Feedback on ResMod Program

Thanks for posting that, Torley.

There is nothing in there about editing posts, and there was a button mistakenly available for editing posts, which in my opinion vindicates the resmod who edited posts. I was certain she was only conscientiously doing what she thought she was supposed to do, and I hated that she took such a beating for it.

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Here's what resmods are good for:

1. Moving threads. I don't care how much people bitch about this; the thread movings I've seen have been for good cause, usually in the cases of residents who think their event or their announcement or whatever is so important that it should be in general, rather than in events or announcements.

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Here's what resmods shouldn't be doing:

1. Star-rating threads. Why should some other resident just like me get to have his/her opinion be so special? While the rest of us are muted in this regard? How insulting.

2. Getting a thread back on-topic. This really just doesn't fly - people hate it when a resmod comes in to declare that a conversation is getting off-topic (and often it isn't). They have been told to do this, but they just can't do it, without seeming pushy and arrogant, plus it falls into the category as 1 above; i.e., who cares what they think is off-topic? And they are wrong half the time.

3. Serving as a screener for the Lindens. I don't want other residents deciding capriciously which AR's can be overlooked, and which to bring to the Lindens' attention.

4. Talking. They give away the store when they talk. Here's an example:

I sign my AR's, and wouldn't dream of submitting them anonymously. And shouldn't have to. Satchmo explained that it doesn't matter if a rule has been broken (i.e., one resident tells another, "f**k you", but rather who has done the reporting. If it is just from "a certain few," he explained, the mods don't pay any attention to it.

Which explains a lot.

Even for those people who may not sign their AR's, Jeska, Pathfinder, and whoever else can see who they come from, and apparantly some of us just don't count as actual residents. We can point to a flagrant violation of a rule (such as a clear and profane personal attack), and it will still sit there, because the "right people" didn't AR it. If the right people don't mind someone being told to go f**k themselves, then that makes it okay. Forum rule is thus by mob, not by law.

I'm glad Satchmo talked about this, because it saves me the trouble of ever AR'ing any post again, no matter how awful, not to mention wondering why it wasn't removed after I reported it.

But for Linden purposes, resmods talking too much probably isn't a good thing.

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Unscientific polls (the only kind we have) tell us that most people want the resmod program gone. I would also add that it is unfair to the residents who are chosen from the population and given authority over others, without pay, which means they suffer resentment they don't deserve, as they are only trying to help. And I don't think this resentment is ever going to abate.

Hire a professional, unbiased outsider to do this job. Pay them. Don't turn some residents into the police of others, when you always promised us there would be no player with power over another.

Get someone who will actually pay attention to the words of the rules; not twist them around trying to explain why they sometimes apply and sometimes don't, or why they apply to some residents and not others.

Get someone who will treat all residents as equal under the law, not give some a pass to persecute others unfairly, and call it "what the community wants," which is what has been going on since before the resmod program.

coco

The only good thing the resmod programme has done, is make people with extremely disparate viewpoints, and histories of rivalry to agree.
And they're agreeing on the one thing.....
RESIDENT MODERATION IS BAD

On a side note, about the ars being ignored..

I was called, by someone I won't name 'Hitler.'

As a person and of hebrew descent this offended me horribly. You also might imagien that since they don't think anything nazi has any other context in world that they would remove this post and /or reprimand the poster.

Neithe rhas happened. Has a caprisious resmod misplaced my AR? I imagine so.

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone, in regards to the editing snafu that happened recently - per the discussion in General, we will be clarifying that ResMods should not edit posts. The event in question was due to a temporary permissions error that gave new ResMods the ability to edit posts, which was compounded by confusion over editing - due to it not being explicitly described in the ResMod Guidelines I am going to add further clarification about ResMods not being able to edit posts immediately and apologize greatly for this misstep.

I may be misremembering the incident, but wasn't the 'Hitler' comment in response to a post in which you referred to said person as 'Stalin'?

At the time I had no knowledge of the persons history. And I did retcon those posts to remove my comment at his request.

The comment I made actually came from his continually bringing socialism and fascism up..

Now tell me where does anything indicate it is acceptable to call someone what I was called?

I take that back about resmods being good for moving threads.

coco

The ResMod program has been incredibly successful.

The annoying, stupid threads that were the past are all but eliminated!

.... Because the people that used to write them are all engulfed in the "Kill the ResMod program!" threads now instead.

I APPROVE!

