I think if people were mods for a day they would appreciate mods more.
On the other hand, we once had an admin go crazy and do some very bad things to a site (not this one, obviously, here I’m a civilian), and it was a nightmare.
So there’s a balancing act of letting people help and keeping the integrity of the site, all the while not getting paid (because that’s the nature of a mod), and being super busy with real life.
I’m always astounded when people pick on volunteers.
@MotherOfDragons, thank you!
A lot of cases are NOT black and white, so we have to make the best calls we can. Quite often, we will ask other moderators to chime in with their opinions if we’re not sure what to do. We really try to stick to what the Terms of Service state. The hardest calls are deciding if/when to close threads. It doesn’t matter WHAT we do, some users will be upset at us. So we do the best we can and move on.
@guidedbywire, did you see the explanation by @fallenchemist about the sit-in thread? Here it is:
Also, Brexit is of international interest. I don’t see any problems with a thread on that topic.
For what it’s worth, I very much appreciate the mods- especially @mainelonghorn who has always been helpful… especially when I had a certain repeatedly banned poster making threats against me.
I still wish we could question times when we think a mod has a personal agenda against certain people or groups of people. But, I’d much rather keep posting and try to keep my nose clean rather than fight that fight. shrug
^^ That’s one thing we discuss a lot (on the non-college-related website I’m a mod on), removing feelings towards subjects or people and trying to be consistent so it doesn’t look like you are playing favorites. There are some discussion boards that clearly have cliques, and I loathe that, and tend to avoid those boards.
Right now there is a Brexit discussion going on over on the one I mod on, and as long as you don’t have an opinion about the exit, you can talk about the exit. Frankly, the alligator in the lagoon at the grand floridian was a much testier discussion.
Interesting, @MotherOfDragons! I have to say that the thing that upsets me most as a moderator is when people complain about uneven moderation and they have never reported a single post!
Just out of curiosity, @mainelonghorn has anyone ever said they don’t know how to report a post? The “Flag” button may not be especially clear to people that it means to flag for reporting a post- especially since it’s right next to the like and helpful buttons.
No one’s ever said it to me but I was just curious.
@romanigypsyeyes, good question, but nobody has ever mentioned having that problem.
It IS a surprise to a lot of people that they can put posters on their “Ignore” list. Sometimes I make that a condition of their remaining on the site!
And I believe we can now put 20 on ignore!
^25, isn’t it?
I think that posters don’t report posts if they feel a mod has a bias against them - it could call attention to themselves.
For instance, I thought that one one thread, discussion of religion wasn’t being fairly moderated because it seemed like some were okay to talk about while others were getting stamped out by a mod. I didn’t report any posts because I was unclear on the protocol because I thought that we weren’t really supposed to be talking about religion anyway. But since everyone was, I had joined in - I was worried that reporting others would get myself reprimanded also.
This isn’t the 6th grade playground - all the mods are adults. We have neither the time nor the inclination to be biased against someone. Having said that, if someone reports a post, and after investigation, the mod finds some violations from the reporter, those will be addressed. However, this is really a case of discover them now vs. discover them later.
I also have never had a user say they did not know how to report a post. Based upon some of the reports we get, most users figure this out very quickly.
Despite being adults, they are people… And will have their own opinions and beliefs that will affect their moderating. I think that’s fair to say.
Well, I can tell you that I put a few posters on “ignore” if they annoy me, and if someone reports them, I don’t moderate them.
And I can’t tell you the number of times someone has PM’d me: “I can tell you’re a _____ (political leaning) from the way you moderate,” and they’re wrong!
We have mods from both political leanings, and will sometimes ask the other leaning to handle a case when bias might be an issue. It’s easier to delete a political post that is pro our own leaning!
^True!
Sorry, but this just ignores human nature. Mods are human. Of course they have biases against people. Whether they let that guide their moderation or not is a different story but to say that they’re not biased is just not true.
Yes, I should not have been presumptuous to speak for all the mods. So, I’ll just speak for one mod - me.
This isn’t the 6th grade playground - I am an adult. I have neither the time nor the inclination to be biased against someone.
I will admit that is much easier to do here, where I don’t know the people, than it is when dealing with real people in real situations.
^I second that! There are a few people that I find annoying, so I put them on “ignore” and don’t moderate them. Otherwise, I try to be uniformly mean. 
MaineLH, re: post #42, I did see that explanation and that all seems fine and reasonable. Overall, I think everything is being handled well from the moderation side.
But I do think posters are pushing the envelope. For example, we now have a thread on Benghazi (“informational only.” Let’s see how long that lasts). I don’t think there were this many introductions of political and controversial topics in the year or two after the elections & politics thread closed.
I’m not complaining about this, per se. Just making an observation.