Moderator Advocacy

Thread Starter

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
Has advocacy replaced intellectual integrity in our society?

Any thoughtful person will have opinions. It is well established in all free societies that when those opinions create bias or even the appearance of bias, the person should excuse himself from acting as judge or juror in related matters.

I have seen several instances where that fundamental principle seems to have been neglected by Moderators on this forum. Whether one agrees with that conclusion not, I believe it is time the Administrators consider adding the following guides for conduct by Moderators:

1) A Moderator must exclude himself from management of a thread when his opinion on the matter being discussed interferes with his objectivity. A Moderator should be allowed as is any other member to express his advocacy through posts to a thread. However, once that is done, the Moderator must cease editing posts, deleting posts, or exercising any other moderator privileges (e.g., closing the thread) for the thread.

2) ALL actions taken by Moderators should be documented. It is current practice that when a Moderator edits a post, a comment such as, "edited by xyz, reason: removed profanity" is added. However, when an entire post is removed, it usually just disappears. Rarely, if ever, is any indication given that a post has been removed or is any reason given for that action. I am asking that moderators simply document that action by adding something like, "deleted by xzy, reason:_________."

Note, the first suggestion should apply only to matters of controversy, not scientific or electronic facts. For example, a moderator who is helping a member debug a program would still retain moderator privileges for that thread. I believe the second suggestion should apply without exception.

Best regards,

John
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
I think I have to disagree a bit with that. How about spam, it is removed in entirety, and I really don't want a footprint left behind.

I'm pretty active here, so I believe I would have seen other instances of what you're talking about. I was about to say I haven't seen it happen, but come to think of it we have had people try to sell their own unique takes on theory to beginners, which is a disservice to the beginner if it is questionable enough. Is this what you're talking about?

I hate second guessing moderators myself. I'm pretty sure they have their own version of a peer review, along with a hidden forum to discuss these issues.
 

Thread Starter

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
I think I have to disagree a bit with that. How about spam, it is removed in entirety, and I really don't want a footprint left behind.
Agreed. Obviously there needs to be refinements. My context was legitimate posts, not spam or accidental actions.

I'm pretty active here, so I believe I would have seen other instances of what you're talking about. I was about to say I haven't seen it happen, but come to think of it we have had people try to sell their own unique takes on theory to beginners, which is a disservice to the beginner if it is questionable enough. Is this what you're talking about?
Again, I agree that science and electronics would generally be excepted from the moderator rule, as would things that clearly veer into prohibited areas, like illegal activities, over-unity, etc. I didn't want to give examples here of the incidents that prompted this thread, because the post was already lengthy, and such examples would serve no purpose in supporting recognition of such a widely held principle of intelligent dialog.

John
 
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