it would be possible to discuss an action plan with support (such as issuing a formal warning via KaW pm). When that warning is ignored, then more punitive measures can be taken.
Fair enough. I can appreciate the challenge of trying to strike a challenging balance. I think its hard trying to strike that balance when you have to face a community who can have real consequences on mods, and I think that puts the community at a disadvantage because that introduces additional bias. Sticking up for unpopular people is hard. And setting aside your bias I'm sure is also hard. I think there are some key players who are well-known offenders, but who may have relationships with key players and may be getting away with more than others. I'm glad we were able to have this discussion, and I hope the kawmmunity has gleaned benefit from it and hopefully challenged their way of thinking, or at least considered the opinions of others. Thanks to all the readers and contributors.
Well yeah, that may well be the case. I would love to see more VK to reward those who champion a healthy atmosphere. I hold the somewhat unpopular opinion that we are all bias. From my perspective, life/Internet/moderating is all subjective because we are interpreting what we see. So we are all bias because we are part of the cognitive process. Disclaiming bias (rather than maintaining we are objective robot beings) is more honest, I think. Knowing our limits should yield a fairer outcome. (By passing those cases to support) Anyway... At the end of the day, the Internet is beautiful chaos. We can't really control anyone, just limit posting time really.
Much respect to Daphnia's post and perspective. And thank you mods for the warnings lately, thus allowing me a chance to comply rather than retaliate, and at same time allowing discussion to develop. Much respects to Chaos also, who pmd me with a warning and advice well taken Tron is still mod hater️
I'm impressed that you're self aware enough to realise the fact that all human thought is inherently biased - not because we wanna play favorites but because we all process information through the lens of our life experience. I'm also impressed that you took it a step further by pointing out the fact that bias can be seen as a desirable trait because its part of what makes us human, rather than emotionless robots - or sociopaths. I think that for most situations, erring on the side of restraint probably leads to better outcomes overall
Can I translate this as "sometimes is too much work so its much easier to punish the victim"? If its too much work then get a fellow moderator to help you to clean a thread. Are get more. There's so many of you. Most of them useless.
And sorry Daphnia, but is not about when you chose to ignore and when you chose to take actions. Or shouldn't be like that. As a moderator your job is simple "enforce ToU". That's it. And ToU is not about dangerous offences, less dangerous offences or harmless offences. Offences are offences. Is that simple. And if a mass ban is needed then so be it. Even if might makes you unpopular. But you offered as a volunteer for this job. And anyway a mass ban won't make you unpopular. Contrary might make you more popular than ever (see Yarmes and Benny).
Moderating isn't a popularity contest Moderators are the police of KaW. They decide who to punish and how. They take it upon themselves to deal with infractions of the ToU, not you. Wether it be warning or silence, they have the final say.
Agree....especially when the same people continually attempt to derail and troll to be offensive.. I don't mind the humor by some to lighten the tension, but the obvious offenders should be banned from forums imo