Forum moderation - Page 6

  All good points.  And, I am glad that Oli has listened to the security concerns and addressed them ( Frankly, I didn't have a clue that publishing the IPs was a security issue, until it was pointed out.)  Nevertheless, SOME of the trolls and aliases  turned out to be EXACTLY who we suspected/expected and for that it was worth the day or so that the IPs were up.

Points well taken, GARD. I have to admit that I do get a laugh out of some posts others might consider vulgar. and/or inappropriate. Sigh...I guess I'm not ready to become a saint just yet  

About moderation:

Ladies and gents, the idea of a Gestapo moderation process is far too sinister, and in my opinion, unwarranted.

The purpose of the moderator is to enforce to an extent the terms of service.

I'll gladly moderate.  I'm sure others will.

What do we moderate for?

The terms of service, of course!

I may think someone is creepy.  I may think they're awesome.  The reality is that with moderation and thread locking, my reasons for locking a thread are known to all (I post my reasons) and they're there for everyone to see, invariably with the Term of Service violated and highlighted for people to take issue with as required.

It's not about the moderator's opinion.  It's about Terms of Service.  If you want to increase what's allowed, or reduce the access (commercial postings, character assasinations, unsubstantiated vendor reviews from a third party, etc.), simply change the terms of service, and trust your moderators to uphold them...

That's the problem.  The TOS are NOT black and white, but subject to interpretation.  I think my interpretation is as valid as those who's interpretations are different from mine - what qualifies yours over mine or anyone else's?   

Mystere/Nia - you know nothing.  You are one of the very naive (or stupid?) ones who think what someone tells you is the truth, and that someone is not posting under so many alias names that it's pitiful how many of you don't realize who the trolls are.    Find out who is TheEnd, TimLC, BeammeupScotty, KHill, Cahill24, JRT, doggie_1, Ike2, Pat Relton, KOUGAR, and many other alias's.  Oh of course you won't be able to tell who they are, because they post via a proxy or anonymizer.  And they tell you they are innocent and you believe them.  What a shame.

molly

TOS: http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/terms_of_service.html

As I posted above: 

We all have different standards of propriety.  If this board has lost members and some of its international flavor, we can probably attribute these changes to the influx of members who choose to use a public forum as a "support group" to air their "dirty linen" and life's continuing melodramas, crises, and vendettas--most of which have little to do with the GSD, training, titling, trials, breeding, genetics, diet, veterinary issues, breed shows, the breed standard, etc. 

Geez, we already have enough "police state" boards of this ilk populated by up-tight, power-mogul moderators who consistently discipline members who dare "name" names of people/dogs (some of which may be historically significant) and take delight in banning and disciplining members for slight infractions as being "off topic".

Regarding TOS, what one person regards as vulgar, flaming, character assination, etc. is largely a matter of individual interpretation. Surely, what our previous "moderators" regarded as violations of TOS were clearly not what Oli intended.

I hold to a Jeffersonian view of democracy (as written by Thomas Paine): “That government is best which governs least.”

Actually the IP addresses didn't prove a thing. As it listed me and several other individuals as having the SAME EXACT IP address. I am not any of those people, nor are they sitting at my computer with me. Yet, we have the same IP addresses. So, again all this did was give some people false ammunition to jump to conclusions.

"Ladies and gents, the idea of a Gestapo moderation process is far too sinister, and in my opinion, unwarranted."

Totally!

There are probably a hundred thousand or more forums out there and a large percentage of them are moderated. This process has been working for years. There is nothing new at all about moderated forums. It works. Go and look around at forums on many different topics not just dogs. You will see that all the good ones are moderated.

Many boards require submitting a REAL email address (vs yahoo, hotmail, or any of the other free addys)  Prior to registration,  the user is sent a conformation email with a code to register with and a URL to go to do it.  This can be set up automaticly when a new user registers.  This is probably the easiest, if not the best way to avoid Multiple Personalities, spammers, trolls, etc.   Al least when the crop up you know where to find them.  The problem with IPs is that, unless you are on a business computer with a static IP your number changes each time you log on.

MOLLY: IJUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THESE IP NUMBERS MEAN NOTHING...IF YOU WILL LOOK AT SOME OF THE THREADS     YOU  AND DO RIGHT HAVE THE SAME IP    SONMEONE JUST EMAILED ME AND ASK ME ARE YOU TWO MARRIED....HA  HA HA  

ALSO    MANY HAVE THE SAME NUMBERS   SO THIS   IP IS NOT THE ADDRESS OF THE POSTERS....I FIGURED THAT OUT 5  MINUTES AFTER IT WAS DONE.......      MANY OF YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT NUMBER ON MANY THREADS AND SOME OF YOU HAVE THE SAME NUMBER AS   SOMEONE   ELSE....

FOR EXAMPLE     PIA AND REZKRAT HAVE THE SAME NUMBER ON ONE THREAD,

MOLLY AND DO RIGHT HAVE THE SAme number.

silbersee and someone i know has the same number,,,,not each other at all.......

on one of my posting on a thread five time on same thread   .....the numbers on my name changed...totally different numbers....Preston posted earlier that these IP numbers are ot to our addresses and I now know they are not.....