Authoritarianism?

Hello.

I've recently joined Listal but I've noticed one thing already: many posts are deleted and threads are closed for clearly arbitrary decisions.

Examples:

1)

Voxy: It might be best if you stopped using Listal to do your online quizzes. Some actual conversation and discussion would be nice.

www.listal.com/groups/viewthread/8806/

2) Closed

www.listal.com/groups/viewthread/8779/

3)

GemLil: Aye aye GA! Why do you need to access these things at school anyway!? Go in the bloody playground and have a laugh with your friends...I lived for my lunch break, sitting in a field with my friends for an hour was the highlight of my day.

and so on...

I mean, I tend to agree with the opinions expressed above, BUT, well, let it be, guys. You don't even give a chance to the other person to answer.

I'd like to know if your behaviour is supported by some rules or if you just act as you wish.

Cheers,

Rafael

What can I say? Im a Despot.

Actually I never close a thread unless it breaks a rule, but I cant be bothered to constantly give the reason..nobody listens anyway, just breaking the monotony by getting my own two cents in before I close it.

For that thread for example, there was no discussion, it was very personal, it already had spam in it ala Dina 'lol no probs, add me as a friend'. I was nipping it in the bud before it went of the rails, I know a potential spam fest when I see one. It was more of a rhetorical question anyway, I didnt care why Dina wanted to access them in school.

"but I cant be bothered to constantly give the reason"

That's the whole idea, innit?

"I know a potential spam fest when I see one"

Moderators are chosen for their ability to predict the future, I see.

Danke.

both those are in grey area. and to answer your question, no, we dont have a set of rules. we probably should and some of us mods have butted heads before in regards to what is and isnt spamish.

I unlocked the first one. sometimes its a fine line between good discussion, and drivel. and if you were on this site earlier in the year, it was 90% drivel, hence why some of the 'elders' on the site are trigger happy. lol

and voxy, sorry girl, i unlocked it coz i dont know think we should be anti-online quizzes. I mean, it may eventually lead to discussion, it may not. but if we zap all things quiz related and people would be afraid to post "who is this person" or "who sings this song" or "whose that dude who played the part in that movie" - all of which should be a given in a media-related forum.

ethically, if we feel like we dont want to support someone cheating on their exam, than all we can do is not answer them.

oh everyone eventually agrees with me. Heil to the 'Lude! :P

There should be a set of clear, objective rules, because it's laughable that even moderators can't always agree with eachother, and they can undermine one another's actions.

Honestly Richard, I completely agree with you. I just have no time lately to sit down and write down rules, and I know Tom is busy rebuilding this site from scratch (VIP and Mods can test it out in beta form right now) - so unless Voxy or GemLil --- or even anyone else whose been around a long time, wants to type up a very rought draft, us Mods can then tweak it and add to it and post it online. But I'm gonna blame it one lack of time - personal and work reasons.

GA, lol... you're nuts

I have used you in the apocalyptic times of early Spring '08 - on more than one occasion, simply mentioning "I'm thinking of promoting GA as a moderator" sent shivers down the narutard spines and they all backed off instantly.

luckily we didnt have to deploy the big guns yet. ;)

If you contribute and have any problems with my modding I am more than happy to field them. I welcome some constructive criticism, but tbh Rafikz, its not future telling, its a intuition developed from experience...anyone who has been here a while knows that Dina is a notorious spammer and her thread is likely to develop into mayhem, what's with the hate?

No matter how many rules we officially make, there will always be a couple of times, that arn't covered by the rules and require common sense.

proxies thread does fall in same grey area, but question is purely tech-based. quiz thread was movie based, hence why i chose to unlock it.

but yeah, i like idea of brainstorming rules by EVERYONE, then Mods whittle it down and polish it up, and finally Tom approves it.

or another way to look at it, if a question is far better answered by a google search like "how to use proxies to bypass facebook blocks"... then its probably a waste of a thread

but asking to help ID pictures of directors, regardless of posters motives (cheating on exam, hehe) is not something that can be answered by the Google machine.

I would lock that Proxies thread again if I had the chance, it was Dina and there was already inane chatter! Dont make me come to Canada and lock you Prelude, you thought Joseph Fritzl was bad, you'll never see the light of day again. I did however think the quiz thread had a bit of potential, I did want to find out who they all were, soz Vox.

oh hun, you've already turned down my invitation to Canada a couple of times. stop teasin'

and unless i mistyped something, no, i wouldnt have unlocked the Proxy discussion either, and would have banned it myself if i wasnt such a slacker as of late and actually logged on at least once a week. im shocked im still in Number 2 rank. :O

You're only in danger of losing that placing if you leave for a year. We still didn't establish whether or not we're authoritarian you know?

I took a quiz, said I use participative leadership styles rather than authoritarian...you gonna question a poor made internet quiz Raf?!

Ideally, I'd prefer rules to come from Tom, whenever he has the time and inclination to do so. The police should enforce the law, not make it!

I'm totally making a no RAB rule right now!

"I'm totally making a no RAB rule right now!"

I'm at once pleased and disappointed that my initials aren't in a slightly different order.

yeah... there are some things that should be blocked and some threads that are unappropriate shouldnt continue, but that amount of threads that have been stopped is a bit over the top and I think that this site was designed to communicate with other people around the world, so why would conversations be monitored with a BIG BROTHER like sense.
Overall, if something was going to be blocked at least give the people talking on it the heads up, so at least they can say whatever it is they need to say last...

Overall, if something was going to be blocked at least give the people talking on it the heads up, so at least they can say whatever it is they need to say last...

Ideally, you should state your opinion the point of the thread in your opening post!