I'm sure most of you will recognize that I don't post on here all too often. In the past I never really paid much attention to just how long it takes from the time I post a message/reply until the time I actually see it show up on the board. But lately, in the rare times that I do post, it seems to take an enormous amount of time before it shows up. (The latest example was well over 24 hours.)
Now as I understand it, there are those of us who are restricted (moderated) and those who are not. Maybe I am in the "minority" being a moderated person, but sometimes it feels like I have no way of keeping up with the "conversation" on the board. By the time my post shows up, it seems as though the topic is over and done with.
Why on earth does it take SO long for a post to be "blessed" by TER before it shows up on the board?
**THIS IS A TEST**
*******As an unscientific "test", I'd like to request that the FIRST PERSON WHO READS THIS POST to also please be the first person to respond. Then would that person please put a date and time "stamp" in their reply so everyone including myself can see approximately just how long it is from now until this post actually shows up.
The date and time now is 8/13/04, 1:41 AM********
Sorry moderator, I am just curious.
I'd be glad to answer your question. Usually, I get to check posts 2-3 times a day. Lately though I have been buried under piles of work.
When you post (and are moderated) the message states your post will be approved within 24hours. Certain posts dont get approved for more than 24hrs because the person has had questionable posts in the past & not approving it for 24hrs makes it impossible for them to edit the post later.
For the rest of the posts (not included in the prior statement) are approved ASAP. For those post on a regular basis, after a few posts if I see nothing against posting guidelines your unmoderated.
For those of you like "scorpman", I do apologize but atm I am extremely busy & doing the best I can ATM.
pluged
I don't quite understand the ability to edit posts within 24 hours thing as I have never edited one of my posts in the past, but then perhaps I don't even have the option to edit them if what you say is true about people like me having to wait more than 24 hours to see their posts. Is this waiting 24+ hours a TER wide policy or just your own method to insure nothing bad squeezes through the cracks?
I'm also confused about those who are unmoderated. Do their posts show up as soon as they click "send" regardless if you see it first or not? You mention only being able to check posts 2 or 3 times per day, but it seems new posts are showing up at all different times of the day.
While I am not complaining to you personally, pluged, it seems to me TER is trying to have it both ways. Is it me, or should they either have an open forum for discussion where a part time (non paid) volunteer checks in to make sure nothing bad is going on for too long of a period, or should they have a full time PAID moderator to rule the board before any post makes on it there? I sympathize with this strange role it seems the moderators have been asked to do here, especially as it is a non paid volunteer position as I understand it.
The reason posts are showing up all day is because those people posting are unmoderated. Yes, once they click "yes" it does post to the board without me reviewing it. The 24hr rule is something that is not TER policy but something that a few moderators do. Though, the majority of people's posts dont sit for 24hrs... just a very select few.
To answer your question about paying someone to moderate the boards from what "Staff" has explained it pertains to a legal matter... if they were to pay someone to moderate the boards then TER would have to enfore certain rules; as they could be held liable for what is said/occurs on the boards. Since everything on the site; i.e. reviews are considered to be "fiction stories" as noted below (from rules you see when posting a review).
15. We consider all reviews to be fictional stories that are posted by TER solely for entertainment purposes.
BEFORE "pluged" my posts were not "moderated" at all and displayed instantly.
Nothing changed about my posting style. The only change was "pluged".
The community rap is that "plugged" has provider favorites and tries to control any posts that do not maitain anything but flawless images for his fav's.
I've read several comments on other boards about how and why "pluged" does this on TER. I believe it.
I understand TER has had moderators that fell into this "quid-pro-quo" and when it's reported to them, the mod is replaced. I'm saving all the posts that have been delayed and denied by "pluged" so that they can be reviewed at an appropriate time.
Krunchie, I regret to inform you that while you might not approve of my moderating style; I would appreciate it if you didnt make false claims regarding why I do what I do.
If you feel that I have shown favoritism towards certain providers not only do I encourage you to send them to Staff & GND ASAP, I would think that if you had such strong feelings on this topic you would have already.
