Improved communication in case of thread closings

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Kotik

Improved communication in case of thread closings

Postby Kotik » Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:20 pm

I've given the issue a good night's sleep before adressing it, for to not go off half-cocked and say something stupid. Before I tackle the main issue I want to make sure that it is understood, that my intention is NOT moderator bashing. In fact I want to make some suggestions, which could avoid some issues.

Yesterday a thread - opened by me - was closed by a moderator, according to the explanation given, because it was insulting to people. First of all - if any of the people, who I mentioned in the respective post, felt offended by it, I offer my sincerest apology, since that had never been my intention.

I understand that it is a moderators right to close a thread, if it is offending, but I would like to suggest some things that might make it a rarer necessity to close a thread in the first place and if it is unavoidable, at least it could be handled somewhat better.

Here is how the situation looked to me yesterday. I wrote a post and upon longer reflection I have to concede the point that my choice of words was clumsy and two passages were too ambigous and can be interpreted in at least two completely different meanings. The moderator stated her intentions and gave me - what I perceived as a bit of a public dressing down, before closing the thread. I think it could have been handled better.

1. Especially when non-native speakers are involved, there's always the chance, that the post-author has just made a hash of the coice of words. aadarshinah, who has beta'ed a lot of my latest work, will probably confirm, that there are more than a few instances in which she has to point out passages, which are too ambigous or where a wrong word has completely changed the intended meaning. I believe it would have been better, if the moderator had contacted me and set a dead-line of - lets say two or three hours to rephrase my post. The thread wasn't a pointless, inate rant, it was a perfectly acceptable topic for discussion, I merely botched up my explanation.

2. I'm not very happy about being dressed down in public. I think it would have been fairer to tell me some of the things that were written by means of PM.

3. Asso opened a thread earlier today, complaining about the closure. While I think he chose the wrong sub-forum for it, I was fairly offended by the way it was handled (deleted with a less than convincing explanation), because it has a bit of an aftertaste of censorship and arbitrariness for a person with my background. I was born in east germany and we had the business ends of Kalashnikov's pointed at us in 1989, because we protested for something as simple as the right of free speech. I'm very squeamish about it, because I don't take it for granted - we had to endanger our lives for it to be given that right. Maybe a move to a more appropriate subforum would have been a better way to handle it.

Just to make sure, I'm understood correctly here: I'm not trying to tell the mod's how to do their job, I'm merely trying to make suggestions, who could avoid misunderstandings or unintended offenses in the future. We are all from different backgrounds and what might be OK for some can be offensive for others. I hope this post is taken for what it is intended to be - constructive criticism.

Best regards,
Kotik

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Re: Improved communication in case of thread closings

Postby honeybee » Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:30 pm

To prevent further misunderstandings, I am going to lock this thread as well. Your thread was locked for good reason yesterday, as it was rude and seemed to be wholly about bashing other writers' work. While ESL issues may have been a part of why it came off that way, a thread that invites members to trash authors' fics simply does not meet this site's standards.

The proper place for constructive criticism of other people's work is the comments thread.

Your complaint about how the thread was locked is noted.
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Re: Improved communication in case of thread closings

Postby Elessar » Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:45 pm

This is a bug reports thread - not a "disapproval of administrative actions" thread. Those concerns are legitimate and taken seriously but they need to be placed courteously and with respectful discretion. I think I've made it very clear in a number of places that anything like this concern needs to be addressed to me via PM.
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