BLOG PIECE: Nexus moderation system overhaul, etiquette and ethos

[drjones013]

This seems entirely fair and I support this; it definitely strengthens all of the reasons I've used Nexus in the past and encourages me to continue to use Nexus in the future.

[pippinstrano]

<snip>

All recognised mod authors (those authors who have 1,000 unique downloads and are able to access the mod author private forums) will now be able to hide posts that have been made in their own file comments. When an author hides a comment the content of the post will be fully hidden (with no option to see the original content) and the text will be changed to read "The author of this file has requested this comment be checked by our moderation team and it is currently awaiting moderator review". It will then be sent to a moderation pool. Moderators will be able to login to this page and see all the posts that have been hidden by mod authors and are awaiting review. At this point the moderation team will assess whether the mod author was justified in removing the comment.

 

If the moderator agrees that the post breaks our rules then it will be fully hidden from the file comment topic, never to be seen in public again. If the moderator goes one step further and decides that the hidden post was bad enough to warrant an informal warning, a formal warning or a ban then the post will be updated on the authors comment topic to read "This user was given an informal warning/formal warning/ban for this post". Mod authors will be able to choose whether they want that information to be public (they can leave it there for all to see) or whether it's hidden from public view. I know some mod authors will like the idea of showing that people have been warned or banned for trolling their threads as it will act as a warning to others. I also know some mod authors won't like that idea, so we're going to leave that one completely up to you.

</snip>

 

A few questions, if I may -

 

1) "fully hidden from the file comment topic": just so I know that I am reading this right, the post in question will not appear in the listing users' see at all, is that correct? Once hidden, there isn't a stub that say "Hidden post" or something, just the post is removed from what most users see entirely? I am hoping this is the case, but I wanted to confirm this.

 

2) any chance mod authors will be able to have posts hidden that have been edited by the original poster to read "Ignore this" or something similar? Not to say that the original poster did something wrong, but rather because the post contains no useful content at that point?

 

3) any chance mod authors will be able to have posts hidden that are duplicates of earlier posts? Not necessarily as a statement that the poster of the duplicate post has done anything wrong (though there could be some debate there, I suppose), but again, because it contains no useful content? There have been posts around this issue in this topic, but I didn't see a definite answer.

 

4) lastly, any chance the mod author could designate one or more other users to moderate one or more of their file comment sections? I know of more than one author / team I'd love to help by doing their file comment moderation (having no modding skill myself). This was asked by a couple other posters on this topic, but I read all the posts and saw no answer.

 

I looked but didn't see answers to any of these in the last 35 posts. Any word on any of these questions?

[poshspaz]

I welcome the transparency. It's a fantastic idea.

[Plemith]

why the *snip* is monster mod getting moderation? its completely good

 

Mind your language in future, and "good" or not it's it's locked due to illegally ripped content and copyright violations

Dogtown's banned and it won't be coming back - TVD.

[Oubliette]

Copyright infringement.

[phoneyLogic]

Wow, interesting read. Hope this works out well, but as it just seems entirely fair and comprehensible I have no doubt. Giving formal & informal warnings, disabling site features and making bans more transparent may reduce confusion and bad blood a great deal. I think you guys and gals did a very great job rethinking the moderation system. :thumbsup:

 

So yes, very cool, great job and hopefully an improvement to everyone.

Edited December 20, 2012 by tortured Tomato

[BIadeRunner]

Around 75% of these unban requests are members whove been banned who use the excuse I didnt know doing <insert stupid action here> would get me instantly banned' date=' why wasnt I warned first?. Its quite common for people to somehow blame us for their breaking of the rules. Dont ask me how that works, I havent got the faintest idea. Very, very few contain an apology in them.[/quote']

Ask yourself a question, how many of these 4.7 million of members have actually read the rules? I wouldn't bet on even one milion. Yeah, it's because people are such ignorats and lazy asses, but first and foremost it's because they feel no need to do so, preemptively assuming that they know how to stay in line even without reading any secrects of wisdom or visiting Dagobah. And there's actually some truth to this attitude, since over the years of internet forums and message boards something like "the common law of cyberspace" (or simply savoir-vivre to be less epiiic), so to speak, had come into existence. "Don't troll", "don't offend", "don't swear", "don't promote piracy", "don't post links to 'rock out with your cock out' sites", "no Hitler or Stalin", etc. - extending these commandments in more or less fancy manner is what constructing internet rules is all about. As an administrator I had a pleasure writing such stuff myself out of formality - to have something to refer to in case of emergency, but certainly not in The Malleus Maleficarum spirit (in terms of strictness). Of course there are sites like 4chan or RPGCodex, expressing much wider freedom of speech, but these are exceptions. The thing is, people usually don't bother reading rules just as they don't bother reading software license agreements. Because if there are any important special rules of a site (like obtaining permissions from mod authors around here), users get to know them one way or another anyway. You can even write your rules in verse and send them to all members via PM, marked with intimidating Darth Vader mask icon along with the sound of his breath, but most folks gonna pass on reading anyway unless you serve some boobs and/or erotic mini-stories among the lines of your tirade. If you believe otherwise, then you're being an ignorant yourself. So covering such behaviour with some stiff and formal speeches, i.e. when you click that I agree button to our terms of service (...) is pointless. I clicked the button in 2004 (assuming it was there, because I sincerely don't remember and it could've been "I agree to be a part of The Satanic Orangutans Playing Hookey Church" as well) and since this moment all I was interested in was downloading/uploading mods. And I'm pretty sure that's how it works for most people in terms of deepening knowledge of the rules. Life is Biatch.

