We have managed to put enough infrastructure together to hide the troll-bait threads.

Over the coming days many more features will be added to the forum software to allow moderators without DB access to hide threads and the like.

I have taken the liberty of hiding a few tonight, and I'll hide more as the need arises.

I and the moderators will try and take our ques from the community by looking for those threads in the thread list that have the filtered icon on them, which means that the first post in the thread has been minus-ed enough to flag it as filtered.

I won't say that all threads that reach that state will be hidden, but they will be looked at to determine if they need to be hidden.

For the time being I'm taking responsibility for doing this until the feature set is complete enough to turn over to the volunteer moderators.

Thanks for your understanding and patience.

---

----- Rom
BOINC Development Team, U.C. Berkeley
My Blog

Hello
I volunteer to be a mod in the future when you need them.I have loads of time on my hands and would willingly do this.And thanks for the hard work and things you are doing on these boards.

---

......In Space No One Can Hear You Scream......

TROLL Bait

Thank you Rom And BOINC Development Team, U.C. Berkeley!

---

> Hello
> I volunteer to be a mod in the future when you need them.I have loads of time
> on my hands and would willingly do this.


Ditto

---

> Hello
> I volunteer to be a mod in the future when you need them.I have loads of time
> on my hands and would willingly do this.And thanks for the hard work and
> things you are doing on these boards.
>
Beware of what you wish for, you might get it. I think the mods should be
unknown and annonymous.

Most excellent Rom.

---

Account frozen...

Thank you Rom, SETI and Berkeley people for all this effort and work.

I'll add my support as best I can as a posting member and think its great that there are other involved members who are willing to do that bit more by offering to help moderate.

That's the kind of community spirit I came here for and makes shared computing and SETI such a great idea for me.

cRunchy

The way forward, excellent.....

Willie

---

> > Hello
> > I volunteer to be a mod in the future when you need them.I have loads of
> time
> > on my hands and would willingly do this.And thanks for the hard work and
> > things you are doing on these boards.
> >
> Beware of what you wish for, you might get it. I think the mods should be
> unknown and annonymous.
>
> Most excellent Rom.
>
>

I'm participating in some moderated boards, and all the moderators are visible and active in the boards.
This works out pretty well.

Regards Hans

---

> > > ......I think the mods should be
> > > unknown and annonymous.

> I'm participating in some moderated boards, and all the moderators are visible
> and active in the boards.
> This works out pretty well.

I prefer to know who moderators are because after all their greatest allies are the people they serve and you can't serve well from behind a veil.

One thing I have learnt from being involved in the community though is that the best defence from moderators being abused or them finding it hard to follow whatever agreed guidlines because of their own views on any person or topic is a good strong moderator team and backup from both above, peers and below.

I guess at the end of the day it needs to be up to the individual as to how comfortable they feel at sharing their own personal information though I think just knowing a persons city, country, nom-de-plume and interests is not too invasive.

I like it when moderators can get involved and just post as members where not conflicting with their duties but that is where time served, personality and trust all play their part. Its a big responsibility and one I commend for those who are willing to take it on and do it well.

In all situations where someone takes on the difficult and often thankless task of applying the rules it is a good idea for those who moderate to set their own internal guidlines as to how far any attack on them or their dutties is allowed to go. Any attack on one is an attack on all.

I think even though these moderating measures are now being talked about due to the rather unpleasant activities of the few I do really appreciate that we can have a voice in how the forum develops... That in itself is quite unique as most forums are created in the opposite direction with a moderator existing first.

I suspect though that except for dealing every now and again with the odd destructive individual that most moderation duties will be a matter of stewardship rather than control or closure.

cRunchy

BUMP

---

>
> Thanks for your understanding and patience.
>
>

Patience is a virtue I have learned from many years of experience... That and my Doctor told me I needed to learn how to handle stupid better :)

For what it's worth I will volunteer to be a moderator anonymous or not..

Mystic Time: Thu 13 January 2005, 23:22 (Eastern Standard Time)

---

I'd rather speak my mind because it hurts too much to bite my tongue.

American Spirit BBQ Proudly Serving those that courageously defend freedom.

I question a persons motives when they want to be a moderator now but did nothing when the spammers/trolls were afoot and left it to other people to step into the fray and handle things for them.

For the anticipated responses of "I was just ignoring them." my response to that is "Then you can continue to ignore them."

> I question a persons motives when they want to be a moderator now but did
> nothing when the spammers/trolls were afoot and left it to other people to
> step into the fray and handle things for them.
>
> For the anticipated responses of "I was just ignoring them." my response to
> that is "Then you can continue to ignore them."
>

I believe I did my share of troll bashing... I just got sick of arguing with people not prepared to do battle..

Mystic Time: Thu 13 January 2005, 23:29 (Eastern Standard Time)

---

I'd rather speak my mind because it hurts too much to bite my tongue.

American Spirit BBQ Proudly Serving those that courageously defend freedom.

> I question a persons motives when they want to be a moderator now but did
> nothing when the spammers/trolls were afoot and left it to other people to
> step into the fray and handle things for them.
>
> For the anticipated responses of "I was just ignoring them." my response to
> that is "Then you can continue to ignore them."
>
It is much more effective in telling a troll that (s)he is a troll and to stop the infraction if there are some teeth behind it than it is just to have a flame war. Ignoring the idiots and attempting to use the '-' button so that the worst posts would eventually disappear was about the best that could be done.

It would be nice if the community had some say in who the moderators were.

---

BOINC WIKI

> >>
> It would be nice if the community had some say in who the moderators were.


that's a good idea!

---

PROUD TO BE TFFE!

I thought that according to the Number Crunching crowd the moderators here were members if the infamous Cafe Gang.

> I question a persons motives when they want to be a moderator now but did
> nothing when the spammers/trolls were afoot and left it to other people to
> step into the fray and handle things for them.
>
> For the anticipated responses of "I was just ignoring them." my response to
> that is "Then you can continue to ignore them."

I don't really as it is often a learning experience to handle conflict... some people feel powerless... others just don't know how to go about it... some just have more important things to do...

I don't expect anyone who first takes on a role to be good at it. I would prefer someone who has a yearning to learn and a willingness to work at it.

Moderation is not just about conflict though. It is also about stewardship and sometimes it is even just the menial task of tidying up.

I suspect that even those who have not been involved in the affrey either by getting stuck in or by making their name known through public shunning have some skills to add to what I hope will be a 'team' effort.

Bottom line for me is that out of everyone on this forum MR. HR and the destructive crew probably have the greatest experience at fighting in conflict but I won't be voting for them :)

cRunchy

> I thought that according to the Number Crunching crowd the moderators here
> were members if the infamous Cafe Gang.

Now I thought you were a member of that crowd :o))))

cRunchy

> Now I thought you were a member of that crowd :o))))
>
> cRunchy
>
Some have accused me of being the crowd. :)

> > Now I thought you were a member of that crowd :o))))
> > cRunchy

> Some have accused me of being the crowd. :)

Makes a bottle of Vodka and staying in to wash your hair sound like a party...

cRunchy