I wanted to hold off on this post until tempers cooled off from a few days ago.
The life of a Forum moderator is not easy. But arguably, how moderation is applied determines the 'feel' of a Forum.
Too little, and you get a free for all. I participated in a community Forum on Bowen Island, which had pretty much the same few rules as those here. The difference was that the moderator rarely stepped in, even when those emotional islanders stepped over the line. I once had someone with whom I disagreed with threaten to cut off a certain portion of my anatomy, and that post (and poster) still stayed active. The result of that moderation was that although most everyone on the island read the Forum, few posted (because of fear). And that is still the case today.
A moderator cannot allow personal opinions affect what he/she does (and sometimes that is more difficult than anything else). Otherwise, you eventually just end up with posts that mirror what the moderator thinks. Those posters that have a brain and their own opinions will go elsewhere.
Similarly, the moderator has to park his/her ego at the door. If you are doing a good job, you have a healthy, active Forum consisting of a variety of opinions from a large number of posters. If a moderator continuously sings the praises of himself and the Forum as an entity separate from the posters, you eventually end up with posters that gratuitously suck up to the moderator, and a lot of fluff threads as a consequence.
Finally, the moderator cannot intervene too much. Sometimes it is tempting, as rules are open to interpretation, and quite often there are those who skirt awfully close to the line of what is or isn't allowed. Coming down with a hammer just discourages everyone. Gentle persuasion is the key, with the hammer as only the last resort.
I've been involved with this Forum for almost 10 years. I've considered participating more in other places, but have declined to do so, largely because of the tone, which goes straight back to the moderation.
We should consider ourselves lucky here. We have great moderators. There's a lot of freedom for many different opinions; all you have to do is follow several simple rules - keep it on-topic, keep it respectful, and keep it legal. If we, as the posters, can do that, then we will likely never even see the moderation.
And that's a good thing.
It isn't hard to understand that you are at someone elses house, not your own. Someone else buys the bandwidth, not you. Common respect and courtesy is all it takes..
There's nothing wrong with heated debate as long as the respect factor is involved. Everyones view is different and this must be expected and accepted by all..
It's a tough deed to hang the personal hat up and put on the moderator hat at times. (I'm a moderator at a much larger site than this and a few others) I've upheld the rights for folks that I know I couldn't meet after work for a beer. (Long time members that I've been involved with for 10+ years) I might dislike them personally but what's right is right, as long as they stay inside the boundries..
Sometimes the moderator needs to throw his/her weight around just to let everyone know it's not the wild, wild West. Some respect it and some hate it but.. Until one pays the bills, they need to remember where they are at..
Neal is much more forgiving than I would have been in a few cases that I've seen. Respect him for being a VERY understanding person and I fully understand what he goes through.
Also, most don't realize the things that goes on behind the curtain that he needs to do to keep the chaos to a mininum. Bless him for everything he does for this place..
Thanks, ArtisanRadio.. We needed that..
I'm thankful for this forum. As a "Weekend Engineer" type, I'm here for the technical discussion and what others are doing with their stations, seeing pictures of someone's actual project they've built, studio, transmitter, antenna installs, actual tests, videos, simulations, curves, schematics, diagrams, I lap that stuff up like a hungry cat.
I don't care about the Rules per se, it's a negative, overworked topic that does more damage within the radio community. I believe that the time it takes to write downer posts, could be time spent saying something positive to your listeners, even if it's just "Happy Thanksgiving" today. I think Atrain has it right too, he rants to his own community, about social issues.
Down with authority, rot all rulers, never say die. Still, this is a better forum than most others, the language is "clean", and that makes it different, and also I think moderation is better than many other smaller communities where the leadership seems to treat their members poorly, and yet their followers try to worship them and gain acceptance into the Kingdom.
I've tried to say some of what you just said too about Radio and what is killing it. Thanks for being on the same page. Keep checking the topic I Believe. That is the one that talks about some positive change on the way.