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Subject: Re: Moderation: Humans, care and feeding of

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 11:28:10 10/29/99

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On October 29, 1999 at 13:45:36, Bruce Moreland wrote:
[snip]
>This "special policy" thing is people trying to pin me down on something that I
>have not been able to express very well.
>
>In a game you can have very strict rules, because the possible interactions are
>pretty narrow.  It is harder to have strict rules here since it is hard to
>predict everything anyone can do, and there can be disagreement about whether
>something is positive or negative.
From my moderation platform:
( http://www.icdchess.com/ccc/resource/moderators/corbit.html )
"I think that someone could get a lifetime ban for a single post or post one
hundred posts that need censure and not get dropped. It is my opinion that you
have to use your brain and make the best decision that you can. I think the
moderators should have absolute dictatorial power to remove posts."

What I was really trying to say is that there is no such thing as a formula or
magic rule you can use to make moderation decisions.  If there were, there would
be no need for moderators.  Some sort of 'bot' could just screen for pariticular
words or the like.  Every case really boils down to using your intellect to make
a sensible decision.  It is a great stretch to even pretend that a moderator's
own personality will not get in the way.  We all have likes and dislikes.  I
pretty much like everyone who has ever posted here (though I think Sean Evans
may have been an exception to my rule -- OK, I'm not Will Rogers).  But even so,
we like some people more than others.  It's just human nature.  Some people are
almost heros to me here.  Will they get away with more?  I would like to think
that I can be perfectly fair, but in truth that is doubtful.  Since I (and the
other moderators) are humans, you are going to see mistakes in judgement.  We
can only do the best that our ability allows.

Moderation is best when it is invisible.  That means that, ideally, we all
moderate ourselves.  Since the vast majority of those with a keen interest in
chess and computers are intelligent, rational individuals, that should not be
too hard.  Besides controlling our output, we can also control our reactions to
other people's output.  If we simply ignore somthing that is a perceived slight
it also makes things run more smoothly.  So, in reality, the moderators would do
nothing at all if we simply police ourselves with a tiny bit of self-discipline.
[snip]



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