EdMcMan's Journal: Moderation Definitions

I am growing increasingly annoyed with people not knowing how to moderate. Likewise, appearently a number of people can't meta-moderate either, because the stupid moderators are still being allowed to moderate. And thus, I present definitions of the "big words" that stupid moderators appearently don't understand.

Flamebait:

Flamebait is a message posted to an Internet discussion group, such as a newsgroup or a mailing list, with the intent of provoking an angry response (a "flame"). Various motives or explanations can be sought for this puzzling behavior; from a commonsense point of view, the practice seems usually to be a cry for attention.

It should be pointed out that, of course, it is often hard to determine who is really responsible for the degradation of a reasonable discussion into a flamewar. Someone who posts a contrary opinion in a strongly focused discussion forum may be easily labeled a "baiter", "flamer" or "troll". Therefore, it seems especially important to make the rules and focus of a discussion forum public to avoid misconceptions about its accepted use.

The conclusion to a flamewar precipitated by flamebait is usually determined by recourse to Godwin's Law.

Note: That does NOT say "A post that disagrees with the moderator's opinion."

Troll:

On the Internet, a troll is a person who posts messages that create controversy or an angry response without adding content to the discussion, often intentionally. Though technically different from flaming, which is an unmistakable direct personal attack, trolls often resort to innuendo or misdirection in the pursuit of their objective, which is to create controversy for its own sake, discredit those with whom they disagree, or sabotage discussion by creating an intimidating atmosphere.

Note: That does NOT say "A post that disagrees with the moderator's opinion."

Offtopic:

A message in a discussion is off-topic if its topic is different from the main topic in the discussion.

Note: That does NOT say "A post that disagrees with the moderator's opinion."

Now that you understand what slashdot's moderation keywords mean, you hopefully will not misuse them. Don't mod someone down because you don't agree with them. A large part of slashdot's popularity is the (sometimes intense) discussion and difference in opinions. Modding down without reason harms the community, and makes you look like an idiot who can't argue his own cause (you can't comment in the same article that you mod in). And if you still are going to mod someone down just because you don't agree with them, at least use "overrated".

(Definitions from wikipedia. Feel free to link to this journal.)