1. Yes.

2. No.

Here's a pinned topic on Bedlam: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=111813

I have found this thread facinating - thanks all for remaining civil, that's the way I like debates to develope.

OK, good call, but thanks for letting the thread stay open.

Yup, gotta agree with that.

We've had good and insightful posts from moderators and ex-moderators and it's been an all-too-rare glimpse into how things are moderated around here.

My first thought was that Crow Boy was brave to start this topic, apparently trusting that Bedlamites are mature enough to handle it, and he has been proven right.

--

Maestro

It has been enlightening and I have always thought that Bedlam should be self moderated, but this has sometimes been a, 'Bridge too Far', perhaps, maybe things are changing, however, discussion of moderation is something I think will always be contentious and a minefield ready to explode.

This thread in general has been good and nothing would please me more than being wrong, that moderation in general and not individual cases can be discussed in a reasoned manner.

Moss

It has been enlightening and I have always thought that Bedlam should be self moderated, but this has sometimes been a, 'Bridge too Far', perhaps, maybe things are changing, however, discussion of moderation is something I think will always be contentious and a minefield ready to explode.

This thread in general has been good and nothing would please me more than being wrong, that moderation in general and not individual cases can be discussed in a reasoned manner.

Agreed. I think the real minefields are when specific pieces of moderation get discusses / argued over. But I think it's good to have a medium for discussion of moderation generally as we have been doing here - i.e. finding out how things are run, perhaps discussing possible improvements or adjustments to the processes, etc. But done in an informative, sensible way rather than an argumentative confrontational way which will always be the case if people are allowed to spout off on the public forum after one of their posts has been moderated.

How about starting a closed thread, to which only the mods have access, detailing who has been banned and why. This could stop alot of rumour and discussion of moderation issues.

I don't spend too much time in Bedlam as it feels a bit like a closed shop, members talking in code about what happened to xyz and why. By maybe including a quote of the post that tipped the balance we may get a clearer idea of where the boundaries are, as well as potentially providing some entertainment

How about starting a closed thread, to which only the mods have access, detailing who has been banned and why. This could stop alot of rumour and discussion of moderation issues.

How about mods and long-term sponsors as an extra bonus!

I don't spend too much time in Bedlam as it feels a bit like a closed shop, members talking in code about what happened to xyz and why.

Awww. Don't feel like that. We are not speaking in code.

Just the normal gibberish.

Fire up some threads of subjects with contentious issues that interest you in Bedlem. You'll be pleasently surprised at the results.

How about starting a closed thread, to which only the mods have access, detailing who has been banned and why. This could stop alot of rumour and discussion of moderation issues.

I think that's one of the best ideas i've heard so far, as it wouldn't be open for discussion but at least we'd be put in the picture. Like you say, it would stop the rumours and discussion of moderation issues.

I also think there should be a caveat with a gentleman's / gentle-ladies agreement, that nowhere should it ever be mentioned or posted outside of Bedlam.

What do you think admin / mods ?

How about starting a closed thread, to which only the mods have access, detailing who has been banned and why. This could stop alot of rumour and discussion of moderation issues.

I think that's one of the best ideas i've heard so far, as it wouldn't be open for discussion but at least we'd be put in the picture. Like you say, it would stop the rumours and discussion of moderation issues.

I also think there should be a caveat with a gentleman's / gentle-ladies agreement, that nowhere should it ever be mentioned or posted outside of Bedlam.

What do you think admin / mods ?

I think, even if it was feasable, it could only be implemented for "high profile" members. Wouldn't be necessary for the twice daily banning of trolls or the obvious re-incarnations.

How about starting a closed thread, to which only the mods have access, detailing who has been banned and why. This could stop alot of rumour and discussion of moderation issues.

I think that's one of the best ideas i've heard so far, as it wouldn't be open for discussion but at least we'd be put in the picture. Like you say, it would stop the rumours and discussion of moderation issues.

I also think there should be a caveat with a gentleman's / gentle-ladies agreement, that nowhere should it ever be mentioned or posted outside of Bedlam.

What do you think admin / mods ?

I think, even if it was feasable, it could only be implemented for "high profile" members. Wouldn't be necessary for the twice daily banning of trolls or the obvious re-incarnations.

Yep, good point.

Would it not be fairer if the decision to ban someone needed to be taking by at least two or three of moderators?

At least then there would be less chance of people blaming it on a personality clash.

Not that I'm trying to tell anybody how to do their job.

