do we need a moderator??

[paulrevelcet]

I was just wondering why this forum has no moderator and why cant we have one.

[Dean Huster]

Actually, the forum has been pretty good at self-policing, which says a heck of a lot for the members. Unless Larry is micromanaging and we don't know it, there've been very few posts that haven't been in the spirit of the forum. As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."<p>Dean

[jwax]

I agree this forum does quite well on its' own, but it would be a nice option to have an "IGNORE" button for some of the persistent "pain-in-the-forum flamers. After all, some of them apparently lack reading/comprehesion skills.

[dyarker]

ditto Dean

[bridgen]

Yes, I agree with Dean too.<p>It's quite refreshing compared with, say, the Google newsgroups.

[josmith]

All the Mods are too busy monitoring the traffic jam of posts in Tetsujin

[jollyrgr]

If we are voting, I vote with Dean. Anytime you get a moderated board, so it seems to me, you will eventually fall under the ire of one of the moderators for whatever reason. Usually this is not true of the owners of most boards, just those that gain power. <p>I was a moderator on a board and would edit objectionable words and replace them with the cartoon ASCII symbols such as %$&#. I'd say 99.44% of the adults could figure out the original word even if it was not really there. Other times I'd edit an HTML link to make it work properly. I would NEVER outright delete someone's post. I'd gained my moderator status as I was one of the early users of the board and could construct a relatively coherent post. And I was posting answers to questions or making comments on a daily basis.<p>At the time there were very few users but the site was gaining quickly in popularity and the owner simply had asked me to help out. One day the board crashed and there were no backups. Everyone had to re-enroll in the system from scratch and my moderator status was gone. With many people now on the system there were plenty of takers when the request for new moderators went out; I did not request the honor. Well one or more of the new moderators disagreed with opinions of certain people and would delete their posts if not entire groups of postings. (Try to reason with someone that is feverously against dropping the Morse code requirement.) I noticed my posts and those of others kept disappearing (and I had screenshots to prove it). The opinions posted took on a very interesting slant if you were able to catch ALL the posts and have a BEFORE and AFTER view. (I see unmoderated boards, such as N&V, as a good source for opinions, whether you agree with them or not.) <p>One day I posted something that, at a very long stretch, could be considered questionable. Well one of the moderators took me to task. (Despite that what I posted was something I learned as a young kid and was even later taught it in high school.) He finally had something he could go SO THERE! He gave me a WARNING e-mail and deleted my post. I would FOREVER have a "scarlet letter" placed next to my name in any future postings to let others know I had been warned. I guess some people like the power they can wield. <p>Here is where it gets interesting. Someone else posted the EXACT same comment as I did but his post was not deleted. It stayed there over a week untouched. So I simply wrote the owner of the board and asked him why he had deleted my post but left the other one intact, including a copy of the ANNONYMOUS moderator letter. The owner replied that he was not the one that had deleted my post and half heartedly agreed with me. About a week later there was a request for a volunteer moderator. The posting that echoed what I had posted is still there. My experience left me resentful of the board and I have only posted there one time in the last three months; far less than the daily posts I used to make.<p>Probably you could get moderators that would be like I was. But more than likely you will get those that have their own agenda to put forward. So I'd say let's NOT have a moderator.

[perfectbite]

"(I see unmoderated boards, such as N&V, as a good source for opinions, whether you agree with them or not.)" <p>Amen to that JR

[Clyde Crashkop]

This forum seems to police it’s self quite well. When I posted a topic on hydrogen, I felt like Frankenstein’s monster being chased by an angry mob of villagers with torches and pitch forks.

[Chris Smith]

People here will let you know what they think as a whole. This is good.<p>That’s what makes us different from some others, its called freedom of speech. <p>Only bad taste and bad language will be removed if it is objectionable to all. <p>But never bad ideas or bad opinions, they make up at least half of the world while guiding the other half on what not to do.

[sundancer87]

Don't you have enough rules to follow without a forum cop watching every keystroke?<p>Some of the mods I've experienced act as if their actions will go on a big report card and that report card will keep them from going to hell.<p>I say nay to another 'big bother' figure breathing down my neck.