Grumble about moderated communities
Mar. 24th, 2006 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmagrant01 You know, I totally understand the need for moderated communities. Some people want to start a community that focuses on precisely what they want to talk about, no more and no less. I understand that there are a lot of crazies out there, and when a comm has open membership, anyone can join, and they may post things that are off-topic for that comm. I understand that this can be frustrating for people who need to tightly control everything in their lives. Moderated submission means you get to choose what posts get made, and you get to filter out the trash. Seriously, I get it.
But you know, it's a little annoying to have your post rejected when it's accompanied by a rude comment from a moderator. I don't mind the rejection because I understand that there are rules and maybe I didn't follow them as closely as I could have. I could have been a bit more careful, but I thought my post was a good contribution to the community. So you know, I do mind the unnecessary rudeness. Why would I want to participate in a community at all if my attempts at participation are met with snarky comments about the fact that I didn't jump precisely as high as the mod wanted? It makes me want to go elsewhere. It doesn't promote open discussion and contribution of ideas, because everyone is constantly looking over her shoulder, wondering if she's doing it wrong and if the mod will mock her publicly if she does.
The public mocking bothers me as well. I've had that happen to me before when the mistake I made was an honest typo when inserting a URL. The mod commented on my post that it was (a) stupid of me not to check that the link worked (a bit hard to do on a moderated comm, especially since I'm not checking back every 3 minutes to see if my post is up and there's no telling when it will be approved) and (b) holding me up as an example of how not to post a link, as if I were completely incapable of navigating on the web on my own.
There seems to be a "least common denominator" assumption online, and that really bothers me. I try very hard to treat everyone online as a person who is probably not all that different from me, who is intelligent, well-educated, hard-working, has feelings, has a life outside of fandom and LJ, and so on. And so I am surprised when I don't get the same treatment in return. Fortunately, that is an infrequent event, as most of y'all are really nice, pleasant, welcoming people. Don't get me wrong; I'm hardly in tears when this sort of thing happens. But I am fairly bewildered. All I can think of is that for some people, moderating a community or an archive or a discussion list or board is a power trip, a way to feel like they are important in their little online world. When they belittle others for not following their arbitrary rules to the letter, it must make them feel better, smarter, more powerful.
How sad for them.
But you know, it's a little annoying to have your post rejected when it's accompanied by a rude comment from a moderator. I don't mind the rejection because I understand that there are rules and maybe I didn't follow them as closely as I could have. I could have been a bit more careful, but I thought my post was a good contribution to the community. So you know, I do mind the unnecessary rudeness. Why would I want to participate in a community at all if my attempts at participation are met with snarky comments about the fact that I didn't jump precisely as high as the mod wanted? It makes me want to go elsewhere. It doesn't promote open discussion and contribution of ideas, because everyone is constantly looking over her shoulder, wondering if she's doing it wrong and if the mod will mock her publicly if she does.
The public mocking bothers me as well. I've had that happen to me before when the mistake I made was an honest typo when inserting a URL. The mod commented on my post that it was (a) stupid of me not to check that the link worked (a bit hard to do on a moderated comm, especially since I'm not checking back every 3 minutes to see if my post is up and there's no telling when it will be approved) and (b) holding me up as an example of how not to post a link, as if I were completely incapable of navigating on the web on my own.
There seems to be a "least common denominator" assumption online, and that really bothers me. I try very hard to treat everyone online as a person who is probably not all that different from me, who is intelligent, well-educated, hard-working, has feelings, has a life outside of fandom and LJ, and so on. And so I am surprised when I don't get the same treatment in return. Fortunately, that is an infrequent event, as most of y'all are really nice, pleasant, welcoming people. Don't get me wrong; I'm hardly in tears when this sort of thing happens. But I am fairly bewildered. All I can think of is that for some people, moderating a community or an archive or a discussion list or board is a power trip, a way to feel like they are important in their little online world. When they belittle others for not following their arbitrary rules to the letter, it must make them feel better, smarter, more powerful.
How sad for them.