Would it not be fairer if the decision to ban someone needed to be taking by at least two or three of moderators?

At least then there would be less chance of people blaming it on a personality clash.

Not that I'm trying to tell anybody how to do their job.

Most bans are discussed (unless obvious spammers etc) and the decision to ban is one taken ultimately by admin.

Would it not be fairer if the decision to ban someone needed to be taking by at least two or three of moderators?

At least then there would be less chance of people blaming it on a personality clash.

Not that I'm trying to tell anybody how to do their job.

Most bans are discussed (unless obvious spammers etc) and the decision to ban is one taken ultimately by admin.

Fair enough

How about starting a closed thread, to which only the mods have access, detailing who has been banned and why. This could stop alot of rumour and discussion of moderation issues.

Interesting, though not sure it would work. Never seen anything like it on forums before... If there was such a thread, I think I'd look in there out of curiosity but I'm sure it would end up saying the same old stuff "too much flaming", "broke rule XYZ once too often", etc. and would lose its novelty value quite quickly. Also, any really juicy posts which might have got someone banned will most likely be deleted anyway, so there'll be nothing really to see most of the time.

Kayo, you lost another "fun" poster here mainly because, as you very well know, she decided to post PMs and Bedlam material on that other place you hang out, aside from multiple attempts to cause trouble for mods and members here.

You can go have "fun" with her over there, but I'd hate to be there on the day when the hyenas start feeding on each other.

"S"

I wasn't aware of this. I've not been on there for five-six months or so, except to check my pm's from time to time.

Is it against the rules to post a PM that someone has sent you, and did somebody get banned for that?

Just wondering.

Is it against the rules to post a PM that someone has sent you, and did somebody get banned for that?

Just wondering.

Well, yes and no it seems: there's nothing explicitly in the rules forbidding this, but it does seem that to post personal messages on this or other forums is a bannable (or at least warnable) offense, which is just common sense really, but perhaps the rules need to be amended to cover this.

Likewise, to copy / paste Bedlam content over there is also frowned upon because this is supposed to be private information, well private among those who have 500+ posts anyway.

Kayo, you lost another "fun" poster here mainly because, as you very well know, she decided to post PMs and Bedlam material on that other place you hang out, aside from multiple attempts to cause trouble for mods and members here.

You can go have "fun" with her over there, but I'd hate to be there on the day when the hyenas start feeding on each other.

"S"

I wasn't aware of this. I've not been on there for five-six months or so, except to check my pm's from time to time.

Their latest "I've been banned by TV, I'm a Hero" thread has gone to about 28 pages with all the usual suspects recounting, ad nauseum, their stories of banning woes and hero tales of trolling.

Strange little people.

Is it against the rules to post a PM that someone has sent you, and did somebody get banned for that?

Just wondering.

Well, yes and no it seems: there's nothing explicitly in the rules forbidding this, but it does seem that to post personal messages on this or other forums is a bannable (or at least warnable) offense, which is just common sense really, but perhaps the rules need to be amended to cover this.

Likewise, to copy / paste Bedlam content over there is also frowned upon because this is supposed to be private information, well private among those who have 500+ posts anyway.

Well, considering it is a private message it does seem to fall under this rule, don't you think?

1) You will not use thaivisa.com to post any material which is knowingly or can be reasonably construed as false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, referencing prostitution (including bargirls and barboys), referencing suicide, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law.

I was just wondering why people decide to become moderators. It seems to come with a bit of hassle. What are the benefits? Is it the wish to be more involved with a forum? Do some people just like the bit of power? Is it just the wish to serve? Is it all of the above?

None of the above.

Most want to be mods to access Jai Dee's porn collection.

OK, I'll bite

I was asked. I don't know anyone who volunteered but AFAIK, we were all asked.

I was asked to be the moderator for the Ladies forum, and I felt that it was important that women have a voice on this forum and get treated decently and with good manners.

<br />OK, I'll bite <img src="style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /><br /><br />I was asked. I don't know anyone who volunteered but AFAIK, we were all asked. <br /><br />I was asked to be the moderator for the Ladies forum, and I felt that it was important that women have a voice on this forum and get treated decently and with good manners. <br /><br /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

Not the porn then?

OK, I'll bite

I was asked. I don't know anyone who volunteered but AFAIK, we were all asked.

I was asked to be the moderator for the Ladies forum, and I felt that it was important that women have a voice on this forum and get treated decently and with good manners.

Boy, that sure worked didn't it SBK?

