Moderator in Serious Discussion?

We haven't had a mod in Serious Discussion in a while, and I think we could really benefit from one. Lately, I've seen a lot of posts that are anything but serious there, and I would report them, but it feels wrong to report a string of five or six posts. Plus, such posts are rarely harmful; they're just playful fun. They are simply out of place. Another problem is that similar threads keep popping up. Subjects like God and censorship get a lot of discussion, but we don't need three threads about each one. We've had this same problem with the subject of lolicon in the past.

I felt the need to bring this up because SD seems to be getting more popular, and if it continues unchecked, we could have a lot of threads filled with a lot of silly posts, which would make SD not that serious. The way I see it, if you want to joke around, that's what Random and IB are for. Serious Discussion is for real discussions. It's not open-mic night at a comedy club.

Maybe I'm interpreting the rules too strictly or overreacting. What does everyone else think?

well, hibia was once a mod in there before he resigned.

We have too many global mods now. Maybe assigning a specific job for one of the global mods might work, rather than adding more.

But adding more mods won't hurt too. Let's just see what Jacob will do. :D

in other words, we need to establish a firm idea of what really deserves to be in SD and what belongs in random. Perhaps we could write up a "threads belonging to random" sticky in SD like what we have in random?

and I also see what you mean. I feel that things like this thread should be in random instead of SD. SD should be limited to realistic topics related to things like politics/economy/science etc.

I don't think the lines are blurred enough to warrant an overbearing decision; I mean, you can tell what ought to be in which forum simply from the tone of the majority of posts which are suitable.

And yes, I think a mod would be a good idea in light of recent popularity. It might also be helpful to draw more attention to Hibia's rules thread, because we all know that even stickies tend to go unread; could perhaps link it next to the post box for SD posts, or add it to Raze's thread?

Yeah, I think one of the current mods should handle it.

For the sake of not sounding too much like an asshole, it seems like there isn't enough stuff for the current moderators to do as it is, so I don't think there needs to be any additions. Then again, it isn't as I know all the details and facets of what the staff do anyway, so whatever.

If you think a thread is out of place, report it! All of the global moderators look at the reports and have power over Serious Discussion. Mattarat and I especially are always looking at reports.

I do not want Serious Discussion to become like the Anime and Manga specific forums where there is only one topic dedicated to a specific subject. I feel that overall this is a negative thing. So if you see someone create a topic that has been discussed before, politely tell them the other thread exists WHILE contributing to the ideas they have presented.

I agree with you, obviously in cases like that people should post in the existing topic. But there is no reason to revive a dead topic just for the sake of keeping the discussion uniform. Especially with some of the topics discussed in SD, new things happen in the world and opinions change.

Makes sense. Thankfully, most of the repeat threads do try to do something different and are made a while after the original topic has died down.

The big problem I've having with SD is whether or not I should report certain posts. Hibia's sticky does lay out some rules that make it clear that SD is not Random or IB, but it doesn't say anything like, "Don't make a troll post" or "Be completely serious when you post."

I remember a few months ago, there was a problem when someone said that women that are raped deserve it. The post was deleted or edited, but then the person said that that was his opinion, and he was completely serious about it. I don't remember how the situation ended, but it certainly seemed to me that the post did not belong in Serious Discussion. Anyways, when similar posts are made, I'm not sure whether to report them or not. For example - this post seems like it could be the poster's honest opinion, but it is also crude and unnecessarily mean. Should such posts be reported and deleted, or am I being too stiff?

No, I agree that the Serious Discussion section deserves stricter modding, or at least some sort of oversight that can immediately sift through and weed out the crap. In fact, I used to participate quite heavily in the Serious Discussion, but it doesn't really hold my interest anymore. Posts that actually have intelligence are few and far between. Maybe it's because I've already expressed my own opinions on preexisting threads, but maybe not. Sometimes, it's hard to distinguish the difference between honest opinion and trolling.

Though I feel this has more to with the fact that FAKKU! has very few active moderators, the Serious Discussion section is indeed a place to start for some sort of moderating action. (Besides IB)

Like G-money I too used to post almost entirely in SD but of late I have lost almost complete interest in SD. I to feel it is getting to lax and needs a mod for itself, because it is a section that is unlike all other sections and because of that need's moderation of it's own.



If I see a thread I don't think belongs I report it but like Shaggy I believe that the problem lies mostly in the post's not necessarily the thread.


I have seen many post's in SD that do not belong and it seems like it would be a serious annoyance (to the staff) to report every post I see as not fit in SD. I try my hardest to make every post I make in SD worthy of the section by adding more than just a joke I will then add a lot on my opinion on the matter to make sure it meets the intelligence requirement for the forum, but a lot of people don't and I feel it is becoming a problem.

The biggest problem is, you cant really know whether someone is trolling or just expressing their opinion. I mean, just because you think its stupid or feel somehow insulted doesnt mean thats was the (only) goal of the OP.

Then again it might be, but how to know? There are only so many trolls that hold sarcasm as their main weapon.

Well you could report the post as "I'm not sure if this is a troll post or not" and if several other people do the same then a mod should probably get rid of it. Not that I'd see a SD only mod as a bad thing.