Moderation

I was a moderator for the past few years on the "Canon Rebel" forum. It was fairly low traffic and had some well-meaning helpful posts and good behaviour/engagement from the small core group of members who participated regularly. I tried to keep a fairly hands off approach, really just monitoring for spam, approving new members and checking for complaints daily. I mostly took it on out of a feeling of duty toward the forum that I grew up with, to give back (despite not having used a Rebel camera for many years). I'm 100% happy to leave the MOD duties behind, it made it a bit more challenging to intact with members (its harder to hang out with everyone when you're the police, so to speak.) I never had to tangle with some of the more challenging subforms (but caught of glimpse of it in the private mods sub-forum), and wish the best of luck to those who take on the responsibility. It requires a degree of pragmatism, and remembering that you're not there to be the leader, or direct the discussion, but to keep the people with bad intentions from ruining the experience for everyone else.

A bit off topic. I changed my name back to JACS. That changed my name (and avatar) of all posts here so far, nice. The "likes" however appear with my old screen name "Snapper." Not complaining, just noticing.

I find the idea of talking softly and carrying a big stick to work in many cases. On the forums where I am a mod, I usually modify a post upon the first instance of an infraction and PM the person saying why I modified their post and asking them to please reread the forum rules and refrain from doing that in the future. Never a threat, just a gentle reminder.

If anything persists, then you may have to take more direct action. Granted, people who want to make trouble will do so. It happens on every forum to some extent, some worse than others. The best thing to have are level headed mods who do not over-react. If you do not have that (or have mods who actively participate in creating a toxic atmosphere) that will drive away a lot of people.

Edit: I agree that it may not be wise to appoint mods from amongst the ones from DPReview, old vendettas may carry over, leading to the same toxic environment which everyone complains about establishing itself here.

Well that was interesting. I replied to a member in the site and feedback forum on DPR about another forum he was meddling in and my post was deleted within a couple of minutes. Guess who one of the moderators is on there.

In 23 years on DPR, that's a first for me! So I see what you mean about Mako2011. First time I've had that happen or even seen him before.

Danny. <------ still in shock ;-)

A few days ago, I posted a comment, in the Feedback forum, about the number of threads that had been deleted throughout DPR.

Not only was the thread deleted, my account was restricted, and my future comments had to be approved by a moderator before anyone could see them. I could also not send PMs. No reason was given for the restrictions, and I couldn't get Mako2011 to respond to my inquiries.

First time in 21-years at DPR that anything like this had happened, and the Admins did lift the restrictions, but I have no respect for a person like Mako2011.

Oh wow. Obviously a nutter. First time I've actually come across him. Amazing, but can see now what others have been saying and you as well. Gees.

Danny.

good on you mate for changing your name back to JACS. Im using my old name from DPR after 21,000 posts 12 years without any problems and not letting a few bad mods from DPR control my writings on a new forum. i had to change my name 3 times in the last 18 months because of the stalking from the same 3 mods.

I liked DPR original forum more, when there were no moderation.
It was much more vivid place.
Whatever you decide, I believe you should start with a clean slate,
Some of the recent mods on DPR seemed to enjoy the virtual power more, than actual moderation.
I went to DPRforum and when I saw one of the little Napoleons, spreading his wings already, I cancelled my account there.

I did so as well , Mako2011
He would delete posts without rhyme or reason, then sandboxed me, no idea why. Truly no idea. He loved that power trip they let him have at DPR.

Why don't we get AI to take the photos too? AND run this forum. LOL!

On second thoughts, I won't show that image just yet. It might get back.

That’s the ‘be nice’ rule that bobn2 so hates.

@bobn2 your OP mentions lack of clear rules at DPR being an issue, so I take it that this thread is a place to discuss possible rules for this forum. I have a couple of suggestions.

Firstly, I think that trolling a forum’s core topic should be forbidden. If the core topic is a camera brand, then fans of other brands or haters of the topic brand cannot troll the brand. There is a fine line between constructive criticism of the core topic and trolling it, but IMHO it makes a far more pleasant environment if the forum mod is fairly strict. People come to a camera brand forum mostly because they are owners and want to learn more about using their camera or help others make better use of their camera an encourage a good feeling about owning and using the brand, and it makes them feel bad about their pride and joy if some people keep posting there (more than once as a fair criticism and wish to improve the brand) how inferior it is or how the company is crap etc.

Secondly, I think providing CC on a photo (including a modified version of the photo to illustrate the feedback) should be allowed unless the photo owner expressly asks for no CC when posting the photo, instead of the reverse. DPR used to have it the ‘right’ way round, then they flipped it, because they were having a specific issue with someone trolling the landscape photos forum with unwelcome CC. IMHO they dealt with it the wrong way and infringed on international fair use rights with their response, instead of dealing with the troll.

I agree; it gives the mods very little guidance as to what's acceptable and what isn't. That makes an individual mod's arbitrary judgements not just possible, but necessary! That's not a pleasant situation for a mod who wants to get it right, but can't always be sure they did...

OTOH, even a long list of carefully defined rules will have a hard time covering every possibility.

I don't know the answer to achieving a balance, but I'm reading the comments here with considerable interest.

Good to see you here!

Here's my experience with senseless / ridiculous moderation...

Teila: "I agree with BurnImage’s stance on the matter - If you’re doing street photography that’s predicated on a lot of action (protesters and their violent interaction with police, etc..) as opposed to more static shots, you may want to give up a smidgen of image quality for more capable/quicker autofocusing and much higher frame rate."

MODERATOR:: "FYI your recent post in the medium format forum was deleted for its political content. Please stick to photographic subjects.

(as if photographing people rioting, marching, protesting hasn't been a mainstay in reportage photography for decades)

MODERATOR:: "This is a photographic website. Please avoid off-topic political statements and stick to photography. Thank you.

(Since when did reportage/documentation photography become "off-topic" in the discussion of what cameras are most ideal for a particular task?)

(Date -May 18, 2022 at 22:54 UTC)

Less than 15 days later, DPreview publishes an article on June 3, 2022:
"Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Nick Ut reflects on the day he captured the iconic image known as 'Terror of War' and 'Napalm Girl'

So, I get "moderated" for making an obvious photography-relevant comment that using fast focusing cameras may be worth taking a small hit on image quality in order to get the shot, etc.. yet, some moderator somehow thinks that the mere mention of "protesters and their violent interactions with police, etc.." even as a street photography/reportage/journalistic e-x-a-m-p-l-e in the context of how a photographer can benefit with the right photographic tool, constitutes getting "political". That's like someone mentioning Grand Canyon and 8x10 view cameras in the context of getting the most detail, and some moderator accusing the person of "delving into environmental politics" by the mere mention of a canyon.

…. but an article by DPreview depicting a photograph of a girl in the midst of war, physically affected by napalm is somehow kittens, rainbows and baby’s breath and not political, even when the Vietnam War was entrenched in American politics. Absolutely ridiculous moderation.

Adding insult, the moderation refused to tell me what exactly triggered the deletion of what I thought was a rather benign post. That's like giving someone a fine, without telling them exactly what they did wrong.

I've never been banned at any time, anywhere on the internet. My 17 years of posting on DPreview was factual, non-inflammatory and well-grounded.
While I do not mind moderation, I strongly feel that moderation needs to be done by reasonably intelligent adults who can easily comprehend the concept of situational context and relevance. Most of the moderators that I encountered on DPreview did a splendid job.

It is an impressive thing that this is a conversation topic and that people are putting their minds together to broker a solution that stands on good reason. Bravo.

Looking forward to the successes of this site.