Not interested in looking at girls tits, garro. I see my own every day

I reckon if I had tits I'd look at them everyday as well

No not necessarily.

I would take it to mean it is private in the sense of it being direct communication between two members and not visible to the entire membership. If someone thinks that is license to be abusive to another member, then it doesn't surprise me too much that someone might want to post it publicly. This is the most typical scenario where I have seen a "PM" posted publicly.

In legal terms, a letter or other communication sent to someone is regarded as the property of the person to whom it was sent, to do with as they will, provided it is not a privileged communication such as that between an attorney and client, etc.

Same goes for emails, which is why it is said that it is a good idea to think twice before you click on send, since you never to to whom it might be forwarded.

Whether or not it might be a matter best left to the mods, or if there might be forum rules that apply, is another question. Which is why I asked.

If the PM revealed personal information about the sender, then that is a different story.

I honestly don't care that much about it to tell the truth -- I try to stay out of the drama in the first place.

Goodnight!

I was just wondering why people decide to become moderators. It seems to come with a bit of hassle. What are the benefits? Is it the wish to be more involved with a forum? Do some people just like the bit of power? Is it just the wish to serve? Is it all of the above?

As SBK wrote, moderators don't volunteer they are asked by an existing super mod or admin.

McGriffith and I were asked to become mods because they needed people with our particular warm, gentle, easygoing style to take on the CR forum.

There are some advantages (JaiDee's porn collection not included) to being a mod. It opens up a different arena to being a member. Think of bedlam which is a smaller group of people where you can ask questions and make some really good online friends with people. The mod forum is similar, we get to meet and interact with mods from different subforums most of whom I would not normally visit. There is a wealth of experience and knowledge from different areas. They are an interesting group of people.

The disadvantages are that it takes a lot of time to do the job properly, we have to read a lot of threads that normally we wouldn't bother to open. We have to deal with a lot of problems and that is were we have to be very careful. It is like working behind a counter - if the first six people in line are obnoxious &lt;deleted&gt; the you have to be very careful when customer number seven comes along not to tear their head off. This may be hard to believe but there are some real numbats in this forum, add to them the trolls, flamers, spammers and general nitwits and it is easy to lose sight of the fact that 95% of the members are really nice people.

The next biggest disadvantage for me is that I used to enjoy posting and being blessed/cursed with a perverse sense of humour I had a lot of fun. Now as a mod I have to be careful because some members can't or won't differentiate between what I write as Crowboy the member and Crowboy the moderator.

However the biggest disadvantage for me is the rare time I have to make an official warning to someone I like and respect. Sometimes I think "well actually I agree with you that the person is a moron" but the rules state "no flaming" so I have to deal with it. If you want to continue that line then consider how to warn and suspend a friend who you meet regularly outside the forum. Then take it to the end point and think how you would handle having to ban a good mate because he has crunched too many toes in the past or posted something that cannot be allowed.

Final point - why do we do it? Why do people volunteer to become referees/umpires in sports. Why do they become officials for different clubs and organisations. The trouble and time it requires to do can approach a full time job. The answer is simple - we choose to do it because we want to help make the organisation/club/forum even better and think our efforts will help to achieve that result.

CB

So now we know. But then, Crow Boy, you're one of the human mods...

How about starting a closed thread, to which only the mods have access, detailing who has been banned and why. This could stop alot of rumour and discussion of moderation issues.

There is a closed thread which only mods and admin have access already where any person suspended or banned is listed. The standard process is for us to write something like "Fred_Bear 3 days suspension for this post now deleted" The underlined parts are links to Fred_Bear's profile and the actual post. The purpose for this is to advise other mods and admin of ongoing actions and to provide a clear record of each warning. Each official warning and suspension is recorded on the person's profile. All moderator's can see the warning count for ever member under the avatar information on every post made by the person. We can check to see if the person is a persistent spammer or flamer or has made the occasional slip up.

I don't spend too much time in Bedlam as it feels a bit like a closed shop, members talking in code about what happened to xyz and why. By maybe including a quote of the post that tipped the balance we may get a clearer idea of where the boundaries are, as well as potentially providing some entertainment.

I don't really think this is appropriate even in Bedlam. The reason being that this would constitute publishing personal information which is against the rules. Every member can check a missing members profile or even under the avatar - in Bedlam it will normally say "advanced member" but for banned members it will read "banned". You could also send a message to a mod and ask "has Fred_Bear been banned?" Normally we will not disclose the reason(s) why but we will give a yes/no answer.

CB