Should people using Fluther be able to know exactly which 'moderator/s' have reomved their question for "Editing" or should these former Fluther users be able to exercise their power anonymously?

Curiosity killed the cat. Moderators should be protected and anonymous so they can do their job without unnecessary repercussions. The overall “moderator” .. the head guru in charge should be moderating the moderators so that the collective doesn’t have to worry about them getting out of hand. I think they are doing a fine job thus far.

No.

People who follow the guidelines don’t get their posts modded. Why make it personal, when it is just a policing system applied fairly to keep things moving smoothly here? You’d rather start grudge matches?

Why is it so important? You got modded, move on.

That sting you feel is pride…fuckin’ witcha.

The moderators work as a team, and any disputable decisions are made together and voted on, therefore nearly 100% of the time, one moderator is not solely responsible for a decision. Also, if one moderator acts on his/her own, it’s because they are following guidelines and the offending content (or whatever the case may be) clearly does not comply with these guidelines. Also, all moderators see what other moderators do, and can dispute it later and it can be voted on after and the decision reversed if that’s the case.
Basically, there’s no reason mods should be specifically pointed out because they are one unit.
Also, they are Fluther members, not “former” ones.

No, individuals who have had questions modded don’t need to know specifically who did the moderating. Anonymous is good. Anonymous works.

Moderators don’t need to be accountable to anyone except for the Community Manager, maybe. They follow the guidelines as set forth by the Fluther creators, Ben and Andrew, and they do a very good job. Additionally, they volunteer to do this on their own time and it is a thankless job. I, for one, appreciate very much what the mods do and how well they do it.

Sometimes they will explain why they removed your question or how they can help in a PM. Also I don’t really think it matters. Who cares who did it? They’re just trying to make Fluther a better place.

This is a pretty big “meh” to me, but I’d just like to say that an unseen, nameless policing agency who is not accountable to the people in any way, which is governed by a hierarchy of powerful men is probably not the best way to run an operation.

@Ivan perhaps you would be happier at other fora.

@Ivan I’ve seen a list of the mods names and the policy clearly stated in some of the links below.

@YARNLADY

What does that have to do with how effective the strategy is?

@NaturalMineralWater A lack of “curiosity” seems to get the question killed.
@Blondesjon It is personal – I personally asked the question and some person or persons (allegedly), modded it. What I feel is affronted by the lack of accountability. There could be just one acting at a particular time or there could be a team, how would I know?
If you’re going to be arrested, would you prefer that the arresting officer was hooded? (not that I have ever been)

By way of illustration, the question that has prompted this Q is:-

Any thoughts about Khalil Gibran?
Details : I have a couple of his books but have read neither fully, apart from some enchanted dips.
Topic : Khalil Gibran.

How is this outside the “guidelines”? @pdworkin

Aren’t we all anonymous over the internet?

Read the guidelines. I see why.

@teh_kvlt_liberal just made a point!

@pdworkin “I see why”. Care to elaborate?

@Ivan, you said unseen, nameless. They aren’t unseen or nameless.

@lloydbird . . .The bottom line is that it is your site to use not to run.

What do you hope to change by knowing who modded you?

Please bear in mind that I have been modded a great deal and am quite cool with it. Many times, in the instance of a question being modded, I have made a couple of changes and it stayed.

@YARNLADY

It’s like a firing squad. Sure, you know all the guys who might have shot the bullet, but you don’t know exactly who did it.

I’m not a “former user”. I’m an active user.
Also if you have a question about a modded question, you can always ask us.

@Ivan . . .And this causes you what kind of lasting ill effect?

@Blondesjon

Did I say anything about any ill effect?

Power? Shadows? Be accountable? I don’t accept the premise. I think it unjustly mischaracterizes the moderators and their role. This is not a democracy, but neither are moderators the secret police.

I’ve only been modded a couple of times, or so, and I was always contacted with an explanation.

