General Chat

Eeh bah gum - my post has been removed - probably because of a reference to "E by gum"!

At last I have achieved notoriety, albeit that very few realize.

B

Jonesey


I have experience of moderators on the old Friends Reunited .........

..... where they DID contract it out to another company, certainly from about 2005 to 2009.

I'm not making that up ............................... FR was open about the fact that they did not employ their own moderators, but contracted it out.

FR stated that the other company was given very strict guidelines to follow when moderating for posts on the site.

It was hit and miss

I received a 5 minute ban for saying "hello" on one memorable occasion. :-D

I think the person who reported that one must have also been on GR a few years ago, when I got reported for something similar ......... except the post was reinstated on here and I didn't get a ban!


Someone else on FR around the same time got a 10 minute ban for saying something like "the Pakistan cricket team"


.................. basis for that one being that Paki was considered a derogatory term. On its own, yes ................. but certainly not when used as part of the country's name!


But my statement on how such operations work is based on an article I read about a year ago .............. where both the owners of such a business AND some of their "employees" were interviewed.

The owners were full of how good they were, how the moderating was done "according to the requesting site's guideline".

They inferred that some big sites were "clients"

The "employees" were interesting.

One student, unnamed for obvious reasons, said he did the moderating in the middle of the night while pulling an all-nighter. Another said he was often drinking while moderating.

The "employees" were given lists of the guidelines for each of the sites, and had to follow those ............................. so there was no leeway for interpretation NOR any certainty that a moderator would not get the guidelines for different sites mixed up.

Apparently the way it works is as follows ..................

a post is reported on a site

That report is automatically sent to the company

The report to be moderated is then put up on a "bulletin board"

any "moderator" on-line can put in their dibs to do the moderating.

If no moderator is on-line, or doesn't want to do it, then the post remains on the "board" until it is moderated.


I certainly would not want that ................ particularly after the FR experiences


I think it is a case of "be careful what you wish for"!


GR has less than a dozen employees, as far as I can work out.

They're most definitely are not going to hire that number of people to moderate 24/7 .................... it is going to be a contracting out situation.

I should say that FR still has some sort of moderation going on ................. I go on there about once a month, just to post in one particular place.

I have seen posts removed and sent for review .................. but I'm not interested enough in that site to do the follow-up with them that I did 5 or 6 years ago.

"Take a look at Rootschat, a site not dissimilar to GR. Note how their message boards are moderated by volunteers from their own membership who they describe thus:

Our RootsChat moderators are very special people, they have shown outstanding qualities and have gone the extra mile for a few of you. We would be lost without them and they try their best to look after all your posts to give them the best opportunity for an answer. All the moderators are volunteers."



http://www.rootschat.com/forum/aboutus.php

If GR can give a free platinum plus membership for a year to people for just visiting the offices....surely they could do the same for anyone to be a moderator.

I would quite happily volunteer but could not see them taking me on...for a start my tree isn't big enough :-D

Do they tell obscene jokes and allow inappropriate posts on RootsChat.....just wondered.

I can understand a free, member-run, site such as RootsChat using members as moderators


but it galls me that you are expecting a commercial for-profit site to use its members for free to do the moderation.


There is something that is very wrong with that!

Members are the biggest asset that GR has .................... it is members that provide all the help and advice on the Boards.

Always have, and will, I expect, continue to so for as long as this site lasts



but to also expect a paying member to moderate other members .................... I'm sorry, it's not for me.

To be blunt .................. I do not believe that some of the people who might volunteer to be a Moderator, ESPECIALLY if they are going to get their sub paid for the year, could resist the chance to "get back at someone"

Ooooo strong words our Sylvia......I promise not to get my own back on anyone......unless I win the lottery and buy the company....then I might have great fun.....but until then never would I delete a post unless it was deserved...... so you take that back! :-D

Susan


we might hope it wouldn't happen ...........


......... but think on how many times we have seen "revenge reporting" of posts over the years.

It might only be one or two people involved .................. and they might no longer be involved with GR

but it has happened.



and, no, I'm not about to name anyone I might suspect or hvae suspected in the past :-D

I may have missed something but I have used Rootschat before, found my cousin through it in fact, but it has always struck me as being very genealogy oriented on its forum, and less activity on the 'general chat' side than here? though that may have altered since I was last there.

I suppose if members were to volunteer here to be moderators, they would be anonymous to avoid any unpleasantness or resentment? ( recalling that not everyone was happy with some researchers being designated as 'Help' in that short lived experiment by GR?)

And if it WAS anonymous, how many people would actually resist the temptation to tell or favour their friends? That might work ok on the FA board etc, but perhaps not on chat? What would the situation be if I , for eg, told a slightly off joke, but X who is my friend and the moderator didn't want to upset me by removing it?

Seriously.....I don't believe moderators would be of any use on this particular site judging by the outcry when some posts are RRd and, in my opinion, deservedly so.

look at the amount of threads about the subject just in two days...and yet another, today...all saying the same old thing. In my honest opinion, I do believe that most of the time the poster knows exactly what they are doing by posting an iffy thread/post.....to me it it to wind up the boards.

The answer is simple.....stop posting iffy posts and there will be less of a need for calls for a moderator. There is many a time I have had to back-space so as not to upset a person.....

I also find it laughable that calls for the RRer to show themselves is a recurring theme......What! To tear them apart more than they already are......Not so likely I here them cry!

Yes, I do believe that sometimes there is a pixie out there wanting to do harm by RRing any post.....but apart from one or two.....maybe three or four.......I don't believe it justifies the absurd overreaction that the pulling of Mr Ms iffy thread has brought to us......Sheesh......get over it and move on is what I say.......Perleeeese don't start yet another thread on the worn out subject. As I have said, in my mind, most of the time it is a wind up and we are all biting.

