Well, I was going to come back with some responses to what Paula was saying but I think others have saved me the job - ta!

Paula - re: editing, I'm talking about correcting punctuation and typos - not rewriting the post. I have enormous hands and a tiny Canadian keyboard. I need a few minutes, not a few seconds to go over my posts for spelling and metre, especially if Lady Wolffe-Ramme and I have been on teh Laudanum.

Why not continue this discussion on the telly show? I'll come. Especially if I can do my Ethel Merman impression before the fight.

not 10 mins ago a forum member posted a prayer in the BB forum, it was a light hearted parody of the lords prayer a totally harmless bit of fun, lots of FMs commented that they thought it was funny,
then...whooosh its gone, THAT is the sort of thing that really annoys me, what do they think?, that someone was seriously going to be offended by it?

quote:

Originally posted by electric6:

quote:

This used to be a lively and intelligent place to discuss topical issues and I can point to precisely when it all changed ans I would gamble good money it coincided with C4 changing the company it employed to do its moderating.

I concur.

It appears to me that incidents were dealt with on a case by case basis.

Moderators used to use their own discretion. Now it appears they don't. The moderating is reactive rather than 'policed'.

It wouldn't take more than a minute to skim a thread and get the general 'gist' of the tone...and a few seconds to keep checking back that it isn't getting out of hand.

It now appears that they are letting the users do the moderating for them, anyone complains and its a pulled thread or a bop, whether it's warranted or not.

And as a quick aside, the 'old mods' were more available for discourse regarding all aspects of foruming.

Thanks - it's good that someone else who was around at the time to see the change saw it the same way.

quote:

Originally posted by old hippy guy:
not 10 mins ago a forum member posted a prayer in the BB forum, it was a light hearted parody of the lords prayer a totally harmless bit of fun, lots of FMs commented that they thought it was funny,
then...whooosh its gone, THAT is the sort of thing that really annoys me, what do they think?, that someone was seriously going to be offended by it?

You beat me to it OHG

I would like an explanation as to why this thread was removed. I would email the mods but when I have done so in the past all I have got back is the standard response.

Still here and still listening! You continue to make some good suggestions, so please do keep them coming. I particularly wanted to agree with what the Rationalist had to say that "these forums are supposed to be run for the benefit of users", which is, of course, the whole idea! (I can't agree with the less complimentary comments about the mods - all the ones I've met definitely have a sense of humour........) What is also becoming clear is that we all have slightly different expectations of what that means for each of us, but as long as you are happy to keep posting, I am happy to keep listening and passing that onto the right people in Channel 4 so we can work to make the forums a better place for all of us.

To answer Wolfram's point about the editing time, I am told that it is limited to avoid people using it as a loophole to post offensive stuff quickly and then take it down before the hard working mods have a chance to review it, but obviously long enough to cause offence. Not that any of you would do that, of course! What I do is compose my posts in another programme like word, then spell check and review them in that format before copying into the reply box. Maybe that would work for you?

I wish I could tell you about the promised improvement, but I have been sworn to secrecy. It will spread joy and happiness, I’m sure…..

Paula

quote:

Originally posted by Paula C4:
It will spread joy and happiness, I’m sure…..

You've located Blair's expense claims!

Another thing you might wish to reconsider is the ridiculously short edit time you have adopted that should allow us to read through and correct errors in our posts. It seems to have been cut even more now.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfram:

quote:

Originally posted by Paula C4:
It will spread joy and happiness, I’m sure…..

You've located Blair's expense claims!

They've sacked the US Neocon company they've used for the last couple of years to do the moderating. Nah, that'd be too much to ask.

quote:

Originally posted by Paula C4:

(I can't agree with the less complimentary comments about the mods - all the ones I've met definitely have a sense of humour........)

I take it that remark may be aimed at my comment about the mods not having a sense of humour.

Well I've been using these forums for 2 years and we did used to have mods who would appear in various threads and have a laugh with us, they no longer do.

We also had mods with a sense of compassion. I remember someone starting a thread about how depressed they were feeling. It was clear that they were in a very dark place, several fms posted encouraging replies, a mod came in and gave out contact numvers for the Samaritans and other good advice. I was really impressed.

I am not having a go at the mods for the sake of it Paula, I'm sure that their job can be quite fraught at times, but the moderating of these forums is becoming like Premier League refereeing - inconsistent, unfair and illogical.

well as i always say ...


watever the moderation ...


THE SHOW MUST GO ON

DAmn pity bout chat tho

who cares bout 24/7 forums jus makes it all the more ripe 4 abusing

quote:

Originally posted by old hippy guy:
not 10 mins ago a forum member posted a prayer in the BB forum, it was a light hearted parody of the lords prayer a totally harmless bit of fun, lots of FMs commented that they thought it was funny,
then...whooosh its gone, THAT is the sort of thing that really annoys me, what do they think?, that someone was seriously going to be offended by it?