@Ivan . . .The subtext of your answers point to a very unhappy individual and I was just curious why this was manifesting itself in an aggressive way toward the ups and downs of moderation.

@lloydbird No, thank you. Even if I’m wrong the underlying issue remains the same, and people can certainly disagree on these issues, but the mods have the privilege of deciding.

@Blondesjon

You seem to read a lot more out of my comments than what is actually there.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic ” I’m not a former user. I’m an active user”. Fair point, perhaps I should have said ‘former non-moderator’. I edited my question (“successfully”), was told to wait for it to be reinstated, only for it to disappear!
And I repeat, what specifically is wrong with this particular question?

@YARNLADY

Other users have reported that they have not been sent emails with editing suggestions.

What is the big deal about getting modded?

It’s not like you are being publicly tarred and feathered. All that happens is that your question is held for edit to clarify or correct spelling- both of which make you look smarter and more coherant.

Relax- edit and move on. It is all good.

@pdworkin With an attitude like yours, I would hazard a guess that you are a Moderator in the making.

@Ivan . . .C’mon Ivan. This is an anonymous forum. Let it all out and turn that perpetual frown of yours upside down. A young man shouldn’t be so sour all the time.

was it something that happened at band camp?

What? Who cares who did it, it’s whoever is on, whoever is checking their mod email…it’s not like one specific mod is out to get you…I mean, is that what you think?

@Blondesjon

This is not a forum and it isn’t anonymous. 4chan is anonymous, Fluther isn’t. We all have usernames and reputations.

By the way, you probably think I’m always angry because I like to respond to comments that I believe are false, regardless of whether I think it’s important, relevant, etc.

@Jeruba “the secret police”. They seem to have similar powers.
(This is getting a bit too serious,I know)
Is anyone going to address my question about my question, though?

@Dog “What is the big deal about getting modded?” There is a fine line between being ‘modded’ and being censored.

@lloydbird By design, we like to keep these discussions private (i.e. between moderators and users). But, since you asked, I will answer. To answer the first part, the reason to keep the initial process anonymous is to (i) prevent users from developing grudges (i.e. shilolo hates me, he always mods my Qs) and (ii) allow multiple moderators to seamlessly work on edited Qs (I may not be online 24/7, but if your edited Q comes back, another mod can pick up the slack and accept it or send it back for more editing).

As for this particular Q, it was returned to you because it was too open-ended. “What are your thoughts on X?” type Qs, with little to no details are typically moderated (as the faq states, open-ended questions with no details or effort can and will be moderated). This was communicated to you in the initial email. You returned the Q essentially unchanged, and it was sent back to you again for (hopefully) more editing, which so far you haven’t done. So, if you had said something like “Which books and/or writing from Khalil Gibran should I start with?” and then said in the details “I have several books, but I’d like some suggestions on where to begin.” it would have been fine.

This has nothing to do with censorship. As @Shilolo states your question was too open ended and would not promote a focused discussion.

You could actually make a series of great questions from the subject.

I have been modded and it is never personal. The mods will tell you why and some are even kind enough to suggest the best way to correct the question.

@shilolo Thank you for the clarification.
So, if I were to ask :- Would you recommend any books by Khalil Gibran or any of his writings?, with my details as you have suggested, would it be accepted?

@lloydbird Yes. My suggested revision was merely meant as a loose framework.

Censorship is systematic suppression of content based on some ideology or view. No censorship is going on here, @lloydbird, and it isn’t a fine line.

[Added]
There is no power here. The very idea is absurd. Nothing that goes on in fluther can possibly control, compel, or command you. Your life is not subject to any authority. It’s just a website. No steps can possibly be taken to prevent you from saying what you want to say in the world. To exercise selectivity over content here in no way impairs your freedom of speech or your right to be heard on any subject, any more than it is either censorship or an exercise of power if a model railroad hobbyists’ site doesn’t want you posting about vintage dolls or the Zen discussion group rejects your notice about a used car for sale.

