Censorship on Edugeek

[localzuk]

Bike Chat Forums : The largest independent UK motorcycle chat forum

 

It's very surprising how well the system works - a custom made Karma system takes into account spelling, swearing, post length, what forums people post in, how regular people are etc and increases a users karma accordingly. Members rate posts + or -, which again alters the karma a user has. New members are forced to spell check posts before they are submitted until their karma increases a bit. Members with high negative karma ("red blobs") gets auto-banned.

 

In serious cases, a thread will be moved to "Fights and flamewars", people who post in this forum get hit hard on the karma.

 

So, people still get banned for behaviour. Sure it may not involve an individual person going 'yep, this person's been bad', instead using an automatic/user based system but it is still a form of moderation. Moving posts is also a form of moderation, as it moves them out of sight...

[truslack]

You could say that, yeah. Only 2 threads have been moved this year though. I suppose the karma is akin to automatic moderation, but a user would have to constantly be breaching rules for it to step in and ban them.

[Roberto]

I take speech to be free. So in my personal view moderation is censorship as well.

 

Moderating a forum isn't preventing you from exercising any right you have to free speech. It's refusing to publish it, which is absolutely not the same thing.

[ZeroHour]

RE: Bike forum, they are not moderating because obviously its not against *their* rules... we ban swearing etc for obviously reasons like filters/work. Those forums and edugeek are not like for like tbh.

[truslack]

I know they're not like for like, I was just pointing out that moderating is not needed in all circumstances. The system does not apply to Edugeek as it does to the bike forum. (the karma for spelling/swearing does work though!)

[teejay]

It's a difficult one, I've been moderated once and tbh it was very justified as when I looked back at what I posted it was a bit rude:embarassed:

I personally have no problems with the moderation on here, it generally seems pretty fair.

It's very difficult with online forums as all you get is the text that is written, not the intention behind it or the subtleties in language or body language that you get in face to face discussion. This leads to posts that seem reasonable to you as your interpretation of what you have written is of a valid, well reasoned argument, whereas to someone looking at it without the benefit of the knowledge of your intentions will see it completely differently.

The best thing to do is if you are constantly getting moderated, take it on the chin and discuss with the mods how you can restructure/rephrase your post to get your message across but not in an inflamatory way. At the end of the day, they are volunteers who are trying to keep this a decent, professional forum and have to make very hard decisions about what to moderate.

[CHR1S]

*This post was removed due to offensive language*

[ZeroHour]

*This post was removed due to offensive language*

 

Lol, btw that was not edited

[CHR1S]

Lol, btw that was not edited

 

Spoilsport

[GrumbleDook]

@CHR1S

I thought it was an example of self-editing

[RingOfFlame]

I have brought this subject in the past so I would just like to make a comment. In the past I have had my posts removed, been given infractions, felt I was ignored by mods. Did I deserve to have my posts moderated or removed? Some of them yes some not so, but it is not my choice, but those that run and moderate the forum, and finally Dos_Box who has the final say. It is after all his house.

 

If you do not like it then you can go elsewhere, or you can choose to tone it down a bit and get on with life. I have chosen the latter, although there may be times when I step over the mark, but I know if that happens I will be dealt with so again it is my choice to go down that route.

 

I also think since certain members are no longer mods that things have improved as well, but that maybe me taking things to personally.

 

At the end of the day if you do not like how the site is run then go elsewhere.

[Hightower]

I love the way we can vent here. It really is my shoulder to cry on when something bothers me. That said, we've all got to keep it clean. I browse this site a lot at work and I know my boss wouldn't be very pleased if it contained inappropriate content.

[GrumbleDook]

@hightower

 

I think the OP's concern is not so much to do with the language but with the ability to express opinions about certain matters which he feels has not been dealt with fairly ...

[mattx]

Heh, what a topic !!

It's straight forward the censorship on Edugeek and I will most probably be censored for saying this or even banned again for 2 weeks - but in my opinion - stress MY OPINION, it depends on:

 

A: What side of bed the mod got out of in the morning.

B: If they just happen to agree / disagree with your posting.

C: If they just happen to 'like' you [ and I use the term loosely. ]

 

Overall [ again MY OPINION ] the site has double standards when it comes to editing / removing posts. Some posts are removed with a certain word in and some remain. Some posts remain with a very naughty word in and some posts are removed when a daft word has been placed in. From my experience [ untold infractions - mainly coming from someone who is young enough to be my son !! ] and my two short bans I would say a complete re-vamp on censorship is required.

Anyhoo - I hope I have not upset anyone with MY OPINION but as the topic was raised I thought I would add something. I hope you all have a super weekend.

Edited July 23, 2010 by mattx

[GrumbleDook]

@Mattx

 

Yada, Yada, Yada.

