P&S moderator?

[AverageGlabella]

Flying Hellfish used to be the mod over at the Politics & Society board but looks like they were removed from what I can only guess is because of reduced activity because they have not posted since mid 2020 although have logged on recently.

I've reported a couple of posts over in the board and they remain unhandled. I currently have 80 or so unhandled reports some which probably are from a while ago in other places but for the ones in P&S are these likely to remain unhandled and are there any plans to get a new moderator over in the board as I think it is much needed. I thought Flying Hellfish did a good job while he was mod and most of the low quality stuff was removed.

[Findingnemo]

Global mod can still handle it, if you have any serious spam reported posts then multiple reports may help them to get priority in the moderation. Theymos is not interested in hiring new moderators and he is not showing any interest for very long time.

So the global mods have more work load so it may take a while to get them moderated.

[suchmoon]

I've reported a couple of posts over in the board and they remain unhandled.

I think someone will handle those reports. I haven't noticed any significant issues with P&S reports, I guess global mods pick it up when they can, although having a dedicated moderator would be better. I would have suggested to appoint squatz1 but he's been inactive for a while too...

[isaac_clarke22]

I doubt that there will be new mod/s for that board anytime soon, unless theymos decided to assign another one.
Even B&H section has an inactive mod for three years, and proposal took place to replace the said mod in [here]

As what Findingnemo stated, we still have global mods to handle those reports.

[NotATether]

I would have suggested to appoint squatz1 but he's been inactive for a while too...

You're pretty active there, why don't you apply?

[The Sceptical Chymist]

You're pretty active there, why don't you apply?

Man, given how much suchmoon posts, can you imagine what a pain in the ass job it would be to moderate on bitcointalk--much less a snake's nest of a section like P&S?  Suchmoon would be spending 16 hours a day on the forum at least (though I've no idea how many hours you normally spend here, suchmoon.  Seems like a lot anyway).

And you know, I was wondering where Flying Hellfish had gone off to.  The other day I was thinking of members I hadn't seen post in a while, and he was one of them.  Lutpin, Mexxer-2, and TMAN were a few others.  He seemed really psyched when he took the moderator position in P&S, so it's surprising to me that he just kind of vanished.  Anyone know him IRL?

[icopress]

You're pretty active there, why don't you apply?

I don’t remember the essence of the discussion, but if my memory serves me, a few months ago either theymos or one of the global mods publicly discussed the appointment of a new moderator for P&S section, (guided by the statistics of reports for this section). If there is someone like Jarvis, someone who could find the post I’m talking about, then it would be possible to re-send this quote to Theymos in PM, since there was a list of names in the same post.

[OgNasty]

If a new moderator was appointed to that section it would be nice if they were impartial or independent.  I'm not sure having a snowflake for a mod is the best thing for political discussions as it was quite obvious the section was being heavily moderated in favor of liberal views previously.  I never even cared about the politics section until I saw that TECSHARE was being unethically moderated and decided to stand up with him about it.  Anyway, no mod is better than a controversial mod in my opinion.  People are free to click the ignore button if they don't like someone's politics, but everyone's opinion should be allowed.

[Insanerman]

If a new moderator was appointed to that section it would be nice if they were impartial or independent.  I'm not sure having a snowflake for a mod is the best thing for political discussions as it was quite obvious the section was being heavily moderated in favor of liberal views previously.  I never even cared about the politics section until I saw that TECSHARE was being unethically moderated and decided to stand up with him about it.  Anyway, no mod is better than a controversial mod in my opinion.  People are free to click the ignore button if they don't like someone's politics, but everyone's opinion should be allowed.

+1 to this. If ever that theymos would hire another mod for Politics and Society board, I can easily judge that user by his stands depending on the posts I reported and how he handled it with the reasons I've indicated on those reports, and that itself is purely a negative thought both on the moderator and his political and societal stands. Just like what you said, all posts in that section should be treated as a mere "opinion" and be respected unless it provokes any terms and actions that is prohibited in the forum. One other lowkey reason is that, P&S board isn't really counted in many signature campaigns and most moderators are onto boards that usually is counted to be a fruitful and valid board to the promotions.

[nutildah]

I've reported a couple of posts over in the board and they remain unhandled.

I think someone will handle those reports. I haven't noticed any significant issues with P&S reports, I guess global mods pick it up when they can, although having a dedicated moderator would be better. I would have suggested to appoint squatz1 but he's been inactive for a while too...

squatz would be a good pick; from what i can tell he's a pretty open-minded and even-keeled guy. hope he comes back and accepts the nomination for the position.

I don't know what happened to FH; we communicated pretty regularly for a couple years. He had been expressing increasing disinterest in forum ongoings for a while, prior to his apparent departure.