It is a misunderstanding of the purpose of this site if you think anyone can come here and say anything they want without consequences.

@Jeruba Agreed, but I hope that it doesn’t hurt to check.
@shilolo Thanks again. I shall consider doing so tomorrow. Alas, my bedtime is upon me.

@lloydbird I would add that in the future, you can use the link in the initial moderation communication to reply to the mods with your specific concerns. We will respond in a timely manner, and if the issue is “touchy”, we will have a group discussion to determine the right course of action. No one of us is infallible. We all make mistakes, but as a group we try to act uniformly and rectify mistakes when confronted with them.

Gotta say, I am so sick of this question (or some variation).

Fluther is a private site. Their house, their rules.

Now stop your whining, pick up your toys and crawl over to the next question.

@Jeruba Can I appropriate your comment for the Faq? It is perfectly stated. In any event, I will personally refer people to it directly when accused of censorship in the future.

@shilolo, yes, if you like, but I think those remarks might be a little severe for FAQs. The tone expresses a bit of the same exasperation just reflected by @cprevite, but with the added edge that as an editor I have had to deal with strident whiners on the subject of “censorship” and “power” for nearly 40 years. Maybe that’s not the voice to use on our brand-new members.

If I reject all comments of a certain political orientation or automatically refuse to print anything with your name on it, I am censoring you. If I come to your house with guns and take you away for the things you’ve written, I’m exercising power. If I decline to print your rant in the one little publication I edit, go submit it elsewhere, or take it to the streets. As long as I’m not stopping you from doing that, I’m not interfering with your freedom of speech.

____
P.S. I’ve been modded too. A simple edit took care of it. Everybody needs an editor.

@Jeruba You can be my editor, any time. Wink, wink.

I don’t think the issue was ever about whether Fluther is infringing upon people’s rights or whatnot. The issue was with whether or not moderating questions is a cool thing to do.

inb4ifudunliekitdengitout!

@Ivan . . .“Cool” is a bit subjective isn’t it? Who gets to set that standard?

Hence the necessity of discussing it openly, rather than just letting one or two dudes define it arbitrarily.

This is a discussion site. No one is going to die if your question is modded or not used. Well, except for that one time that @shilolo actually saved someone’s life on here that asked a question. I think it is mainly an issue of feathers being ruffled or feelings getting hurt. I have had a couple questions modded and either I changed them or moved on. In other words, no question should be that important to get so upset about.

@Ivan . . .Which translates into “you” should be at least one of the dudes.

@Blondesjon

That is bullshit and you know it.

@Ivan…If you were to ever create and own a site similar to fluther that does not have an unseen, nameless policing agency who is not accountable to the people in any way, which is not governed by a hierarchy of powerful men or a powerful you, kindly advise. But do so promptly…I suspect it will quickly become chaos.

@whatthefluther

O RLY?

I’ve been to plenty of such sites. Many of them function beautifully.

@Ivan . . .Then perhaps you could frequent those sights when in your more anarchistic moods.

And I know no such thing.

den git out!!

Wis.dm is here. I am here.

@Ivan What are you 2?

@Ivan :: Do you know how much spam gets posted here?

Question : Where can I find a cheap Rolex?
Answer : Link to some bullshit site.

It is mostly at night. And a good majority comes from South Korea. Around 3 AM PST it starts to roll in.

Now here’s a fact, if I were on a dangerous mission in an overgrown jungle, @Ivan is the guy I want on point, because he is ever vigilant, very true to his values (hopefully his values and yours will be the same with regards to this mission). This would probably never happen in my case because I don’t think we would ever have the same beliefs.

However, while I don’t have any really strong feelings one way or the other about this subject, I do think it is strange that anonymity is so important with regard to the modding. If you knew who edited your question, would you sneak over to their house at night and let your dog poop on their lawn or some other dire deed???

