Moderation on other boards...

[robbo]

It wasn't quite as simple as that was it Eristic? The post in question was a first post from a student teacher wanting advice on a project she was undertaking. Instead of advice, she was just attacked by the first few posters, including Eristic about her spelling and grammar. It really was an appalling disgrace the way she was attacked, not politely, but downright rudely. There were many posts that tried to help and some that criticized the rude posts, including my own. In their wisdom, which I fully agreed with, the site admin deleted the whole post and started it again with just the OP. So along with many others, my post was deleted for no fault my own. The part I found funny was that every single poster that criticized the OP's spelling and grammar had at least one grammatical error in their own post.

  Robbo.

[robbo]

[hellohelenhere]

It could be that the Eglu forum has been beset by huge rows between vegetarians and carnivores, or that some other related spats have flared up, and that the moderator knows from experience what will spark people up... it's amazing some of the things that can become hot topics. I know someone who posts on angling forums, and has told me about death threats between posters! Angling!

The BBC boards, as I understand it, have premod as default for all new posters - that means your posts have to wait to go through the moderation queue before they appear, until you've posted a certain number. That's partly to stop banned users instantly re-registering and continuing their attacks and tirades uninterrupted. If the queues are long then the wait can be long too, but it's not because they don't like you... :)

The BBC are legally responsible, as the 'publisher', for every comment that appears on their boards. Every since the notorious Mumsnet case - http://www.mumsnet.com/lw/state.html -  most high profile forums are now more careful, and they have to be, if they want to stay out of trouble... so I can hardly blame them for monitoring the board content closely.

[hellohelenhere]

*premod = premoderation, where posts are checked before going live, as opposed to postmoderation, where they are checked after they go live. Or reactive moderation, where they are only seen by moderators if somebody complains about them. I guess that's what we have here?

[Eristic]

The part I found funny was that every single poster that criticized the OP's spelling and grammar had at least one grammatical error in their own post.

Yes, but all of them were deliberate piss takes. The original post was so badly written that it was totally incomprehensible hence all the ensuing comments. That poster was simply looking for a free lunch and had nothing to contribute to the forum and would never return once we had done the project for her.

That forum has a long history of Mods altering or deleting posts because they simply disagreed with the comment and at its worst Mods were moderating and deleting posts by other Mods. In fact it ended up in the situation that only Mods were posting. Anyway, water under the bridge as they say.

I am well known for speaking my mind and I call a spade a spade, but I am never rude. That student needed a good wake up kick to the rear end and unless she wakes up quickly to her situation, she will be kicked harder and more publicly than anything she took in that forum.

Finally, in this forum I believe that there is some odd rule that each post must contain at least one typo so that later posters can rite wot I right. :P

[betula]

It is in my opinion ,very pretentious to criticise peoples spelling and grammar.

Who cares .?

You might  severely knock someone's self confidence.

It is up to them how they spell.

Stop pontificating about what a good speller you are. :)

[OllieC]

It is in my opinion ,very pretentious to criticise peoples spelling and grammar.

Who cares .?

You might  severely knock someone's self confidence.

It is up to them how they spell.

Stop pontificating about what a good speller you are. :)

I agree, but I also have a problem if someone's post is so badly written that I can't read it! It doesn't take much effot to hit the spell button!

[betula]

Prolix prosser Ollie? LOL

[valmarg]

I agree that some moderators on some sites, get their peaked cap and bit of authority that it goes to their head, because 'there's nowt in there to stop it'.  They start to get dictatorial, and like Ollie says, in so many words, it goes against the grain. ;D  I've had to take the hook out of the roof of my mouth on many occasions.

There's a couple of sites I find particularly claustrophobic because of the moderators and their censorship.

I love this site, and know that I've tested Dan's patience in the past, but I'm still here.  I admit to getting stroppy occasionally (well sometimes), but I've never been shown the red card. ;D

valmarg

[valmarg]

P.S.  I would never criticise anyone for their spelling or grammar.  That's not what this site is about.  It is communication with like minded souls.  I might have a bit of difficulty, now and again, but I can usually get the gist of the message.

valmarg

[Georgie]

It is up to them how they spell.

I wouldn't go that far, Betula.  I think that if there was a complete free for all with regards to spelling most of us would soon lose patience.  That said, I would think very hard before criticising someone's spelling or grammar but I have had to ask what a poster means on more than one occasion.

G x

[hellohelenhere]

My god - mods modding each other? Hehe!
I know someone who works as a BBC mod (which is why I know a bit about how it works) - and to be fair to them, they have no power themselves whatsoever. They just implement the BBC rules, and anything that needs further dealing with gets passed onto hosts. Mods aren't allowed to edit, alter posts, allow anything that's against the rules, or remove anything that isn't, or to post on the boards. So in their case there's no peaked-cap syndrome, they just implement the rules and that's it. They get an awful lot of flak for stuff that's outside their control, like the pre-moderation quarantine period...

Amateur boards though, anything goes, and obnoxious moderation can certainly drive you away - especially if it's done with a certain tone... who wants to be lectured and chivvied?

As for criticising people's spelling - I think it's mean, and pointless - unless someone iz ritiNg n TXtspeek & u karnt und3rZtnD it! LoLz!  ;D

[Barnowl]

I think someone planning to become a teacher is a special case. One of a parent's worst nightmares is discovering their child has an incompetent teacher.  If a would-be teacher uses bad grammar and spelling in a post,  it is reasonable to enquire whether they are sure that their career path is the right one. For their own sake, in the hope that they will not waste part of their lives by failing to qualify, not just for the sake of  the poor children who might be burdened by their incompetence if they do get through. Too many poor teachers managed to qualify during recent generations and, once in, they were extremely difficult to remove.

PS I would leave a speling mistake in but the system keeps underlining them in red  :)

[Si D]

But we should also take context into account.  If I post on here then I just whack out the message that I want to send - the spelling, grammar and syntax can get a bit wayward.  If, on the other hand, I'm writing something for work then I write in a more academic style and make d**n sure that the spelling, grammar and syntax is all double checked.  This isn't work.  This is a, hopefully, nicely relaxed forum and so the way that I communicate on it is also more relaxed.  Perhaps the person in question, and I didn't see the post referred to, is perfectly capable of using English correctly when the need arises?

Indeed, when I mark the work of first year undergrads the grammar is truly appalling.  By the time that they are in the third year and getting toward graduation it has improved 100%.  Not because they were too stupid to do it right in the first place but just because they weren't used to scrupulously checking their work before handing it in.  Thus, I might suggest that even if the person in question is not writing correctly now, there is no reason why she should not be perfect by the end of her course.

[Barnowl]

Glaad to hearit  :)

[OllieC]

Well, when I was at uni studying Physics the profs would go mental if you wasted their time with crappy grammar or spelling. The odd mistake was fine but you made the effort if you wanted them to bother reading it properly. And that was mostly sums!

[Si D]

Alas, since my day (and possibly that of a number on here) the skill set of the average sixth form leaver seems to have changed a little: as new subjects and new ways of approaching learning come to the fore others are pushed to the back.  It seems that the three Rs are not as strong in the young these days as they once were, although informed oral debate does appear stronger.