TTDaily: Does the forum need Moderators who are Active on the Forum

[UpSideDownCarl]

Actually moderating doesn’t take much “time”.

You just have to use 2 minutes when someone tags your name, look at the situation, and remove the thread or troublemaker. It’s even easier when there’s a team.

I actually visit ttd a lot nowadays. I mostly ignore everything about equipment and tournaments though, which is why I don’t post much.

Theoretically, this is true. But since, up till a few months ago when I was still active on the forum, I had very little help. Not none. But very little. Giang would come on and help. But both of us are really busy.

Why does very little help have anything to do with things: removing spam accounts takes time. There are actually hundreds and hundreds of spam accounts where the spam is either on their profile or in PMs to users. Perhaps 1 out of every 10 registered users is a spam account that has never made any posts on the forum.

Removing those kinds of accounts takes time. Keeping the spam accounts from becoming approved as a user takes a lot of time. The recurring trolls who back over an over, keeping those accounts from becoming approved active accounts takes time.

And when I get a notification about a thread with particularly contentious behavior, I try to read all the posts from the users who are having the conflict so I am not seeing only one side of things. There are times when I would also look at past posts from other threads where the same 2 users had contentious interactions because a lot of the time those kinds of conflicts did not happen in a vacuum and the two (or more) users who were going at each other had a history of contentious behavior towards each other.

Often with things like what I am describing above, PMs to each user separately to try and get each user to take a break from responding to the other was part of what I would try to do. Deleting posts does something. But to resolve a situation where two users have a pattern of making personal attacks against each other, simply removing inappropriate posts will not do much to resolve the situation.

So, to do things well, not reduce the interest of users on the forum, not over moderate, and still to try and make it so personal attacks or endless posts with links to subjects that have nothing to do with the current discussion from the thread, do not overrun the forum, I think a creative approach to moderating would be useful.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Here is what I think a valuable moderation team would be able to do:

1) If it was a team, and not one person making unilateral decisions, the team could come up with solutions to problems that make sense behind the scenes.
2) Spam and recurring troll accounts would be handled much more quickly.
3) If a discussion did get contentious and two members started making person attacks against each other, perhaps a team could more quickly diffuse the situation through private messages rather than leaving the arguments on the forum.

I do not think moderation means deleting or blaming. I feel the less personal interactions need to be moderated the more lively and interesting the forum will be. But at a certain point, when arguments occur, calming things down between those users so that things do not escalate and become overly personal would be useful and this can happen without much disruption of the content posted on the forum when moderators have an understanding of how the contentious behavior started and both sides of the issue (usually there are two sides to an issue unless you have an internet troll who really is simply trying to get people riled up) are taken into account.

Honestly, even the internet trolls, in some ways, make the forum more entertaining. The problem is, the noxious internet trolls who are really just trying to get people upset and angry and/or using that to get attention, even if it is bad attention, is that they really do seem to get under people's skins. If they did not do that and just posted controversial issues and let people debate different sides of those issues, it would make for very interesting discussions. However, the darker side of trolling often gets people really angry and upset.

I delete SJan's accounts any time I find them. However, I think it is unfortunate because there is something in his perspective that would be worth discussing. If he could behave himself and not try to derail the whole forum making every thread about only the subjects he wants to talk about and then personally insulting anyone and everyone who does not just agree 100% with everything he says, (sometimes he even insults people who agree with him)....well, then he would be a different person. But, over the years, several times I tried to let him stay on the forum and he just, over time, proved himself to become more and more toxic the longer he was allowed to stay on the forum. There are other trolls who were on this site where I thought the same thing.

***But for the most part, the site really needs very little content moderation. It just would benefit from a team that could assess situations and figure out ways of getting members who are getting riled up and upset to take a cool down period before posting more.

In my opinion, a team deciding how to handle these things from behind the scenes would be better than one person making unilateral decisions or nobody doing anything.

 

[PoppaChubby]

Under other names (everyone knows those I guess) I've been rooting for the mutlti time zones concept, since this forum is an international one. Plus, there is multiculturalism, some euro people like me are sometimes fed up with people butchering euro names, but I also understand it can be difficult for africans, chinese, taiwanese, koreans, japanese or indians to feel being offended by some views that in fact reveals ignorance and/or misconceptions of different cultures. Sometimes it's intended, sometimes it's only misundertandings.

