An open letter to ILX & mods re: an alternative to the current system

flagging posts attracts mod attn ~to that post~ and they can, as they do now, decide what to do about the infraction. modding is then directed towards something controversial ~as it happens~ vs someone suddenly getting disappeared because their posting history caught up with them. also, in a "rhetorical" sense, flagging a post is just saying "i don't think this is appropriate" vs saying "i think this person should no longer post on ilx"

ok

why not both?

also- do sb's draw mod attention to a post or not?

"only I am an adult! people who disagree with me are children! it is a great mystery why I get SB'd!" like seriously? I'm one of the few posters whose "fuck you, the patriarchy" radar is as sensitive as yours, but that post warrants a huge FUCK YOU from me

and again: flagging, like SBs, would have a threshold (i said 20, arbitrarily). not a threshold for ~action~, but for ~notification~. like if somebody went and flagged an entire thread for lolz, it wouldn't necessarily be brought to the attn of mods. if someone made an egregious post in a highly trafficked thread, then it seems likely that lots of like-minded ilxors would say "hey that's not cool." i generally do NOT SB because i like having some of our more controversial posters, and i don't want them to get 86d because i registered my disapproval of ONE POST. however, it would be nice to be able to call attn to it (i'm more inclined to post a response, but still) and maybe have that lead to a yellow card or temp ban or w/e.

cuz if i'm not mistaken (mods?), temp bans are usually the result of attn drawn to specific posts, whereas the review process for SBs is only twigged when they hit the threshold

why are you guys making this about kate, it's a little weird

sorry, cad! i misread this:

this happened?

― questeon the answers (call all destroyer), Sunday, November 21, 2010 5:32 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark

i thought you meant "kate never offered to help" when you actually meant "no one slapped anyone down"

my b

i'm actually replyin to everyone that's called me names itt, gbx, tbf. i even posted to some who didn't

and, just so we didn't miss it:

can I just say that while I am often frustrated with and irritated by KDT/MB, the original post in this thread was reasonable, and it was carefully timed not to fall in the middle of any other metashit -- a good attempt to talk borad mechanics. And she still got four SBs for it. Doesn't that make it obvious that she's getting SB'd for existing, not for anything specific she did wrong in that post?

That's the kind of bullshit that I think a flag post system instead of a SB system might help eliminate.

― Unfrozen Caveman Board-Lawyer (WmC), Sunday, November 21, 2010 6:00 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

why are you guys making this about kate, it's a little weird

I was actually going to use Bimble as my SB example fwiw.

to make it shorter = this sort of garbage is why people sb you

yeah, pretty unhelpful there

cuz if i'm not mistaken (mods?), temp bans are usually the result of attn drawn to specific posts, whereas the review process for SBs is only twigged when they hit the threshold

yeah, that's pretty much right

btw the discourse of banscussion wrings our hands for us and causes undue and unproportionate and unnecessary stress for its participants - kate has a right to express her sentiments and I have no problem with her doing so (indeed I agree with most of them) but this thread is just too long and it draws too much negative energy to ILX - I cannot think of a way to remedy this without restricting freedom of speech except personal restraint though

thread shd have really been a discussion between kate, wmc and jjj maybe? get abbott involved too? idk

agh was hoping this would stay on point and not become an attack thread.

i like having some of our more controversial posters, and i don't want them to get 86d because i registered my disapproval of ONE POST

tryin to think if i've ever sb'd someone for 'just one post'. i may have, it'd want to have been a bad one. i doubt it's the normal sb behaviour of most posters.

thread shd have really been a discussion between kate, wmc and jjj maybe? get abbott involved too? idk

― pro EVOO sucker (acoleuthic)

?????

xps

i've already been called repulsive on this thread, but i'm not sweating it. this doesn't HAVE to be a clusterfuck thread, ppl, we're just all doing our little part to ensure that it is

what you mean there is an email, son

am pulling my horns in, if they've been out. still tryin to get an answer to several points i've put to you on yr flag theory. cool with everyone here, but not to the extent where mt posts are just flat misrepresented as attacking k8.

