How about members getting voted off?

I’ve actually thought this as well. In a sense, a Stack Overflow type system would be a good starting point. You could post a thread that poses a new piece of technology as a question and replies would be upvoted with the most useful ending up on top.

I’ve worked on this myself at some point and created a version where pros and cons could be posted and upvoted separately, with an idea to also allow links to papers and documents backing them up and tags to link them to topics. And perhaps you could even add a system that could indicate when something has become out of date ... etc.

 

Yeah, but we gave some of those people a long time to adjust to the forum and only when they repeatedly and over a long period of time didn't show any improvement did we go for the nuclear option. And I kind of disagree that nothing is necessarily wrong with them. Being disruptive is caused by not complying to pretty basic rules of forum etiquette. The only task we have is making clear what the rules of etiquette are here and make sure people follow them.

 

I forget, are your first 10 posts here moderate approved? I mean, when you post do mods have to approve your first 10 posts before they're allowed up? We used to do that at EB and it worked well, but between me and Jollemi we pretty much had 24/7 coverage of the posts.

 

As the guy who's about to be voted off, I think this a bad idea.


I think it's great that the mods want to bring the more technically knowledgeable people back.
I do not think that realistically giving those same people - who hardly ever frequent the forum and don't really care about it - the power to kick other users out is neither going to make the forum a better place nor make them come back in any meaningful way.

 

Quit being paranoid, they're talking about me! Why are you so self-centered, does everything have to be about you?!?

 

It doesn't have to be about one or the other, it could be the both of us! Shifty has been using plural for users being voted off.
Now we just need to argue about which one is going first.



(now just so this post isn't a 100% shitpost because the MVM is coming and we need to at least try to look good)

What I meant with the post above is that most valuable members are valuable members, not most valuable mods.
The fact that you can add a lot of value to a technical discussion doesn't automatically make you the fairest / most just, or able to put your bias away from moderation, or take valuable context into consideration. What I meant with MVM not caring is just they're not around enough to make those efforts.
Mods are supposed to have those tools, which make them better mods than valuable members. We can consider that certain members bring more value to the forum than certain mods - which is true - but that still doesn't make those members better at moderating than the less valuable mods.


Also, AFAICS there's already a bunch of most valuable members who got upgraded to mods, and that didn't make them care enough to stick around (I don't mean not caring as something inherently negative, we all have different priorities in life). There's certainly a number of mods out there that I've either seen them post a couple of times or not post at all, and I've been around for almost 12 years.
Why would this be any different?

 

They would be able to tell who's the signal and who the noise is well, but mebbe not how to deal with them so well. That's why I like the, "report it to the mods", option.

 

IMO, a big difference between being a MOD and all that entails (lots of unappreciated work) versus just being able to tick a box denoting that someone is potentially not fit for this forum.

It's possible that maybe if they didn't have MOD duties that they may have stuck around longer or at least in some minimal capacity. But the weight of responsibility can sometimes be perceived as too much to deal with such that they may not view it as worth their time to continue using a forum.

Regards,
SB

 

Heretical opinions have not to be keeped out... But if someone is disturbing of course this guy has to be keeped out... this IMHO.

 

Per thread ban seems like a good idea. But applied but a mod, anything automatic could abused by silent majority.

 

Okay, then I guess I misread how fast a group of MVMs could vote off an annoying member.

Heard that @digitalwanderer? We still have 6 months.



But if you guys really want MVM members to come back then the clear path is to accept gifs in the posts.
Those were only used by annoying teenagers 10 years ago, yes. Now those same teenagers are fully grown-ass devs.

Conveying opinions only through boring text? That's like rock ages old of boring, dude.

 

I still believe in a restricted developer board!
Maybe one where you are verified to post.
Everyone else can read only.
Take them off the tweets.

 

I've been posting here since i was a teenager in one form or another. I have said stupid shit and still do. I'd hate to see someone kicked off because of stupid shit. I think just reaching out and saying hey maybe you should change up your posting a bit like type out what you want to say and step away from 10 minutes and do something else. Then reread what you wrote and make any changes you want and then post.

 

Thats exactly how I feel, I started posting here a long time and have said some silly things in the past. I feel like being here has made my understanding on certain parts of computing much better and would have hated not have that chance due to me being an idiot early on.

 

I am not here for funny opinions.

 

Yeah, I feel the same way myself. I look back at some of my posting pattern and behaviour with a vague sense of disappointment and embarrassment.

I think I've been fortunate that the moderation style has been as patient and tolerant as it is. Posting here has taught me a lot and helped me stay interested in the tech side of not just games, but computers in general.

That said, there is a balance to be made between that approach and maintaining an environment where knowledgable people don't feel their efforts to inform and engage are obliterated by noise.

Perhaps being able to block posters from technical subforums or specific threads, maybe even just for a time-out of a few weeks, would be a fair compromise? I also think @iroboto's idea of a dedicated pro / dev / really-knowledgable-person sub-forum (read only for everyone else) would be great. Especially if there were some mechanism for plebs like me to submit questions that they could choose to answer!