I want to say this plainly. This is our blog, but I run it. I started it. I have the keys to the Caddy, and like Wicked Walter, I'll drive the fucker into a pond whenever I want to. But that's not yet.
For folks who are new here, we try to adhere to the rules of misery. But above all, the golden rule for being a community member is this: Don't attack other CM community members.
Don't you know? It's a clubhouse! Sure, we all have sex with each other (Ben's in charge of scheduling), we all share the same 2 hookahs that Compound Cal brought us from his desert compound, and we all think exactly the same thing!
Nobody here gives a shit when a minor disagreement flares up. Have you fucking read the page?!?!? But sheer trolling or attacking is just not going to be tolerated.
Many folks have called me on being a big "soft" on trolls, and I admit it. When I talked to Cal after he closed up RYS, he said, "Are you sure you have thick enough skin for this?" I said I did, but I didn't. I hated the conflict and tried to avoid it. But I've been schooled by a variety of folks.
Play nice, okay? There are too many readers who enjoy the page who do not enjoy the bullshit. It will not be tolerated anymore. I apologize to longtime members who feel I've not done enough to keep the noise down. There are limitations to blocking and banning folks. Wordpress doesn't offer anything much better either, so that move would not help this particular problem.
The one failsafe is I could moderate comments before they go online. It would delay your comment from appearing, especially if I'm in, like, the bathroom when you post it! But then the noise would just be seen by me....OH JOY! It's an option.
Fuck, I'm missing the golf on TV.
Anyway, I'm not the Real Goddamned Moderator for nothing.
In fact, weigh in below with your thoughts about comment moderation. It would mean your comment would not appear instantly. I'd have to approve it. I am around the computer on and off most days, so there'd never be a huge lag. And I would turn moderation off when we weren't troll-heavy.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do not want to have happen is for longstanding community members to bolt because the place is a mess.
Can you make it so that those with posting rights do not have to be moderated? That would cut down on your approval rating, since we also tend to be the more comment-heavy folks.
Delete@AM: I cannot do that.
DeleteOh my poor Fabio! This is why RYS was comment free. Lots of posts on RYS were replies to other posts, but they came through the moderators. The 2 times we tried comments we got into the exact same thing you're experiencing now.
ReplyDeleteI vote for moderation. There is a time lag; it can't be helped. But you could be assured to never have to see a troll again.
+10.
DeleteAnytime anyone is allowed to comment, things get fucked. The level of education and/or politeness of the audience is no matter. I bet if CERN had some kind of web board that was only for quantum physicists and published only stuff that was of interest to quantum physicists you would get quantum physicist trolls coming in and declaring everything bullshit and advocating a return to Lucretian optics or whatnot.
Wait, shit, they do have an open-comment blog: http://www.quantumdiaries.org/author/cern/. I'm going to go there and post a bunch of stuff about how heat is a liquid.
I guess my vote is that moderation is fine so long as it won't make the moderators go batty with additional drains on their time.
As a longterm practice, I think comment moderation would be a mistake, since it would interrupt the flow of the conversation (and also require a lot of the moderator's time). But I'd be up for a short-term experiment with quarantine if/when there's an infection abroad, and that seems to be the case at the moment.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Any chance that the current outbreak is related to CM's debut on twitter? I'm all for expanding the conversation to more participants, but I suspect that more readers/participants may also = more trolls.
Cassandra. Those are my feelings exactly on moderation. Still it's available.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the Twitter feed has brought a few new folks, but the worst of the trolls, of course, were here before that.
So, in other words, honest_prof is on spring vacation, off his meds again, and/or recently released from observation. Fair enough.
DeleteOMG, you've insulted a valued community member. You get no weed or tequila for 6 hours. Dammit, you people will not learn the value of my powerful moderation without consequences. Ben, take Cassandra off the orgy list as well. Nobody fucks with the RGM.
DeleteOh, no!! Not that!! Now you've ruined my plans for spring break! I guess I'll just have to fall back on Plan B, and grade papers.
DeleteP.S. Hope the typhus is better.
Oh, and moderation can be on when I'm near a computer, and off when I'm in class, making loud noises in Hiram's faculty bathroom, or playing golf.
ReplyDeleteIt'd cut down on trolls slipping through, but usually comments would appear right away.
Maybe some delayed gratification would be good for us, what with the way solar flares seem destined to shut down all communication on earth.
RFM - Wordpress has a comment mod feature that lets you hold a user's first comment until approved, and then automatically allows future comments from the same user. Maybe there's a similar compromise setting on blogspot (not familiar with it). It's not troll-proof, but it might help.
DeleteThanks for the tip. Currently our blog is too big to move to Wordpress, but I will continue to investigate. Thanks!
DeleteApplause!
ReplyDeleteI do not vote for moderator-in-the-loop commenting. Primarily because it is not my place to vote so much work on a volunteer. Secondarily because I don't think it is the appropriate response to trolls. I think we'd lose permanent trolls if we ignored them well.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if RGM wishes to actively moderate his Blog, then I will certainly continue to come around, and it will probably be a nicer, quieter place to be.
RGM, you would also have to deal with commenters following up their submitted comments with, "Why haven't you posted my comment yet? What's wrong with it? Why don't you like me? Nobody likes me!"
ReplyDeleteOnce this whole internet fad begins to die down, we won't have to deal with this as much.
Sorry for the extra work and headaches RGM but I do find this entertaining.
Ben, you sadistic bugger you. Anything to entertain you!!
DeleteI kinda hafta agree with Ben--the flame wars are part of the flava I've come to enjoy--though mostly only peripherally, as I have managed to miss all the apparently most "fun" ones from the very start.
DeleteBut, seriously, I'm down with whatever youse feel appropriate. I'm not yet ready to lose this site forever, so do whatever you need to do to keep your own sanity in an effort to preserve this place that helps so many of us preserve ours.
Hi, Froad. I was wondering when you'd start using an actual Lobel graphic.
ReplyDelete