Sorry old hippy guy.

I`m not religous or anything (others can vouch), but if we are not allowed to say anything disparaging about OTHER religions, then equally we should not be allowed to disparage our own.

There are some christians who are just as religious as, say, muslims, and would find it offensive if people insulted their beliefs. So while YOU, and some others may have found it funny, others would not.

quote:

Originally posted by Angelus the Vampire:
Sorry old hippy guy.

I`m not religous or anything (others can vouch), but if we are not allowed to say anything disparaging about OTHER religions, then equally we should not be allowed to disparage our own.

There are some christians who are just as religious as, say, muslims, and would find it offensive if people insulted their beliefs. So while YOU, and some others may have found it funny, others would not.

Ah, but what would Jesus do?

quote:

Originally posted by wolfram:

quote:

Originally posted by Paula C4:
It will spread joy and happiness, I’m sure…..

You've located Blair's expense claims!

As long as it's not Cherie's contraceptive "equipment"!

Paula - Thank you for responding to the points that have been raised. Dialogue is always the best way forward imo. These fora are (as you say) for the benefit of us posters and it seems to me that unless we can raise any issues that concern us and discuss how best to improve any aspects of the service you provide then how are you going to ensure enough of us hang around to maintain the vibrant level of discussion this place enjoys?

I'm sure the moderators do have a SOH but since we are left in the dark a lot of the time we can only make a best guess about why a thread has been deleted or a poster banned. And that's when conspiracy theories abound.

quote:

Originally posted by Paula C4:

Mods have some very specific training that enables them to tell the difference between humour and libel or defamation. If you think they are erring on the safe side and can give some examples, I can look into this in more detail.

i posted a thread about carbon footprints and included the link to the government website and this link was removed http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html if they had right clicked on this link on the thread the trained mods would have seen it was a link to a UK government website.

regarding libel/defamation they deleted an entire thread after i posted about a certain sun journalist who has a conviction for manslaughter.if its true it aint libel or defamation.

quote:

Originally posted by Bizzie Lizzie:

quote:

Originally posted by Angelus the Vampire:
Sorry old hippy guy.

I`m not religous or anything (others can vouch), but if we are not allowed to say anything disparaging about OTHER religions, then equally we should not be allowed to disparage our own.

There are some christians who are just as religious as, say, muslims, and would find it offensive if people insulted their beliefs. So while YOU, and some others may have found it funny, others would not.

Ah, but what would Jesus do?

Does it matter?

If the rules say "no poking fun at religion", then it deosn`t matter which religion. It applies for all.

two messages of mine have now vanished off this thread.

The second one was simply asking where the first one has gone.

why?

No offensive words were used. No slander, no libel. No insults.

No anything wrong at all.

Copy and save Angelus - the Viewers Ed is asking for examples. Give her some. That's what started this sub-discussion - the infuriating nature of what they do.

And they have pulled my comment about the irony of pulling Angelus' post on a thread that they are using to show how reasonable they are. So double the irony eh?

quote:

Originally posted by wolfram:
Copy and save Angelus - the Viewers Ed is asking for examples. Give her some. That's what started this sub-discussion - the infuriating nature of what they do.

If I had made a back up copy of the message, WHO would I send it to? to repost it back here just leaves it open to be deleted again. Viewers Ed has not left any contact info for us to send copies of deleted posts to.

To be honest, seeing as so many of us have complained about posts being pulled for no apparent reason, I would have assumed that Viewers Ed would have asked the MODS to keep any post they`ve pulled, just to see what they`re pulling and the reason why it was pulled.

That would surely be the first order of the day when reviewing a policy that has received so many complaints.

I noted right at the start of their cheap trick midnight cash programme when ITV finally hit the gutter.

I hope they never sink so low again and have at last found a quality programme to broadcast (Dexter) amongst all the shite.

quote:

Originally posted by Deus ex machina:
Another thing you might wish to reconsider is the ridiculously short edit time you have adopted that should allow us to read through and correct errors in our posts. It seems to have been cut even more now.

She's just done that T.

Paula

Something else I would like to have answered.

Several fms, when returning from a bopping, have mentioned receiving e mails from the mods detailing 'offenses' dating back years.

How long are any transgressions by fms kept on file?
Is there any point at which these transgressions are considered 'spent'?
It seems to me that for minor transgressions such as swearing or using asterisks etc in place of letters in words, or posting links that there should be a point eg after 1 year when these offenses are removed from an fms record.

Thanks