Here are the reasons I voted as I did:
1A. The rules should be applied equally to all members (ex. rules apply equally to mods and users).
I feel this is fair and would reduce arguments caused by unfair treatment of members, as well as reduce the frustration caused by mods warning members or giving infractions for behaviors they themselves do.
The unique limitations that new members experience before they gain full site privileges (such as the 15 post requirement before posting links, and a 3 month period during which links in signatures must be moderator approved) are not unfair because we
all experience them upon joining, and these limitations exist to protect the site from exploitation.
2A. Rules should apply equally to all forums.
I feel the rules are not restrictive and they exist for a good reason...to help a diverse group of people coexist and communicate effectively about topics of interest without attacking each other...and so I feel the rules are appropriate and useful in all areas of Musicbanter.
3B. Outside safe zones, mod policy should discourage short, nonsense posts.
If there are to be safe zones (for example, currently people have more freedom in the Community Center than in the music threads to go off-topic, make personal insults, and fill pages with off-topic back-and-forth joking), then I feel that short, nonsense posts should be discouraged outside the safe zones.
However, short nonsense posts by themselves (unless there are so many that they interfere with the flow of conversation) aren't as much of a concern to me as are GIFs and off-topic comments used to insult or mock another member. Using GIFs and off-topic comments to insult another member violates the rules and should be prohibited everywhere. This is when the report button is especially important so that mods can distinguish between amusing putdowns among friends and actual putdowns that mock an individual.
4A. General mod policy should be to react to every instance where a rule is broken.
This is the fairest way to moderate and reduces member frustration over some members being treated differently than others.
5C. Details of rule enforcement can be subject to public scrutiny.
I feel this helps prevent the possibility of moderators running amuck while moderating, in case some mods are being hostile behind the scenes in private messages or are overlooking one member's violation of the rules while giving another member an infraction for similar behavior (such as for "being disrespectful").
6A. For punishment, there should be a general policy to use temporary infractions.
I feel that the first step mods should take when a member breaks a rule is to contact the member by private message, politely explaining what rule was broken, providing the link to the rules, and asking the member to remove or edit the post otherwise it will need to be edited or removed by a mod. This gives members a chance to familiarize themselves with the rules, if they haven't already, and gives members a chance to correct the errors themselves.
If the member then breaks a rule again, I feel that a system of infractions similar to the one recommended by Tore should then be used: the mod would give the appropriate temporary infraction (3 points, 5 points, or 10 points, for example) that matches the severity of the rule that was broken, a PM would be sent to the person whose post violated the rules, and the mod would edit/delete the post, noting in the post itself if the post is edited rather than removed entirely. Example: if a mod removes only part of someone's post, a mod could type "
[removed]" in place of those words, and at the bottom of the post type,
"mod edit." If the member breaks more rules in quick succession, then the infraction points will add up, leading to temporary bans after a certain point total is reached.
7B. For rule enforcement, moderators should use their personal accounts.
I feel this helps moderation feel more personal and gives members an individual with whom to communicate about the broken rule, hopefully encouraging them to want to follow the rules more than they would if there were an impersonal warning or notification of an infraction.
8B. A new moderation policy should NOT have a trial run first (implemented immediately)
I feel that assuming any new moderation policy will continue into the indefinite future will help get us through the transition period as members and mods acclimate. I trust that people will make threads about how they feel any change is affecting our community, and if there is enough unrest, then the mods might consider change again.
9A. The mod team should be bolstered with additional mods.
I feel that if there are people who are willing to be impartial, helpful, and polite as moderators, then having more mods would help the site deal with the constant influx of spam and of members joining only to advertise, and would help make it easier for the mod team to give personal attention to members whose posts violate the rules. I also feel having new mods could help make change in mod policy easier, since new mods would probably bring new ideas and perspectives.
9D. Some or all of the current moderators should be replaced.
I have two reasons for voting for this.
First, the current mod team includes people who, I believe, are listed only as mods because they were chosen by the site owners or employees, and these mods are not involved in actually moderating the site on any regular basis. If this is true, then perhaps Yac can move them to "administrators" or delete them entirely if they are not involved in the site anymore, so that new members will actually know who the active moderators are.
Mods who may not be doing much moderation (from
Mod list: Music Banter - Show Groups):
advameg - last activity 06-19-2013
kris2 - last activity 02-01-2015
markablue - last activity 01-30-2014
moddzwiedz - last activity 11-26-2014
piotr - last activity 09-03-2014
Second, I feel our moderators are doing a great job of deleting posts and accounts by people who join only to advertise, and our mods are also doing a great job of participating in the site by making music posts and making friends, but I have some concerns about moderator behavior that I don't feel is appropriate.
Members of our current mod team have done the following, which I don't agree with:
* (1) Mods insulting members to mock them (and, by example, encourage other members to do so, too).
Example:
http://www.musicbanter.com/announcem...ml#post1597000
* (2) Mods participating in and condoning inappropriate behavior toward a new member.
Example:
http://www.musicbanter.com/introduct...ng-myself.html
* (3) Mods changing thread titles of members without permission to mock them:
Example:
http://www.musicbanter.com/introduct...-lovefest.html
* (4) Mods creating threads about members to express frustration with them.
Examples:
http://www.musicbanter.com/announcem...nt-thread.html
http://www.musicbanter.com/games-lis...ml#post1281735
http://www.musicbanter.com/games-lis...ml#post1283305
* (5) Mods going off-topic in a music thread that they dislike because of its topic before closing it:
Example:
http://www.musicbanter.com/general-m...ml#post1223056
^ I feel these mod actions are abuses of mod power and violate our community rules. That's not the sort of moderation or environment that I want at Musicbanter. I encourage other members who have similar concerns but don't feel comfortable voting in a public poll to contact Yac.
10. Some of my concerns are not listed in the individual items, but I will voice them in a reply.
Currently MB has no rule regarding going off-topic in a thread, and I feel it would be good if we had one, such as: "Please stay on topic in threads by responding to the original post and limiting your off-topic comments."
I've seen many threads where mods are reminding people unsuccessfuly to stay on topic, so having a firmer rule about going off-topic might help people stop themselves from meandering *too* far from the original topic.
Also, the thing I like least about our community...when members gang up on a particular person...could often be addressed not only as being a violation of the rule about making personal insults, but also as being off-topic for the thread.