Change in Moderation?

I saw a note in one of the threads that Salty was banned over at Terry's board, and so I went over there to take a look. Turns out he was banned for only a very short time, and this is described in the Who banned Salty?) thread. The thread is interesting reading, at least for me who rarely visits Terry's board, because it highlights that Terry faces many of the same issues we do here. Probably all board managers do.But the reason I'm posting this note is because of two other things I noticed while briefly looking about. First, Message 21 from Salty in the above thread ponders why we put up with Scott here. I wonder if someone who isn't already banned over there could post a clarifying note to the effect that we rarely do permanent bannings here (only 3 in 2-1/2 years), but we do have 24-hour suspension of posting privileges, and that Scott has received these three times. And perhaps, if you're courageous, you might suggest that bannings at Terry's board not be permanent.The second thing was the A new board thread, where Terry tries to gauge his member's desire for a Free For All style board. I'm glad to see that Terry now understands that Free For All is just one of the forums here. In his very short visit here he noticed some discussions going on in the Free For All forum and seemed to get the wrong idea about EvC Forum in general.------------------
--EvC Forum Administrator[This message has been edited by Percipient, 03-27-2003]

Hi Moose! Don't go easy on me just because I'm a fellow admin plus I own the joint. Anyone's behavior that warrants a warning or suspension I think obligates you to do your duty. My own oft-expressed view is that bad debate pushes out good debate, and that no debate at all is better than bad debate. There are already plenty of sites on the web for bad debate.I've updated the Forum Guidelines to reflect the enforcement policy I've been following recently. The 24-hour suspension was too much work noting on my calendar when to restore posting privileges, and it didn't change behavior. This new approach requires email interaction with the administrator - perhaps it will work better.--Percy

Perhaps you and Asgara could agree on the proper misspelling of ideology? --PercyAh heck - I did do the special effort to avoid "atempt", "inperceptive" and "retorical".--Adminnemooseus[This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 03-11-2004]

Gee, this is ironic! A supposedly neutral website that most perceive as pro-evolution, but where the moderators are biased against pro-evolution members!One possibility may be that, at least on a subconscious level, the moderators sense some handicapping is appropriate. I'm don't know that this is the answer, I'm just speculating - while the moderators compare notes, and while there are moderator guidelines, for the most part moderators follow their own sense of when and how much moderation is required.This feedback is important and very helpful. It hasn't escaped my notice, or anyone's for that matter, that Creationist participation here has become less robust. There's an almost comical element to what happens now when a new Creationist posts a message here - the evolutionists all have the answer and fall all over themselves to be first. In very short order the Creationist post has 5 or 6 replies, and it doesn't take long before they feel the debate is unfair and one-sided. And they're not exactly wrong, either. Imagine how successful you would be in a debate by yourself with 10 flat-earthers.--PercyPS - The subtitle is from a late 60's commercial broadcast frequently in the NY metropolitan area, I don't know why it suddenly struck me. Anyone remember it?

Obviously it reflects the overt anti-evolution bias of this board. Seriously, I can't comment, I didn't delete your thread. If you have a copy, why not post it again in Free For All.--Percy

Does anyone else here sense a possible affront to the guidelines? --Percy

I'm probably not the best person to address your question, primarily because I haven't participated nor even read any of the threads touching on homosexuality, but I might shed some light nonetheless.A recurring problem at bulletin boards are members who tend to hijack threads to focus on their favorite topics. Peter Borger was the best at this - he turned every thread he joined into a discussion of his personal theory of evolution.I think the current concern regarding homosexuality-related discussions has similar concerns. Non-homosexuality topics are not being hijacked to address homosexual issues, but many topics touching on homosexuality in some aspect are being opened.Now, this is just fine if it reflected the interests of the general member community, but the concern is that it is primarily a reflection of the interests of just a single individual. This isn't to say that the rest of our membership, gay and otherwise, aren't interested in discussing the topics, but only that the number of topics is much greater than the general interest level would reflect, and that this is primarily due to a single individual.So, no, gays aren't being targeted or restricted in the topic choices. The concern of moderators would be the same no matter what topic area this was happening to.--Percy

Since the Forum Guidelines say not to cut-n-paste long excerpts into message boxes, it's a violation. He describes it as a dissertation, but it is extremely brief for this genre, and it seems more a survey than a dissertation. Nonetheless, it's extremely long for a message. He should summarize his main point in a paragraph or three, then provide a link to his paper. We can make his paper available as a link at EvC Forum if he has no web resources of his own.--Percy

Hi Nicolas, This is the source of the confusion. Where I come from, thesis and dissertation are synonyms, and dissertations are generally much longer than your paper because they present original research. Your paper is pretty short and contains no original research. Was this perhaps a Bachelor's or Master's thesis? Or dissertation, if you prefer?Don't be put off by the suspicious treatment. You just happened to join during a period where the forum has been experiencing a lot of abuse, unprecedented really. I suggest you edit the link to your paper back in.--Percy

I think you can pretty much rely on the fact that when I see a 6,000 word post that I haven't read the comments fully. The Forum Guidelines specify that you shouldn't post lengthy material here:

10. Do not cut-n-paste long excerpts into message boxes. Please instead introduce the point in your own words and provide a link to your source as a reference. If your source is not on-line you may contact the Site Administrator to have it made available on-line.

My comments were a response to Moose pointing out why I didn't believe it was a PhD dissertation.Most of the complaints at EvC Forum are from Creationists claiming biased treatment. We try to compensate by holding evolutionists to higher standards.--Percy

Do you have a link to the thread? I can't wait to read where Moose "let loose a barage of name calling".--PercyThis message has been edited by Percy, 11-29-2004 09:32 AM

That's a banning offense around here. Fortunately for you we've reached our quota for today. Why would liberals vote for George Bush? Terry puts on a good show, very entertaining. Has anyone ever noticed that most threads at Terry's site are started by...Terry!--Percy

Boy is Terry still off in Never Never Land: What evidence could he possibly be thinking of? What alternative universe is he living in?So Terry is allowed to insult half the American people here: And here: But let someone respond in kind, and BANG: banned!He's a character!Drawing this post back on topic, moderation here at EvC Forum requires that members argue constructively, knowledgably and rationally. Sending people to Boot Camp to encourage improvements in these areas hasn't proved successful thus far. In fact, it seemed like they all considered the restriction a license to simply continue just as they had been doing. The purpose of Boot Camp is not to provide a venue for misbehavior (a la the old Free For All forum), and so when they refused to change, their privileges were suspended.--Percy