| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Gervase |
ModerationI'm no longer moderating here, so would anyone contacting me about modding issues now address them to the current mods.As far as I know, they are as follows: jema, tahir, jocorless, Treacodactyl, sean, Snowball, Bagpuss, bernie-woman, alison, wellington womble, Behemoth, Northern_Lad, judith, Bernie66, Simon, sally_in_wales, gil, Cathryn, Penny, Jamanda, Barefoot Andrew. There is also a group of complaint mods detailed at the top of this thread to whom complaints are meant to be addressed: Sean Treacodactyl Behemoth Cathryn Penny That was as of December 2008, so given the six-month rotation there may well be newer names now, but I'm sure someone will be along to put up the current list if that's wrong. |
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| Treacodactyl |
Current list of complaint mods was changed at the end of June so we are still the ones to complain to. | ||||||
| Silas |
An up to date list would be nice. | ||||||
| judith |
Yours to command. 
Alison Bagpuss Gil Jamanda Jema Judith Penny Sally Sean Treacodactyl Wellington Womble |
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| Silas |
Thanks. So that is now the full moderating team then? | ||||||
| judith |
Yup. | ||||||
| Silas |
Wow. A good (or bad) bit of pruning has gone on here then. | ||||||
| Gervase |
I do hope the door to the staff room is still on its hinges! 
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| Silas |
Errr
BFA is still showing as a mod on my system...? |
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| sean |
BFA is an admin because he does techie stuff. The system doesn't distinguish between mods and admins, but our organisation does. | ||||||
| Gervase |
Who are the complaint mods now that Cathryn and Behemoth have left? Is the complaints procedure due to change? | ||||||
| judith |
Complaints can be addressed to any of the people on that list. | ||||||
| Gervase |
Might it not be politic to amend this sticky? | ||||||
| judith |
For reasons I can't fathom, the list appears to be correct in that sticky. 
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| Silas |
Just reading again the current list, very very sad.
I think that my and some others time on this list is going to be very limited indeed. Its a real shame as many of early members will recall that we joined this site in order to escape the brutal moderation of another site that many of us were members of. |
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| Treacodactyl |
It's the same list and was amended half an hour ago to update a couple of names. Any one of the people would have dealt with or forwarded on a complaint so I don't see any problem. It will be amended in the next day or so with an update once things have been sorted. |
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| Barefoot Andrew |
A semi-automated listing of the mod team may be announced at some point soon, without us having to remember to amend this posted list or that posted list.
A. |
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| Gervase |
Ah, I must have looked at it before it was updated.
It would help greatly, I feel, to have a generic contact for 'admin' or 'moderator'. Some people may feel reluctant to approach a named individual over an issue, particularly if that individual also posts here and has been outspoken on some issue or another. At least a generic contact would give the semblance of objectivity or disinterest. Just a thought. |
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| Treacodactyl |
They can choose one person from the list. An anonymous contact will just get forwarded to everyone one that list anyway so if anything I would have thought choosing a person would be better. | ||||||
| Barefoot Andrew |
Plus there are onstacles with a generic contact - e.g. there's no straight forward way multiple people can access a generic 'mod' account to retrieve PMs and act upon them.
A. |
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| Silas |
Hmmm.. Of that list, there are only two people who's opinions I put any value on at all. Does not give some of us much choice anyway. Anyhow, we will see how it goes, but from the PMs I have already had this week from 'the team', things don't look very rosy for me. 
