I'd agree that a rethink of the policy of looking for a way to approve all posts is in order, mainly because so much social media junk is finding its way here and we are drowning in b-roll "adds" that really add nothing.
That being said, I'm loathe to embark on a wholesale and draconian crackdown without a clear consensus of what is or is not acceptable. If we are not careful it will cease to be moderation and become instead internet bullying that will suck all the enjoyment, and so the life, out of this forum. No one wants that.
As I see it one of our biggest problems is consistency because so much is subjective. As such we must educate ourselves in collective standards of judgement before we can adequately and consistently moderate. My judgement is different to Yak's, Yak's is different to Selene's, Selene's is different to mine and so on. If we don't agree with an approval or removal it's not really nice to countermand that judgement, but we have not created an opportunity to raise these things collectively or without the possibility of rancour.
We have this thread for discussion, but because we are discussing policy it is not being used to discuss the standards of individual posts and that's where we need to go now.
I would suggest in the first place therefore a moderator only permanent or "sticky" thread for this, either here or in the "Jihad" section (I'd still like to rename that something less emotive and bloody offensive!), to be used as a holding tank for questionable posts for the picture moderators to consider as a group. Those posts could then be restored to their original thread or removed altogether once consensus is reached. That way they are kept away from the forum proper in a space where it is not reliant on all being online together but where they won't be lost amidst the detritus of obvious crap. The objective would be to have the section clear and empty at least once a week. We're all smart enough and grown up enough to discuss these things like adults. Eventually we'll just know whether something meets this collectively decided standard because we'll have arrived at it as a group, so we won't need to do this anymore and we will have eliminated the wild disparity between decisions that is both confusing and unfair to posters.
One added bonus of this section would be to help new moderators. When I first took up the post I had no idea beyond my own taste what was or was not right and no one could give me a definitive answer. someone else coming into the position would have a collective assistance and a set of standards that we have arrived at as a group. That has to be a good thing. No?
BOC