I think we’ve gotten off course from “Should people using Fluther be able to know exactly which ‘moderator/s’ have reomved their question…”

@johnpowell

And that is a problem, why? So, some South Korean gets an answer to a stupid question, so what? Maybe if someone down the line googles “Where can I find a cheap Rolex?”, that question would pop up in the results.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic

You’re right, we should definitely delete any comments from here on out that aren’t relevant.

@Ivan :: So you are OK with spam? These responses were coming from two separate accounts on the same IP. It is simply a way to get people to look at their shitty site. Cellphone battery companies in the UK do the same here too.

Sorry, I misunderstood your original post. Ideally such questions would just get ignored. But if you want to remove spam from your website, that’s your right. I’m just talking about the willingness to accept discussion regarding the issue.

@Ivan :: Gotcha. No problem.

@Ivan . . .You _do_realize we share the exact same definition of discussion. We simply differ on who is right. You and I could be brothers.

@Blondesjon

What are you talking about? I’m talking about the willingness to accept and encourage discussion, not who’s right or wrong.

@Ivan @Blondesjon You both have to admit that really deep down in your hearts, you two lurve each other.
This is hilarious!

@cyndihugs . . .No “deep down” about it @cyndihugs. I’d marry the little guy if we lived in Vermont.

I’d sure love to see more questions where @Ivan isn’t being attacked for every comment he makes. The above comments attacking Ivan’s opinions that had nothing to do with the question, based on the guidelines and things I’ve seen get modded before, should have been removed.

As for the question, I don’t see it as a big deal. However, if I had disagreements with a moderator and felt like they were abusing their power, I would bring it up.

Just wanted to add one more argument I see for mod anonymity:

The mods here are also participating members of the community and have developed relationships, both positive and negative, with other members. Anonymity allows us to act without having to think about how our actions will impact those relationships. I don’t think we want our mods to hesitate taking a question down for fear of damaging a friendship, or of incurring the wrath of someone we already have a problematic relationship with.

I’ve seen a mod take down a Q asked by a close relative. We should be able to do that without worrying about how that will ripple out into those relationships. That’s healthier for the site.

Mods are not anonymous – they are clearly listed in the FAQs.
Mods do not need to “sign” their moderations – most are the result of flagging by members of this site.
Mods do not need to “sign” their moderations – many are a group decision.
Mods are not without oversight – the site manager and owners all comment on any questionable decisions.
Mods operate under the direction of the owners of this privately owned site.
Mods are accountable to the owners of the site.
Mods would really appreciate it if disgruntled users would address their issues through the proper channels rather than annoying attacks and accusations of censorship and fascism and various and assorted other insults (or at least this one would).

Hey guys I just got what’s going on?

It’s me. It’s always me. Come on, dish it out… I can take it. ;-)

On a serious note, the mods act anonymously for many of the reasons stated above. If you ever have a question or issue with moderation you can reply to the notification email or send a PM to any of the mods. We act as a team, and any of us can help you, whether or not we had anything to do with your specific issue. If you have a problem with a specific mod, PM me, Andrew or Ben. And take heart… I’ve had a question permanently removed after it got 30+ answers! It happens to most of us at one time or another.

Just out of curiosity: How important is the spell-check guideline to the moderators? Are questions edited or even “reomved” due to a lack of proper spelling? This question survived obviously ;-)

@mattbrowne Good point. I’ve noticed a large amount of questions with spelling/grammar errors that have stayed.

removed by me

@mattbrowne – I have had a question modded because of spelling but I spell very poorly.

I am glad it was. People on fluther would have spent more time correcting my spelling than answering my quesiton.

@Bri_L: pssst. It’s “question” not “quesiton”.

Sorry – couldn’t resist.

@cprevite – HAHAHA. Very good! Lurve! I didn’t even see that.

