Moderation in MQA Threads

Surely this is the key to successful “moderation”, a “cooling off” ban of a week might be the way to go, that could be permanent on a 3 strikes rule or similar?

As much as I’m a fan of humour, I can see that this is an issue. There is a myriad of factors that decide what someone sees as “acceptable” humour. Cultural differences can mean an innocuous joke may be seen as genuinely offensive in other countries. I’ve fallen foul of this (mildly) at work a few times, but it’s easier to deal with when you know the other parties well, and they know you can be a bit of a clown. I’d say that mixed company at a bar should be the target environment, with religious and political discussion rightly ruled out.

2 Likes

Unfortunately, this seems to be an issue to contend with in our COVID infected 2021 world. Not just here either. In our now increasingly WOKE society, routine unoffensive comments can be taken with offense. The receiver determines if its offensive or not. Even ones where no offense or slight could be intended by the issuing party.

This post shouldn’t get flagged, but it probably will.

4 Likes

I agree with the point, but “faked/exaggerated offence” as a way of shifting the ground on a debate, usually one you’re losing, isn’t a “woke” thing particularly. I’ve seen it used by all sorts of people, it has its roots in “are you calling me a liar?”, an established line of defence for liars since forever.

In my experience, the more offended someone gets, the shakier the ground they feel they’re on. Get offended, terminate the debate, with the inference it was the other parties fault, and avoid having the conversation.

4 Likes

I’m not sure it’s an issue that needs to be “contended” with. Another way of looking at it is that the utterer is being rude in not taking the sensibilities of the likely audience into consideration. Polite conversation requires a certain amount of self-restraint. And all of us, myself included, are guilty of failing at that sometimes. Maybe it’s ourselves we contend with.

Personally, I’m happy to let the moderators save me from my own baser instincts.

6 Likes

That’s the point @Bill_Janssen

The receiver is now the one who defines polite.

1 Like

I’ve seen that claimed a lot, but I don’t think it’s accurate. It is society, the social culture, that defines “polite”, and unfortunately that definition is continually changing, because the people who make up society are continually changing. This can be hard to keep track of, and that in itself can be frustrating, to keep track of which cultures you are in, and what they consider to be polite.

Perhaps polite conversation requires self-restraint and empathy. Hard to do on a forum with strangers, of course.

7 Likes

We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that point. :wink:

1 Like

In my opinion it starts with respecting others opinions. As soon as I’m told what to think or the implication that I’m deaf or my equipment isn’t good enough then I will question them mainly out of mischievousness. I have seen people on here ram their opinions down people throats, provide at best false information, encourage others with similar opinions to behave like a pack of wolves on individuals then when challenged by people run to another thread and claim being bullied.
Don’t get me started on the people who start their threads with:-
Iv been listening 20 years
I’m an audio expert
My best mate is a dealer
I design DACs for a hobby
Etc etc.
On the other hand if I ever get offended by a keyboard warrior that I don’t know on the other side of the world that means nothing to me whatsoever then tell me to get a grip and go play some music.

3 Likes

This is a difficult game to “referee” even with people you know well. By switching responsibilities between “sender” and “receiver” you’re conflating two things. One’s the “intent” of the person making the remark,that’s not the same as whether the other person’s offended. Of course the “receiver” determines if they’re offended, who else could? Likewise only the “sender” knows if they intended to offend. All other parties can only judge by their personal norms/values in the context of any “history” they’re aware of. Hardly the makings of a broad, consistent consensus :slight_smile:

Edit Oh and I forgot to mention judging whether the offended party is “really” offended is just as difficult.

4 Likes

:angel: :innocent: :unicorn: :blush: :innocent: :angel:
So many strong characters in this bar (thread) and so moderated.

That’s because we are behaving like adults even when we disagree…

2 Likes

Actually these days it’s more like:

I’ve been in networking xx years…
I teach electrical engineering…
I’m in I.T…
I design xxxx for a living (that has nothing to do with audio)…

And typically followed up by the terms ‘snake oil’ and ‘expectation bias’ at some point, usually because one was trying to have a friendly chat about hearing differences in what’s really nothing more than a hobby…

2 Likes

Exactly.
Or even not hearing differences get the same reaction as well.
I like peas, you like carrots. I’m not going to throw my toys out of the pram over that.

While this may be true, I think one reason for this growing intolerance for certain behaviors that were considered fine before, is because cultural awareness and sensitivity has grown because the audience is vastly larger.

For example, making comments about the sexual promiscuity of ones ex-wife may have been acceptable in the past (even if a bit awkward), is now worthy of “cancelation”. This is the exact situation that got the user annoyed when his comment was moderated.

In the past, this comment might have been stated in a setting that was far smaller than a forum with tens of thousands of daily readers, but today, that’s not the case. Social human behavior was tuned for small groups, not at the scale that exists today.

It’ll be a difficult generation or two, but we will adapt.

4 Likes

Quite glad I’m on the downhill. Bigger problems lie ahead.

5 Likes

I’m not sure censorship will help future generations. I would rather know who has options and views that don’t align with mine. I can then make my own choice as to whether to mute them then or have a useful discussion that may educate them on their views.

1 Like

In general, so would I. in this regard, the forum rules allow this today (as long as the post is not about another person in the thread or, say, overtly racist). What is NOT allowed is repeated posting of the user’s stated position again and again in the same or multiple threads. This is trolling/axe-grinding/etc.

2 Likes

This is shortsighted. A toxic environment will eventually fail if you put the onus on each individual to root out the weeds.

1 Like

It’s not toxic if it can be educational. If people don’t learn then there should be consequences.
I have apologised myself on here numerous times and had opportunity to explain what I meant due to misunderstanding. It’s often a learning curve.
Just my opinion.

1 Like

I see the points made by the mods and owners. However I would not agree that this rather harsh response some users violating terms and manners received publicly are helpful. It scares people away. If that was the goal, well one could call it success.