Are poorly written posts aggressively moderated? Or is our community just that good?

I think to a certain degree, Fluther is self-regulating. Most new members see that the vast majority of us don’t communicate that way, and adjust their style accordingly. I know I did.

I think for the most part we don’t write like that here. Badly written questions are modded. Badly written answers are not modded as much, but if the user is consistently really really bad they will be modded from what I can gather. The jellies themselves seem to have no problem flagging, or telling someone right on a Q that their answer is written very badly, with typos, bad grammar, or punctuation that seems infantile.

Meanwhile, I think I just used LOL an hour ago on answer. :) But, I rarely use these types of shorthands on fluther, nor smiley faces.

Good grammar and clear writing are part of the Guidelines. They are encouraged with new users if necessary.

Thus, I don’t extreme moderation is required.

@JLeslie I think an occasional LOL is fine. I have used it before if something made me literally laugh out loud. I do that now and then. But I think some people have the habit so bad they aren’t thinking. I have seen posts like this.

My game keeps crashing lol. I think there’s an issue with the graphics card lol. Why didn’t this game come with NVidia graphics card support rofl.

Seriously? You’re just rolling around on the floor laughing because you find your graphics card malfunctions hilarious? That’s not the response I had when my card went bad.

I also think it’s weird when people are insulting each other and they fill up the page with lols, smilies and o*huggles*o

I think there is a prevailing culture here and those who stay are a self-selected group. However, I have seen an overuse of “lol” sometimes even on these exalted Fluthery heights.

@keobooks My game keeps crashing lol. I think there’s an issue with the graphics card lol. Why didn’t this game come with NVidia graphics card support rofl.

Oh man…I couldn’t agree more. That is so annoying. It seems to happen on Fluther when people are looking for us to do their homework for them. Example:

“I need to write a paper on Martin Luther King Jr lol. Thing is, I’m only 13 and the 60’s were sooo long ago lol. Can anyone help me lol.”

I usually reply with something like “Lol. Try reading his entry on Wikipedia for starters, lol. Good luck! Lol.”

@keobooks I’m with you. Sometimes I use a :) after a minor tiff, or where my sentence might be interpreted as obnoxious rather than the sentiment I wish to convey. LOL over and over just looks stupid.

The mods don’t see much unless it is flagged; they cannot keep up with every post. However, the community is fairly decent about flagging, whereas other places have users that don’t care.

Then there are the guidelines that most people at least glance through when they register. Generally, people who write like they do on other boards don’t last long here unless they change anyways.

<<< LOL

Culture keeping. We all do our part in several ways. First, of course, is flagging. But I think modeling proper behavior and meta discussions like this one are also very important in keeping this place looking the way the current denizens want it to look. By modeling, people quickly get the sense of what is acceptable and what isn’t. In meta discussions, people can learn why we behave the way we do.

I think modeling is more important than moderation. I think it keeps a lot of bad stuff away, but it is also a positive thing, whereas moderation can be seen as a negative thing. More flies with honey, etc. Positive modeling is more effective because it gives people something to follow. Using moderation tends to make people a little angry.

For that reason, and because of experiences I’ve had elsewhere in the world, I do not worry about things passing moderation when they shouldn’t. I almost never flag anything. I prefer that people learn on their own instead of being bonked on the head for being wrong. I think it’s more effective in the long run, because it teaches people to self-modulate instead of having to be corrected.

I have found that the best communities are more tolerant of deviant behavior, especially at the beginning. This does not mean they don’t correct when necessary, but often times I find that if you let things go a little further beyond where you are comfortable, you will find people finally begin to toe the line and conform to the local culture. It’s kind of the best of both worlds. You can be a rebel and you can conform. People are more relaxed about the rules, and the atmosphere is generally a lot more positive and confident, and that breeds success!

On the subject of lols:

I used to resent people’s use of them, but just accepted they are the perfect word/T.L.A in certain situations. I don’t want to be saying hahaha all the time and sometimes when you’re being light-hearted or making a joke it’s useful, like @Jleslie says.

Also, no, 90% of the time I’m not actually laughing out loud. Its meaning has moved away from the literal definition – years ago did this occur.

Having said that, if you wish to raise concerns with me over my increasing reliance of said word/T.L.A please do PM me and I will rectify the situation immediately.

Okay, defensive rant out of the way… what was the question again?

Oh we’re good.

There are a few reasons, I think. The founders are a couple of smart and well-educated guys, and the original members of the site were their family and friends. Like tends to attract like, and the community grew organically around the original core. It still does (even as the core members change). Then, since proper writing is important to us, it’s directly mentioned in the guidelines. As we all know, though, nobody reads those things. LOL People who’ve been here for any length of time know the rules, though, and are great about flagging stuff for the mods.

When we notice a new member isn’t meeting the writing standard, we send a nice PM about it:

Hi there, <newmembername>, and welcome to Fluther!

I wanted to make you aware of our writing standards, which require the use of proper spelling, punctuation, and capitalization in questions and answers. We like Fluther to appear smart and spiffy, and this attention to detail helps set us apart from other Q&A sites.

Please use proper capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in your posts. All lowercase and all uppercase posts are not allowed, so please use appropriate capitalization. Thank you for your cooperation and if you have any questions, you can ask me or any of the Moderators. Thanks!

Augustlan
Community Manager

————————————————————————————-

At that point, they usually either make an effort to step up their writing or decide this isn’t the place for them.

Some decide to stick around, but just can’t (or won’t) meet the standard. They get progressively more serious messages, and eventually end up suspended or banned.

I love this question.

Moderation, moderation, moderation.

I never “LOL”. I laugh inside-where it counts.
I enjoy this site, because of the compelling and well written questions and answers. I think the people who stick around are the ones who know the difference between there, their, and they’re. We take pride in the proper use of languages. The people, who do not, are welcome to Facebook, Twitter, and the local pub. I’ll stay here as long as you’ll have me.

I think you guys have trained me well. I dont expound. and I love emoticons. and you guys still put up with me and my typos…and random run-on thoughts….

I thought “LOL” meant lots of love. I just figured there were a lot of loving people out there, now you are telling me they are nut cases laughing for ridiculous reasons. Woe is me!

(I never say lol, I prefer a more dignified “heheheh!”

@rooeytoo we love you. We’d never LOL at you.

@rooeytoo You just learned from this thread that LOL means “laughing out loud”?

@FutureMemory – yes I did, I truly thought everyone was “lots of loving” each other. Although I often was taken aback at it being used at what seemed to be inappropriate times. By the way, those are some very impressive and lovely breasts! :-)

^ lol

Perhaps you should call yourself FutureMammary…

@FutureMemory And here all along I thought you were just a boob!

said the penguin to the boobie.