Sadly not - moderators and admins have special status baked into the software. Perhaps a simple disclaimer to say “I am posting my own views” is enough though - in other dealings with Councillors I know they have always been clear to point out when they are expressing their own opinion rather than council policy and such, and I think Leo has done a good job to be clear here, though I’m sure he can clarify further if needed - though let’s not get too far off topic
Hi Mod’s.
I know there is a 'lounge’, but given the nature of some of the other threads and the way they escalated it seems what we need now is a ‘playground’ (or perhaps boxing rink, even).
This sounds promising, I joined the forum last August and have definitely struggled to feel comfortable being as involved as I’d like with the tone some threads take - spending a lot of time lurking instead, I suspect I’m probably not alone.
I definitely think the overall aim of the forum should be focused on local discussion and I support trying to keep politics out of it but despite this local focus there isn’t much of a community feel on the forum. A lot of the suggestions in this thread surround how the forum can be better policed to avoid conversations going in an unpleasant direction but it might be worth thinking about what positive actions can be taken to help improve participation.
I’m not familiar with how the Discourse platform works but I think it would be good to have more areas for open conversation - in the same vein as the mysterious #lounge…
Channels/groups for things like Cooking, Gardening, TV, Sports etc. might be a nice way to encourage participation on the forum even if it’s outside of the core SE23 focus whilst making sure posts and topics all fit within the SE23 focus. Again I don’t know if this is possible on the platform so may be a non-starter.
I think this is along the lines of something @Swagger suggested in a post a couple of weeks ago and what @NewtoSE might be getting at in this thread.
This might be completely against the local-led direction of the forum the moderators are working towards but it feels like a way for to engender more free-flowing conversation.
Hi @Dom_Mo if you click on the triple burger icon on the top right of the page (mobile browsing) there is a menu which will allow you to select many of the interest groups you mentioned. Any other questions please just let us know.
I think one problem right now is that there isn’t a whole lot going on. The events calendar would normally have been full to bursting with local events this time last year, but that’s sadly not the case now. The loss of many local events, I feel, had lost a bit of the local feel and positivity here. Obviously there’s a lot drawing conversations to various wider issues in the world too.
All of this does however make the forum an even more important resource I feel.
We do have had some good general threads that cover some of the topics you mention:
Making more categories is certainly possible, but rather than creating a lot of niches, it might be better to use #general and see if anything rises out of that category first.
Possibly the best thing here is for people to try posting about their interests and see what sticks. Moderation is to keep it civil and friendly, but the forum is really powered by everyone that contributes positively.
This is a really good point… because there isn’t much going on in locally in terms of events, and people can’t go out and socialise, they will be looking to interact online with their community. Especially important for those that might live alone and/or particularly missing friends and family.
Though I haven’t participated myself, I do enjoy the gardening and bakers threads as well as the pictures of wildlife, so would welcome others in the same vein. Noted that these are also the friendliest, most non-confrontational threads too, so feel like a safer space to engage with. With that in mind… I have actually got a loaf in the oven now, so will post up a pic when it’s done!
Yes I think this is a good point. I also think that this lockdown maybe partly to blame for some of the arguments. It is making lots of people crazy and it may be no coincidence that we are having this conversation now. It’s having a bad effect on everyone. Every waking hour staring at screens. I have found myself getting bent out of shape over small things that would not bother me usually. Everything is “online” and we can’t really go anywhere to escape. I think the lack of real face to face interaction with others can contribute towards people acting in an uncharacteristically antagonist manner. I should be out and about going about my lawful business in my usual cheery way, but instead I find myself stuck indoors on some local forum or comments page on a newspaper article having an argument with someone I have never met about Brexit. It’s tragic. We must be kinder to each other and make allowances for stresses many of us are under.
I was wondering how these suggestions were coming along, and what the @moderators current policy is in dealing with discriminatory user behaviour beyond simply moving posts. I would suggest that merely labelling the posts as ‘off topic’ is not sufficient.
Absolutely, we’d all agree with your point. Information on expected member conduct on the forum and how to flag posts etc is available in the FAQ, though we plan on expanding this in the next few days.
Where a post is viewed or reported (flagged) as potentially discriminatory it will initially be moved out of the main area of the forum whilst it is investigated.
Once reviewed the moderator team will have one or more of the folowing options available:
Speak the the member to understand the post from their perspective
Hide the post permanently
Provide guidance to the member on future posts
Restrict the users’ access levels
Issue a warning
Silence the user for a period of time
Ban the user
Essentially each case would be judged on it’s own merits. Past behaviour may also be taken into account.
No forms of discrimination will be allowed or tolerated on the forum, and anyone the moderator team feels is acting in a malicious, baiting or bullying way in this respect will be banned without warnings or any of the other options detailed above being used.
I’m finding the moderation very heavy. The model seems to be chairing or steering discussion, rather than intervention as a last resort. On the other hand there has been a too-light touch when moderating some individuals who have been guilty of ad hominem attacks.
I suppose it’s hard to say without seeing where conversations might have wandered off to without moderation, but I think that there’s been some good, balanced moderation of topics that were starting to stray recently. And some other things that have been moderated seem to be things that should have been raised privately with moderators anyway. Just my two cents in case @ModTeam are gauging feedback.
It’s difficult to mod, some will see it as heavy handed, some will see it as too light. We have to try and tiptoe somewhere down the middle. But what we do, in most cases, is all agree as mods before a decision.
FYI (as someone pointed this out to me the other day) on the subject of making people more comfortable, if anyone’s bothering you or you don’t want to see their comments then you can click on their profile and select ‘Ignored’ and you won’t see anything they post.
Game changing! What happens if you ignore someone who then ends up in a threaded conversation with people you don’t ignore, do you see blank spaces or is the whole thread ignored?
