Are we being moderated fairly?

I have struggled with them myself, but I finally learned the Mods here are very wise, good looking, and have excellent personal hygene.

are they looking?

Nothing insidious about the mind control, here. It’s fairly overt. Haven’t you noticed how threads that even have a hint of Fluther criticism quickly become yummy food discussions? They’re designed to make you feel warm and fuzzy about Fluther so you’ll follow the guidelines and stick around.

French toast with boysenberry syrup

See? wasn’t that nice?

~ It is mind control.

“You will wire me your paycheck, buy stock in Milk Bones with your retirement, then dance like a chicken in the moonlight. You will wire me your paycheck, buy stock in Milk Bones with your retirement, then dance like a chicken in the moonlight. You will wire me your paycheck, buy stock in Milk Bones with your retirement, then dance like a chicken in the moonlight. ”

Did it work?

PS: I just checked your quips and questions and do not see anything currently moderated. If you have been modded a lot in the past I can check and let you know why. I am certain it had nothing to do with your views. We don’t roll like that.

Ve haff vays of making you nice.

@Dog – which account number did you want me to wire all my money to? I will obey…

The moderators here are as fair as a pack of Nazi-socialist-dark-wizard-vampires can be. (Oh, and I mean the ugly kind of vampires, not the sexy or sparkly ones.) ~

I’m having pizza today.

Pizza is awesome. Just had some last night at a party. Also, the most amazing fruit salad I’ve ever had outside of my grandmother’s. I don’t think fruit salad gets enough credit as a party food.

Sometimes it seems that we’re being modded to a fare-thee-well, but lately I’ve had fewer complaints, myself. Don’t tell me that I’m softening and losing my rough edges!

But I think my fare for the day will be one of my amazing burritos.

@SavoirFaire You forgot “power-hungry control freaks with no life” A personal favorite.

I am having 5 Guys for lunch! Yay!

Now I want pizza, too!
And I want a couple of Dog’s 5 guys. Care to share? Woof.

Anyone up for a cookouot inthe park in Florida?

@Dog Damn! I knew I was forgetting something.

About to make eggs. Scrambled or over easy?

Scrambled with ketchup please.

Scrambled- in a tortilla with a bit of cheese. Thanks!

Hey, @Dog , your avatar just got a bit more nuts…anticipation of food?

Damn, @Dog: Five guys scrambled in a tortilla with cheese? You must be awful hungry.

@WasCy Ravenous. We blood-sucking vampire, Nazi, elitists work up quite an appetite.~

@Dog : Cuter and cuter!

@JilltheTooth How about now? I like that one best!

How about a chocolate burrito???

@JilltheTooth Godiva?

Godive tortilla, Cadbury filling…

oh… chocolate lust!

And this, @markferg , is why we stay. Any questions?

Did someone say pancakes with chocolate chips?

Oy vey!

Well, all flippant food-related remarks aside, the moderation did recently cause Rarebear to leave- and that’s quite a loss.

@crisw Really? That’s terrible.

@crisw I was not aware that Rarebear left. I looked at recent mod history do not see anything that would warrant him leaving. Hopefully he is back soon.

Oh no. I like Rarebear. This is awful news.

Someone should make a cake and use it to lure Rarebear back.

@Adirondackwannabe : How about a pineapple upside down cake?

I will send Cadbury eggs! :D

I will send lurve!

Maybe he is just watching baseball – i know he loves that.

To answer the original question: Yes.

Only once have I seen a comment get moderated that I thought it shouldn’t have. Since I can’t even remember what it was about now, it can’t have been that bad. I also had a question put back to editting because a mod thought it should be in Social, even thought some similar questions had been in General. That’s not so much bad as it is confusing, but altogether irrelevent.

I made delicious shepherd’s pie today. Yum.

Yes. It takes a while to get used to the moderation (although now I have to say the mods have gone soft. Harden the fuck up, guys), but when you finally get it, it will be rewarding.

Seize it. Encircle it within your arms. Bury it in your heart up to the hilt… Become transfixed…Become transfigured…Forever
-V for Vendetta

Props to you, OP, for not calling the moderation/moderators “draconian” or some other unoriginal bullshit.

For all of those asking about Rarebear- he asked a question along the lines of “Are you going to get your flu vaccine?” and told a story of a patient that he was treating; a young woman with H1N1 flu who was in the ICU and almost certainly was going to die. She had two children.

The question was immediately pulled; according to Rarebear because the moderators regarded it as “not a question.”

This was just too much.

@crisw I looked it up. It only needs a minor tweak to be re-posted in General.

Here is the original wording:
————
Will you please get a flu shot?

I’m taking care of someone in our ICU who has H1N1 flu and she’s probably going to die of respiratory failure. She has two young children.
————

As written it is more of a public service announcement at best or a vague poll. It was only attracting responses like “That poor woman”.

We pushed it back asking for it to be made into a question. Perhaps for the title he could have written “If you worked as a Doctor like I do would you think the risk of the flu would be worth the fear of not having the flu shot?”