In the past 2 weeks alone i've had to send our nearly a dozen emails explaining why posts were removed because providers are posting ads within the 7 Days even though TER guidelines state not to.
Any posts I removed besides those which broke the provider posting guidelines were either nasty or derogatory.
Since taking over TER moderator position, have had a few "hickups", and a fairly major one aswell. Someone took it upon themself to threaten me with physical harm & to inform the LE of my extracurricular activates. While these threats were of course groundless, none the less this person is no longer on TER.
Everyone from Johnnyboy to even Thirsty had rumours/gossip spread about them. I cant state what occured or what didn't but I am aware that some of you just really have nothing better to do in life but to sit in front of a computer screen and create such gossip.
pluged
No offense to you, pluged, and I don't know any of the gossip accusations Krunchie is talking about, but there has to be a better way? I'm guessing that I am very much in the minority of those who post on here because I am moderated. Those of us who are moderated cannot possibly make significant contributions in a timely manner when it takes a day and a half to see the posts. So I cannot blame moderated people for not contributing as much. In this kind of environment the moderated ones are on the outside looking in. Maybe we can find a better way, pluged?
Just my .02 on this 24+ hour issue.
im not sure if your misunderstand or what, but not all posts take 24hrs to post. as youve probably noticed your posts are getting approved right away right now because im here right now & approving them right away. On a usual basis I approve message 2-3 times a day. Just due to recent events, the past few days the amount of times I check for new posts decreased from 3 to 1. It has nothing to do with all posts being held for 24hrs, as I stated before it only select individuals whos posts are held for 24hrs. Everyone else who is moderated, is approved when I review them.
pluged
Exactly why is he being moderated in the first place? I can recall no derogatory or mean messages of his in the past.
Is it simply because he has never asked to be unmoderated?
we never would have seen the message.
It's my understanding that all new members start out as moderated, and when the moderator gets comfortable that a member's posting style/behavior is going to be OK, the user gets set to unmoderated.
While you are correct that I have never violated any TER rule and/or made any derogatory/mean remarks during my 1 or 2 years on TER, I was not bringing this up as a way to "ask to be unmoderated." After all, I think this is at least the third moderator since I've been here, and as I have said, I don't post very often. So while I don't know what it takes for a moderator to feel comfortable enough with someone to unmoderate them, I don't blame any of them for not having the chance to reach that level of comfort with me.
I guess I just happened to time my rare posts as of late, at bad times for pluged. I'll accept pluged's explanations for why my posts were taking upwards of over a day and a half, and I'm glad I was able to get things at least a little bit more clear in my mind on how this system works and why. I posed the question of "maybe there is a better way?", but maybe this IS the better way? I might not like the fact that there are 2 categories of people posting, but what can I do? LOL
Anyhow, thanks for your support. BTW, it looks as though I'm unmoderated now??
...and I hope you can find time to make it to the Board Meeting on Tuesday.
is the main reason I decided to start hanging out over here rather than where I used to spend all my board time (woof, woof).
Requiring all new members to be moderated cuts out all the junk that happens on other "open" boards where impulsive people create new user ids just to get in their punches in some group bashing that's going on.
I think I was moderated for about a month/20 posts before the previous moderator flipped me to the OK status.
I sympathize with scorpman (and other folks currently being moderated), though. There seems to be more personal conversations and (essentially) private banter going on these days, and in any 24hr period all the new posts quickly push something you may have responded to way to the bottom of the first page, or off of it completely.
Also - pluged didn't come out and say this, but the reason for holding some people's messages over 24 hrs before allowing them to post is to _stop_ them from going back and editing the message. There have been instances where a moderated member has posted an OK message, the message was approved, then the person went an edited the message to contain content that was not OK.
The "volunteer checks in to make sure nothing bad is going on for too long of a period" model seems to have been a complete failure in other places, so not reason to return to it over here.
everything you stated joc is correct, I have to be sure the person isnt just playing around or looking to insult others.