Meta Question

Violet's avatar

Who are the moderators?

Asked by Violet (6594points) December 19th, 2009

I just asked 2 questions that had “problems”, and I was told many times to talk to a moderator. One of the question was about fluther, and I got a message saying to just as a moderator instead of asking fluther.. because they want to keep fluther clean.

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

81 Answers

augustlan's avatar

[mod says] If you ever have a question about moderation, you can either click on the “contact” button on the top right of the page or PM one of us. Right now, the mods are:

PnL
Shilolo
Allie
omfgTALIjustIMDu
Harp
Syz
Dog
Petethepothead
EmpressPixie
and me.

Violet's avatar

@augustlan – then I’d like to make a complaint- I think it is annoying that I have to edit the questions I just asked. They were fine, with plenty of detail. Being told it isn’t good enough for a real discussion is insulting.

Response moderated
jackm's avatar

FIGHT THE POWER!!

Violet's avatar

@Symbeline – do you really think he’s creepy? Are you form AB? Guys on there use to tell me they thought about me when they masturbated. THAT is creepy

tyrantxseries's avatar

yay the new mod questions have arrived

Violet's avatar

@jackm and @tyrantxseries
is moderation an issue here on fluther?
I searched for this question, but found no results. I even searched the help/about/guideline section.

Berserker's avatar

@Violet Nah I’m just being an ass. I don’t know who they are, aside from one user called Dog. And yes I’m from AB. That explains the random bullshit I keep posting all over this forum. :)

Allie's avatar

@Violet If they were fine, then they wouldn’t have been sent back to you for editing. Also, when a question gets sent back to you for editing it doesn’t mean we rejected it. It just means that you need to add something to make it a better question. Regarding the question you’re concerned about, stating “my answer is DP” in the details isn’t very specific at all. It’s been pushed back to you with suggestions so that you’ll get better answers to your question.
Mods aren’t out to get you. Also, if you searched the guidelines section, then you would have found out who the mods are without asking a question.

Violet's avatar

@Allie – I think “detail” is over rated, and unnecessary for my adult question.

tyrantxseries's avatar

you didn’t search very well lol 100’s of these questions, the mods are posted in my next answer

tyrantxseries's avatar

didn’t work right lol, Edit: here

How does moderation work?

We have a team of volunteer moderators who are members just like you. They are appointed by andrew, the community leader and co-founder. They are notified when other members flag content, and may decide to moderate that content. For questions, if it doesn’t fit in with the guidelines of the site, or is similar to a lot of recently-asked questions, it may get pushed back to editing. The user who asked the question will be notified via email (so make sure you verify your email address!) about the reasons for removal, and then the user has the opportunity to respond. If there’s indecision about whether a question should be moderated, the moderation team discusses it. Our moderation team sleeps, too, so if we don’t respond to your flag right away, be patient. If you have questions about the moderation process, feel free to contact the mod team or the community manager, augustlan.

The current moderators are:

* omfgTALIjustIMDu
* syz
* Allie
* petethepothead
* shilolo
* Dog
* PnL
* Harp
* augustlan
* EmpressPixie

Allie's avatar

@Violet The details section is there for a reason. Did you even read what the mod team suggested when we pushed the question back to you? If you don’t want to edit your question that’s fine. You can always abandon a question.

Violet's avatar

@tyrantxseries – you don’t need to be rude. Why would I go through 100’s of questions. And your link, does not have a list of the moderators.

jackm's avatar

@Violet
I dont think the mods are a problem. I havent really felt stifled.

Violet's avatar

@Allie – Yes I read what they suggested. Detail was not needed for the question. I had ONE question.. if I wanted to ask 5 different question, I’d ASK 5 different questions. Not shove them into the details section. So why is the detail section SO important? Being told to edit my question because it doesn’t have enough detail is insulting to me. It’s like saying, “your question isn’t good enough for us”

Allie's avatar

@Violet If your question was sent back to you then it wasn’t good enough. We’re not telling you to give up, we’re trying to help you make it better. The details section is to provide background information or to explain your question a bit better so that people understand and can give you good answers.