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| Gervase |
Well, it's your train-set. We'll see. | ||||||
| Treacodactyl |
At the end of the day not everyone will be happy with any set-up, but I think 99.9% of members don't mind what we have here which I think is acceptable. | ||||||
| Gervase |
I would have thought that just those mods who have left in the past month make up rather more than 0.1 per cent of the active membership! | ||||||
| cab |
Could be worse. I could still be a mod, then you'd be toast
Anyway, just for clarity, do you guys think an updated sticky with the structure of the site (admin, management group, moderation group, 'staff room') may be in order? |
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| Gervase |
Let the record show that I agree with cab
ETA: In fact a general cleear-out of the clutter would help. Do there need to be two stickies on how to make links? Some announcements would seem to have passed their useful life. |
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| Silas |
Well, actually Cab, despite our very occasiional differences of opinion, I had no problems with you as a mod, and you never tried to 'pull rank'on me no matter just how much we disagreed. What went on in the staff room to which I was not privvy was, of course, another matter
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| cab |
Pull rank? No, but thats never how it worked. In said staff room I did argue in favour of banning you on occasion, if that makes you feel any less nauseous after the recent 'positivity' threads 
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| Barefoot Andrew |
Some tidying is in hand
A. |
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| Gervase |
Although, if it's any consolation, many of us here have been the subject of intense bouts of obscenity and heartfelt pleas for banning in the staff room!
FWIW I think a smaller pool of mods is a good thing, and argued for it when I was one. It helps overcome the feeling that there may be an 'us and them' clique, with the staff room existing almost as a separate forum. |
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| lettucewoman |
I'm sory silas I don't understand...I read the mod list then went to read the sticky...looks fine to me 
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| Silas |
Have to say that makes me feel so much better.
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| Silas |
Agree 100% with the sentiment. Pity we couldn't vote them in really..... Oh, sorry, we went down that road once before....
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| Gervase |
I think he was referring to the number who were mods but for various reasons are no longer mods, including, in no particular order: tahir, jocorless, Snowball, Bagpuss, bernie-woman, Behemoth, Northern_Lad, Bernie66, Simon, Cathryn, Barefoot Andrew Nick Mary-Jane Gervase Cab |
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| cab |
lowlander deerstalker blue peter |
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| Chez |
Why does that matter? Surely moderation is about being fair, even-handed and polite, not what opinions people hold themselves? |
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| dpack |
yep |
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| bagpuss |
I am still a mod | ||||||
| Gervase |
Oops, sorry!
I know the ideal is that a moderator is fair, even-handed etc, but we all know that real life isn't like that. Personalities are involved, prejudices come to the fore and sides are taken. With a healthy slimming down of the staff, I just thought it would be equally healthy to have a generic moderator email or blind thread to which anyone could post if they had an issue, rather than contact an individual, so that at last the complainant could feel that the issue was depersonalised. It also seems odd, in a reduced group, to have two mods in the same household, but perhaps that's just me. |
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| Chez |
What, because they share a brain they keep in a jar, or something? Why does that matter? |
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| Silas |
Actually, I'm with Gervase on this one - it does seem a little inequitable. I see that although Jema is still there, Snowball has disappeared. |
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| Chez |
I think that the implication that two people from the same family can't take on purely voluntary roles doing what is sometimes a particularly unpleasant job is a bit off, to be honest. It's not like anyone is looking to create a power-base in the staff-room or anything like that, after all - it's just an internet forum, not the UN! | ||||||
| Gervase |
It's probably just me being old-fashioned; there's a BBC convention that partners don't sit on the same production team where they may have to make decisions on budgets or employment because one might be influenced by the other (hence the furore way back when when Esther Rantzen and Desmond Wilcox worked together), and it's mirrored in a few other areas, too. |
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| Silas |
I am sure you are right. |
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| Chez |
But obviously not old-fashioned enough to stop you and M-J being on the mod-team together?
ETA @Gervase. |
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| Gervase |
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| Chez |
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| Behemoth |
Does that make Gervase Desomond Wilcox and MJ......Nooooooo. | ||||||
| Chez |
That's what our Consumer Survey says ...
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| Silas |
Well, its just now a much smaller team, which is a GOOD THING as it looks more accountable and less cliquey, but it is, never the less a little odd that some really good people have left leaving a situation where a couple who probably think the same and would probably vote the same (assuming they have voting in the staff room) makes it a bit like a block vote really.