Each of us lives in his own bubble no matter what, that's the problem with the internets, so definitely too much people from the same culture or the same country woundn't be good. I mean, this world is big right ? if we can't find a responsible indian, a responsible chinese, a japanese one, some african ones, some euro ones and some american ones, there's no need to talk about this anymore. I don't care if someone came recently here, as long as he has the dicerning skills that "job" requires, it's fine to me. A young lad like Ninja26Go, if he's motivated and has the right skills, why would it be a problem ? he seems to understand what multiculturalism is, the differences between being a chinese or an english for instance. Maybe I'm biased cos' I'm a jazz musician, and as long as the guys I work with are skilled enough, but much more with people that knows how to use communication skills, what's wrong with age or with "I'm into jazz since only half a year" ? to me it does not matter. In jam sessions I love playing with anyone, sometimes you get good surprises ! even with non french-speaking people, I just shout the chords progression in english and everything's alright in seconds only.

For Europe wee need western and eastern euro guys, even russians why not ! there are definitely some differences between being french and serbian. (I won't talk about the culture differences between french and belgians, french and UK people, or between croatians and serbians, it has gone really far, too much far in the recent history)

But the main thing is to be fluent in english, that's why I proposed the Commonwealth thing at first, to be able to use the discernment skills. And because many commonwealth asian and african people seem to have those discernment skills, being multicultural people first and foremost.

 

[Tyce]

The fact that nobody from TTD team has actually replied in here since Saturday says everything.
It's a shame.

 

[latej]

The fact that nobody from TTD team has actually replied in here since Saturday says everything.
It's a shame.

It's not a shame. It's a choice, and it's actually honest... Replying is spending energy, and for what? For 1000 people who write here? When you're busy doing things that keep you and your family alive?... That's the way I see it... I am also reluctant to reply, because if I describe my ideas it might require my own work and energy, which I must spend elsewhere... Anyway, don't take it as a criticism, I'm just explaining... And for what it's worth, you should be in that moderator team. I nominate you. Cheers ;-)

 

[PoppaChubby]

It's not a shame. It's a choice, and it's actually honest... Replying is spending energy, and for what? For 1000 people who write here? When you're busy doing things that keep you and your family alive?... That's the way I see it... I am also reluctant to reply, because if I describe my ideas it might require my own work and energy, which I must spend elsewhere... Anyway, don't take it as a criticism, I'm just explaining... And for what it's worth, you should be in that moderator team. I nominate you. Cheers ;-)

But they do use the forum as a promotional tool to post their youtube videos here, ok... it does not pay the bills and their incomes are mostly from the youtube channel and their partnership with the WTT. The WTT sees that forum as a promotional tool too, that's why it's not normal from them to stay silent, coming by here and just say "hey guys we've read you, we are looking at a way to make it better." would not take them that much time. But no, they don't, Carl is just... alone in that boat, and I feel sorry for him: he's like a fuse that can burn to them, and treating people like that as they're not paid to do the moderation is just lame to me. Yes I agree with Tyce on that point.

If youdon't care about the forum @Dan, then delete it, simple as that. Sorry if you don't like the way I express myself guys, but IRL this is how I deal with people that do not care for what people give them: their time, their energy, their expertise. I've been involved in non profit organizations as a member of the leading staff, you have to show the volunteers some support if you want things to run smoothly, each of us human being is like that, and this what Carl said if we read under the lines: no support nor recognition from @Dan .

 

[PoppaChubby]

But they do get money from the forum: the ads from betterplay.ia, Stiga, Donic and Butterfly.

So it's not cool from you @Dan to not care for the forum.

 

[PhoenixTT]

The fact that nobody from TTD team has actually replied in here since Saturday says everything.
It's a shame.

I heard from 100% non-credible sources that the reason TTD team hasn't responded is they forgot their password and cannot find a moderator to reset their password.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

But they do use the forum as a promotional tool to post their youtube videos here, ok... it does not pay the bills and their incomes are mostly from the youtube channel and their partnership with the WTT. The WTT sees that forum as a promotional tool too, that's why it's not normal from them to stay silent, coming by here and just say "hey guys we've read you, we are looking at a way to make it better." would not take them that much time. But no, they don't, Carl is just... alone in that boat, and I feel sorry for him: he's like a fuse that can burn to them, and treating people like that as they're not paid to do the moderation is just lame to me. Yes I agree with Tyce on that point.

If youdon't care about the forum @Dan, then delete it, simple as that. Sorry if you don't like the way I express myself guys, but IRL this is how I deal with people that do not care for what people give them: their time, their energy, their expertise. I've been involved in non profit organizations as a member of the leading staff, you have to show the volunteers some support if you want things to run smoothly, each of us human being is like that, and this what Carl said if we read under the lines: no support nor recognition from @Dan .

