Does it bother anyone that a few people on this board can post a message immediately and most of us have to have out posts reviewed over many hours? It seems a few people (4-5 people) can have entire threads and us others have to wait until our comments or questions get approved.
Do we need a better system?
I think the moderator does the best he can, just like below. With Agecies, we all do the best we can. Give it a break.
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I will take a guess and assume the 4 or 5 you mention happen to include me right.
Have you asked the moderator why you are still in Moderated status?
All I know is the system is subjective. The Mod decides at some point to allow un-moderated posting. If you are fair and objective in your posting, don't start flame wars, call other members foul names or inject personal unwarranted opinions, then you will be left to post without moderated status.
I wonder sometime what caused some to be put in moderated status - but hey, why should I question the moderators reasoning when I am not moderated (at this time - I had been once before)
What would you suggest as a working system other then what policies TER has posted and how the Moderator manages it? Consider suggesting a policy or system but before doing that, consider the affect of what you might suggest and how it can be impartial or fare to the general populous on TER.
Do we need a better system - not in my opinion? But I would be interested in knowing what other system works on other boards.
Now if you are suggesting unrestricted posting - not for me.
Anyway - your suggestions should be sent to staff after you have seeded out the ones people like and the ones they don't think are so good.
It is no our moderators who sets policy - just tries to abide by them and in many cases is very open minded.
Happy Hobbying
-- Modified on 6/13/2005 5:43:29 AM
As I reply I know that this might be posted sometime in the future... Most likely this reply will be completely out of date.
I am not faulting the moderator in this system, it just seems to me the board subject matter and threads are controlled by the unmoderated posters. If I have a comment to the thread by the time it gets posted the thread is so far down the page to be irrelevant.
Perhaps if the moderator is to busy to confirm posts he can appoint someone who is available then posts could go up in a more time sensitive manner.
respectfully...
Legal - I'm curious to know how long it took for your post to get up? When I was in moderated status - it took a couple of days as I recall.
Since your original post regarding this matter may or may not used me as a reference, I will reduce the times I have a comment or opinion on any given subject to allow for others that may or may not be modified to get their posts up.
I understand the frustration - I was moderated for some time. But, even through this time I would still have posted regardless.
Iropnically the post you reference was POSTED in only a few hours or less.
Just like everything else, there are double standards for everything, including this board.
The double standards apply both ways. From the moderators view there are poeple he can trust to be responsible posters and those that he doesn't know. Not that he doesn't trust them, he just doesn't know them.
Post more often, add something constructive to the conversation and be consistently polite and informative. If you only post to complain or leave short "me too" kind of responses, you have no reason to be given the priveledge of unmoderated posting. If you are a lurker on the boards, reading, not posting, I encourage you to add your opinions to the community. The more the merrier! right?
Perhaps the converse of the current system would work ie. allow real time posting for all but then exclude people who abuse the system. I don't mind the current way too much and I'm not complaining but it would be better, for most of us.
Everyone who post's here has gone through the same situation of having to wait for post to appear, unmoderated. If you post regularly, aren't attacking people constantly or causing unnecessary trouble, (that doesn't mean you can't give your own opinion), you'll achieve that status also. As stated by slipry, the more involvement, hopefully somewhat helpful, the better. As long as it isn't a clique based system I don't see a problem, just prove you can be somewhat trusted and you're there. I don't know if it has happened to anyone but I'm sure they can yank unmoderated status just as easy as they can give it. It does have it's downfall's, if you post something that you wish later that you hadn't, it's too late, no safety buffer.
Sorry balto I didn't give you credit as well. Not kissing ass, just giving credit where credit is due.
To answer your first question, all the regular posters to this board are also the biggest contributors to the hobby in providing advice on ISOs and many other questions.