btw max always <3 but fuck u for suggesting that "fix it or stop insisting that someone else fix it for you" somehow compares to "my country love it or leave it" - you don't get to whine about me calling democrats assholes anymore in light of that dude

I do think it'd speak well of us as a board if we were able to say why we were SBing someone/ flagging a post without playing it for lols. That's not to say I'm certain that we do could do it, just that I think it'd be a good thing.

anyway i'd like to think that i've been level-headed up in here, sorry if i havent. i'm just a little bummed that a genuinely interesting alternative to the suggest ban that still gives the community some input (and, in theory, lifts some of the burden of mod shoulders to keenly police all threads) is being lol'd outta town because oh no another sb thread and because kate happened to be the one that started it

xp ha was wondering when politics would come up

like to begin with, this is a message board, not a country

this is the sort of distinction you'd generally be quick to draw

like i said- a thread where we went in and posted who we've just sb'd and why.

that would sort one of the main bones of contention.

and it would let mods decide if it would stand as legit or not.

evan you've been p clear and reasonable imo now answer my q's you jerk

every sb requires an explanation of more than 30 characters and goes in an accessible log haha

reinstate hi dere ffs

btw max always <3 but fuck u for suggesting that "fix it or stop insisting that someone else fix it for you" somehow compares to "my country love it or leave it" - you don't get to whine about me calling democrats assholes anymore in light of that dude

― aerosmith: the acid house years (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Sunday, November 21, 2010 7:08 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

k whatever mang

and, before i get aerozung, i'd like to reiterate that i'm not demanding anything from our staff of volunteers. i was just sorta hoping we could have a reasonable discussion NOT about why SBs are so bad and hated, but how flags might actually serve the needs of our lil messageboard, maybe think through whether or not they could work. but since i am not a programmer, i probably shouldn't think aloud about stuff like that until i finish reading that book on ruby i bought a few years ago and never finished

xp sorry dmac, what was the q again? srs

i forget :(

1) Ad hominem attacks
2) Bullying
3) Racism
4) Sexism/Misogyny
5) Homophobia
6) Hate Speech (other)

there are very, very few occasions when these don't get picked up

ppl get suggest-banned not for these things but becuz they rub ppl up the wrong way

i got SB'd and i couldn't give a shit which posts it was 'for' or who SB'd me

the idea that a poster would change his or her posting style based on the advice generated by a complicated drop-down menu system is... unconvincing

I also don't think it's controversial to say that some people might genuinely not get that they're making the board worse at a given moment! I'm sure anyone who posts moderately frequently and doesn't have the wisdom of a nabsico does it sometimes. Like, I enjoy darragh as a poster hugely but I wish he'd not argue with K8 all the time!

can I just say that while I am often frustrated with and irritated by KDT/MB, the original post in this thread was reasonable, and it was carefully timed not to fall in the middle of any other metashit -- a good attempt to talk borad mechanics. And she still got four SBs for it. Doesn't that make it obvious that she's getting SB'd for existing, not for anything specific she did wrong in that post?

Wow, OK, yeah, that really strongly makes the point.

I give up. I seriously give up.

I make a point, as reasonably and eloquently as I know how.

When asked to clarify, I repeat it again, more simply.

When someone misunderstands what I have said, I put it into different, more clear terms.

When that fails, I get a bit cranky (it is midnight here, and I can't sleep because I'm in too much pain) and I make - what I think - is an obvious joke about treating people like two year olds, and the thread goes berserk.

