NYT: Dangers of "moderatocracy"

[BigSeikoFan]

Maybe things were bad at "the other place" but it's sounds as if it's far from unique when human moderators are involved... Check out this NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/ma...ies-below&_r=0

[Perseus]

Pretty interesting. I believe in freedom of speech but I also believe a company has the right to censor the content it's hosting. I wonder what places like Reddit would be like if people could not post anonymously. I don't think people would say and do such horrible things when their identity is known, but they would probably hold back a lot of honesty and keep their secrets to themselves.

[OTGabe]

It's a tough balance, to be sure. Apart from the fact that anonymity can lead to cruelty and unkindness that many would never show in real life, people just have different ways of responding to opposing viewpoints. That's one reason why we (and many other forums) don't allow political and religious discussion. To one person, it's an abstract argument that is not much different than debating their favorite restaurant or sports team. To others, it's the fundamental basis of who they are as a person, and they can not separate the viewpoint from the person. Inevitably it leads to bad blood and divisions among a group of people who otherwise may have gotten along swimmingly. Trying to 'moderate' such things is a fool's errand.

[RayMac]

I have never felt that being a WUS Moderator made me any better or worse than the average Member. Maybe I knew a bit more what went on behind the curtain but that was it. I always felt I served the Membership not myself and I served at the pleasure of the Owner (whom I respected.)
I left after things changed dramatically with new ownership. Other Mods who I like & respect stayed on and as far as I know are still doing their best.
I don't think there is a moderatocracy here either.

[whatmeworry]

I modded years ago on a gaming and movie forum and I know what hard work it can be, that site was very small but the members were mostly teenage males so things had a tendency to get out of hand very quickly without intervention. That place, like IWL, was run purely for fun and the people who modded did it because they cared about the site. When commercial interests gets involved things get a lot more complicated, as has been seen at Reddit (and to a lesser extent WUS).