Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:55 pm
Well, it's a hard thing, moderation. I've been a moderator on an artist forum made of WetCanvas renegades (there are lots of forums of wetcanvas renegades). The artist who made the forum was all about free speech and all that. And I was too. I never banned a member, nor locked threads. The people were all very mature even if debates got heated. But there was also a moderator who felt strongly about not hurting anyone's feelings (even if the "hurted" person said he was not hurted at all). And she did ban people and locked threads. So I left because it went against the very thing the forum was made for. A moderator can really break a forum, more so than trolls.
WetCanvas (or "WetBlanket" as many like to call it) is overmoderated. It chased away many really good professional artists (the ones who charge and get 20K for paintings) and left only amateurs. This is, of course, in line with the aim of WetCanvas : to get as many hobbyist members as possible because they get their money from ads. Those professionals with their "harsh" critiques only chase away every "mother goose with a pastel box" who are only fishing for kudos in what they believe is in essence some kind of social club for "creative" people. And the numbers are on their side.
Take this for example :
1 - "lol did u learn to draw yesterday or sumthin?"
2 - "the hands suck, learn to draw first"
Both are rude and hurtfull. But #2 is actually constructive whereas #1 is just insulting. I would definitely phrase #2 differently and try to give some tips. Of course, only after calming down and thinking positive thoughts like "well, at least he's trying" because I would probably be thinking #1
I think the bottomline is just that. Is a poster constructive or just insulting? Constructive posts, when worded harshly can be insulting but I wouldn't want to be a moderator who bans constructive people just because they are harsh. But I would (and I did, as moderator) step in to calm things down when things got heated. This is something every member can do. We can all remind each other to keep a civil tone without being pedantic about it (if there's one thing that makes people explode with anger then it's someone being pedantic, it's worse than an insult).
Of course, real trolls who are just in the business of making fun of people should be banned immediately. Although I always like to see a bit of good natured trolling for laughs (I did some myself with the whole Spain-Holland thing with some quick sketches, I didn't really think Holland deserved to win, the fouls made me cringe).
I think trolling isn't so bad in the chit-chat topic or the general topic. The "Share your work" topic is different, of course. It's hard to see whether someone is proud of his/her work and just waiting to collect kudos or is actually hoping to get some structured critiques. I've seen people ask for both but most just post a link.
Perhaps it would be an idea to have two topics for this. One where people just post their stuff but don't want to hear critiques and one where they post their stuff to do get structured critiques. A lot of forums have that setup.
Oh, and a "heated debate" topic, enter at your own risk! If people know beforehand that it will be heated, they will be less likely to take offense (I think.... hope).
WetCanvas (or "WetBlanket" as many like to call it) is overmoderated. It chased away many really good professional artists (the ones who charge and get 20K for paintings) and left only amateurs. This is, of course, in line with the aim of WetCanvas : to get as many hobbyist members as possible because they get their money from ads. Those professionals with their "harsh" critiques only chase away every "mother goose with a pastel box" who are only fishing for kudos in what they believe is in essence some kind of social club for "creative" people. And the numbers are on their side.
Take this for example :
1 - "lol did u learn to draw yesterday or sumthin?"
2 - "the hands suck, learn to draw first"
Both are rude and hurtfull. But #2 is actually constructive whereas #1 is just insulting. I would definitely phrase #2 differently and try to give some tips. Of course, only after calming down and thinking positive thoughts like "well, at least he's trying" because I would probably be thinking #1
I think the bottomline is just that. Is a poster constructive or just insulting? Constructive posts, when worded harshly can be insulting but I wouldn't want to be a moderator who bans constructive people just because they are harsh. But I would (and I did, as moderator) step in to calm things down when things got heated. This is something every member can do. We can all remind each other to keep a civil tone without being pedantic about it (if there's one thing that makes people explode with anger then it's someone being pedantic, it's worse than an insult).
Of course, real trolls who are just in the business of making fun of people should be banned immediately. Although I always like to see a bit of good natured trolling for laughs (I did some myself with the whole Spain-Holland thing with some quick sketches, I didn't really think Holland deserved to win, the fouls made me cringe).
I think trolling isn't so bad in the chit-chat topic or the general topic. The "Share your work" topic is different, of course. It's hard to see whether someone is proud of his/her work and just waiting to collect kudos or is actually hoping to get some structured critiques. I've seen people ask for both but most just post a link.
Perhaps it would be an idea to have two topics for this. One where people just post their stuff but don't want to hear critiques and one where they post their stuff to do get structured critiques. A lot of forums have that setup.
Oh, and a "heated debate" topic, enter at your own risk! If people know beforehand that it will be heated, they will be less likely to take offense (I think.... hope).
I was always so annoyed by the harping about raster draw tools complaints in AS I never even tried to look at what could be done with it. That kind of debate is good. The kind of moderation I would be looking for is for extreme over the top irrelevant posts.