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| tahir |
As one of the leavers I have absolute confidence in the people left running the site, I hope that we're all behind them. For what it's worth I was probably the main instigator in slimming down the staff room. I may as well say thanks to all the mods, current and ex for everything they've done for the site, as I never really said so before I left. This was never meant to be an "us and them" site, and I hope it never will be, it's open for anyone to participate in whatever manner they see fit, Downsizer would defintely be a lesser place without the articles, recipes, and social networking, and that's pretty much all down to "ordinary" members. So shaddapaya face, it's business as normal. |
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| Gervase |
Well said, that squirrel! | ||||||
| bagpuss |
From experience any couples which used to be and still are in the staffroom were as likely to disagree with each other as with anyone else (Not that we disagree of course, its all sweetness and light in there )
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| Silas |
Well mate, as the person who 'recruited' me to this site in the first place, I am happy to take your word for it - it's a good time to be looking forward, there is no future in the past. |
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| vegplot |
Tahir has a lot to answer for. The future is often in the past. |
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| Rob R |
Indeed. Glad I never took the poisoned chalice
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| Jonnyboy |
If I hadn't resigned I would have locked this thread by now.
Joking aside, slimming down the moderation team is a good idea, hopefully people will give it a chance to work. At the same time our lives and priorities change which is why I decided to move on, seeing as the jonnyboy household will be increasing by +1 in the not too distant future. So there is no reason why the structure and members should not be fluid, one day it may contain none of the original team. For the record, anyone who thinks they are going to be moderated differently because the structure has changed should remember that the people who started this up did so in part because they wanted a less ''controlled'' environment. If people don't want an RC type forum they can help the mods through this transistion by being extra good, after all, Christmas is almost here!
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| cab |
(yes, I know, replying to my own post; seems to me the only thing obviously missing is the above clarification) |
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| tahir |
Ooh look, a pig just flew past my window |
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| Barefoot Andrew |
@Cab - it's in hand.
A. |
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| judith |
It is in progress. Watch this space. |
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| cab |
Cool. Although as Gervase agrees with me I feel a peculiar urge to start arguing with myself. |
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| judith |
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| Barefoot Andrew |
A. |
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| Jonnyboy |
Interesting, is there a world record for multiple quotations?
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| Silas |
If there is, I bet I know who holds it... |
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| judith |
Do you think the server could take it if he does go for the record? 
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| Jonnyboy |
It would be a fitting end to Downsizer. | ||||||
| judith |
Out in one last blaze of glory.
Just give me advance notice so I can hide behind the sofa or get the fire extinguisher ready. |
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| Chez |
Has everyone else missed this? Congratulations! Here are some celebratory little men - although you seem to be growing your own team 
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| Mary-Jane |
*Meep*
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| Silas |
Bit over the top just because hes getting a new cat don't you think? |
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| Behemoth |
He's always at it. Somehting to do with getting a decent rugby team he said. |
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| Chez |
Do they let girls play rugby now? Or cats? | ||||||
| Mary-Jane |
We have girls' rugby teams in Cardigan. |
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| Chez |
Don't the cardigans get in the way? Why don't BOYS have to wear cardigans when they play rugby? | ||||||
| sean |
The current England team would probably be improved by selecting either or both.
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| tahir |
It couldn't get worse |
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| bring me sunshine |
MY KEYBOARD!!!!!!
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| Gervase |
I see them in twinsets personally! Don't mention the pearl necklaces though... |
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| vegplot |
I would have thought they'd flop out too easily. |
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| Chez |
I think that would look lovely. And the cardigan pockets would be just the job to keep a little packet of tissues in. |
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| vegplot |
You'd need them. |
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| bagpuss |
We have posted a summary of how the site is organized
http://forum.downsizer.net/viewtopic.php?p=852017#852017 |