I don’t know, frankly, I was only using it as an example based on @Recchan’s post from higher up the thread.
I suppose my thoughts are:
it’s good that Monzo staff are engaging more and actively encouraging people to raise things with them if they want to, that feels like a change in approach for the better.
a “case by case approach” sounds sensible, and makes you think it’s going to boil down to common sense, but it actually illustrates a problem in itself. By making things case by case, you are asking moderators to make up their own mind every time without any real guidance on how to do that. This will, inevitably, given that not everybody has the same attitude about everything, result in inconsistencies. It will also allow latitude for moderators to overstep the mark, perhaps on purpose or perhaps inadvertently. These inconsistencies will then be perceived by users as unfair treatment, and fuel resentment, and lead to the kind of mess that the forum was in prior to the hiatus. So I wonder if more detailed guidance is actually better. Then it becomes more of a “sorry, rules are rules” kind of thing, instead of a moderator’s personal judgement.
Completely with you here, and it’s those inconsistencies that trigger a lot of the commotion. I definitely think special care and attention needs to be applied to the code of conduct so things become a little bit clearer and can be moderated with a greater degree of objectivity. This is going to be a necessity, I think for the longer term health of the community.
Perhaps it’s an idea worth sharing in the thread over there too. I’m sure a lot of folk would be in support of that too.
It may also explain why the coral crew conduct has been taken down, as they’re perhaps reworking it?
In any case, they seem very receptive to feedback right now and there’s definitely a sense of keen to do right by the community as a whole here, which is likely going to involve more changes and decisions coming that will involve the community in some way as Alan’s recent posts have hinted it.
I’m somewhat optimistic here. Things definitely feel different this time, in a good way.
One of the newest members of CC, the bio stuff doesn’t bother me, their reactions in the We’re back thread did, haven’t flagged though as I don’t tend to flag anything and what’s the point in flagging something I assume the user i questions can moderate? I don’t know enough about Discourse or not to know if moderators can moderate their own flagged posts
Edit: Just went to find it to flag but it’s gone, Not sure if they removed it themselves or if Alan did as he said he removed a few posts
I’m not entirely sure how it works in all honesty, but I have seen coral crew comments get flagged to a point where they’ve been hidden, and stayed that way.
Do moderators have the capability of flagging too, or to hide posts without flagging? Given how quick in succession the posts were hidden in that thread, including the coral crew member, suggests that’s what happened before Alan came along and (rightly) cleaned it all up.
Yes. On the other forum, I have these options (ignore the “Solution” box - that’s a plugin)
So I can flag posts, and I can delete posts. But, if I delete a post, whereas a normal user can’t see it, all the moderation team can. So if there’s anything which they would disagree with, they can still call me out on it, so it shows who deleted it too.
He’s still very “selective” in what (or whom?) he interacts with though.
Eg he’s been asked about the disappearing CC code of conduct three times now, and while he has replied to other (less “difficult” subjects/people) he’s totally ignoring that question
So, if you have something critical to say to Alan, don’t hold your breath for a response…
I think it’s best to reserve judgement on that for now. So far he seems to have been replying to folk in order, just at a rather slow pace. Likely to allow for time to discuss the questions raised internally first so that his answer is as detailed and as accurate as can be.
He’s responded directly and in some good detail to the first three posts in the the thread thus far, and hasn’t skipped anyone in the process. So hopefully he’ll reply to folks asking about the conduct when he gets to them. I don’t think he’s ignoring them. There’s nothing that indicates that to me, yet. Given the way he’s replying to folks thus far, to me, it just looks like he hasn’t gotten down to those comments yet.
Moderators aren’t robots, so it’s depends on the topic and what the issue is. Topics can get heated and people can naturally make in the moment judgements right or wrong regardless of the forum rules. In that case it’s sometimes a good thing for a moderator to leave moderation of a highlighted issue to someone else if they’re directly involved to avoid any further conflict or heated judgement.
The fact is as well there isn’t a rule for every situation, that’s the whole point of a moderator to apply the rules to the situation as best as possible.
Having done it for over half a decade, it’s all about balance. Nothing wrong with moderating a thread your involved in. But sometimes it’s good to pass on a moderation issue if you’re involved in a particularly heated topic.
That’s not exactly what they said, so for anyone else who doesn’t frequent the forum as much
We do have a Coral Crew Code of Conduct which exists on the forum which has been ad hoc revised between staff and the fine people who make up the Coral Crew. At the moment, it sits in a section which admins like myself and Rich can view.
To make sure we’re keeping it as transparent as possible, an updated version will be posted this week to highlight the incredible work the team carry out.
I don’t know where to post this but this seems most appropriate. I was trying to find this forum on a laptop by typing the URL from memory and ended up on a place called 9to5FS which is just two moderators discussing things. One of them seems to really mind Richard Cook of Monzo as their username is CockyWock and until recently their profile picture was the same as Richard’s, but with a big cartoon moustache
The name they’ve chosen is going to be really difficult to rank, there is a lot of competition. It barely turns up under most keywords but that is also likely down to age and not much unique content as well. They’ll get there eventually
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