@mattbrowne Hah! I didn’t even notice that. <Hangs head in shame>
If I had, it would have been “reomved” for editing at once. :P

…and so, having had to push myself, a full hour beyond my practical time for going to sleep, to vent my frustration at being prevented, by someone, for some (still obscure) reason, from having a, perhaps, enlightening and stimulating discourse about an eminent poet/writer/artist of apparent great merit, from the not too distant past. With people who may have known more than myself about him. Who might have shared some insight that would have thrilled or dissuaded me. Having paid the price of this ’ questionable intervention ’ in terms of working with insufficient rest, I return to view the ‘fun and games’ that have occurred in my absence, and in my (weakened state )-: ) find myself being consigned to the ”..strident whiner..” cupboard @Jeruba. I find that much mutual massaging has occurred – lurvewise. I find references to the fact that this site is “Privately owned” being proffered as justification for anything that happens on it with regard to the activities of the ‘chosen few’ @syz . “It’s my ball and I get to choose who plays”? I find that the few brave souls who have dared (Admirably in my humble opinion) to align themselves, to any degree, against the resident mighty ones, in this instance, have had to endure varying shades of hostility. I find that this thread is being cited as a useful, if not excellent example, of an illustration of how no such thing as biased, slanted or vindictive views could possibly be expressed by one of the ‘High’ @shilolo .
And yet, I haven’t seen anyone say that ” It was me, I moderated your question. This is why. No big deal. It was on my watch. Lets move on.” or some such.
But there you go.

@lloydbird Anonymous means anonymous. Do you really expect someone to raise their hand? You got a very definitive explanation from me. What more do you want, because you clearly don’t want to ask your actual question.

@shilolo But I did. And now don’t. Thanks to someone.

@lloydbird You need somebody to blame it on, is that all you want? I raise my hand, you can blame it on me if you want. No need to try to word your question properly, or follow the guidelines, or anything like that. Just let me take the blame.

You are a love. @YARNLADY

Dude! How unreasonable can you be? No one told you you couldn’t post your question – they merely suggested that you mildly alter it so that it fit the format of this site better. If you are so interested in this topic as to complain endlessly, why can’t you take 10 seconds to edit your question?

Amount of time spent complaining about the moderation….hours.
Amount of time needed to modify question…1–2 minutes.
Priorities…?

This is really amazing.

As a final footnote on this, on my part at least (unless anyone wants to take it further) ; There is and was always more to the provocation for this question than some perceived dislike at being moderated. I too have been moderated a number of times before and have been happy to either edit or abandon my question without fuss. But this was before a number of events occurred here on Fluther with regard to my usage of it. They may be imagined on my part or may, as I suspect, have some substance to them. My preference would be that the former was the case.
To illustrate what I mean, I would ask you to consider the following scenario :

You discover and begin to use this site. You are having a great time with it. Your questions get a substantial amount of responses. The usual welcomes, the friendly and not so friendly challenges (all part of the fun). The helpful advice with regard to usage. The interaction with the long standing users and with the newer. After a while you begin to notice a few things. The frequent responders, the occasional responders. Those whose response you could almost set you clock by, as it were. You may then pick up on some terminologies such as “Flame Wars”, “Shills” and “Newbies” etc. You may notice a sense of apparent ‘greater entitlement’, even greater ‘ownership’ that is held by some, simply by virtue of their having been here longer! You may think that you perceive some ‘sacred cows’ whose views appear to be beyond challenge, and who quickly change into ‘hissing cobras’, spitting venom, if not approached with due deference. But no matter, “it’s a great site”, you tell yourself, “great fun, a great resource”. You laugh (sometimes out loud), you learn, you get help (sometimes crucial). You may also think that you detect cliques.

So you go on. You find yourself using every day (Please excuse the drug analogy). You look forward to seeing developments. You may find yourself think about what questions to ask as you go about your day. I’m sure that there is nothing uncommon here.
Now from time to time, you may, if you are not careful, tread on some toes. You may express a provocative view. You may inadvertantly cause insult. And if you do, you may find yourself apologizing for any transgressions. And rightly so.