This would have sparked a lively dialogue and really driven his point home.
As written it was better suited to social.

I hope he comes back and edits it because it is a very good question and he has the power to make a huge impact.

@Dog I’m assuming that you pm-ed him and explained? Given the circumstance, he might be emotionally on edge. @Dog, you are so sweet, I’m certain that you meant no harm.

@MissA I was not the mod who pushed the question back and do not know if a mod mail was sent. If anyone knows how to get hold of him PM me. (And yes, I am sure he is under emotional stress- he is living a Doctor’s nightmare. I am sure it contributed to his departure. I hope to lure him back.)

I don’t know him personally, but hope that one of his friends here, will take care of that.

I think that I’ve been modded once, perhaps twice. I don’t really remember all the details, but what I DO remember is being angry and full of intolerance for who I thought was being a complete jerk.

Knowing that those two things are not congruent with my personality…I’m certain that I needed a good modding.

I love vegtables, so I am cooking some yummy squash and onions good thing you can’t smell my breath

he sounds like a nice jelly

@Dog : Wouldn’t Auggie be able to email him? I kinda thought that was one of her mystical abilities.

I just realized that I spelled vegetables wrong.
maybe the evil ugly vampires won’t catch it, lol

@dreamer31 Ha ha ha (You are lucky I already ate~)

@JilltheTooth Why yes! I do think the amazing and awesome Auggie has magical powers like that! :) I will send her this question!

[redacted]

More or less fairly. I’ve been injustly moderated a couple of times, but I’ve also seen the hammer judiciously applied.

Life isn’t fair. What does fairness have to do with it? We are moderated the way the moderators want to moderate us. Could I say the word “moderate” and more times in a sentence?

People will always have disagreements. The people with the codes to the comments have the final say, whether it makes sense or not.

Does anyone have some fresh orange juice?

We are moderated by impartial observers. The key word here is impartial. So of course, if you were moderated, there is the possibility of you thinking it unfair, mostly because you may not be aware of behaving like a jackass on Fluther.

Papaya and pomegranate arils are yummy.

A very important question might be, what sort of person is attracted to the particular job of moderation? Hmmmmmm?? ~~

Um, as far as Rarebear’s question, I would probably not take kindly to his unmodified question, seeing as it seems to amount to me as browbeating. I choose not to get a flu shot because I don’t believe in them (for experiential reasons), and because the full ingredients are not disclosed to the public. I should not have to feel bad because of that. When some people get sick, they die; it is their time. Nothing can stop that. That being said, seeing things like that every day would make me frustrated, so I can see where he is coming from.

Then again, with all the freedom we have, we could choose to avoid that question altogether.

Oh, man. I didn’t realize he’d left. I wish he’d contacted me first. :(

I can email him, and will. I hope he comes back!

If Rarebear is really gone, then that is a huge loss for this community.
I’m not at all sure about how the moderation works here, if things are discussed or if each moderator can say and do as they please.
I imagine as with all things people will have differing opinions on what is acceptable, but I would think that every moderation should be dealt with in a polite and kind way.

@wilma It is sad that he is gone. We’ve lost many people that are dearly missed and were great contributors here. Some come back, some don’t. Unfortunately, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

mmm, cookies

Has anyone ever experimented with pizza cookies, I wonder?

@wilma : It’s my understanding that the mods work as a team. Anything that is not immediately obvious (spam, trolls) is discussed as best as it can be with however many are available at any given time. Maybe one will weigh in here and confirm this? In the meantime I’ll try to find a link to where it’s been explained.

I agree that it’s too bad Rarebear decided to leave. I appreciate his knowledge and expertise, and he’s given me personal advice before.

That said, I think maybe some jellies are too sensitive when it comes to being moderated. As far as I’m aware, this isn’t the first time he’s left, is it? I don’t mean to be mean, and I’ll admit that I don’t know him as well as others do, but if someone is going to get frustrated and leave Fluther, especially more than once, then that shouldn’t be the fault of the mod team.

Here’s one from a mod.

@JilltheTooth I know for a fact the mods work together as a team. I’ve been involved in cases were they all got together to decide on a course of action and after considerable debate they made their call. I wasn’t happy with what they decided, but I understood. In the words of BoBo (just a little irony) “If you want to ride on their railroad, you have to follow their rules.”
By the way pizza cookies sound great!

The mods always send me a nice note as to how to fix my booboo. They’ve never once sent me to the frizzer for anything I’ve done

@SpatzieLover that is good to know.
I have only had one message from a mod it was about a question that I had asked. They said it was too much like a poll and I could change it if I wanted to. I chose not to.
I think I have had a few of my answers deleted too, but not many. I didn’t get any message about those.

@wilma Were they in the “general” section? sometimes (even though I think it’s helpful) I get modded there for not being on topic) _but really besides under your boobs, you CAN get yeast in your belly button…NO LIE

Usually the mods won’t notify you if they remove a post, unless the post is obviously involved, took a lot of time, has links, etc. Then they will sometimes send them back to the poster intact, so the thought that went into them won’t be wasted.