The age of a mod has nowt to do with it. Most of us here (including you) who frequent other sites know we come across mods who are good or bad no matter what age they are. You keep getting told that if you see an inconsistency then you should point it out to a mod and they will change it ... if they don't then pointing it to an admin *will* get it changed.

 

*MY* opinion ... no re-vamp is needed. If it is consistency you want ... then fine, highlight examples and people can see if it is or isn't being done fairly. If you are being picked on because you intentionally troll or try to provoke mods and admins then you will get banned ... then it is not being picked on. It is like climbing into the Lions' enclosure with a big juicy steak to show how clever you are and then being surprised when you get bitten. You can argue about how the enclosure was too easy to get into, or that the supermarket still sold you the steak in spite of you telling them that you were off to feed the lions, but let's face it ... you know how to push the buttons of certain people and enjoy it. *MY* opinion ... and happy to chat about it over a beer sometime.

[maniac]

I think a lot of the time apparent double standards occur because mods may not be aware of a particular post, afterall there are hundreds of new posts a day on this site, I'd think it pretty impossible for mods to read every single one of them without fail.

 

If I ever see something I consider to be inappropreate I use the 'report this post' button to bring it to someone's attention.

 

Mike.

[Sylv3r]

Nope no problems, theres sometimes I write something then think twice before posting however!

[synaesthesia]

The way my mind works (sometimes typing before thinking) means I tend to be careful with my posts anyway. I have been moderated previously for this exact reason. No reason at all to be worried about it - the tone and reason for the post at the time were badly realised, and in that particular frame of mind, it seemed perfectly rational at the time. Many things require a "second opinion"; it could look fine to you, but someone else could find it vastly offensive.

The mods are here to try and keep the playing field level for all of us, and that's a hell of a job as it is. Make things easier for them by making use of the report post feature and understanding their reasons for editing or removing posts. You may not agree with it at the time (or ever) but this is a community for professionals and learners alike. Shrug it off, move along, everyone's happier for it.

[sparkeh]

To the best of my recollection I have never been moderated. This is probably down to how I use the site, mostly to ask/answer technical posts and not get involved in some of the more heated threads, though when I do I try not to post in the heat of the moment and post something constructive.

 

Is the site 100% consistent in its moderation? No. But then let's be realistic, to do that, with the number of members and the numbers of posts, the site would need an army of moderators reviewing every post against a set of sites rules, neither of which it has. Even then people would argue that different mods had a different interpretation of the rules and trust me, from experience of moderating a site with a stricter ruleset than exists here, this does happen; whatever the size of difference between the mods approach, it *will* be argued over.

 

Although, in some quarters, my sentiments will be interpreted as trying to curry favour, I do believe that for a site this size and level of activity, the (volunteer) mods do a bloody good job.

[techtopia]

Interesting to note how many views this thread has had in comparison to the amount of votes cast. Does the site count each visit or unique visits?

[tech_guy]

I'm not going to say anything, just posting this link:

 

BBC News - Dead animal beer bottles at £500...

 

Which I think is an excellent marketing idea but one which a lot of people would find repellent! Discuss.

Edited July 23, 2010 by tech_guy

[mattx]

I'm not going to say anything, just posting this link:

 

BBC News - Dead animal beer bottles at £500...

 

Which I think is an excellent marketing idea but one which a lot of people would find repellent! Discuss.

 

i want i want !!

[Gatt]

Oh this gem again..

 

ok - I have had a couple of posts editted - but then I was a very naughty boy (why is it that when ever I hear that I think of Monty Python?) and used some bad words..

 

Considering that EduGeek is A) mainly used by people who work in a school, and B) is viewed by a LOT of big companies / suppliers, etc use it so we really should be trying our best not to post content that is NSWF..

 

I think that on the whole, EduGeek gets it right with regards to editting / deleting posts & threads. My only arguement would be that the admins/mods do not always communicate as to why said post/thread has been altered... Whilst this is most likely due to work / time etc it wouldn't take a minute or two for them to make a post/comment explaining the reasoning behind the decision..

This would then eliminate the "why have the mods / admins deleted my thread/post" thread which inevitably turns into another round of mod/admin/edugeeek bashing...

 

Just my 2p worth....

[Andrew_C]

A long time ago I got into a spat with someone who was either a troll, or an idiot. I got rather grumpy and got a nice message saying "Not like you, play nicely"; just and fair moderation.

 

I Moderate elsewhere and do understand the difficulty of seeming 'fair' when several different Mods are trying to moderate at the same standard. It would take too long (especially on such a busy site) to discuss every decision. Some decisions are bound to SEEM arbitrary.

[Gatt]

One thing I see on other forums are specific Mods for specific Sections (TrekWeb springs to mind)

 

I don't know if this could work here, given the nature of the site....