Moderators' effectiveness decreased

[The Stealthinator]

Since the new platform, I seem to notice that reported users and threads are getting dealt with after a long time, or even not at all.

Have we all lost interest in the new platform, or are the mods not into helping anymore? Because I know a LOT of places that can be cleared up but when I report them, even after a day or two nothing happened.

If there is a bug in the email notification system which isn't notifying me of changes to threads I'm following, then a fix needs to be worked on.

 

[silverliquicity]

I have noticed this as well, might be because an increase of people reproting post's, the mods cant keep on top of it.

 

[The Stealthinator]

That means an increase in spammers, which means less diligence.

 

[mactronix]

Since the new platform, I seem to notice that reported users and threads are getting dealt with after a long time, or even not at all.

Have we all lost interest in the new platform, or are the mods not into helping anymore? Because I know a LOT of places that can be cleared up but when I report them, even after a day or two nothing happened.

If there is a bug in the email notification system which isn't notifying me of changes to threads I'm following, then a fix needs to be worked on.

Just out of interest what things are we talking about here ?

Mac

 

[The Stealthinator]

What the op posted

 

[WyomingKnott]

What the op posted

Interestingly, the automated "junk detector" flagged that as a possible problem and here we are!

 

[Apanzee]

That^ lol.

The ratio of mods to users, if I had to guess, just based on the number of threads and people online at any point in time, would be about 1:1500. We do have our work cut out for us, though I feel we are most definitely on top of it.

We have a moderation page where we can see each and every report, and we act upon them there without needing to go to the thread except in some circumstances. That being said, if we mark the report as "post OK" then you won't see any action or receive any email. Also, if we close or edit a thread, the system no longer automatically posts a message in that thread as it did in the previous forum version - "this thread has been closed by: Apanzee." So you will therefor not receive any notification of that, either.

Also, there has been an absolutely ridiculous amount of spam coming from China as of late. In fact I banned 40+ users within an hour just a few days ago because they were all affiliated with one another. One would post a fake question, another would post crapware, and another would post saying how much the crapware given helped them in the past. Researching user history and analyzing post statistics can take a bit of time to ensure we are not banning a legitimate, misguided user by mistake.

One final note, is that we as mods, have the right to use our own discretion when moderating the forums. Some mods may disagree with each other, in fact it happens more than you'd think. Though it's an unwritten rule that we do not over rule any decision made by another mod. Therefor, if one mod reviews a report and takes a particular action, but another disagrees, it will be brought before the moderator community in the admin forums until we reach consensus. At the point of consensus, we will review the previous actions and go from there. That can take a couple days sometimes.

What are some examples of things you think we need to work on, Stealth?

 

[randomizer]

Because I know a LOT of places that can be cleared up but when I report them, even after a day or two nothing happened.

That doesn't mean that the reported post wasn't looked at. It could simply mean that the moderator who looked at it decided that no action was required. Just because you report a post doesn't meant that it's going to be removed.

 

[jpishgar]

I am in concurrence with the Moderators in this thread. In fact, since the advent of the new platform, we have progressively added more and more moderators over time. Our moderator coverage is now greater than it has ever been, at any point in time in the history of Tom's Hardware. I'm proud of our team, I'm proud of our tools, and I'm excited that we've been winning the war vs. spammers (for the most part) and trolls.

That said, we are always open to suggestion and new ideas about how to keep the forum safe, clean and secure.

 

[The Stealthinator]

I have reported users asking for help bypassing logon screens. In the last 2-3 days I've reported about 4 such threads. I told the OP that it's against the forum rules... and reported it. Till now the thread hasn't been closed or me selected as BA, which is why i thought no one's looking at it.

 

[Apanzee]

Can you give links to these threads? All the alerts have been processed - at the moment the que is entirely empty, so an action (regardless of what) has been taken by one of the mods.

 

[satrow]

I'm guessing the Moderators here haven't been as inactive as we may think.

I was half expecting a completely irate reply from the OP here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1676209/core-temp-causing-bsod.html (currently only 36 reads), I was sent an email informing me of a reply by the OP but by the time I checked, some 5 hours later, the only sign was " Quoted 1 time." stamped on my previous post.

Pity, I needed a laugh.

(Of course, the OP may have changed his mind after re-reading the post or thread, I'll never know now )

Keep up the good work Mods!

 

[Saga Lout]

satrow, as you've figured out, there is a deleted post in that thread which was removed because the thread had degenerated into a pointless argument which was going nowhere.

 

[mactronix]

What the op posted

satrow, as you've figured out, there is a deleted post in that thread which was removed because the thread had degenerated into a pointless argument which was going nowhere.

While we do need to remember that the moderation team are doing a pretty much thankless task for most of the time it is very confusing when posts just go AWOL for what sees no good reason.
Would it be possible for the forum to just auto fill with "Post removed by moderation ?
As has been pointed out the workload is such that a lot of the time it wouldn't be practicable to expect them to personally mail a user with a heads up of what has happened and why.
Personally I would like it if this did happen but realistically realize why it cant be expected.