@wundayatta The question of fairness arises because there is more to the situation than who has the final say. Power is never a unidirectional relation, so those who have it need always be mindful of those in their charge. The moderators may have the final say, but we can choose not to come back if we think the moderation is unreasonable.

Insofar as the moderators are interested in having a vibrant community, then, they have an indirect interest in moderating fairly (or at least appearing to be fair). And insofar as the moderators at this particular site are not indifferent to the rest of us—indeed, they seem to even like us—they also have a direct interest in moderating fairly (and not just appearing to be fair).

Anytime I have had an issue and I verbalize it (in writing, of course) it is always addressed personally by one of the mods, usually to my satisfaction.

@SpatzieLover it was before the change and there wasn’t a Social section, just one section.
I just didn’t feel that it was important enough to me to reword the question or try again. I thought that I should be quiet for a while and try to better understand what was expected.
Kind of like putting myself in time-out.

@wilma It took me a few days to realize there was a Social section…DOH!

I’m not gone. I just have had a very rough go of it recently so I took a break. I’m back now. Thanks for all the emails and good wishes.

@Rarebear Yay!

Glad to have you !

<—- Doing the happy dance!

I’m going to take the credit for bringing sexy Rarebear back. Just kiddin’... we’re so glad you’re back!

Sexy? Buahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since when is a D&D playing amateur astronomer who can quote Monty Python by heart and can explain Relativity Theory sexy?

Okay, maybe a little sexy.

We do lurve us some nerds. ;)

^^ Yeah- nerds is the sexiest. :D

Geek! I’m a geek! Not a nerd.

By the way, do you know what the difference is between a geek and a nerd? A geek is someone who gets upset when you call him a nerd

Heh. I just made that up.

Oh boy, the Confuse-a-Cat van just pulled up.

Geeks, nerds, genius-types. We lurve ‘em all!

I would have said yes in the past, but I’ve posted stuff on here that would have got me moderated, and even banned, in pretty much any other social networking site that I know of. I’ve also posted some rather disturbing links, and I’ve seen others do it, yet nothing happened to me or the other people.
Sometimes it does seem a bit annoying and even trivial, but Fluther is pretty strict on the rules they wanna enforce, but it doesn’t seem to seep out of that very much. I’d say it’s pretty damn fair.

Most of the time, yes. Fairness depends on subjectivity.

Moderators are people, too! They have buttons that get pushed and their own personal annoyances.

That being said, I think they proceed with a fair amount of objectivity. It seems that is a concern which surfaces with some frequency…are we wearing our emotions on our sleeves?

They sure keep me in line! You guys have no IDEA what I’m really like! Muhaaaaahaaaahaahahaha!

I’m so glad you came back, Bear! I would have felt guilty as hell posting things here after that…

@Dutchess_III : Just being curious, not snarky, honest, but why would you have felt guilty? This thread was not about any particular user leaving, the details were phrased light-heartedly and favorably about the mods, and provoked a friendly collection of posts until someone stepped in to make it about one poster.

Because I consider Rarebear a friend of mine. I just would feel badly about continuing to frequent a place that any friend of mine felt had dealt so harshly and unfairly with him. But, true to his Rareform, he STU’d a while, then came back and made it all better. You can count on him to forgive if it’s right, and do the right thing, the intelligent thing, in the end.

And this was just a small comment to a small sidebar to the big question.

Now I KNOW I heard someone mention tortillas! With cinnamon and sugar and butter???

@Dutchess_III Piled high with Agave nectar on top ? tortillas that is

Chocolate chip cannollis.

What’s Agave nectar? Sounds yummy!...O! Yes! With chocolate chips!

The only time I felt inordinately picked upon was before I realized that you CAN check your spelling in the question part. You just have to right click and manually select ‘check spelling.’ I don’t remember what the question was, but it had the word ‘wierd’ in it. It kept getting sent back for correction, but no clue as to what needed correcting. I tried re-wording it….after the 3rd time it went MIA with the terse comment that I had spelled ‘wierd’ wrong….Hey! What ever happened to “i before e except after c?!” Isn’t it weird that weird breaks that rule? :)

@Dutchess_III

Agave nectar is the sugary juice from the Agave ( fermented makes Tequila ) Like a honey but no floral taste.

Where do I get it? Doesn’t sound like anything we have here in Kansas!

@Dutchess_III
Do you have Costco in Kansas? I buy it there. It’s great anywhere you’d use honey- not nearly as strong-tasting.

Yes, but not here. The closes is 60 miles away. I’ll keep my eyes open!

@Dutchess_III Try Publix or Whole Foods.

@Tropical_Willie Next time I get to Wichita I’ll be on the look out for those stores.

I have half a mind to flag the lot of you for getting off topic…

Flag!! You’re It @Rarebear!! Runs away fastly!

I saw 12 responses and started getting hungry. What have you people done to me?

Roast duck and stuffing, dude.