Multiculturalism in Ireland - moderation

What are your views on Multiculturalism in Ireland? - CA forum thread.

I've been debating with myself whether to actually raise this, but over the last few weeks we've seen a rise in a "type" of poster who comes into the thread.

No doubt you're aware of the thread. Immigration and multiculturalism encourages aggressive posts, and tempers do rise. Understandable. However, we're seeing a variety of posters who come in, make soundbites, insulting the overall thread with claims of racism, hysteria, etc. The attacks are not directed at a single poster, but instead, at the overall population of the thread, making mass generalisations and accusations that are not backed up.

When pinned, and asked for evidence of claims, or declarations of racism, the posters deflect, shift attacks, and eventually disappear, only to return a few days later to repeat the process.

I don't tend to report posters. I've always felt that the mods would be scanning posts such as this, and reeling in the more trollish posters. I'm generally happy with the moderation on boards, but when it comes to this thread, I'm beginning to feel very frustrated. I have reported a variety of posters, with no result being produced to lower the aggression in the thread, and those posters involved definitely haven't received a yellow card for their repeated behavior.

In the past, I've been called up on aggressive posting. That's fine. Usually, I can see the mods pov, and I dial it back, but the standards by which I was marked by the mods, don't seem to apply to posters who throw around their morally superior soundbites. These posters aren't engaging in the thread topic. They're not contributing to the thread, except to post vague statements, and seeking to trigger the other posters. And they're successful (I fall for it sometimes, although I should know better). These declarations of racism, are common, and they shouldn't be. It's not debate. It's not a matter of argumentation. It's baiting.

So... I would ask for clarification on the rules regarding trolling, and insults, because right now, I feel like these rules only apply to some sides of an argument rather than being a "no no" for everyone. I'd also like to know is there a particular format for reporting users, because long or short complaints seem to be equally disregarded.

If you need names to check on the thread, the most recent are excludedbin, & TheCitizen. But there are other before them, who also weren't called up by the mods. As long as there's no effort employed to stop this kind of posting, it's going to continue.. and sure, they'll eventually do something that can't be ignored, but they will ruin some decent threads in the process. They'll also lure generally decent posters into believing (as I'm beginning to believe) that such behavior is allowed here.

hullaballoo

This is a thread/forum specific issue, so I've moved it to Help Desk.

Thanks.

So... no mod is going to touch the thread?

With respect, I think waiting 24 hours is more than enough to receive feedback on this query. I can appreciate that covid or other issues might interfere with moderators being available, but surely some acknowledgement, or a start of a dialogue would be possible. (or that there's nobody available to answer now, but someone will answer later)

However, from a variety of threads, I've been seeing a lot of posters refer to boards unofficial moderation policy to allow general claims of racism, and such in threads, and the acceptance (by posters) that there is a bias in moderation. I wouldn't normally believe that to be the case, but recent activity on boards would suggest that there's something to their claims.

So. What's going on?

Beasty

Apologies - I saw this thread earlier but I've had a hospital procedure today and this is not a topic I want to address until the effects of the anaesthetic has worn off

To the poster who asked, anyone can post in these threads, but only constructive posts will be approved (be they positive, negative or indeed neutral)

With regard to your expectation of a response within 24 hours, this is a bit unfair. If it's a straightforward yes/no point/question we may well try and deal with it quickly. However we all have real lives and other site responsibilities. A topic like this requires a "considered" in preference to a "quick" reply, particularly when you are making generalised claims like this. We actually need to either work out for ourselves whatever specifics you are concerned with, or indeed invite you to post links to some examples. As replies are pre-moderated we can choose not to reveal such links, but nonetheless can look at them ourselves to help us understand the concerns being highlighted

If no other Mods, CMods or Admins post here in the next 24 hours I'll try and review it, although any response will probably not be posted until Saturday

Beasty, with respect, the query wasn't a generalised claim, but rather specific regarding the manner of the posting being done by a variety of posters, two of which I included in the op. As for expecting a response quickly, I wouldn't have thought that 24 or 36 hours to be too soon to expect some manner of response.

In any case, I would like to apologize somewhat. I've become rather frustrated recently regarding this type of behavior by some posters, and I allowed myself to become emotional. I'll leave it in your capable hands, and I'll enter the discussion whenever you (or others) are available. If you need to speak to another mod about this, Wibbs will likely know what I'm referring to since he's a regular on the same thread and has engaged with these same posters.

Thanks.

Beasty

As mentioned I am actively not moderating at present but will have a look at this if no-one else gets to it in the meantime

Beasty

OK, I've looked through the last few pages of the thread and have handed out a threadban and certain other sanctions

Please do report any problem posts. It's not possible to try and read everything in a thread and we do rely on reported posts to alert us

Thanks

Okay, thanks. I will report such posts in the future. Thanks for clearing it all up, and once again, I do apologise for my previous attitude/impatience. I've always appreciated the mods work on boards, but I guess I hadn't realised just how busy you all were. Cheers.