Jonas, in case you didn't get the in-world IM, please check the referranced thread again. you were heard and you can see the results there, whcih i'm sure you'll be pleased with.


oh.. and this thread has been moved to the new SL ResMod forum to keep consistant with proper placement of threads.

I hope no one minds me adding my personal opinions regarding the matter.

I don't mind the ResMod Program. I trust that Linden Lab does not choose which resident will mod our boards by drawing straws. I'm certain they are chosen with careful discernment. These people contribute to the overall intention of our forum, they help organize it, they help us maintain a comfortable atmosphere. I am grateful to anyone who volunteers their time to make such an effort on all of our behalfs.

I realize to many it seems an unusual process, and many feel it opens the door for a conflict of interests or abuse of authority. This hasn't happened yet, has it? I'm not certain why we would immediately be against a program that seems to be working.

In closing, I'd just like to saythat Linden Lab has, in the past, notably made a practice of making our fellow citizen full blown Lindens, and as far as I know, no such backlash ocurred, and that seems for more libelous.

As long as everything is peaceable, why make a deliberate attempt to fight it?

Love,
PF

It has happened.

It has happened to a degree that a formerly staunch supporters of the experimental program (me, for one) now consider it an unmitigated disaster. Search my prior posts if you want to see the tedious detail; we don't need more links nor more retellings.

*sigh*

I'm so out of the loop. Disregard my two cents then, it just sounded nice listening to myself as though I knew what I were talking about.

Thanks for clarifying.

Love,
PF

Abuse of power did, in fact, happen, as one ResMod overstepped her authority and used forum moderation tools for which she had not been given authorization. That ResMod decided to edit the content of a post belonging to another resident, in spite of the fact that post had not come anywhere near violating forum rules and the ResMod's job duties did not include this.

So:

- Worthless training for ResMods
- Appointment of ResMods who have no clue of the normal workings of these discussion boards

Conclusion:

ResMod Program == sux

Dunno what other conclusions we can draw here, even given the most cursory examination of the history and facts.

to be fair, said moderator did apologize for the action AND explained that it was an accident. Jeska also took responsibility for it because this new ResMod had been told to use the tools given to us, which due to a permissions flub meant she could edit posts. nowhere in the ResMod guidelines had it been said NOT to edit posts, because this wasn't supposed to be an available tool.

it was a simple misunderstanding. also, of note, due to the backlash she had received personally, she quit the ResMod program out of respect for the ResMods, herself and the community as a whole.
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there have been a couple of times when ResMod "powers" have been misused, either intentionally or not, but this doesn't mean the entire program is a failure. by the logic, so is Second Life.. it would relate to, "well, Second Life has had people who made laggy and badly written scripts, so we should just shut the whole thing down".

it's the same in both cases.. certain areas need work to make the whole thing better. we try to work together to acheive that end with Second Life, why not with this program?

i understand the whole "but you're just a Resis and shouldn't be telling me what to do" arguement and it's a valid one at that; however, if we simply tried to work together instead of against each other, we might just make some positive progress.

and please don't take this as "i'm better than you" tripe, because it most certainly is not. i have always been vocal about positivity within SL and the forums and towards our future here and there. my viewpoints haven't changed, i've simply found myself in a position to try to help more than i could have before.

For the record, I am better than all of you.

No, that comparison doesn't work at all. The success of Second Life is based on technical realities and parameters -- either it's online and usable or it's not. Either the software is stable or it isn't. Other users of the platform and their use thereof don't factor into it, except inasmuch as they affect the technical parameters mentioned.

On the other hand, the entirety of the ResMod program rests on personalities and their credibility in executing the moderation mandates they are given. If the management and recruitment of those personalities erodes that credibility beyond a certain threshold, the program ceases to be relevant.

I would posit this has already happened.

We can work together on a different project. Dismantle the resmod program.

I will NEVER work towards making that defunct program work.

I expect it was pretty much like the instructions historically given to Mentors, Live Helpers, and Greeters. I hope I'm not giving away any company secrets by quoting them in full below:

Enabran, you're right. it was a poor comparison and i'm not sure if there are any that would work.. i was thinking of Greeters or Live Help, but that doesn't allow Resis to affect others experience in an editorial fashion.

i will concede that at this time, i can not think of a proper comparison and will retract that statement. (although i'm leaving the original post intact.)

I have no problem with the ResMod program as it exists. I know I can count on LL to handle any issues regarding unauthorized information release or bias appropriately and quickly. For me, this is a non-issue.