Quote:
Originally posted by Vidan
Just to let you guys know I have been following this thread. Hard to respond to each individual point, as there's been so much back and forth.
I'll reiterate some things I posted just now in the moderator forum:
1) We have a good deal of very intelligent members who are opinionated and strong-willed. The type of people who would make good CEO's of companies, or future politicians, or leaders of non-profit organizations. The type of people who have good ideas and will work hard to set them in motion. A greater percentage, I believe, than any other forum I go to regularly.
There's a bit of inevitability, given this, that there will be a butting of heads over certain issues, but I'd hope that we (that includes the moderators) can use our collective energies to keep things in balance, recognize differeing opinions are a condition of our strength and diversity and not an attempt to disturb the peace of the forum.
As moderators, we'll give it our all to recognize this strength and diversity and not sweep it under the rug.
2) I've always been of the opinion that a certain amount of interpersonal conflict cannot be avoided but that people can and will resolve the situation amongst themselves if they have the capacity at the time to be reasonable. Of course, I will step in if something has gone too far and it seems that those involved in an argument are letting their emotions get the best of them.
I see a moderator as a third party giving someone, or more than one person, a "reality check," that is, letting them know if something is getting out of hand, just in case they've been blinded a bit by the emotions and energy of a conversation, or perhaps started to take something personally without realizing it, which happens. This allows the member(s) to take a step back and look at how they're conducting themselves on the forum, thereby empowering them to use their own good judgement to take a more reasonable approach to a situation.
When you think about it, there are very few members here who may have been out of favor with the members of the forum (again, moderators included) who haven't recognized, sometimes by themselves, and sometimes with a little moderator support, that they were taking things too far.
In other words, members who go too far are usually not themselves at that time and just need all of our support to return to a sense of normalcy. It's because we care about people that we (moderators and members) will let someone know if they've crossed the line.
Those who have been banned in the past have been, for the most part, people who either never gained our trust and respect from the beginning or, for some reason, made some sort of conscious decision to cause grief to other members without regard to the consequences.
What I'm trying to get at here is that, as much as occassionally we may fight amongst ourselves, we still care about each other, and it's important to remember that. Also,
a) If a moderator may occassionally seem overbearing, then it's because they are concerned. If they start going on a power trip, then that's a behavior that needs to change, and I think we rarely succumb to that. The ideal is, of course, for it never to happen.
b) If a member seems to suddenly change their behavior and start lashing out at other members, there's probably a reason, and it might not necessarily have to do with you. Take a step back before you lash out at them, lest a flame war start.
If the behavior continues, expect the moderators to step in. Let us know, of course, but expect that if the member in question admits they were not themselves or expresses regret for their recent behavior, that we will show forgiveness, and you should consider doing the same.
There may be situations in which a member has wronged you to the point where you can't forgive them, but for the sake of all of us, keep grudges off the forum, and avoid talking to them if you know it would cause a disruption to the forum.
That's really the heart of the matter. It's the power trips and flames that have caused so much turmoil in the past week. Since we're all members, it's something we need to be aware of and work on.
Outstading interpertation : I'm impressed.