It's become obvious that there truly is no way that I can make myself acceptable to this community. So any attempts at behavioural reform are pointless. You are right. It's not you, it's me.

seems to me that, ~implementation aside~, the qs about flagging are

1) how are they even different?
2) would any supposed differences be beneficial to ilx?
2a) that is, would it mean less "wtf just happened to canks?" or "THREAD OF MISSING GR8080" shoutfests or w/e?
2b) would ppl be less at risk of getting banned because they are irritating?
2c) would mods have to put up with LESS whining?

pretty sure i answered 1 already. and i think the answers to 2a-c are all yes.

every sb requires an explanation of more than 30 characters and goes in an accessible log haha

if every sb required a 10,000 word defense of each clicking sb hand, there would still be huge clusterfuck threads of people whining that it's unjust that somebody they liked got banned

it's exactly like me complaining that communists don't get elected to higher office, except that in this case I'm on the other side

Again, it's the presence of the sb link on every single post that bothers me the most. It's not coupled with anything positive like karma or (hvn forfend) a 'like' button.

― Friday: vuvuzela club meeting (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 21 November 2010 23:28 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think it would be fairly straight-forward to modify a stylesheet so that the SB link wasn't shown, and wouldn't require a programmer or very much mod effort.

fuck flagged posts, people should just be more ready to criticize & receive criticism on their posts and board presence imo. don't think this is a structural thing & more just, why use code to bypass simple effective human interaction? everyone anonymously drawing mod attention to conflagratory posts seriously sounds like hell to me. if someone's offended you just confront them about it either on board in the thread or off board through email, & if u really think it merits being deleted just start a thread on mrf for it. if you're really mystified as to why you've gotten sb'd just ask for ppl to give some more constructive advice

New idea, what about developing a magic algorithm to automatically detect rabid bullshit infighting posts in sensible threads and fucking delete them wholesale.

2c) would mods have to put up with LESS whining?

i've been here for too many years and i can guarantee there will never be less whining, whatever system is in place

2a) that is, would it mean less "wtf just happened to canks?" or "THREAD OF MISSING GR8080" shoutfests or w/e?

who cares?

can I just say that while I am often frustrated with and irritated by KDT/MB, the original post in this thread was reasonable, and it was carefully timed not to fall in the middle of any other metashit -- a good attempt to talk borad mechanics. And she still got four SBs for it.

no - she got sb'd for saying shit like

Suggest ban = users are two year olds
Flag/report post = users are adults

― Karen D. Tregaskin

which is unacceptable ad-hom I'm-right-you're-wrong-no-matter-what bullshit on which she should be called out no matter how mad she is

No, actually in this instance she got SB-ed for the first post and a copule of them were pretty soon after it was posted.

Turned out that was a "joke" though eh.
xp

"copule", eh.

"Wow, she called everyone who disagreed with her a two-year-old and people clicked the SB button? What assholes!"

KDT, thanks for trying. gbx, thanks for trying. everybody who tried to keep it snark-free, thanks for trying.

FTR I'm pretty much w WmC on this.

No, actually in this instance she got SB-ed for the first post and a copule of them were pretty soon after it was posted.

yeah I will agree that this is bullshit btw, SB'ing someone for the first post in a thread is assholism and should result in autoban

mods get on this right now or I want my money back

$10 heading to yr paypal acct right now.

fuck flagged posts, people should just be more ready to criticize & receive criticism on their posts and board presence imo. don't think this is a structural thing & more just, why use code to bypass simple effective human interaction? everyone anonymously drawing mod attention to conflagratory posts seriously sounds like hell to me. if someone's offended you just confront them about it either on board in the thread or off board through email, & if u really think it merits being deleted just start a thread on mrf for it. if you're really mystified as to why you've gotten sb'd just ask for ppl to give some more constructive advice

― samosa gibreel, Monday, 22 November 2010 00:18 (3 minutes ago)

^^^

Pash maybe those SBs were of the "oh ffs not this bullshit YET AGAIN OH FUCK NO" variety, but what would I know nb i have not sbed anyone on this thred.

I think it would be fairly straight-forward to modify a stylesheet so that the SB link wasn't shown, and wouldn't require a programmer or very much mod effort.

hmm the SB button is a span with a class of "bookmark", not v well named but it does seem to be unique. To this page at least.

Maybe, Trayce, I dunno.

Maybe we need a "stfu, we've done this" yellowcard button.