So keep up the good work guys

Mactronix

 

[satrow]

There may be an occasional bug in the Reporting system, I just tried reporting a post(er) and got a spinning wheel in 3x browsers.

 

[Saga Lout]

It happens to me sometimes and I get the "500 Oops" message but I take that as a sign the Forum is getting busier. Mactronix - you're right about PM's - there aren't enough hours on the day. I send a PM if necessary but usually to new joiners who've picked up a five year old thread to say nothing more than "I have the same problem" and I ask them to start their own thread with some more details.

 

[The Stealthinator]

This I reported for asking to bypass logon screen - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1672055/windows-2000-lock.html

 

[The Stealthinator]

This was for wrong section - http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1674793/reinstall-vista-problem.html

 

[Saga Lout]

I've deleted the Win2000 thread to hide his e-mail address. I tried to change it to a question to give you a BA but it won't work.

If I reacted harshly to a wrong section post, I'd be up for being heavy-handed but he's had an answer. I tried to move a thread yesterday and the system stalled so that may have happened when you reported it. The Forum is still undergoing changes and will be for some time.

It looks to me as though he posted in that sub-Forum because he had an ancient box that wouldn't accept Vista so let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Reynod]

Frankly I am a bit bemused ... upon closer inspection of the forums (including the dreaded Win8 area) they are cleaner than they have EVER been.

I was here at toms when tom was running it ... nice guy ... curt responses ... poor sense of humour ... bad bedside manner for a doc in training ... smart guy on tech though ... slick and knew his PR.

The forums were a sewer ...

We recently let loose (the dogs of war) a new bunch of highly motivated handsome smart and sassy new mods to do the donkey work while us old guys sat back and munched on roast armadillo and trying to figure out how to improve hat sales.

I think we should give Joe a pat on the back for the hard work and effort to get us this far.

The new mods are doing a good job ... I stand by them all.

 

[mrface]

What the op posted

satrow, as you've figured out, there is a deleted post in that thread which was removed because the thread had degenerated into a pointless argument which was going nowhere.

While we do need to remember that the moderation team are doing a pretty much thankless task for most of the time it is very confusing when posts just go AWOL for what sees no good reason.
Would it be possible for the forum to just auto fill with "Post removed by moderation ?
As has been pointed out the workload is such that a lot of the time it wouldn't be practicable to expect them to personally mail a user with a heads up of what has happened and why.
Personally I would like it if this did happen but realistically realize why it cant be expected.

So keep up the good work guys

Mactronix

When a post or thread is removed, or a ban is put in place a pm is automatically sent to the offender. We stay diligent at what we do and I, personally, do not feel the need to provide metrics of our mod team to the average user base. As you stated, it is a thankless job and a job that requires no thanks from the mod team. Hopefully, we are making progress at becoming more efficient and additionally make this a good experience for all the users on here. As a side note, I also like threads like these as it can give us more insight as to what else we need to be doing to make this place more pleasant. There are only so many posts like "Mod teams sucks, I hate all you guys and hope you burn in hell. Unban me now!" before a certain level of apathy comes into play. Threads like these with constructive criticism are very helpful.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Reynod]

Yes Cam ... I read these threads with great delight.

Are you using the cream I sent you to get rid of that rash mate?

 

[rubix_1011]

I know this thread became Mod-heavy, but yes, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that is always being done that folks aren't necessarily aware of. Yes, we are human and we make mistakes, but when there are items that require a consensus or group discussion, we definitely do so before making a call. A sounding board by the community does help us with feedback and provide us the ability to respond to different inquiries and concerns in a public manner.

I, for one, am always open to constructive criticism (as are most....if not all...of the moderation team).

Just remember, we've had to learn the new platform on our end, as well in addition to everything the daily user sees and has had to adapt to since the roll-out.

 

[The Stealthinator]

(as are most....if not all...of the moderation team).

Which part of the moderation team wouldn't be?? After all it's your job as moderators to be open to constructive critiscism. Yes I know maybe my complaints weren't of the highest priority, but still...

 

[jpishgar]

Mods are not required to be open to constructive criticism from forums, only I am. Mods are the swift hands of justice, and though they may be willing to entertain feedback, it is not a major component or requirement of their calling. If an element or aspect of the forum or moderation policy needs adjusting, it is done through consensus at the behest of user feedback or moderator suggestion, either through these types of threads, or emails, or discussion internal to the community team.

My preference is to keep moderators insulated from opinion and direct user feedback regarding their disciplinary actions, because, in essence, they are extensions of the will of the Community Manager and Site Administration and exercise personal jurisprudence towards that end. This is why disciplinary actions are not discussed openly, and policy discussions are kept to private subforums. If you have any specific issues, you can always bring them up to me in private message, or post here in Forum Feedback for a direct response.