Are the Mods handling these forums as well as they could be? How can we help them?


Let me begin by congratulating the mods on the job they are doing here, as one who has had experience doing the very same job on forums it is a usually a thankless unpaid task that garners no friends in any quarter!

That being said I am of the belief that just deleting posts that are deemed inappropriate is not the best way to handle the rabble rousers who are left free to perform said actions again and again and again.
This is a select few who are well known to the majority but can and do spoil many a decent thread and have indeed caused a number of once regular contributers to go "dark".
My proposal would be for the mods to tally up infractions for inappropriate posts and after a certain points limit is hit then an automatic ban should occur, the severity of which would be decided by the mods based on the manner of the infractions. I have found that if posters know there is a system in place that could limit their freedom to post they usually think twice about said posts and if not , well soon enough they become irrelevant anyway.

I am also accustomed to the mods being well known to other members, not faceless entities although this is not the end of the world just a little odd from my previous background.

What do the Audiogon membership think on this matter?

I sincerely hope the mods do not remove this thread as it is not intended as direct criticism , rather as a tool to help them possibly deal with the increasing problem in a way that the membership would be most comfortable with.
128x128uberwaltz

Showing 1 response by whart

The TOU here, like most boards, prohibit posts that are abusive, harassing, etc, and permit the PTB (Powers That Be) to remove offending posts or terminate accounts.
In my experience, boards have a culture and are within that culture, self-moderating; in other words, posts that go beyond the norms are either reported or there is push-back from other members.
I played consigliere to one board some time ago (having nothing to do with audio). The amount of time devoted to dealing with zany users, snark fights and the like, was considerable.
This board seems to be fairly tolerant in allowing some in-fighting among posters, but will zap stuff that gets political or is otherwise inappropriate. I don’t think there’s much more that you can ask for; from my perspective, the moderation here is not heavy handed, and doesn’t seem biased.
I do wish the technological capabilities of the board were a little more advanced, but it serves its purpose.