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Jeff, thanks for all the hard work and keeping a high standard. A great group here that is much appreciated from a distance! Sincere thanks.
Qualified for State today 5-1 so missed another gem by Felix.
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Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity. - Coco Chanel
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Authenticity, Dept.
Yes, that was Coco Chanel her ownself who stepped up onto the podium to info-tain us on the subject ... :- ) Nothing says "genuine and trustworthy" like a $200 bottle of perfume...
A few times lately, we have had "inner-circle" friends, 10-year friends, get moderated. OK, here's the deal-io, from the Big Cheese himself:
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Hi Jeff - I've included James on this email since he was actually the first one to alert me to Blissedj's issue and since you should probably both be in the loop on how this works.
When someone creates a new account, they start off with few privileges and are labeled "authenticated users".
Once we get a request from you guys that someone is commenting a lot, we bump them up to "trusted user", at which point they should be able to bypass moderation for both comments and shouts. We sometimes promote people without a request as well if we notice someone coming by a lot.
In the case of Blissedj, I promoted him on Tuesday, but it looks like he hasn't been back on since then. If he is still being held for moderation right now, it's almost certainly because he isn't logging in!
In the not too distant future, we'll automate this so that once a user has say 5 approved comments they automatically get that promotion - very much forum style.
-Grant
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Okayyyyy. As you know, The Mighty Klat transcends SSI, and therefore the past policies of Spectator, G-Moneyball and Dr. D. So we know what to do, to bypass moderation:
- Log in
- If getting moderated, it's because SkyNet sees you as a newbie
- Just request "Trusted User" - virtually everybody will get the status, on request (and won't be denied the status because of likeability, hygiene, or Brandon Maurer political affiliation
Which brings us to a related Community Policy...
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You Get What You Pays For, Dept.
In the Maurer's Sliders debate, a good number of community pillars had chimed in to reinforce community expectations. Just so! The citizens of a community are much more effective in establishing a "climate" than the Authorities can ever be.
Bat "ADM Rickover's Staff" 571 opined,
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Doc needs no defense from me! This blog is his and is outstanding.
What I do defend is the ENVIRONMENT of the blog. .....
Peer review is one of the most hallowed parts of intellectual discourse. But to be valuable, it should be measured, civil, backed up, and open to discussion. For [some], having three pitches is a closed subject. For me, who has played, watched, and talked baseball for 60 years -- ...well, it depends. And SSI is all about "what are the dependencies?". And that is fun and challenging to an old guy like me.
No one wants to chase you off the board, but we do want you to understand: 1) there are no sides here, no enemy;. 2) civility as well as intellect is valued; 3) we all want the Ms to be the best team and best franchise in Baseball (well, I'll give Matt a loyalty waiver for the duration of his internship); and 4) we want to enjoy reading this site.
Group think, in the military or anywhere else, is dangerous. Read FIASCO or The GAMBLE by Thomas Ricks. Bright people who: 1) Close their minds, 2) Don't like being intellectually uncomfortable, 3) Are personally charismatic, and 4) Rise to high rank - are amongst the most dangerous people on earth. I worked for a guy that personally and professionally represented a counter to these tendencies. That is why he is so revered - discussions were open, but there was always an expectation of quality. And the best solution always won - regardless of who contributed to it.
This site, while about a relatively trivial activity, represents the best of internet discourse -- open, informed, and still FUN. Enjoy it! And use some of the things you learn about discourse in the rest of your life. As you become a leader in your field, it will stand you in good stead.
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The goal, anyway, is for SSI to be a place where intelligent adults can exchange ideas in a frictionless, friendly -- or at least truly respectful -- manner.
When a poster -- or Jeff Clarke himself, by the way -- gets off track on that? The best thing that can happen is for half-a-dozen 600-lb. gorillas to encircle the situation.
Let's say you have a troll who wants to bog the website down in unpleasant discussion. What is it that he is after? What do trolls want?
Trolls want to disrupt the website. They feel like they matter, if they can disrupt things.