Violet's avatar

@Allie – and THAT doesn’t sound rude to you? Who is your “boss” here?

tyrantxseries's avatar

@Violet
“is moderation an issue here on fluther?” 100’s of questions about “why did my question get modded?”

“I searched for this question, but found no results.” not going to waste time posting links to these questions…

I even searched the help/about/guideline section. this is in the Guidlines

NO, it’s not rude…It’s called life sucks, you play by the Owner of the site rules or don’t play at all

Allie's avatar

@Violet No, it didn’t sound rude to me. Like I said before, mods aren’t out to get you. We don’t really care who you are.. if your question isn’t acceptable for Fluther, then it isn’t acceptable for Fluther. (Obviously yours was acceptable after it had been edited since it’s back up.) If you don’t want to talk to me then that’s okay and perfectly fine by me. You can talk to the community manager, @augustlan. P.S. – She’ll most likely tell you the exact same thing I’m telling you.

Good luck.

Violet's avatar

@tyrantxseries – “It’s called life sucks”..
what does that have to do with ANYthign we were talking about?

dpworkin's avatar

@Violet The mods got my back up for a long time on Fluther. I just resented them. I really don’t any longer. I’m glad they are here and I find them quite useful; I have never known them to be arbitrary (except one, who is gone) and I think that if you think of them the way a good writer thinks of a good editor you’ll eventually be glad they are here, too.

Violet's avatar

@Allie – it’s not that I don’t want to talk to you, I just want to see if I can convince someone of my suggestions. Is there anyone higher up than augustlan?

Violet's avatar

@pdworkin – I was told by a professor once, to leave out the filler. It is unnecessary to add random detail to take up space, just to pass a length requirement.It is better to keep a point short.

Allie's avatar

@Violet The founders of the site are Andrew and Ben. Tim is a Fluther staff member and works very closely with both of the founders.

I hope you find someone you can talk about this with. It’s 2:43 am here and I’m going to bed. If no one responds immediately, please be patient. The mods/managers/founders/staff are probably sleeping. Someone will get back to you once they see the message.

Violet's avatar

@Allie – I’ll do it tomorrow. I have to get to bed too. Thank you

Zen_Again's avatar

I am creepy – but I’m no mod.

Does omfgTALIjustIMDu exist? I have never seen him/her say anything.

Berserker's avatar

@Zen_Again You damn well know whoever the fuck that is is real. :)

Judi's avatar

@Violet ; if you don’t like moderation, you might be happier at askville.com. Most of the people who stick around here are happy that there is quality control and really good moderators. Maybe we should declare a moderator appreciation week! I would never want their job! I can’t believe they put up with so much abuse for free.

Kelly_Obrien's avatar

@Violet You rock girl! Stick to your guns and don’t back down!

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

@Violet If I can put my two cents worth in. The topic area for questions related to sexuality is much smaller on Fluther than it was on AB. The users there tended to understand the acronyms and abbreviations more readily. I think what the moderators are asking for here are questions that “stand alone” in that the reader doesn’t have to consult other reference sources in understanding the question. This does make the question longer, but that is why the secondary discussion section is provided. I know that it can seem a hassle to redefine your terms with every question.

Fluther is a smaller community and not fragmented into detailed topical groups that have little interaction with one another, such as the “old” AB. Because of this, we have to ask our questions in such a way that all users can understand them. I’m having to do this in crafting questions on genetics and physics. Once you get used to it, I think you’ll find that the extra effort is worth it; a question as a freestanding unit separate from a specialized audience.

BTW: Our Zen friend is indeed mild compared to the some of the creeps that frequented our former home

omfgTALIjustIMDu's avatar

@Symbeline, I am indeed real ;) and it’s my third year anniversary here! PARTY!

asmonet's avatar

@omfgTALIjustIMDu: I miss you, darling. :)

omfgTALIjustIMDu's avatar

@stranger_in_a_strange_land, check the bushes in the front lawn.
@asmonet, i miss you too <444

Likeradar's avatar

I thought Thecompassionateheretic was a mod?

dpworkin's avatar

Mistah Heretic, he dead.

willbrawn's avatar

@violet by this time wouldn’t it have been easier to just fix your question?

