Journal NanoGator's Journal: Bad moderation. 11
I wish there was a place where I could challenge moderation sometimes. Part of me wonders what would happen if everybody could moderate. I wonder what kind of chaos that would ensue, heh.
One thing that really frosts me is I have no idea who modded me down. So I can't even approach them privately and say "why did you think I was trying to be a troll?". If that were the case, I might discover that the tone of my messages is being interpreted differently than the way I see it. In that case, I can change my tone and not sound so abrasive.
Nope, I can't do that, and the moderators NEVER reply to my post and tell me why. So what do I do?
Re:i know what to do (Score:2)
Re:illuminati (Score:2)
Wanna explain that?
Re:illuminati (Score:2)
Sorry to spoil the fun, but I'm not the guy you're looking for.
NanoGator
it does rank... (Score:1)
OT: Journal (Score:2)
thinking similiar things (Score:1)
and generally about what slashdot might be like without a "staff."
no disrespect intended to the founders- they had the idea, the vision, they made this place great.
HOWEVER, as i see it the only value add of slashdot the company (or part-of-company, whatever) at this point is server/bandwidth provision.
almost all the "articles" are written to 8th-grade level. (sorry katz, it's true - though maybe i'm being too generous here.)
story summaries are often redundant, incorrect, full of typos, etc. - *and* i get a couple stories a day by email that don't make slashdot but are much more interesting than those that do.
oh yeah, and the slashcode is open source anyway. i expect the volunteer community would probably improve it faster.
THE VALUE OF SLASHDOT IS ENTIRELY IN THE COMMENTS.
SO -- while i don't deny the slashdot founders their moral right to try to make money off of slashdot, i can imagine a place where they don't participate in the forum in any way other than as users. (ok maybe to delete the occasional scientology post...)
i think we'd get MUCH better stories if there were a story submission holding pen and everybody could moderate them up or down (and metamoderate those moderations).
i also think people should have a whole lot more mod points: a user should have mod priveleges on every story, maybe ten points per story default and increasing or decreasing according to their metamods.
if it were my show to run, that's how i'd run it. i might do something selfish like give employees an automatic +3 mod, and of course anyone working for slashdot would be required to be an active participant. but except for the sysadmins, that would be the only real job requirement.
then i would aggressively market the subscriptions and always show honest statistics about how much backend power the sucker was using.
i bet people would feel better about paying for the "hosting" of the slashdot world, plus a premium to keep the founders around and participating, than for underwriting their pontifications and so forth. that also might assuage the bitterness about "paying for the content i create."
whew, this got a little long... maybe i should have a blog... then i could start to go on about "distributed slashdot."
cheers
-- frosty
oh yeah, PS: i would have a preference setting for "mod anonymously" or not - and i bet most people would choose to stand by their mods
Re:thinking similiar things (Score:2)
Question: what do you think would happen if everybody could mod? Personally, I think it'd be quite interesting. It'd be chaotic for a while, but the dust'd settle...
*wonders if Taco'd be up to a scientific experiment*