Thursday, February 18, 2016

A Request...

Would you mind moderating the page a bit? There is such lunacy going on. The posts are weak and poorly written and there are way too many anonymous commenters. It's not useful. I know you want to be hands-off, but this is too much.






37 comments:

  1. You have to decide for yourself how you want to run the page. It appears the people who started it have completely abandoned it, so it falls to you. Nobody is making you do it in the first place. This passive aggressive post is only here to make us feel guilty. Pass.

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    Replies
    1. I could have done a better job asking readers if they had any suggestions about improving the page.

      Delete
    2. I don't know--it seems like a lot of people like the page as is. The hands-on modding seems to have burned people out, and resulted in the page closing several times. Is running it this way less stressful? (Hopefully!)

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    3. It’s my fault, and I apologize.
      Let me explain:
      Every time I think to myself “Hey, this new version of CM is going well”, something bad happens to it.
      It’s a bit like thinking “This committee meeting is so smooth today. We’ll be out of here in no time.” And we all know how that ends up. I have killed this blog so many times, merely by thinking something nice.
      For the record, I think Crystal is doing just fine, and the relatively hands off approach is all good. I’ve always preferred the interaction in the comments to the highly polished posts in RYS.
      Asking for suggestions doesn’t seem to work. Real Goddamned Mail just amazes me with its intensity.

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    4. I am Spartacus.

      You see, I've been working on something to post. After I finally got it going, it grew and grew -- much bigger than I'd imagined it when it was still all in my head. But now the end is in sight: one paragraph more. That means that while I'm proofreading it before I send it in, it's time for this place will go bonkers and shut down. Every fucking time.

      My suggestion to improve the blog would be only that I get off my ass and send stuff in sooner. As far as what can the blog do for me? It owes me nothing. I think it should just be what it is and become what it will be.

      Delete
    5. For as often as it has closed down, 2 or 3 times in 5 1/2 years, it sure has also been online a lot, too. Ten years between it and Cal's blog? If Kimmie hadn't gotten the typical treatment women get on her blog I never would have gotten to run this one again!

      Delete
  2. Well, now, this brings up some interesting things. As it is, we seem to be getting a post or two per day. Will drowning some of the weaker posts, putting a Glock to their heads as it were, result in a similar or higher number of posts per day?

    I'm part of the problem. I have some contributions in various stages of completion, but nevertheless I have not actually sent one in in quite some time. This is not the moderator's fault.

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    Replies
    1. Is this FROM the moderator or is the moderator posting something someone emailed to them?

      #confused #blessed

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    2. The post above was in the page's queue this morning when I checked it. It was unsigned. It seemed directed to me, but concerning the page more generally. I went ahead and posted it in case there was any useful feedback.

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    3. Oh, in that case I think you're doing a fine job. And I say that as someone who now has an anonymous person following me page to page and replying negatively to me.

      Hands off mod-ing gives this page its unique culture imo. Professors live in a world of rules day in and day out. I always figured this was kind of like a water cooler for them. That being said, I'm not a professor and have no idea what they want. Even when I posted before I was never very active in the comments section so I'm really not used to the "hands on" modding.

      Basically, I think there are places where hands on is definitely required. I HOPE this isn't one of them. Right now you're providing a service to us by running this page. And you're bringing a lot of utility to people that would otherwise not be available to them. So I'm going to go ahead and say:

      1: You can't please everyone.

      2: Your readers and writers are your friends and would approach you if there was an issue. They've done that when they've had problems before, haven't they?

      3: If they wrote it to you anonymously, unsigned what kind of stake do they have in what they told you? What kind of stake do they have in the page?

      4: Being a moderator of any kind on the internet is a challenge. I know from experience.


      I really wouldn't worry much about it.

      Delete
    4. "I'm not a professor and have no idea what they want"

      1. Good things to drink
      2. Good students*

      * not necessarily in that order, and probably not at the same time.

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    5. You need SOMETHING to wash down those students.

      Delete
  3. Lunacy! Did you hear? LUNACY!!!

    But seriously, you're doing a fine job. The hands-off approach is working. When we had a hands-on approach, moderators were constantly burning out and the page kept dying. Neither of those seem to be happening now, and we seem to be generating a good stream of posts.

    If people want to complain about not having better posts, they should write better posts! I can't really say too much here, since I haven't contributed too much, but at the very least I refrain from complaining. I appreciate the work that goes into this site, and I'm glad that it continues to exist in whatever form it does.

    As far as the anonymous commenters go, I think that having that option does open the doors to more unwarranted flaming/trolling (because hiding behind "Anonymous" is somehow easier than hiding behind a pseudonym), but at the same time it also opens the doors to more legitimate comments (from people who are too lazy to log into their other Google account to comment. So really, it's a flip of the coin.

    Keep up the good work!

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  4. Seconding Conan - I think you're doing a fine job, and I like the page still being here.

    Grumpy Academic (who can't be bothered to sign out of one id and in as the other one which has this moniker properly attached)

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  5. I'd rather have more posts, even if some aren't super fantastic. Who knows, mine might be the non-super-fantastic ones.

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  6. The quality of the posts is almost irrelevant. The comments are where the action is.

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    Replies
    1. Go fuck yourself. How's that action?

      :)

      PS: Can't the new mod left post some graphics just to fuck with history?

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    2. That's rude. Who the fuck are you? Go fuck yourself!

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    3. Anonymous, there is a close-knit community of long-time characters associated with this page and its predecessors. Cal is one of them, posting in response to Ben, another long-time character. Time to calm down.

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    4. How am I supposed to know that? I only come here to read Conan anyway. The rest of you are pretty dull if you want thevtruth.

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    5. How to find things out: A general guide.

      1) retrospective research.
      2) observation of the current state.

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    6. I have anonymous people who hate me AND love me.

      #blessed

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    7. You TOLD me to check it out.

      Delete
  7. Balls. The page is fine. If you want more high-falutin' stuff, go to the Crampicle.
    However, I do agree that it's annoying that some people can't even be bothered to give themselves a fake name when posting anonymously.

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  8. Replies
    1. PS the alpaca needs to be added to the CM glossary

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    2. PPS lack of an alpaca entry in the CM glossary is just more shade thrown at the alpaca. I had no idea this website was such a bunch of alpaca-phobes.

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    3. Write up the entry! The glossary has been left untended too long.

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    4. alpaca
      1. played second fiddle to the duck as page mascot.
      2. there are those, in isolated holdfasts, who raise a flagon, and in whispered speech curse The Usurper and toast the return of the Drago-...I mean, The Alpaca.

      Delete
  9. I LOVED the apaca's. (In a healthy platonic way of course). I miss them too. (sniff).

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  10. I was having a gander up at the right hand corner of the page when I saw the duck. It gave me goosebumps.

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  11. Grumpy Sergeant here. Yes, I'm too lazy to log in on that account right now. My attitude is, if someone doesn't like a post or comment, just ignore it. I feel like the biggest offender due to my poor writing, but really, the term moderation sounds like some vaguely offical-sounding person come in and scold people. It's one thing to do that in a real fight, but not here; it's words on a page. My time here tells me people here are mostly thoughtful or sometimes just pissed off and snippy, but still, it's a blog where people can blast students and administrators and campus life so I assume the people are a mixed bag here. Thanks for this site.

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  12. Don't feed the trolls. Keep the page as it is. Burning out over needless drama isn't worth it.

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  13. Sounds like a "first-world problems" meme in the making.

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