Fourth Quarter 2022 D&D Feedback.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Fourth Quarter 2022 D&D Feedback.

Gumball Gumption: Jan 7, 2012

Discendo Vox posted:

1. It is very frustrating to see someone violate the rules, and instead of applying them, the mods proceed to ask the user questions and give them control of the thread for several pages. Every single time this happens, the only effect is to draw out the harm to discussion that the rule is supposed to prevent, and the original violator either a) gets probated anyway or b) they don't, and all people looking to poo poo up discussion get an object lesson in forms of discussion-making GBS threads that the mods will facilitate. When you do this, you are making moderation harder for yourselves in the future, and making the subforum less useable for everyone else.

2. It is not helpful to have an enumerated set of rules if mod actions then don't align with those rules. When non-joke probes or other actions don't make clear what rules they're violating it provides justification for the users complaining that moderation is inconsistent.
2a. Similarly, when it arises that mod action is needed that doesn't fall under the enumerated rules, the reason should say that this is the case, and the mods should explicitly confer (not necessarily publicly) about whether and how the rules can be revised to address that situation.
2b. Moderation policies and their rationale should be stated publicly in one place, and should not be announced ad hoc in the middle of arguments with users, in D&D or elsewhere. This also contributes to both the perception and the reality of inconsistent moderation.

You should not use the number of reports as a metric of quality; Campbell's law applies. There are reasons for the report number to decline that don't have to do with things getting better. Users leaving, activity shrinking, and users being taught that reports will do nothing, will also cause the number of reports to drop. You need to start with what you believe the forum is supposed to be, and directly tie it to your evaluation of "quality," preferably with more explicit terms, and with prior identification of carveouts.

For example, if you believe that the subforum should be educational, then people asking more factual questions that get answered can be a sign of healthy discourse, and that standard can be explicitly exclusive of people asking rhetorical questions intended to derail discussion. I could give a big rant about functional form here, but unless you think that "quality of the subforum" is inherently a number, you should treat numeric measures with skepticism- you'll tend to overvalue them.

I like current D&D because it's really proven out my theory that as the regular posters got what they asked for and wanted they would become more miserable.

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Gumball Gumption: Jan 7, 2012

Freakazoid_ posted:

"lived experience" should be recognized for what it is: an anecdote.

Anecdotes are fine when combined with facts and data, but not as the sole basis for an argument.

The policy seems to be that it's an anecdote if you live in a place that's not exotic to westerners and a lived experience if you do.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2022 16:28

Gumball Gumption: Jan 7, 2012

Judgy Fucker posted:

It's hilarious how much you hate America considering if it wasn't for the American MIC you'd be speaking Russian already

Holy poo poo at busting out a "you know, we saved your rear end in the war" for a war that's not over and also the US isn't officially fighting in.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2022 18:21

Gumball Gumption: Jan 7, 2012

cinci zoo sniper posted:

I have no idea what numbers you expect to see or think that we are tracking.

Koos Group posted:

Yes, generally speaking based on the feedback, the day to day thread quality, and the behind the scenes metric of reports, D&D seems to be doing better than it was.

I assume they're referring to that mention of numbers.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2022 22:27

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