EnlightenmentFan's Journal: Does my immoderate lifestyle block Moderation?

I never get mod points, though my karma is Excellent (aw shucks). Heliocentric says /. disapproves of users who "load the site" by checking out the front page too often. I admit to checking it out maybe 10 times a day...

Thinking about why this is, I realized that my life is a little strange. I check email at my kitchen computer before I even make coffee--love those wireless networks. When it's about time for bed, my husband and I are hollering to each other from our respective studies, where each of us is sitting in front of--you guessed it--a computer. Yes, we do take breaks for life, family, even non-computer-moderated fun.

But the computer is not just our work life--it's a big part of the fun we have and the ideas we share with each other.

Anyway, one of my ideas of a break from work is checking to see if something interesting is up on Slashdot. I didn't realize this might be a bad thing...I'm not one of those guys who think up funny ways to yell "fp"! (Though I get a chuckle out of reading their posts.)

One other bad thing I might be doing--I usually check out the "Messages" about friends journals before reading any news stories. In fact, by the time I've read and responded to journals, I am often hearing that little voice say "Get back to work" and I end up just skimming the titles of stories and not reading any.

Anyway, I really like living the life I do, and I don't see changing it to get mod points.

Hmmmm....

[foistboinder]

FWIW, I often check out /. more than 10 times a day and still get moderation points.

Re:Hmmmm....

[ceejayoz]

Likewise - I'm pretty sure that thing's a myth.

I believe it has something to do with user ID - the latest ??% of users don't get mod points. I only hit the threshold about two months ago (after which I got points four times). Considering EnlightenmentFan's user ID (617608) and mine (567949), it'll probably be another couple months.

Thanks!

[EnlightenmentFan]

I never was the patient type. Did you ever read about the study comparing criminals to "normals" in their ability to guess when a minute had elapsed? Everybody guessed too short--but the criminal types would yell "stop" after 15 seconds.

Reading that kind of made me wonder if I had missed a career opportunity as a criminal.

Re Hmmmmmm

[EnlightenmentFan]

Hmmm--well, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person keeping a good eye on /.

You also have a much lower number than I do. Now I repent those months I spent as a lurking Anonymous Coward, but it is too late.

Well, I used to do that too

[aWalrus]

I used to check the frontpage compulsively and delve into the threads about the stories. That didn't stop me from getting mod points. Lately, I've been busier at work, so I mainly check out my friends' comments, look at the headlines and from time to time I'll read one of the stories.

I get a lot of mod points. Once I got mod points about two days after I had spent my previous ones. Anyway, I've seen Taco's remarks as to how to keep getting mod points, but there's not much about how to get them in the first place. I recall seeing a conversation about a numerical user limit on the mod point thing, something like your user ID had to be old enough to get the points. Maybe you're just "too young". My account is fairly old, and I do remember it took me a long time to get points. Didn't care much for them anyway. Metamoderation also appeared suddenly and it was weird. I didn't even have excellent karma back then, but I modded and metamodded (I was far more excited about getting the +1 bonus) =)

Re:Well, I used to do that too

[foistboinder]

Metamoderation also appeared suddenly and it was weird.

IIRC, the oldest 10% of user id's get to metamoderate.

Hi foistboinder, forgive my strange reply...

[EnlightenmentFan]

...earlier, it was meant for aWalrus.

The oldest 10%? Boy, that'll be a long wait for me!

Re:Well, I used to do that too

[EnlightenmentFan]

So when are you going to come out with a Slashdot comic? I like the little goatee on your Overcaffeinated guy.

Re:Well, I used to do that too

[aWalrus]

Mmmhhh... weird things happening with comments today. Just filed a bug report on a nonexistant comment and it magically appeared after a while.

About the comic: I do plan to make some Slashdot comics. I even have plans for something of a mascot based on that theme, but we'll have to wait and see, I guess. Thanks for the comment! I'm glad to see people reading the comic! (btw, I put a shoutbox in there for comments in case you want to give it a try =)

My junky browser...

[EnlightenmentFan]

I usually surf with an old Netscape 4.77 Mac browser that doesn't work well with most comment forms. But I like it better than my newer Netscape, which takes about 2 minutes to start up and another 2 minutes to shut down. And my IE doesn't have the same bookmarks.

