Do Moderators close threads just to justify their role?

[Kai Lord]

Xarlen started a funny thread about whether or not he was a wuss because The Ring scared him and a few people went back and forth and even made references to how the movie would make for a cool D&D or CoC adventure.

Dinkeldog closed it because it was an "off-topic" poll. Meanwhile, no less than five other off-topic threads are carrying on right here on this front page.

I asked for advice on which video game console to buy and it lasted for a good number of posts, and right before me there was advice given on another thread where a guy was planning on buying a new computer. Neither thread had anything to do with D&D, and neither one was closed.

So if Xarlen had said, "Am I a wuss? Please discuss," and left the thread at that it would have been just peachy to the Moderators. If I had posted, "Poll: Which game console is the best, PS2, X-Box, or Gamecube?" then it would have been closed. Never mind that the nature of the discussions is the same either way.

I can understand Moderators closing threads where personal attacks are exchanged and don't let up. I can understand Moderators closing Off-Topic Polls if there are more OT threads than On-Topic ones.

Ever see a junior high basketball game where the refs call every single ridiculous infraction and someone stands up and yells, "come on ref, let 'em play!" I think some Moderators just look for an excuse to "moderate", its the only explanation I can see for the arbitrary silliness of some of their actions.

 

[drothgery]

Off-topic discussion is allowed. Off-topic polls are not. That's been standing policy since shortly after users gained the ability to post polls.

 

[Crothian]

The policy is pretty simple. No OT polls. That is where the line is drawn. Also, things like this are best done through e-mail with the moderators.

 

[DM_Matt]

Well, whether or not it has any impact on their justification for existing, I have a feeling that the moderators are going to close THIS thread pretty soon....

 

[Leopold]

theres a meta thread or a sci-fi forum to move them too..

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

When the poll option first became avialable there were tons of off topic polls in the General Forum and it became a problem, since then ot polls have not been allowed, period. I can see why you ask, but if you had seen the mess that was in here you'd probably understand the policy better.

On a side note, Crothian and Leopold are right, Stuff like this should either be taken care through e-mail with one of the mods, or be put in Meta( meat deals with questions about the boards themselves).

 

[Kibo]

metamoderation for the masses

Well this should probably be discussed in the meta forum, as it's a discussions about discussions. It's a pretty sad state when the people being moderated can't discuss being moderated. It would certainly be ammusing if the moderators closed it, at least to me. Almost as ammusing as the moderators bringing up Columbine et al. Or better yet by admonishing people to refrain from personal insults while liberally spouting their own epithets (that was classic).

But, elementally, the job of a censor is to censor. If you're not censoring things or finding things to censor, what's the point of being a censor. Naturally, the truth is a much finer shade of grey than that, but ultimately I don't think it's that far off the mark.

All in all censors really only seem to work well on small communities. It's a difficult balance to strike, and while a high signal to noise ratio is a noble goal, it takes rare individuals to strike that balance. Consistancy, the mercurial nature of the human condition, and just plain old differences between people conspire to make it a more or less intractable problem. Any reduction of noise will throw out some of the signal, and any adjustment that allows more signal will admit more noise.

For my part I think the world would be a better place if all censors were converted to censers. It might be a little dirtier, but it'd be more honest and smell better.

But I, thankfully, am not burdened with such responsabilities. But anyone who doesn't agree with me is in fact a cannibal and a hippie joo.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

It's not about censorship. It's about off-topic polls, which played hell with the site back when polls were first introduced. The site was down everyday for hours until the problem was figured out - too many polls. So off-topic ones were banned. I don't see why that's such a hardship.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I don't think i'd touch Kibo's reasponce with a ten meter cattle prod.

 

[EricNoah]

Re: metamoderation for the masses

But anyone who doesn't agree with me is in fact a cannibal and a hippie joo.

Wow, you'd better explain this last bit because where I come from that's just appallingly insulting no matter how you spell it.