In four words (with no brackets or ellipses to pretend I'm not cursing when I am), given the events of the last few days what I believe a moderator of Fairfield Life would do if they were truly sane is:
SHUT THE FUCK UP Y'know...sorta like what Alex is doing, and has been doing all along. Progress HAS been made. I think that all of us have become more aware of what the actual Yahoo-Groups Guidelines are. Just as important, we have become more aware of what they ARE NOT. They are NOT about censoring content, as someone attempted to do last night. As Curtis pointed out, they are also NOT about censoring language, because that's a non-issue -- Yahoo has never in its history had any problem with someone saying Fuck or Fuckin' on any of its forums. The real guidelines do NOT have anything to do with not being able to legitimately criticize public figures. And they do NOT say that people have to submit to what some self-appointed Nazi tells them to do or not do, just because he calls himself a "moderator." The most important of the *real* Yahoo-Groups Guidelines -- in my opinion as a long-term member of this forum -- is the one that a sane moderator has the best chance of actually enforcing: "Avoid personalized invective." That's IT. SHUT THE FUCK UP about everything else. If you have the shitty karma to have been named as a moderator of Fairfield Life, suck it up and put on your big boy pants and try to actually accomplish something useful instead of just bitching and moaning all the time. Enforce the "personalized invective" guideline by quietly deleting any post that REALLY crosses that line. Avoid trying to police the use of "invective, period," because that's a lost cause -- EVERYONE here goes on a rant from time to time and hurls invective at the people they don't like. You can't stop it because it's human nature. Instead, focus on the "personalized" part -- if posters get their panties in a bunch, they should try not to lash out at *other posters on Fairfield Life* by aiming invective at them. THIS is enforceable. If you're a moderator, get the fuck over your own ego and stick with THIS guideline. Quietly delete any post you feel hurls invective at or attempts to harass a current poster on Fairfield Life, and then just as quietly write the person whose post you've deleted an email saying that you did it, and why you did it. That's it -- end of intervention. I would have NO PROBLEM with this approach to "moderation" on FFL. I will aid any moderator in helping to enforce this general guideline by trying to indulge in as little "personalized invective" as possible. On the other hand, I have MANY PROBLEMS with censorship of either ideas or language, and will fight anyone attempting to impose them tooth and nail. Your call. If you ARE actually sane, you'll take the increased recognition of actual Yahoo guidelines here and run with it, and stop trying to preach to people. Do your job in this one actually enforceable area, and SHUT THE FUCK UP about everything else, and the forum will actually become the "better place" you *claim* you want it to be. Keep up the nonsense you've been attempting so far, and it won't. Simple as that.