But since I'm commenting here--I also like the title, it's an eye-catcher. To me, as to most geeks, the idea of being over-caffeinated is almost a contradiction in terms. ;-)

Re:Well, I used to do that too

[EnlightenmentFan]

So when are you going to come out with a Slashdot comic? I like the little goatee on your Overcaffeinated guy.

(I posted this reply to Foistboinder by mistake, sorry about that.)

I haven't moderated for awhile, either...

[Interrobang]

...and I seem to get mod points less than some people I know. Then again, I've all but stopped posting to stories, although I still read them every now and again, mostly because I spend so much time in the monkey house.

So how's life in Soviet Canuckistan?

[EnlightenmentFan]

We just got a foot of snow in Boston, how about you?

Your Slashdot number is a lot lower than mine, too.

My unintentional troll?

[EnlightenmentFan]

Hey Interrobang--my post mentioning Soviet Canuckistan was meant as a friendly joke, based on your sig. First of all, I like and admire you, and second of all, I think the right-wing nutsos you quoted slamming Canada are, I believe, right-wing nutsos. If you thought I was trying to be nasty--I truly apologize! Betsy

Only ten times a day?

[Dthoma]

I load the index page when logged in perhaps 15-25 times a day, and view about 1/4 of the stories that are posted. The stories I do choose to look at I refresh six or seven times and often post comments to, and sometimes I completely abstain from Slashdot for a couple of days.

I've had mod points about four times.

BTW, I don't think the number of times you look at the main /. index page has any effect on whether or not you get mod points; I think it's just the number of times you look at stories.

Re:Only ten times a day?

[EnlightenmentFan]

Errr--I like your most-modded comment. The Star-WArs-porno item I personally cherish is an MP3 of Princess Leia and Yoda. So maybe she was getting it on more than ten times a day?

Heh.

[Dthoma]

The Star Wars porno item I personally cherish is an MP3 of Princess Leia and Yoda. So maybe she was getting it on more than ten times a day?

Yeah, but I don't think she'd have been banned from moderating!

I can moderate

[bsharitt]

I check it several times a day. The moderation seems rather random. Sometimes I get to moderate several times in a rather short period of time, and then I may have to wait a while before I can moderate again.

Great sig! But...

[EnlightenmentFan]

no hot grits?

Do you MetaModerate?

[Cy Guy]

Meta moderating is supposed to increase your mod point frequency.

Or so I've heard. I think there is some correlation as I often find that after I have Meta'd I usually get mod points within a few days, but this just could be a coincidence as I usually only Meta when I am on a lot and likely posting a lot as well.

Re:Do you MetaModerate?

[EnlightenmentFan]

Er--I've never been invited to MetaMod either. BTW, the zoo won't let me befriend you, but when it will I plan to.

Anybody besides CyGuy reading this post, go read his super funny journal entry from Feb. 6!

Re:Do you MetaModerate?

[EnlightenmentFan]

I don't know why I'm replying to this, when the person who posted it won't get flagged to check it. but....

Don't you think it's interesting that some of the most intriguing comments, like the one I'm responding to, get posted by ACs, as well as many of the most annoying. That must be why I always read at "0". Anyway, if you read this, thanks!

Moderation necessities

[AntiFreeze]

According to Malda and McCarthy, there are a few factors which contribute to getting moderator points.

• Good past moderation (are your mods mostly meta-modded fair?)
• Good previous moderation (was the last batch of mod points you used meta-moderated fair?)
• Using your mod points (last time you got them, did you use them? Did you use them all?)
• Meta-moderation (do you meta-mod frequently?)
• Reading stories and comments
• Posting comments
• User ID (the lower the better, newer users won't get mod points)
• Randomness (users will randomly be given mod points from time to time)
• One more I'm forgetting.

Which basically means that to get mod points, it's very helpful to have had them in the past. To get mod points, you just have to wait. Get them, use them, and wait for more. After a few times, hopefully you'll build up a track record of modding appropriately, and then you'll start getting mod points more frequently.

In short, I don't think you're doing anything wrong, you _will_ get mod points in the future... it just might take a while.

Re:Moderation necessities

[EnlightenmentFan]

Thanks for the list--that was interesting!

I think maybe I'm just too "young" in Slashdot years to get them. But I love the part about how you can get more mod points by having mod points. It reminds me of the joke "To understand recursion, you must first understand recursion..."