ResMods: Do you miss being part of the community?

Here's a question I've been pondering.

Many of our ResMods were pretty active forum posters before the whole program was put in place. I'm curious if these folks miss being part of the community. Regardless of good intentions, these folks are now (unfairly) the targets of derision, suspicion and even outright malice. This resentment, coupled with the duties and responsibilities inherent to moderation, creates a defacto barrier between the ResMods and the rest of the community.

Between that and not being paid, is it even worth it? I'm feeling pretty bad for you guys right about now.

Thank you for eloquently summing up my own fears for the program. I'd be curious to hear the responses myself.

This member of the Second Life community appreciates the efforts expended by those members of the Second Life community who took on the task of helping to keep the forums organized, on topic, and in accordance with the Forum Guidelines, Community Standards, and Terms of Service. Thanks for keeping up the good work, ResMods.

Actually,for what it's worth, if the Resmods were well respected members of the community before they took up their postions as Resmods, shouldnt they then gain even more respect if they did an oustandingly good job, showing all the evenhandedness and judgement the positions require.

I feel no seperation between my community (whatever community that may be) and the ResMods, in fact I respect, admire and I am impressed by their character that they are willing to do so much for so little.

I think the ResMods mean well. They keep threads from downward spirals, especially on weekends. We all know how bad some of those spirals have been.

Obviously LL is not interested in investing anything into fixing the situation, other than throwing the ball into the resident's court. If this program is doomed to fail, then the forums (or at least parts of it) should be closed.

I'll bite.

I think the worst part about being a resmod is that on any given week I have X hours to check out the forums. I used to spend that time ignoring forum ugliness and reading threads and subforums that interested me. Now those X hours are devoted mostly, to reading posts and threads that are AR'd. [edit to add] Usually if the first time a post is AR'd is on page 15, that means back reading 15 pages of posts to understand how it got to that point.

So I don't avoid posting in fear of getting jumped on, it is just that my finite amount of forum time is now spent reading posts that were ar'd. But then again, usually volunteering for something new means giving up something old.

It's fun meeting new people who lurk the forums but will send you inworld IM's to show support.

But how is that worth doing, man?

The final sentence is key. Evenhandedness and judgement seems to have been lacking in many cases. Ultimately, the responsibility is Linden Labs. They are the ones failing here, not the ResMods, who only have so much to work with.

Essentially because I think there are three options. Help LL get the resmod program right, watch them shut down the forums or be subjected to an even more poorly designed program of moderation.

I realize the forums have been a core part of some of our SL experiences and would hate to see them go away. I'd also hate to see them move towards a more draconian system that forbids the kind of debate, discussions, and jokes that the community has accepted in the past.

This sentence sums it up for me. "Regardless of good intentions" could mean the RMs, as I think you intended, but also sadly applies to the treatment of the RMs by many of the most vocal opponents of the program.

I don't feel a disconnect between myself and the RMs, but more and more between myself and the most angry of the opponents, who have often been outright nasty, almost negating some valid points for me and highlighting why LL thought they needed to be treated like little kids in the first place.

The largest problem with this statement is that ResMods have brought about no improvement in moderation at all. It is still just as sloppy, slow, and unevenly applied as ever. This is the fault of the ResMods but the fault of LL for not hiring employees to do the work who can dedicate the time to it and create a a standard for moderation. Currently no standard for moderation exists. You can reviews statements from Jeska which reflect that point.

On another board, I was a regular poster before I was invited to become a mod (though with more powers than the ResMods here, a proper mod, ban edit IP lookup etc) and I can certainly say that it affected me; I'm always thinking "is this person responding to me or my mod status?" and yes, some people have a prejudice against mods in general. The regulars know that I won't ban them for disagreeing with them but new posters don't. It's actually quite alienating, and I enjoy places like these forums where I'm just like everyone else.

Ding ding ding.. we have a winner!

The above makes a strong assertion. "ResMods have brought about no improvement in moderation" as if this was a fact, testable and able to be supported with evidence.

I don't believe this is the case. My personal, subjective opinion is that the forums are "better" since the resident moderator program went into effect. I see fewer personal attacks, less interpersonal bickering being conducted in public in violation of the forum guidelines, and fewer threads being posted and maintained in the wrong forum for their content.

My statement is worded in such a way as to make it clearly a statement of my personal opinion, and to contradict the contention of the thread starter that resident moderator status has in any way removed those in that status from the community.

Resident moderators are in my Sl community, and I'm glad to have them here.

While my opinion is the reverse. The forums have degraded since the resmod program was instituted.

I tend to ignore resmods.. the entire situation and program is ridiculous.

While I think the ResMod program is a really bad idea, I have to applaud those ResMods who have tried to do their best in the face of all the dreck. I wouldn't touch this job with a ten foot pole. You all are certifiable!

Enabran, when did you stop beating your wife?