Hi Charles, that's very true, and I thank you for your support. I think a lot of people forget the moderators have lives outside this list too, we go shopping, go out to dinner, watch a couple of movies, and just that fast a topic that was more or less on topic changed direction and quickly got further and further from the initial subject matter. It is especially true when a topic or subject under discussion happens to be somewhat of a gray area to begin with.
For example, while this list is primarily for discussing games we sometimes allow people to ask programming questions on list if it happens to be game related. It has always been somewhat of a gray area because it may be game related, but depending on how specific the question is it may fall more on the programming side of the fence or more on the game related side of the fence. Its up to a good moderator to decide how on topic that subject matter is rather than just ban the topic outright in my opinion. The same principle applies to the discussion we just had about blind gamers being taken seriously. Again, its a gray area because it wasn't just about gaming, and included such topics as how to properly approach mainstream developers that involved talking about proper formatting, punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc. Initially I felt the subject matter was constructive for most people so let it slide, even actively posted on the topic myself, but after I spent a day away from the list the subject got into arguing about if the list should change the guidelines to proofread or not, people started to flame other list members, and I could tell an argument was beginning to start. When I saw where things were going I pulled the plug in a hurry to prevent a flame war. What i did was simply make a judgment call based on the state of the topic at the time, and decided to shut it down. I'm certainly not perfect, never pretended to be, but I do moderate this list to the best of my abilities using my own judgment to allow a conversation to continue or kill it when I think it has gotten out of hand or too far off topic. Cheers! On 12/19/11, Charles Rivard <[email protected]> wrote: > A good topic came from this previous topic. Maybe a moderator can better > inform us on what they do? A complaint has been posted about moderators > letting a thread continue until they have commented on it, then suddenly > close it. One thing to consider is the amount of work that goes into > moderating a large list while also having other time consuming life and work > issues. Threads may go on for only 2 or 3 days, and everyone is lengthening > them rapidly, so you get bombarded with messages on 1 topic. Meanwhile, a > moderator returns from a weekend of leisure, or they come home from a work > related trip, and, Holy smoke! What the heck's been going on while I was > away! I'd better get busy on this one! > > This is why there are more than one moderator, but even that will not > prevent such an occurrence. Let's give these hard working and dedicated > guys a well deserved break from nonconstructive criticism, OK? > > --- > Be positive! When it comes to being defeated, if you think you're finished, > you! are! finished! --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