Zen_Again's avatar

I resemble that remark about being mild.

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

@Zen_Again My apologies, sir. Violet has had to deal with some real bottom-feeders at our previous home.

HasntBeen's avatar

@Violet: the moderation here is clearly “heavier” than on Answerbag. That’s the local culture… some people like it that way, some don’t. The chances that the culture will change because somebody doesn’t like it seem slim to none. I suggest that if you want the full freedom of expression that Answerbag allows, you post there. Personally, I’ve seen enough of that freedom to know that my time is too valuable… there is too much junk on AB that ought to get moderated away for my tastes.

It’s a big Internet, there’s room for every kind of site.

jackm's avatar

@Zen_Again
You do sort of look like it…

Supacase's avatar

I find the mods here to be better than on any other site where I have spent much time. The aren’t drunk with power.

I have had questions sent back for editing and don’t really see why it is an issue. It takes a couple of minutes at most and isn’t worth getting upset about, IMO. At least one of mine was to add more details. I even had one sent back because I transposed two letters in one of the title words; something like “avaliable” instead of “available” – I kind of rolled my eyes and fixed it.

Dog's avatar

We are very happy to help re-phrase questions when possible to meet our guidelines.
Please never take needing to edit a question personal- it never is.

augustlan's avatar

Truly, the moderation is never personal. In fact most (all?) of the moderators have been moderated themselves!

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

@Dog @augustlan I want to thank you for your help with that problem. It appears to have stopped now. :^)

Violet's avatar

@stranger_in_a_strange_land – Thank you for your answer. It made me feel the most welcome.

Violet's avatar

@Kelly_Obrien – thank you SO much! : ) that was very sweet of you
@HasntBeen and @Judi – are you saying you’d like me to leave?
@willbrawn – I did. But since I kept getting told to talk to a mod, I needed to know who they were, so I asked this question
@Dog – ok thank you

Judi's avatar

@Violet; Of course not. I have been a member of both communities and it just seemed like the environment there is more like the one you’re trying to get fluther to change to.

HasntBeen's avatar

@Violet—no, I’m not asking that. And that comment suggests the same hypersensitivity that made this thread so long in the first place. It really is not about you personally, and there’s no harm in just letting things go. Nobody is out to get you.

Violet's avatar

@HasntBeen – If you think/know I am so “hypersensitive”, why would you even say this:
“And that comment suggests the same hypersensitivity that made this thread so long in the first place”

Violet's avatar

@Judi – I go where my friends go. I don’t mean to come in a “change” everything, I just thought I had a pretty good suggestion, that’s all.

TominLasVegas's avatar

Big Brother is watching us,,,and its crap.

dpworkin's avatar

@TominLasVegas You can go in any chatroom and say whatever you want. but when you come to a structured site you follow the guidelines. It’s not crap, It makes a better experience for everyone. Try 4chan, see how you like a nice unmoderated site.

TominLasVegas's avatar

I AM following guidlines!I’ve posted nothing obscene or rude.

dpworkin's avatar

Great, so why complain?

Violet's avatar

@pdworkin – because we feel fluther may be unfairly over-moderating, because we have been following the guidelines.

dpworkin's avatar

Believe me, I get modded all the time. Just today a post of mine was modded off. I thought it was inexplicable, but I have learned not to sweat it. I used to bitch about it, but I soon learned that gets you nowhere.

stranger_in_a_strange_land's avatar

@Violet I think what your professor was saying about brevity was intended for academic papers and articles in peer-reviewed journals. Here it’s more like writng for Scientific American or Discover, where you are expected to bring your reader up to speed to an extent.Your professor and I propobably wouldn’t get along. I belong to the William F. Buckley school of verbiage in both speech and writing

TominLasVegas's avatar

@pdworkin

Because my questions AND answers are being removed for no real reason.I dont get a real explanation.and that isn’t right.