You may think that you have caused someone to feel belittled by your comments or phraseology. You might think that you could have worded a response more tactfully. But passions may have been inflamed in the heat of debate. And the time passes. And the opportunity to make amends passes. You might then notice that some responders, the long standing frequent ones, don’t seem to be appearing so regularly in the responses to your questions. You might notice that a whole bunch of people, regular people, no longer appear. (Before you say it, I know, it could just be that my questions are crap!) And you might think “Mmm, could this be coordinated. Do people brief against others here?”. The politics of the school playground? You might then think “I can live with that, it’s unfortunate, I wish it wasn’t so, but hey,so be it,there are plenty more people here”. Now, if you then discover that a person that you think you may have affected in one of the afore mentioned way is a Moderator, you could be forgiven for thinking that there may be some adverse repercussions coming your way. Perhaps some obstructive behaviour. So when you then ask what you believe to be a question that will be acceptable (Due to having asked, and seen asked and accepted, questions with the same basic structure, before) and it gets rejected, you might think “I wonder!”. And, in this situation, you simply have no way of knowing. Hence this question.

I still maintain that it would be useful to know which moderators are on duty (if indeed that is how it operates) aside from for the reasons that I have outlined.

There is safety in accountability. But not in accountability to the unaccountable.

@lloydbird: I am fairly certain that you are reading into this far to much. I would bet dollars to donuts there is no axe grinding going on here.

Now, seriously, go back to enjoying the site.

@cprevite Thank you. Ok I will.

@lloydbird – I have to agree with this part

You discover and begin to use this site. You are having a great time with it. Your questions get a substantial amount of responses. The usual welcomes, the friendly and not so friendly challenges (all part of the fun). The helpful advice with regard to usage. The interaction with the long standing users and with the newer. After a while you begin to notice a few things. The frequent responders, the occasional responders. Those whose response you could almost set you clock by, as it were. You may then pick up on some terminologies such as “Flame Wars”, “Shills” and “Newbies” etc. You may notice a sense of apparent ‘greater entitlement’, even greater ‘ownership’ that is held by some, simply by virtue of their having been here longer! You may think that you perceive some ‘sacred cows’ whose views appear to be beyond challenge, and who quickly change into ‘hissing cobras’, spitting venom, if not approached with due deference. But no matter, “it’s a great site”, you tell yourself, “great fun, a great resource”. You laugh (sometimes out loud), you learn, you get help (sometimes crucial). You may also think that you detect cliques.

But, as you noted, I go on. Because that imitates life. I don’t believe that it is intentional here anymore than anywhere else.

I also, having looked at your questions, have not answered all of them even though many have come up. That, in large part has to do with the lucky fact that I got hit with some freelance work. I have never been contacted by any individual, mod or otherwise, about you or anyone else as far as ignoring their question. I have gotten thanks for answers, help and support I have given. That’s it.

Finally, I can tell you, from my stand point, that I find you a valuable member of the collective. I understand the desire to know. I hope you can find a way past it.

Thanks @Bri_L , the feeling is mutual.
I’m going to heave myself up out of this pit of despair and try and carry on!!
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

> “Mmm, could this be coordinated. Do people brief against others here?”

I honestly have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but I can tell you for certain that I have never been part of, party to, or exposed to such a thing, and personally I don’t believe it happens. If I thought there were little clubs and blacklists and such, I wouldn’t be here. To me it sounds like you’re making inferences and leaps and suppositions and even unfounded veiled accusations. I do gather that you’re unhappy about how it’s going for you here, and if I were unhappy I suppose I might be seeing things differently too. But I just don’t think I’d be imagining a conspiracy. Instead I’d probably just be saying “Hmm—not my crowd, I guess.”