RR


that is exactly the type of thing I was thinking .........

.................. as well as the possibility that a moderator might remove a post because s/he has something against the poster or favours the RR'er


I would anticipate that the Moderators on here would be anonymous .............. unlike some of those other member-moderated sites where the moderators are named, and there seems to be no jealousy


but the moderators themselves would know the names of both the poster and the RR'er.

"less activity on the 'general chat' side"


http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?board=284.0
In the Lighter Side post your topics that are on the "Lighter Side" of your hobby of Local History or Genealogy, or things that are perhaps not directly related to the subject but still relevant or of interest in some way.


http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?board=286.0
Yep, as the title suggests, this board is for totally "off topic" posts, where you can discuss almost anything you like. Enjoy! Postings on this board do not count in your number of posts.

I actually find RootsChat quite boring ................. and quite difficult to use



but that is just me!

Sylvia

At the moment most of the RRing is done by Anon.....I reiterate! what would stop the members from putting up threads like this every time the moderator decided against it? no-one can tell me that the hoo haarers won't object just as they do now and also in the same manner. The rudeness shown toward GR and any RRer is embarrassing to see as a member of a family site.....not nice to read such vile words toward a fellow human being. Just because 'they' cannot see the harm does not mean it does not exist.

Mods on Rootschat mainly move posts to what they feel is the correct board,,,,,,all boards on there are based on research not everyday chit chat.None of the mods on RC get told to get a life,they are a sado or worse.

GR shouldnt need moderators if all monitored their own hands and keyboard.

Susanwivnumbers,

As the originator of this thread then it is I who should answer some of your comments.

You say that you are fed up with seeing the amount of threads of this nature effectively saying the same thing. If it is of any consolation to you so am I but in my case I attribute the number of threads started being the result of a poor board policing system rather than people deliberately making what you describe as "Iffy" posts. Until such time as the board moderation system is radically improved I'm afraid complaints about it and suggestions for how it might be improved are likely to continue.

Of this thread you say, "I don't believe it justifies the absurd overreaction that the pulling of Mr Ms iffy thread has brought to us......Sheesh......get over it and move on is what I say.......Perleeeese don't start yet another thread on the worn out subject." .

Strong words indeed. I admit that in the past some of Mr M's jokes may have been judged as being just a little too close to the knuckle for inclusion on a site such as GR. More recently however Mr M has only put up jokes or funnies of a much gentler variety, the sort that you could tell a vicars wife without causing embarrassment. In fact I did just that with the Yorkshire jokes and both she and her husband thought they were hilarious. (Sylvia will tell you the ladies name as she knows her well). I was amazed earlier today to learn that the reason that Mr M's post was removed was because someone complained that a joke involving a play on words of a well known and oft used traditional Yorkshire saying, "E by gum" , might corrupt the young and incite people into drug misuse. Also amazing was the fact that whoever at GR is responsible for reviewing threads that have been reported accepted that it was sufficient reason to remove the post/entire thread. All I can say to that without risking breeching the sites guidelines, terms and conditions of board use is that if anyone has overreacted it is them not I. My brain is obviously wired differently from theirs but you can judge whose brain is wired correctly.

As far as getting over it, moving on and not starting any other threads on the same subject, nothing would give me more pleasure and I will be very pleased to do so once GR has improved the moderation of its boards.

Thank you for answering jonesey....and my last post?.....what are the answers to that?......the whole point put in a nutshell....edited


Edit....... I personally thought that Mr Ms joke with the play on words was in very poor taste.....and so must GR have thought too, cos it's not here is it?! Or dare I say that without being told I have no sense of humour, need to get a life etc....I wouldn't dream of repeating any of the other vile outpourings toward anyone who dares to go against those who disagree with the smut/bad taste posts on these boards.


edited in the middle of the night

I was speaking to someone early this morning....an ordinary conversation, or so I thought until they decided to add smut to the conversation...with reference to other jokes that someone had seen fit to RR the other week.........deliberately of course.....a male......Now, to that person I would say this............in the middle of the night on a chat board which is supposed to be relatively decent! why would a so called decent person go out of their way to deliberately add indecent remarks to someone they know doesnt agree with them.....I suspect that that person is now having great fun by passing on the details! but this is exactly why I feel that men should not be posting objectionable threads.....I found it very creepy ... Especially when children are part of the joke.. although not this particular time.....no! I didn't RR him..I found his comments embarrassing and deleted the thread....I. Just hope that he is ashamed of himself for making sure that I and maybe others don't bother reaching out for a friendly chat in the middle of the night if one is to expect creepy posts of a smutty nature......do any of you see my point now?!........men talking dirt is creepy to women who do not accept that that is the way women should be spoken to. ......now go and have your laugh those who wish to and gather around with any other people who agree with you......but believe me.....not all women do.....

I have never understood why some men have to bring smut/obscenity into every conversation they have.

I suspect they thought that because no-one was about they would get me back for what I have written on this .thread......some democracy......all for some and none for others

To me, I expect men to be gentlemen, which doesn't include smutty comments. if they are not I try very hard to avoid them. This is hard to do when on a family site if a person is to be harassed in the middle of the night with unwelcome remarks.....or any time of the day. And before anyone says I should get a life.....I do have one, a very full one and a sense of humour........but it doesn't include having to put up with the type of behaviour displayed by some of the male members who think that smutt less minded people are in the minority so anything goes and when they have an explanation from GR saying they have broken T &Cs they cannot and will not accept it and try to change the rules by having us all believe that we who object are the minority and that the rules don't count if applied to those who break them time and again.

Well said, Susan.

well said, Susan

I haven't been on here for the past 3 or 4 hours, so I didn't see your post.

I wish I could have seen it ......... then there would have been 2 of us going after that person :-)