The ridiculous(?) post deleting and thread closing on XenForo continues

[Floris]

At least the marketplace chit chat is not being ignored. They are reviewing what the best is. A community grows of course, and into a direction. With more of those advertisements being posted (which is great for XenFans, we can start doing that too soon then - but I am waiting for an actual Marketplace, and some guidelines since we're not spammers) there is more of a need for a dedicated place for it. I just hope my account options preferences would have 2 checkboxes, "Include "test msgs [ ]" and "marketplace [ ]" content in "what's new"?

The moderators are also getting more familiar with the way things are done there, and understand more the need between needing content to quickly grow a community vs allowing a lot. Unfortn. it seems the trolling continues as always, but perhaps too scared to stand up for themselves they permit it to continue, and writing it off as 'that is just smart humor'. Well, some people might see it as that. But on all the sites I participate and moderate on, we consider it trolling and use the infraction system or even just ban those. A clean community with great content is worth more in the long run.

Let's give the mods another six months to find out where the levels of leeway lie, and what is more suitable for the site. I am confident in a year or so when the tension of 'we need to get gold out' and 'we are fighting a law suit' is behind them that there's more space to just focus on the product and the services, support and sales. Rather than endless discussions with trolls nitpicking every pixel that we all know they don't even care about. They just want to see and get the reaction of the other people for a laugh.

As much as I think the mods could do a better job, because I might do it differently. That much I also think they are showing progress and doing a great job.

That, and, I think we mere users simply also have to get used to a new community, new rules, new way of doing things, and a new team of moderators than we're used to.

 

[Peggy_imported]

It helps for moderators to know what is expected of them.

 

[Floris]

Ignoring XenForo, just a general comment: New sites always struggle with what their rules are, or should be. It's only experience in the team and the founder of the site that makes a site start with moderator tutorials, introduction threads to management and dealing with content, spammers, disputes, etc. Lack of time and such always prevents that. But .. as time goes by, it can only improve.

 

[Peggy_imported]

When that is not done, mods often flounder about. Which results in a site being over-moderated one day, and undermoderated the next, which makes the staff look incompetent, and feel really bad when threads are posted on other sites about the staff members. I know the feeling well.

 

[Mikey]

When that is not done, mods often flounder about. Which results in a site being over-moderated one day, and undermoderated the next, which makes the staff look incompetent, and feel really bad when threads are posted on other sites about the staff members. I know the feeling well.

And threads are posted about the staff on other sites simply because the disgruntled user no longer wants to visit the official one.. Sometimes. I know as an example that I've begun to visit xenforo.com less and less.. and I'm not even a disgruntled user.

If the xf.com mods wanted to come over here and have their say I'm pretty confident their opinions would be welcomed..

 

[Peggy_imported]

But at the official forum is exactly where the "disgruntled" user needs to make his feelings known. Either openly, or using the contact us feature to contact the owners/admins directly. Does anything have a chance of being corrected by posting gripes at another forum where no one can do anything about it? No. All that does is spread gossip. So gripe where it will do some good, unless said person doesn't want to improve anything, because then they wouldn't have anything to gripe about.

I doubt the mods at XF would go to another forum to vent. I wouldn't have.

What I have said so far doesn't have as much to do with my time as a mod, as it does with moderator-ship in general.