As we received several messages these past days, we wanted to publicly address the issue of permanently banning (especially long-term) members. We will not make a habit of discussing moderation (as this is actually against our Community Rules and ToS), but we wanted to answer a few concerns some of you have raised:
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College Confidential does not actively seek to ban (long-term) members. We highly value your commitment to the site and great contribution so it is with great sadness that we make such a decision.
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There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that you all are not aware of. Our moderators spend a lot of time working with users, sending them notes and kindly asking them to abide by our Community Rules. Only after repeated violations, a user is banned. A long-term member is less likely to get banned (mainly because we highly value their contribution).
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The mods do NOT have personal vendettas and are not seeking to “punish” users by warning or banning them. The team collectively decides on banning a long term member and, often, this decision is unanimous (as it is justified by the user history).
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We read and evaluate all your complaints about moderation. We discuss them internally (with the mods), review the action, and see if a less drastic action can be taken. Indeed, we usually do not reverse a decision. That’s not because we don’t care (because we do care), but because we agree that the mods have made the right decision.
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Our ultimate goal is to maintain a healthy, civil, friendly, and welcoming space for our community. That’s why we must take action when people repeatedly violate our Community Rules and ToS.
We hope we continue to work together to make College Confidential better.
Hello @CCadmin_Sorin ,
I see that posts are allowed on your post above (comments haven’t been shut off) so I’m assuming it is ok if I address moderation in this response since your post IS about moderation as it is moderation that results in a poster receiving warnings, time outs or to be banned.
As a long time poster with not a blemish free history (but I think still high-ranking worthy as you consider my # of years here 
) I have concerns about how moderators may be influenced or make decisions.
- Moderators are also regular posters on CC threads. Because of this they develop relationships with other posters - good or bad or indifferent. It is human nature for moderators - like posters - to develop an opinion or picture about certain posters. A poster may rub a moderator in the wrong way about a certain topic(s). A poster might have a tif with a moderator on a topic being discussed in the course of a thread. As posters, WE ALSO SEE moderators in this way. We may also feel these conflicts or uncertainties about them due to different life opinions.
Is it possible that moderators are influenced by the content they know about a person outside of any wrongdoings? I think it is.
- I believe there is what I'll call "CC Underground".
Private Messages: While PM’s can serve people very beneficially by sharing info that can’t or shouldn’t be posted publicly on the message boards, they also serve as a sort of “tattle telling” method. I’ve been sent a few of these PM’s myself over the years. Most are innocent or fall away - however some people may be more hard core about vendettas against a poster.
Flagging: I’ve flagged posts. Usually posts that are a first time poster clearly selling a product or a very, very obvious tr_ll. CC likes to “keep score” in lots of ways - #'s of posts, highest likes of the week - all that kind of stuff. Have you ever tracked your top flaggers??? That could be very telling in terms of toxic people or relationships on CC.
I share all this because over the years I lost some good, helpful, dedicated CC friends over what I think was really bad relationships with other posters or moderators. People don’t always rub each other in an ok way!
90% of moderation is probably ok. 90% of posters are probably ok. These long time posters who have been banned. What is their scoreboard? Do they contribute more to the board than they detract from it? Are we really a better place without them?
I say no. Life is rocky. As a community are we helping people over those rocky periods or placing a boulder in their way???
The problem extends beyond banning and is more systemic. It includes warnings and time outs which are then relied upon in imposing “progressive discipline”. And whether you accept it or not, there is a wide spread perception that there are moderators who have an ax to grind, act in a dictatorial, arbitrary and capricious fashion and are not subject to any review or accountability for their actions.
My current status of a “time out” is directly on point. My “transgression” - I posted on the “Say It Here” thread that if anyone was interested in knowing why many long time CC posters were leaving CC, send me a PM. I was put in “Time Out” status for violating the ToS prohibiting “disrespectful” posts. That’s just ludicrous. My post was not directed to any individual I was singling out. My word choice was civil. I did not go on a tirade about moderation. I simply invited any interested CC member to have a private conversation with me about an issue that concerns many on this forum. And when I privately questioned the moderator to explain how what I did was a transgression of anything, there was no response. My experience is not isolated. It is illustrative of abusive moderation experienced by many, without any accountability, that has afflicted CC over recent years and is driving people away.
It is also of no avail to claim that there is any process of review by senior CC Admins. The overwhelming experience of CC members is that when issues of moderation are raised “up the chain”, the response is always to “circle the wagons” and defend the moderator’s actions, if there is even any response at all. You may not recall, but a while back, a moderator deleted one of my posts for reasons that were inexplicable. When I had the temerity to question the moderator privately about why it was removed, his responses devolved into a series of personal attacks and denigrating remarks about my profesional competence using language and a tenor that no respectable adult would use in a face to face real life encounter. I brought this to your attention, including a transcript of the encounter, and never even received the courtesy of an acknowledgment. So to suggest that there is some type of fair minded, reasonable oversight of moderation and decisions to sanction CC members strains credulity.
I have been a member of CC since 2006 and over the years have meaningfully and constructively participated in numerous threads. The moderation on CC has gotten to the point, however, that many long term members, who remember what it used to be like to be part of this community, are being driven away.
We don’t moderate by PM. When I get a PM complaining about someone’s post, I tell them to submit it as an official report.
And as Sorin mentioned, we are a TEAM of moderators. Every action we take is seen by the other moderators. We do not hesitate to speak up if we think another moderator has made a mistake. Sometimes warnings are reversed.
Long time users who are banned have been given many, many “second chances.” Some of them have had up to 20 warnings with quite a few posts deleted that should have had warnings - yes, they have quite a scoreboard. They’ve also had multiple timeouts. Their eventual ban should not come as a surprise.
We also get some fairly rude, even abusive posts from users who should know better. We don’t share those - maybe we should.
It’s interesting to me that the vast majority of users manage to post for years without getting a single warning. Others, like me, get one due to not understanding the rules and manage to stick to them in the future. It’s a small minority that refuse to follow the rules.
I won’t comment again.
The point of this thread is to address a few concerns that were raised. I don’t want this to turn into a heated debate so I’m closing it.