Dog's avatar

@TominLasVegas As you were typing this I was sending you a PM with explanation on why your questions were sent to edit as well as suggestions on how to edit.. Please check your inbox.:)

Fernspider's avatar

I really don’t think the modding is as personal as some people are thinking it is. Quality control retains integrity of the site, to which I am grateful.

Violet's avatar

@stranger_in_a_strange_land – if I ask the question, “what sexual act have you not done that you would like to try”, it doesn’t need any details. That questions couldn’t be more straight forward.
Even with THIS question, “who are the moderators”, I was forced to ad detail, which was totally unnecessary.

dpworkin's avatar

@Violet That’s the way the site founders wanted it, so that’s what we do. What’s the big deal? How long can it take? What does it cost you? It’s just part of the terms of being on this site.

Violet's avatar

@pdworkin – it’s not about time or “cost, it’s about dumbing questions down.

dpworkin's avatar

Well, it’s only polite. Not everyone here is as smart as you are :)

Violet's avatar

@pdworkin – if people are able to use a computer, get on fluther, ask and answer questions, then they are smart enough to not have questions dumbed down for them

dpworkin's avatar

Man, you sure seem to want to beat this to death.

Violet's avatar

And why shouldn’t I? Everyone seems to just want to explain to me why I am so wrong.

Violet's avatar

look what I found: http://www.fluther.com/disc/66107/what-is-a-disco-stick/
a question with NO details…

augustlan's avatar

@Violet If you had asked “What is DP (sexually)?”, that wouldn’t have needed any details, either. However, we don’t allow poll-like questions… “What is your (favorite/best/funniest/worst whatever)?”, “Do you like (knitting, The Simpsons, sex)?”, “What is something you’ve never done?”... all of those questions require supporting details in order to follow the guidelines.

Violet's avatar

@augustlan all of those questions don’t seem to need detail

Allie's avatar

@Violet If you don’t add any details to the questions @augustlan listed then they would all be removed for being poll-like (assuming there is a mod active on the site who sees it). We can’t make you add details, but we’re explaining to you why we’d pull that question if there aren’t details.

avvooooooo's avatar

@Violet The fact remains that those questions do need details to remain on the site. The reason for this makes it one of the easier to use sites I have encountered. If a question has detail, its easier to answer and answers are more likely to be what you’re looking for. Instead of being disappointed by answers that don’t really answer your question and having to clarify later, its better to add details so you find real answers early on. Details help everyone. If you don’t want to add details and help people answer your question, you won’t get good answers and the quality of the site will be brought down as far as both the discussion on your question and the usefulness of your question for anyone searching who happens across it. The moderators are here and are working to improve the quality of the site and the questions, they are not out to get you. If you prefer a site with less moderation, I have to echo those who suggested Askville. But the reason that people are telling you that you’re wrong is that you are wrong. People have tried to explain it to you, hopefully its making sense now, but the collective experience with Q&A sites told the founders and many others that this makes sense to that the way to get the answer you’re looking for is to ask the question clearly enough to get it. And that includes adding details to clarify what you’re asking.

Violet's avatar

I had a funny joke, but it was from South Park, and you all don’t seem like the type to watch that show.
Anyway, even with the detail, this site is still so much better than AB.

jonsblond's avatar

try us. you might be surprised! :)

augustlan's avatar

Lots of South Park fans, here. :P

Violet's avatar

“rabble rabble rabble rabble!!!!” (it’s in a few episodes, but that is what people in a crowd say when they are arguing. It was in this episode when Cartman blacks out, and goes back in time to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.)

jonsblond's avatar

@Violet Rabble rabble rabble makes me think of this episode.

Mr. Hankey is a Christmas favorite around my house. :)

Violet's avatar

@jonsblond that is such a great episode! I love it

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