yog's Journal: More Metamoderation needed

In recent years I have noticed that comments which have the slightest political overtones, especially those that support the Republican government, get moderated down as "troll", "flamebait", or "overrated". Once a comment has a zero rating, most readers will not see it because the default settings skip over zero and -1 comments.

This is a form of mob rule and censorship that is inappropriate for a public forum. I know of no other internet forums that allow anyone to effectively censor my comments. A real moderator who is fair and dedicated to preserving quality discourse is much preferable to the haphazard system which Slashdot has become.

I have also noticed that informative comments are sometimes attacked by ignorant moderators who either failed to understand what the poster said or mistakenly thought it was a duplication of another post.

Clearly, people given moderator privileges are using them to attack those with whom they disagree rather than to improve the dialogue. I have started metamoderating religiously and I will moderate as unfair most attempts to censor legitimate comments. Unfortunately, an army of one is a bit outnumbered in this war.

I think it's time for Slashdot to move to a better system; it was an interesting idea nine years ago when online discussion forums were just getting rolling, but today Slashdot seems clunky and dated, its moderation system strange and ineffective. You can't post and moderate in the same topic, which today seems like a pointless limitation given the tremendous abuse of the moderation system.

Comments are welcome!

Ok, I'll bite.

[SavvyPlayer]

Your call for meta-moderation is iteself a form of meta-moderation. Please cite a few examples so that we may validate (meta-moderate) your meta-moderation.

Re:Ok, I'll bite.

[yog]

Savvy Player,

I have seen hundreds of examples from when I moderate, metamoderate, and post comments. In my own case I have posted comments which were on topic only to see them modded down (usually, "overrated") apparently because someone disagreed with my opinion or else viewed my claims as unsupported.

I have no problem with people disagreeing with my comments, but when they seek to moderate me down below the level where most people will see me, they are abusing the system. Anyone who clicks on my name wi

Re:Ok, I'll bite.

[SavvyPlayer]

I share some of your frustration, and my solution when reading a well-written post has been to add its author to my friends list, thus granting that author immunity not only to unfair moderation, but a far more prevalent problem: lack of any moderation at all. This also has the fortunate side effect that I automatically see all posts made by friends of those authors as well due to the friends-of-friends bonus. As a result, I see a lot more when browsing at +2 than I had previously.

Not every post is modded d

Re:Ok, I'll bite.

[yog]

Perhaps the comment system would benefit by allowing moderators to express what about the post qualified it as "overrated" (in 100 characters or less). This would give the author something more concrete to think about anyway.

Hi Savvy Player,

That's an excellent idea. You might suggest it via the feedback or bugs link.

-Yog

Maybe, maybe not

[menace3society]

I don't disagree that metamoderating posts you don't like because you don't agree with them is wrong, but I question whether the problem is as widespread as you think. I have seen an awful lot of posts that are aligned as vaguely right-of-center (that is, right of the fictional "standard American moderate", which is itself far to the right of the average slashdotter) get modded down, but I've not seen a lot that were, in my opinion, particularly original or thoughtful. I think a lot of the right-wing rhet

Re:Maybe, maybe not

[yog]

Hi, Menace 3 Society,

I don't disagree that metamoderating posts you don't like because you don't agree with them is wrong, but I question whether the problem is as widespread as you think. I have seen an awful lot of posts that are aligned as vaguely right-of-center (that is, right of the fictional "standard American moderate", which is itself far to the right of the average slashdotter) get modded down, but I've not seen a lot that were, in my opinion, particularly original or thoughtful. I think a lot o