A Reccommendation ( Archived) (38)

Not so long ago...one of the major ISPs had a chat service. In that chat service they had "moderators" that wielded a gavel next to their name. Said moderator had the discretion to kick people out of the chat room for indiscretions or abusive behavior. They could kick people out for one minute.....a half hour....or all day...depending on the violation. It worked out well. I was a moderator for about a year. We had to sign in and sign out with a "chief moderator" before we had the ability to use our gavel. Very neat concept. I think that having someone "gaveled" in CS would clean up alot of the abusive behavior and removal of some obnoxious folks for a bit to cool off before it gets out of hand. Thoughts?

but .. don't botbher us Drunkards!!!!!!!

Not a bad idea but who hasn't got an axe to grind about one subject or another.

Would be hard to determine who could or would be fair about such a thing.

Some people it would be obvious to gavel into a time out. Others while somewhat distasteful in their postings are still intitled to post their opinions and do so with out doing anything but irritating others.

Would sort of be a limit on free speach which I can not support.
AB

Great concept, I've seen this done in chatrooms as well. I think such a moderator would do better giving a warning in private email to the person or persons who are getting out of hand. We can see where it's going, why let them rant and rave for 15 pages about the same thing? And if they chose to ignore the warning and continue, then shut them down. Having a different opinion has nothing to do with arguing for the sake of arguing. Most of these rants have no objective or opinion, the people just seem to repeat themselves over and over, etc. And when it gets personal and name calling starts, that's a clear sign that it has gone from free speech to defamation of character, which is not anyone's right. JMO

Bad idea. Mods who actively participate in chat rooms and on forums and who are known to the other members are not biased. They have different perspectives on what's to be considered abusive or obnoxious. I think keeping the mods "undercover" is the best approach and I also think that SPECIFIC guidelines as to what is acceptable or not acceptable should be laid out. For example, supposedly it is against the rules here to use foul language. Well, it's obvious that applies to some people and not to others, because I see it used here quite often by certain people and those people never seem to suffer any repercussions from it. Also, guidelines should be laid out as to what's considered "foul." Is "damn" acceptable? "Hell?" Anything else?

I think another thing that would help is if they had active mods on duty to stop fights before they get out of hand. For example, I've often wondered why moderators/admin on a site will let this "back and forth" go on between two posters for a ridiculous amount of time and not do a thing about it, despite people bringing it to their attention on numerous occasions.

And I think that people who are put into a position of having to defend themselves, because mods are either unwilling or unable to stop the instigator, should have the right to do that, without fear of repercussion, either.

That's my .02, anyway. I'm surprised this approach hasn't been taken before.

and i personally don't think there should be any censorship at all.

a person's behavior takes care of all that...

the thing is...even when it's offensive, we can make the choice to just stay out.

and if nobody reads the posters comments, nobody replies...they generally get the hint.

i personally think we have not enough leeway.

there ya go..

feed the fire...yes?

I have seen many of those chats. Alot have chat bots...

The ones my daughter went to for kids had adults...and pervs...

I hate chatrooms.

And, anyone wanting to put a gavel over my head? yeah right, lol.

The idea is good, though. Just won't work.

I agree with Burt, the idea of moderators diffusing situations is good. Often just talking in private chat can set someone straight and they settle down often.

It's only very few who come in just to cause mayhem and make it unpleasant for all.

I have to admit to having been a moderator on a chat room over here.
I do think I prefer forums to chat rooms.
And personally feel there is far too much freedom given here. Making the forums very nasty far too often.