Now it's not like I find your point not to be valid, not at all. I really do get your point; you pay for this site, you put your hard work and life resources (like time and air) into all this, this is your place, your rules, your flea circus, but just remember that you're not dealing with mashines here, yet faulty humans and it happens that they do something stupid, even totally sober. So going as far with this bureaucracy as to send perm bans for even light misbehaviour is just ridiculous, to put it lightly.

 

About the "unban" institution. "Few contain an apology in them" - now who could have seen this coming? Here in Poland it has became a quite common practice of the police to ambush with a radar gun at the foot of acclivities - pretty much how 'the unban request' works on Nexus. You see, getting banned counts as a rather unpleasant experience for most ones, so it's not unlikely that a banned person gets angry, starts to argue, etc. That's why on the majority of forums/sites there's the institution of temporary ban (or simply posting privileges are suspended), because it gives some time to simmer down, rethink your doings and obey the threat of a perm ban.

About a year ago I got banned for posting this pic in the file share section. As far as I remember it was taken like some form of a troll-critique towards erotic content on Nexus, which was not quite in my intent, especially that I actually uploaded a body mod myself. So of course I got pissed for loosing my 8 years old account permanently due to a silliy reason like that. Even more when seeing moderators patting each other on the back for dealing with some nasty troll, without whose Nexus will be a more excellent place. And so I just requested my submissions to be removed instead of sending an aplogy. We can now argue about my behaviour, but remember that people comes with different nature and mentallity.

 

The funny thing is that my mod is still where it was (linked above), even though I have privately asked one moderator for the mod to be removed once again and was assured thereafter it got removed. Of course I asked from THIS account (breaking another rule), because after getting banned there's no way to communicate with this site and you just lose control over anything you have left here. Pretty claustrophobic not being able to anything all of sudden BTW.

 

Also, I do understand that this place is big and you don't have time to deal with every user individually, yet I have some hard time finding this fair.

 

 

Best regards.

- Bannedscope

 

You've said your piece. Will leave it, since many people enjoy a good whine. You, on the other hand, can leave the Nexus. --TNL

Edited December 22, 2012 by Thandal
poster banned.

[ZeroKing]

@ BladeRunner

 

You don't have to be a machine to understand the simple sense of "behave appropriately" and "treat others fairly". If I used the "faulty human" excuse, then I could go about posting stupid things on Nexus, say "Hey, give me a break, it was a mistake", take down the posted material and post another dumb thing back on here. No, the point of the rules is to ensure that the site runs in an appropriate manner, fair and just.

 

If you do wish to enforce the whole "people aren't machines", then you could apply that logic to the moderators and the admins here: they're not machines either. They make mistakes and the unban appeal is there to ensure that. If you want to put a reasonable argument as why you should be unbanned, then you would be constructive, no? Anger simply shows that you are unwilling to follow the point of the rules. Really, do you think that you deserve a second chance, then apologize and be fair in your argument. That shows good character. Being human means that you let anger through sometimes, which is both reasonable and reality of things. However, it was your choice to be angry about it in the end, and simply blurt out your argument. This applies in real life too, and I'm sure you'd agree on this. Be the better man, and argue, but argue properly.

 

I don't have to be a website admin to conduct myself fairly on a forum site, nor do I have to an expert on the rules to be a simple, fair human being, and that's the point that the rules are making. Quite simple to read the rules for ten minutes instead of gallivanting around modding and posting (you could do that after you read the rules, eh?). It doesn't a century to read the basic etiquette and ethics of this site. I care not about what nationality you belong to, what country you're from, if you want to be treated fairly and equally, then that's the gist of it: you are treated as a human, simply put. I could use the excuse of being of a different mentality or nature in all places, but really? I would get fired as a engineering consultant if I said that, but no.... in the end, it matters not of what character you are. You are expected, not forced, to conduct yourself respectively, otherwise warnings are handed to you, or you are banned (as per regulation).

[Traveisimo]

although many things that blade runner posted i do not agree with, there are things he said that to me anyways seem like good ideas or at least wit some minor changes.

 

first of all i think a temporary ban is not a bad idea, to a certain degree of course. what i mean is lets use your example someone asks for endorsements or donations in the description, they get plenty of warnings to fix this but still neglect to do so, i think in a case like that a ban for a couple of days or weeks or something is a god idea, without permanently cutting them off from the site, you show them there is no tolerance for violation of rules then give them a second chance to contribute to the site without violation of rules, but to prevent a recurrence of violations make the second ban permanent.

 

well i said things but i meant thing, that's really the only point he raised that i think can possibly improve nexus moderation, the rest of the system is actually quite good, but i think although still unable to please everyone you can get some more on your side with one-time temporary bans

 

 

[zxc729689725]

ok