There are lots of reasons why people don’t answer questions. If I don’t have anything to add or see a fight brewing or just have seen the same question too many times, I move on. There are only a couple of people whose questions I will never answer, and they are just personal things with me, not discussed with anyone, and you are not one off them. I don’t think you can draw any conclusions from patterns that probably have nothing to do with you and much more to do with time zone, people’s school and work obligations, moods, and what have you.

If you stick around for a while, maybe you’ll gain a different perspective over time. I did, after some initial rough spots.

@Jeruba That’s kind of what I was thinking, if this is so, howcome I never got the memo?

I have never once seen any coordinated effort to ‘blacklist’ anyone. Never.

Yes. That way you can know who you are dealing with. When mods are all parroting the same line, and it makes no sense, it’s kind of like talking to a marshmallow.

I think things can be appealed to bendrew, but I’m not sure. However, I think they tend to back the mods. Kind of like husbands and wives with their kids. If you said it, then I’ll back you up, even if I disagree with you.

It can be enormously frustrating. But, hey. No one is always understood by everyone. If they want details where details ruin the question, what can you do? You can’t argue with anyone because you have no idea who made the decision. So you gotta let it go.

Sometimes I’ll say, in the details, that I don’t want to add details because I want people to respond in terms of what pops into their minds. I don’t want to prejudice them to interpret the words in any particular way, because part of the question is to see how the words are interpreted.

That does kind of ruin the question, but you might get something interesting. I’ve had questions modded in this way where I already got ten or twenty really interesting answers by the time it’s modded. I believe that is not taken into account. It appears to me that whether or not a question works, if it doesn’t follow one of the mods views on the rules, you’re sol.

Don’t get me wrong. As far as I’ve seen it, they usually do a really good job. But, every once in a while, they totally blow it. They’re human. Or, so they want us to believe. Probably they’re hiding the fact that they have merged into a hive mind ;-)

[Edit]
Another thing that is mysterious to me is whether mods volunteer or are invited to become mods.

Also, I wanted to say that insofar as I understand them, I support the rules and think they are generally good. I do, however, think they are interpreted incorrectly from time to time. In the US, you could always appeal it to the Supreme Court, and even they get it wrong occasionally. So it goes.

http://www.fluther.com/faq/
The above is what we try to stick with.

@daloon In answer to your last question, some are asked to volunteer their time to be mods, some volunteer to volunteer their time to be mods. Not all that are asked elect to become mods, and not all that volunteer are ultimately selected to be mods.

@augustlan Another prompt for this Q is something that Eric (one of the founders) said on
‘youtube’ with regard to “disruptive” people coming onto Fluther. I’ve tried, without success, to make a link to the page, but it is the one where Eric and Ben are interviewed in a street by someone called ‘digidavid’. Entering Fluther onto ‘Youtube’ brings it up. You’ll see what I mean at about two and a half minutes into the video. He (Eric) speaks of how “disruptive people” will be “organically…silenced” by being “shunned” by the established Fluther “community”. You can understand, I hope, that I did not want to fall into that category. And anyway, how would this “organic” shunning work?

@lloydbird I interpret that to mean that the disruptive people will not be readily accepted in the community because the individual members will not wish to interact with them. Organic vs. Orchestrated. See the difference?

@augustlan If that is the case, then that would be a comfort.
If someone does not want to engage, fair enough.
If it is something other (which I now very much doubt), then I hope you can understand my initial concern.

@lloydbird – I don’t think you have to worry. In fact I think quite the opposite is true. Not only do I think that no body, no matter how long they have been here or what their perceived popularity is has, is or would try to orchestrate the shunning of someone, I don’t think they would tolerate it either. I truly don’t.

Cheers @Bri_L , you certainly are a comfort. You furry little dude.(-:

@lloydbird – Hehe. Peace my flowered friend.

@lloydbird @augustlan Who is this founder named Eric?

@chyna That’s who Ben introduces him as on the video. Unless I had a mindfart!

sferic

Not a founder.