Typically they amplify the attention they get by pushing hot buttons -- by getting personal, by impugning motives. If there's a grain of truth in what they say, they're likely to get a reaction. If a troll can call you out on some minor shortcoming or other, it's human nature to defend that. And the troll, once he gets hold, will debate you for 500 back-and-forths about how big or little your shortcoming is.
Not that we had a troll in Maurer's Sliders. I'm NOT saying we did. ... but a lot of the behavior was inadvertently along those classic trolling lines. As you can see by comparing the thread to the "troll definition" above. There was a lot of attempt to direct attention to Dr. D's motives, to question his fairness, there was a lot of going in circles, etc. There is such a thing as "inadvertent trolling" and I, personally, put the thread in that category.
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The community's response was absolutely MODEL. You could take the thread and hang it on the wall as an exhibit of how to (1) set community standards and (2) send a message to all actual trolls that they won't have much fun here.
Don't get over-defensive; don't buy in to the personal attacks and insinuations about motive; calmly reinforce the difference between adult and childish behavior; stay on intellectual point. As the 3rd, 4th, and 5th posters roll their eyes at the troll, he'll usually lose interest. Supposing that he's a fanatic -- as we had on here once, a non-baseball fan join us from Texas to enforce PC dogma on environmentalism -- and doesn't quit? The crowd can simply wander off into another chat thread. If such a troll carries the harassment into another thread, that's the appropriate time for moderator action.
As long as the denizens of SSI continue to do exactly as they did in the Maurer debate, the website will continue to be a fun read for those attracted to its brand of social media.
Respectfully,
Jeff
Comments
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I went back and read my initial entry into the sliders thread. Perhaps it was too blunt, and I can see if it comes across as attacking or accusatory. I now understand that if I want people to debate/discuss things with me, I should be a little more cordial, feel each other out before the gloves come off. When I mentioned that people like Dave see the world in a statistical black/white kind of way, I didn't mention, but I'm sure you've since picked up on, that I'm kinda from that same family.
I notice a lot of the posters on here have an optimistic take and hope for the Mariners. Not all, but most. I guess this is where the disconnect begins with me. The Mariners are the only favorite team I've ever had, and it all started like many others my age because of Griffey. But where I pull for the Mariners, I also like to look at them through neutral eyes when analyzing them, like the fangraphs way of looking at it. That's probably why I come off the way I do, because in my real life, as well as online, I am a blunt, rational yet open minded person. I believe in facts first and beliefs second. I just thought I should give a little background so you can see I'm not attempting to just come on here and start fights with all of the regulars.
My only goal for that initial post in the sliders thread was to press you to see if maybe you disagreed with Cameron's take on the Maurer issue at least partly because of your history with him. I wasn't trying to start a war or disrupt the mood of the site. I just felt like there was something else going on, and I felt compelled to ask you about it. You have to understand, I have read this site for maybe 2 years, and I very rarely chime in. So that whole time I was forming opinions on you, moethedog, gordon gross, spec, all those guys without having made them public. So when I do get overflowed with enough conviction to actually post something, it's usually about something that bothers me or that I think isn't genuine. And it comes across a little pointed. I did it when you said that Robert Griffin couldn't carry Wilson's jock strap. I did it when Tebow was a hot topic. And now with the Maurer/Dave thing. So i realize that I can and should change a few things regarding the way I enter a discussion. But I will also say that I'm not going to change the way I analyze problems, or the way I convey that analysis. I firmly believe in being blunt and saying what's on your mind as long as its relevant to the discussion. I realize that you take a different approach. I just hope we can see eye to eye on this.
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Just caught up reading all the comments. From watching on the tee-vee Maurer looks like a young guy taking his lumps when throwing too hittable of pitches. Just like Felix did for what seems like years! Obviously different problem pitches but same overall struggle. What was it you used to describe Felix as doing Doc, something like putting his fingers too close to the lions mouth?
Was a bit surprised to see my little problem with delayed shoutbox being taken so seriously. Kudos for customer satisfaction! Continued success in the blog battles, this one is always tops for me.