[Quickseller]

If a new moderator was appointed to that section it would be nice if they were impartial or independent.  I'm not sure having a snowflake for a mod is the best thing for political discussions as it was quite obvious the section was being heavily moderated in favor of liberal views previously.  I never even cared about the politics section until I saw that TECSHARE was being unethically moderated and decided to stand up with him about it.  Anyway, no mod is better than a controversial mod in my opinion.  People are free to click the ignore button if they don't like someone's politics, but everyone's opinion should be allowed.

Yea, FH didn't moderate P&S like twitter, but there was a clear left wing bias in his moderation, IMO. I liked how he would split off topic divergences into new threads instead of deleting groups of off topic posts...it would probably be better to see more of that really throughout the forum.

[Joel_Jantsen]

I recollect reporting a few shitposts that were handled properly by the mods. The issue could be with your reports maybe? That is something that you consider spam could be just you disagreeing with the post which happens a lot in that section. Could you give some examples of the post you've reported and the supporting message with it to give us a better idea?

[LTU_btc]

Until now I haven't noticed that this board don't have moderator anymore. But mod is really needed there. Trolls have too much freedom there. But I think that moderation of such board isn't dream job. It's difficult to stay neutral and it won't take much time until someone will say that mod is biased and moderate favouring his own views.

The other day I was thinking of members I hadn't seen post in a while, and he was one of them.  Lutpin, Mexxer-2, and TMAN were a few others. 

I'm wondering where they're gone too. But at least Lutpin is still a bit active here. Not as much as in old days, but still. He is making payments for Crypto.Games signature campaign sometimes.

[suchmoon]

I would have suggested to appoint squatz1 but he's been inactive for a while too...

You're pretty active there, why don't you apply?

Well, there isn't really an application process as far as I know. And as much as I would like to move all of BADecker's link spam into one mega thread, I don't think I have sufficient tolerance for bullshit to get that job. There are better candidates. If not squatz1 then perhaps TwitchySeal - he had some self-mod threads that he moderated very fairly I think.

If a new moderator was appointed to that section it would be nice if they were impartial or independent.  I'm not sure having a snowflake for a mod is the best thing for political discussions as it was quite obvious the section was being heavily moderated in favor of liberal views previously.

Nonsense. FH did an excellent job and was perfectly capable of separating his political views from his duties.

everyone's opinion should be allowed

Having an opinion doesn't entitle someone to derail threads or break other forum rules.

[OgNasty]

If a new moderator was appointed to that section it would be nice if they were impartial or independent.  I'm not sure having a snowflake for a mod is the best thing for political discussions as it was quite obvious the section was being heavily moderated in favor of liberal views previously.  I never even cared about the politics section until I saw that TECSHARE was being unethically moderated and decided to stand up with him about it.  Anyway, no mod is better than a controversial mod in my opinion.  People are free to click the ignore button if they don't like someone's politics, but everyone's opinion should be allowed.

Yea, FH didn't moderate P&S like twitter, but there was a clear left wing bias in his moderation, IMO. I liked how he would split off topic divergences into new threads instead of deleting groups of off topic posts...it would probably be better to see more of that really throughout the forum.

Indeed, you would have had to be blind or a delicate snowflake yourself to not see the bias in moderation as it bordered on censorship for a time. This did improve with split topics once he was called out for moderating unfairly with plenty of evidence given and I think he/she was making an effort to at least appear impartial after the drama. So kudos to FH for what appeared to be a change of behavior in response to concerns of unfair moderation.

[tranthidung]

The head admin, theymos, opened a discussion for P&S moderator, three years ago.

• Who is able and willing to moderate the Politics & Society section? (Apr 2018)
• The appointment announcement for Flying Helfish from theymos
• I think you can make comment in that topic, and update the candidate list (new candidates and latest non-bad reports), then vote again

Here are the top 20 reporters in that section over the last 90 days:

Code:

+-----------------+-----------------+
| realName        | Non-bad reports |
+-----------------+-----------------+
| Flying Hellfish |             257 |
| rickbig41       |              40 |
| Foxpup          |              29 |
| otrkid70        |              22 |
| LoyceV          |              15 |
| Vod             |              12 |
| BTCMILLIONAIRE  |               7 |
| Sithara007      |               5 |
| marlboroza      |               5 |
| coolcoinz       |               4 |
| iasenko         |               3 |
| lucario21       |               2 |
| bitperson       |               2 |
| nullius         |               2 |
| Xal0lex         |               2 |
| shaun98         |               1 |
| Kaneki Ken      |               1 |
| Be_Happy        |               1 |
| Wolfman15       |               1 |
| Rainbow1976     |               1 |
+-----------------+-----------------+

[hilariousetc]

If a new moderator was appointed to that section it would be nice if they were impartial or independent.  I'm not sure having a snowflake for a mod is the best thing for political discussions as it was quite obvious the section was being heavily moderated in favor of liberal views previously.  I never even cared about the politics section until I saw that TECSHARE was being unethically moderated and decided to stand up with him about it.  Anyway, no mod is better than a controversial mod in my opinion.  People are free to click the ignore button if they don't like someone's politics, but everyone's opinion should be allowed.

