The Debate Forum. Closed, or Unmoderated.

[Lisnpuppy]

Some of our touches are lighter than others.

[Aurielius]

I'll stick with a moderated forum with the 'light' touch and the 'heavy' hand....will not say who has which. Some sanity however measured is better than chaos, though I do agree with bben that a thick skin is advisable if you want to be a participant.

[mizdarby]

I agree with the consensus that a lightly moderated debate forum is the best approach. There should be a lively and diverse range of opinions on the chosen topic of a particular debate, with the absolute right to hold unpopular views, or diametrically opposing viewpoints. There absolutely should not be, insults, purile name calling, endless off topics and spam of any kind. And the best place for trolls, is in Oblivion caves being slaughtered by a dremora summon.

[Sync182]

I would suggest, If the staff doesn't care to have violent threads in the main debate, you guys could make up a new area, which only established members could access, and place these threads in there for the rest of us to continue. Established members could be designated by their post count. Those above a sertain number, only can post there. That and those that are thrown in there for disciplinary reasons, will automatically be able to post In that area. It would also take care of trolls and their sock pupets.

 

Just...no.

 

Wile I appreciate the intent, it has been proven that those who might make some mystical post-count are irresponsible and have been summarily banned; on the other hand, there are likely a good number of people who don't post much but who would be excluded from the forum because they haven't got their post count high enough.

 

Un-moderated?

Absolutely not. It would just become a troll forum.

 

I'm gonna go with this as my final thoughts on the matter. Keep it as it is (ie lightly moderated) and we'll be fine.

[ginnyfizz]

I'll stick with a moderated forum with the 'light' touch and the 'heavy' hand....will not say who has which. Some sanity however measured is better than chaos, though I do agree with bben that a thick skin is advisable if you want to be a participant.

 

Very true, but I am glad the logical fallacies were not actually brought out - that's one rare thing that I would disagree with bben46 about, the old LF's. It has never been something that came up in the sort of debates I've been in is all.

 

You could not possibly have an unmoderated debates forum on here because of the danger of breaking the forum rules and also breaking the law potentially occurring. If there was no moderation, I'd give it literally five minutes before someone brought in religion, racist and sexist comments, sexual content, the sort of thing that could get the site itself in deep bother.

 

As a humorous aside, but it is in a sense very relevant to the type of moderation to be applied, you could do with looking at the naughty words filter. I could not believe my eyes the other day when I posted in a topic and a quite innocently meant word had been replaced with the phrase "ban me". I was totally shocked. Where I come from, we routinely use the word to describe what the wind does without there being any lewd connotations. I had used the word in a non lewd phrase too.

[Georgiegril]

I agree with Tetradite:

From bitter personal experience: the folks that CAN debate rationally will leave the place alone once it is unmoderated. Unmoderated debate/politics etc forums remove the possibility of reasoned and constructive debate because you end up with 99% of posts being made by those who cannot or will not engage rationally.

 

I don't visit the debates area very often, but I enjoy it now and then. Moderators ensure the area remains for debate and does not become a troll-magnet.

 

Thank you to all of the moderators, btw. Every time I visit the site I am extremely grateful for the safe and supportive environment you create!:armscrossed:

[HeyYou]

So it would seem the general consensus is "lightly moderated" then? Coolness. That was my choice as well. I ran the 'unmoderated' up the flagpole, just to see if anyone would salute. I am not particularly surprised by the results.... So, what about adding some forum specific mods then? Lighten the load on the moderators?? (although, I have seen this forum go for a day or more without a post....)

[Syco21]

I don't see an issue with the debate section. It's pretty tame here, aside from the few times people get outta hand.

[Nintii]

My personal feelings on this is as following ...

 

1) The Nexus is primarily a site for the gaming community, I doubt it was ever created to be a place where you could debate

the events of the day or even "prop yourself up on a mushroom" as in the Druids Garden.

These are merely add-ons that Dark0ne has allowed to create a sense of community (as far as I'm concerned), that could

also be achieved through a strictly "gaming forum" where only games are discussed.

 

I'll repeat, the Debates section isn't a "have to" in the strictest sense of the word, it's a grace or a favour to us really.

The Nexus could do without it and still draw and keep it's huge following because of the incredible talent here when it comes

to modding, computer programming and other such skills etc.

 

2) Having said that, MOST gaming sites have a Debates or discussion forum of some type other than gaming, because

people of all backgrounds frequent the sites and it's an added attraction to those whose interest goes beyond gaming.

Besides, most of the time those might just be the audience who fund the site ... like I said, most of the time.

 

 

Anyhow, concerning "this" Debates Forum ... everyone here has an agenda ... and it's to be right ... nothing wrong with that at all ... but the burning question is should it be moderated ?

 

Yes it should be.

 

But because of the nature of the beast, the rules for riding this animal should be a slight bit different ... if you mess up here and by that I mean use foul language on people, or discriminate against them based on their race, religion, language etc., then yes, you should be banned FROM HERE.

Banned from the Debates forum.

Because if it was a provocation, to get banned for defending yourself because someone else was punching your buttons and you lost it ?

No, we all lose it from time to time, we're people not robots ... tell me you don't lose it from time to time.

 

Otherwise it should stay the same.

Edited July 13, 2012 by Nintii

[tetradite]

My personal feelings on this is as following ...

 

1) The Nexus is primarily a site for the gaming community, I doubt it was ever created to be a place where you could debate

the events of the day or even "prop yourself up on a mushroom" as in the Druids Garden.

These are merely add-ons that Dark0ne has allowed to create a sense of community (as far as I'm concerned), that could

also be achieved through a strictly "gaming forum" where only games are discussed.

 

I'll repeat, the Debates section isn't a "have to" in the strictest sense of the word, it's a grace or a favour to us really.

The Nexus could do without it and still draw and keep it's huge following because of the incredible talent here when it comes

to modding, computer programming and other such skills etc.

 

2) Having said that, MOST gaming sites have a Debates or discussion forum of some type other than gaming, because

people of all backgrounds frequent the sites and it's an added attraction to those whose interest goes beyond gaming.

Besides, most of the time those might just be the audience who fund the site ... like I said, most of the time.

 

 

Anyhow, concerning "this" Debates Forum ... everyone here has an agenda ... and it's to be right ... nothing wrong with that at all ... but the burning question is should it be moderated ?

 

Yes it should be.

 

But because of the nature of the beast, the rules for riding this animal should be a slight bit different ... if you mess up here and by that I mean use foul language on people, or discriminate against them based on their race, religion, language etc., then yes, you should be banned FROM HERE.

Banned from the Debates forum.

Because if it was a provocation, to get banned for defending yourself because someone else was punching your buttons and you lost it ?

No, we all lose it from time to time, we're people not robots ... tell me you don't lose it from time to time.

 

Otherwise it should stay the same.

 

I disagree with the last part.

 

If someone cannot control themselves to the extent that they'll swear at people or genuinely discriminate against them on the grounds you mention, because they were "provoked" or someone was "punching their buttons" then a- they shouldn't really be in a debates forum in the first place, and b- I don't see why they can be trusted to maintain an even temper in any other section. People get their "buttons pressed" about things as non-consequential as game lore and the exact moral implications of patching other people's mods.

 

There should be a more tolerant approach within the debate forums on what subjects can be discussed, and how much out and out disagreement and even flat out argument is allowed (because disagreement is the point of the debate forums), but abuse and bigotry should be zero-tolerance in any forum section, regardless of any perceived provocation. If such provocation is abusive in itself, then let the staff sort it out, don't respond, or at least don't respond while you're still angry enough to hurl abuse back.