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[jdrakeh]

Originally Posted by Windjammer

I perceive the dominant problem to arise from the sort of peer moderation non-moderator posters exert on one another in most forums, this forum included.

Peer moderation as you allude to doesn't really happen here past individual posters being allowed to report a post (which is something that all vBulletin forums allow to my knowledge). Indeed, moderators and admins regularly warn or even ban posters for acting as though they were moderators. Looking into almost any moderated thread will turn up a moderator or admin reminding posters that the correct course of action when one disagrees with another poster is to report the post, not respond to it. Incidentally, the following is the kind of thing that I regard as trolling:

1. Accusing an unspecified group of people of certain behavior.
2. Negatively characterizing those people (frex, as cowards and liars).
3. Challenging those people to particpate in behavior that is specifically against forum rules.

The second and third things are what make a trolling attempt, really. The first thing is so unspecific as to be harmless. If something like that is really causing people angst, then they're strung way too tight, IMO ("I just know that he's talking about me!"). When people get into calling each other names (a violation of forum rules), and challenging people whom they disagree with to break forum rules in the hope that they'll be moderated. . . well, I think that is the quintessential essence of trolling.

Trolling forums is just like trolling for fish. . . the person doing the trolling is throwing out bait (deliberately rude or inflammartory comments designed to provoke a heated response) and hoping that somebody will bite it, so they can be reeled in and bopped in the head. What seems to be at the heart of the issue currently is that some people* want to be able to post deliberately inflammatory threads or replies and not be held accountable for it, while demanding that the targets of their efforts be subject to the harshest moderation possible.

I think the answer is — and has always been — to adhere to the simple maxim "What's good for one is good for all." AFAICT, that's pretty much how moderation here has always worked. I can say that as somebody who has been moderated as a current fan of d20/OGL games and as a past vocal critic of same said games. Most of the people I see who are currently raising cain about ENWorld mod action are people who were, in fact, fairly moderated for clear breach of the forum's rules. I don't think that there is any grand conspiracy plotting against them. I think the truth is much more simple. I think they just don't like being held accountable for their actions.

*And, no, I won't name names — doing so is against the forum rules and constitutes a personal attack, as I've learned in the past. I also don't feel that naming names will lead to any kind of a productive discussion, nor is it necessary for one.