To answer your other question, I would say the obvious way to become one of the unmoderated is to ask the moderator. If you don't know why you aren't moderated, maybe he could inform you that you broke a rule unknowingly (let's say you posted an ad for a lady, which is a rule I see broken here very frequently). If you haven't broken the rules but you've posted over a period of time without problems, then you might want to politely PM the moderator that you've been posting for X time and wondered how long it takes to be unmoderated. Perhaps you've been overlooked because you're not a regular poster or maybe as mentioned above, you broke a rule during the time of your moderation.
As per TER guidelines, all board moderators are volunteer. They don't live on the board to make sure posts go up constantly and I'm sure if they had backup moderators, they'd use them.
Volunteers are also not going to keep elaborate spreadsheets of who's been posting when and for how long. The responsibility of your moderation status falls on you. Ask nicely and I guarantee it'll do you much more good than posting a vague complaint on the board.
Hmmmm...I find myself agreeing with everybody. As a relatively infrequent, moderated poster, I share Legal Eagle's frustration with the system. An even bigger problem, in my view, is the lag in getting reviews up and the reasons they're sometimes rejected. For example, some providers (usually the bad ones)change affiliations, phone numbers and websites constantly. But they'e still out there and identifiable. In addition, for many of us, by the time our review is posted the provider (if visiting) is long gone. I'd certainly want to know BEFORE she leaves town and I've made the same mistake if a hobbyist believes, based on a recent encounter, that a visiting provider is not what she claims or advertises. After all, even we moderated posters, while perhaps not as prolific as Jeopcon, Slipry, et al, are trying to do our share to contribute to the quality and timeliness of the Board (that is, WHEN and IF we have something useful or informative to say), even if we simply don't have the time to post on the board as often as others. However, Balto, GirlinDC, and other contributors to this thread all make valid points about the need for time on the board, building up trust, building a record of contributing good reviews and advice, etc. It might be helpful for TER to post guidance on becoming an "unmoderated" contributor, just as is done currently for reviews.
There would be a lot more life on the board(s) if there were more un-moderated posters. Why not let us post until we screw up, instead of moderating almost everybody? (Writen at 6:15 PM EDT, June 13)
My 2 cents....
I have never had that problem. My posts go right up and I don't post that often.
Yea but then again you're the eggman. LOL
Legal et all
I understand the frustration and suggest you ask to be changed to an unmoderated status. I also agree with the conversational posts can be a bit much at time while on the other hand I think it is kinda funny to see them picking at each other - - just need some balance.
I think that we can all agree that we want this forum to be one where we can exchange information, and be able to communicate with others who have our same interests.
There are many ways to do it, the TER model, or as someone suggested, the un-moderated until they screw up model, or the who cares let it roll model. So far, the TER model is the only one that I have seen produce good results for a long period of time. Check some of the other boards and you'll see what I mean.
Just as a point of reference, I typically have between 2 and 5 pages (25 messages per page) that have been either pulled for a violation of the rules (the minority, maybe 20%), or have not been allowed, because they break the rules. I'm thinking if all were allowed, then I had to read through each thread trying to determine the new posts, it would take me significantly longer to moderate than it does - and remember, I am a volunteer.
I typically spend 2-3 hrs per day doing these moderator duties. I can usually check the queues about every two hours - but I travel for work, so on the days that I travel, the queue only gets checked twice per day. And weekends, I do have a life, so it gets checked at least once a day.
Now, who gets un-moderated is up to the moderators of the boards. I will watch the boards, and if someone comes to my attention, by adding to the threads, and posting good information, politely, etc. I will un-moderate them. Also, some will PM me and ask to be un-moderated. When someone does this, I wil check their history. I check how many psots they ahve made over the last few months, what sort of information they have provided, etc. I also check to see how many reviews they have posted. If I have a really strong feeling at that point, I will immediately un-moderate them, Other times, I will decide to take a short time to watch the poster closely then make my decision.
So, take it all as it is, this is a part of the TER lifestyle, I doubt that it will change, so we should all learn to live with it.
And one last thing - REMEMBER the moderators have nothing to do with reviews......
I really appreciate the job moderators do. And thanks for the advice, RCProNo1, on how to get un-moderated.