I did get support and recognition. Dan has been great with me. I just really don't have time these days and I feel the forum deserves a little bit of looking after because, without any moderation things do go off the rails a bit.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

It's not a shame. It's a choice, and it's actually honest...

it is a shame.
its been few years of shame and choices, and indeed honesty.

The thread is not 3 or 4 days old
it is over 3 to 4 years old.

I'm sure we all wish for a positive outcome and I am still happy to see Carl on here, but trying to stretch him, should not be the solution to this problem.

It is no doubt the TTD team has diversified over the years and new projects has taken priority and using up more time. This is the case with any business that expands and a test of its leadership team on handling challenges.

 

[Tyce]

It's not a shame. It's a choice, and it's actually honest... Replying is spending energy, and for what? For 1000 people who write here? When you're busy doing things that keep you and your family alive?... That's the way I see it... I am also reluctant to reply, because if I describe my ideas it might require my own work and energy, which I must spend elsewhere... Anyway, don't take it as a criticism, I'm just explaining... And for what it's worth, you should be in that moderator team. I nominate you. Cheers ;-)

Honest would be them coming up and say "sorry guys, but this just isn't a priority for us".
Instead, there's a promise to be better and that's where it ends

 

[JackJohnson]

We have people putting their hand up on wanting to become a mod but nothing seems to be happening which is a shame.

 

[Der_Echte]

Actually moderating doesn’t take much “time”.

You just have to use 2 minutes when someone tags your name, look at the situation, and remove the thread or troublemaker. It’s even easier when there’s a team.

I actually visit ttd a lot nowadays. I mostly ignore everything about equipment and tournaments though, which is why I don’t post much.

hAHAHA 3X HAHA, Anyone watching my posting activity shows I do the very same more extreme this last few years. I only comment on equipment when I am in super sarcastic mood and had enough fanboy talk.

 

[_JW]

@Dan
This forum 100% needs moderation. All the threads will inevitably get derailed with some nonsense and some users are so aggressive with their opinions.

 

[PoppaChubby]

I did get support and recognition. Dan has been great with me. I just really don't have time these days and I feel the forum deserves a little bit of looking after because, without any moderation things do go off the rails a bit.

The true support would have been to start that thread by themselves, not you. You're alone having to deal with that, this is not support to me, nor recognition.

It's like that in any non-profit organization with true leaders: when someone does not feel he or she has enough energy to continue their volunteer journey, then the president/CEO/whateva tells the secretary to adress the problem to everyone, this is to leave that person alone not having to deal with all those issues. You should even not come here to answer: it's your right, you've expressed your feelings, don't waste time and energy anymore. It's their problem now, not yours.

@Dan has to do his job, he's the founder and the CEO right ? that's his job to adress your resignation to us mere users and to find the right people to replace you. The fact that he remains silent is a shame. Period.

 

[PoppaChubby]

We have people putting their hand up on wanting to become a mod but nothing seems to be happening which is a shame.

Exactly ! there are indeed some people that want to do the job, so why Carl have to deal with this all by himself ?

 

[PoppaChubby]

it is a shame.
its been few years of shame and choices, and indeed honesty.

The thread is not 3 or 4 days old
it is over 3 to 4 years old.

I'm sure we all wish for a positive outcome and I am still happy to see Carl on here, but trying to stretch him, should not be the solution to this problem.

It is no doubt the TTD team has diversified over the years and new projects has taken priority and using up more time. This is the case with any business that expands and a test of its leadership team on handling challenges.

THIS too ! every year or so this topic comes back, but nothing's done.

 

[PoppaChubby]

And he's online right now... what a shame...

 

[Dan]

Hey everyone,

I've read all of your comments and completely understand the concern, and I’m really sorry for my lack of response on this topic. You’re right, things haven’t been great lately!

I haven’t been posting much recently, as I mentioned in another thread, I’ve been absolutely inundated with projects and trying to balance everything. That said, I’ve always been busy behind the scenes working on the website: server changes, performance improvements, and new feature updates. The huge renovation we did a few years ago took thousands of hours of back and forth to get the site where it is today.

Lately, I’ve been working closely with Harry on further development and backend updates to make sure the forum runs smoothly and continues improving for the long term. Sorting out the moderation situation is now our top priority and coming up with easy tools for the mods. I’m just gathering all the potential future moderators’ WhatsApp numbers and will begin to plan getting the forum into a much better place and enjoyable for everyone again.

Thanks so much for bearing with me.

P.S. Carl, your help moderating over the years has been absolutely phenomenal! Thank you sooo much! 🙏

 

[piligrim]

congratulation NextLevel!!