Recent developments have convinced me that we need yet another course correction in our quest to perfect this message board. In other words, your concerns have been heard.
From this point forward, our moderatorial modus operandii will change in the following ways:
First change:
ALL threads in the Terrestrial Forum will be run like ALL OTHER threads in the Terrestrial Forum. (The same goes for all other threads in their own respective home forums.) If someone wishes to have a thread hosted in the Terrestrial Forum (instead of the Celestial Forum) in order to give it more exposure, then that person must also be willing to take the "hit" that Terrestrial-level discourse will take place within it. In the future, all thread originators must remember that that's simply the price to pay for greater exposure.
Of course, there's nothing preventing moderators to be more vigilant when it comes to splitting off derailments or off-topic posts at the thread originator's request. Even in such a case, only actual derailments will be split. Potential derailments will be allowed to stand, since we've learned that doing otherwise raises far more ire and thus engenders, paradoxically, much more potential for further derailment.
Second change:
In the Terrestrial Forum, we are going to be a little more predictable--and lenient--when it comes to deleting ad hominem material and personal attacks. To whit, some ad hominems are more extreme than others, so to best reconcile the contradictory concepts of running a free speech board while simultaneously keeping everyone happy, we're going to delete the more blatant, obvious attacks and let slide the ones that are more open to alternate interpretation. Here's how this will work in actual practice:
- If the attack is something that will drive people away from the board, as expressed by the folks who were the impetus behind the Great Moderatorial Experiment, it will be deleted.
- If there is a reasonable doubt about whether or not it crosses the line, it will stand.
- Not all personal attacks will be considered equal, even if they say the same thing. For example, something that might technically be an attack but is nevertheless witty, sophisticated, or otherwise requires (even a little) brainpower to think up will be allowed to stand. On the other hand, attacks that are gutter-level, junior-high, or trailer park-ish will be deleted. For example, attacks like "It saddens me to see you suffering under the malignant cancer of Mopologetic dystrophy" would be allowed to stay, whereas attacks like "you stupid dumbass!" would not.
Now, I know what you're all thinking. While reading the above list, you thought to yourself, "Yes, but how can the moderators all agree in every instance? Aren't some of those things subjective determinations?" My answer is YES, they indeed ARE subjective. Not that I like it that way, of course, but because that's the simple reality of there being more than one moderator and all of us being human. I have already given each of my moderators strict instructions that, while in moderator mode, they must each become a clone of me, do things precisely the way I would do them, suppress any and all creativity and innovativeness, and otherwise surrender their free agency. (I think the recent goings-on were symptomatic of an unwitting departure from those instructions, nothing more.) Nevertheless, while considering "What Would Dr. Shades Do," it's inevitable that they'll guess wrong on occasion. Please cut them some slack; THIS IS NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE BIASED AGAINST YOU, it's merely because we're all different people and sometimes interpret things differently, much as it pains us.
Hopefully this will put to rest any fears of us going the way of MA&D and simultaneously rebuild confidence in the future of MormonDiscussions.com.