mysticgoat's Journal: On first moderation

Just completed my first ever bit as a ./ moderator.

I felt an obligation to read slashdot more often, so I could award points early enough to be effective (I see little value in modding day old comments that no one is likely to read). I felt an obligation to read comments below 2 points, which is my usual cut-off. It took more than one day for me to give away the five mod points. I am happy enough to go back to my more abbreviated scans of slashdot.

It seems an okay system. I suspect that it has a centrist bias so that the bell curve of slashdot's diversity will become more peaked as the extremes leave for more supportive pastures. That is to say, I think the mod system probably discourages participation by the outliers so that the standard deviation grows more narrow. By which I mean, I think the mod system tends to make emphasize group conformity and discourage a diversity of opinion. That is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if it is balancing tendencies toward too much diversity, which can be destructive to the group.

I continue to miss the numeric karma scores. I think the natural desire to see one's score go up and to avoid things that could cause one's score to sink tended to get people to work a little harder at writing quality posts.

This brief stint at moderation also motivated me to go through my preferences and change a couple of things.