It's practically impossible to to find someone who would be politically neutral or impartial. Everyone has their biases and people will put you into a box even if you don't have or want one. Putting a name on that board is probably just going to invite a lot of vitriol directed to that person even if moderation has nothing to do with them so I think it's probably best not to have a dedicated mod in there and any Globals can handle anything serious if needed.

[Jet Cash]

Bitcoin Talk seems to have changed over the last couple of years. But then I think society has changed as well, so it could well be me that has a different perception. Covid and the imminent economic reset seems to have closed the minds of the population, and I guess thus is the result of fear mongering by governments and bankers. We are now in a strange world where you can't start a speech with the phrase "Good morning ladies and gentlemen", and a political forum is a real minefield today. I wouldn't want to moderate one, unless it could maintain a publicly admitted bias.

I'm drifting away from the forum, as many of my friends seen to have left, or only post on the tech boards. I used to gain pleasure from discussing the situations in various countries, but it seems that too many people are frightened to appear politically incorrect today. Well as a mature, heterosexual, white anglophile, I'm not PC, and I don't respect the mindless and slavish pursuit of public approbation. In the end, it is up ti the members here to post and start threads that make the political board an interesting one, The mods can't prune a bush into an attractive asset if the bush is dead.

[AverageGlabella]

I think the new moderator should not be removing political posts at all. Most political posts even if they are crazy talk usually have some substance about them. I am talking about the posts which are like "+1", "I agree" and then off topic posts. There was one thread which I reported which was just posting links that had nothing to do with the original topic. Some of the posts were removed and some have been left unhandled.

I think its possible to get a moderator to moderate the board but I understand hilariousetc reply about the moderator being targeted even if they are doing a good job. Maybe we can get a dedicated moderator without listing them as such since listing them would probably paint a target on their back. I do not know how many members report in the board but its one of those places that does have a bit of spam even if they are not the most serious issues like plagiarism but it does make it annoying to read sometimes.

I don't mind the opposite sides coming up with ludicrous claims that is not an issue and is entertaining at times. Its the really spammy replies and the clearly off topic responses. The thing we have in P&S is there is a lot of members which have a hostile relationship against each other which is expected because of the nature of politics but they follow each other around in different topics and talk about unrelated topics which derails the topic that is some of the examples I have seen in just the past few week but P&S is probably my most read board on the forum even when I am not logged in I visit the board.

Having an opinion doesn't entitle someone to derail threads or break other forum rules.

Right this is my biggest issue with the board right now that there are too many topics that are being derailed because members are carrying over their feelings from one topic to the another and that derails the whole board.

I do not think we need a complete overhaul there and we do not need a mod who is going to be overzealous. I thought FH did a good job overall and if anything may have been a little overzealous when deleting things but it was definitely better when we had FH than having no dedicated mod.

Here are the top 20 reporters in that section over the last 90 days:

Code:

+-----------------+-----------------+
| realName        | Non-bad reports |
+-----------------+-----------------+
| Flying Hellfish |             257 |
| rickbig41       |              40 |
| Foxpup          |              29 |
| otrkid70        |              22 |
| LoyceV          |              15 |
| Vod             |              12 |
| BTCMILLIONAIRE  |               7 |
| Sithara007      |               5 |
| marlboroza      |               5 |
| coolcoinz       |               4 |
| iasenko         |               3 |
| lucario21       |               2 |
| bitperson       |               2 |
| nullius         |               2 |
| Xal0lex         |               2 |
| shaun98         |               1 |
| Kaneki Ken      |               1 |
| Be_Happy        |               1 |
| Wolfman15       |               1 |
| Rainbow1976     |               1 |
+-----------------+-----------------+

I do not want to bump that topic again and that is why I have opened another one. I am all for getting one of the higher reporters on that list a chance to clean up a little of the needed stuff as I know global mods are handling the more serious issues there but it would be nice to remove some of the less serious but annoying things like off topic and spam.

[Igebotz]

I've talked about this in the past, the amount of spam topics and posts is extremely high right now not only the P&S, the moderators of gambling discussion and B&H should also put more effort there, I think it's advisable to make every thread self moderator to take the loads off the moderators a bit, but It's also been ages now since thymos appointed/ recruit new staffs.