From my limited experience running and helping to run channels and forums, life is easier when you have clearly defined ground rules, and any deletion is stamped with something like “violation 3.1 (a)”, the way it is on traffic tickets.
Additionally, a simple and clear appeal process goes a long way toward reducing temper flare-ups. Some of the meta rules tend to be
appeal request can only be made by the original post/comment author in PM. Appeal decisions are final.
appeal notice and appeal outcome is posted in the thread, which is locked for the duration of the appeal and permanently if the decision stands, with all downstream comments deleted at the discretion of the moderator.
all discussion of forum rules and moderation decisions must happen in a single thread “forum rules”.
no public discussion allowed of a particular moderation decision in the moderated thread itself or any thread other than the “forum rules” thread (redundant, but usually necessary).
The main goal is, of course, shifting the discussion from the cries of “censorship!” over a particular moderation decision to that of forum rules.
Some of what people call “trolling” (on the net in general, not LW specifically) amounts to asymmetrical resource starvation attacks against humans. This sort of troll can be modeled as thinking, “What’s the least work I can do, that will elicit the costliest response from the mods / regulars / other suckers?”
If the process for dealing with alleged trolls is itself costly for mods or regulars, then it becomes a vulnerability.
From my limited experience running and helping to run channels and forums, life is easier when you have clearly defined ground rules, and any deletion is stamped with something like “violation 3.1 (a)”, the way it is on traffic tickets.
Additionally, a simple and clear appeal process goes a long way toward reducing temper flare-ups. Some of the meta rules tend to be
appeal request can only be made by the original post/comment author in PM. Appeal decisions are final.
appeal notice and appeal outcome is posted in the thread, which is locked for the duration of the appeal and permanently if the decision stands, with all downstream comments deleted at the discretion of the moderator.
all discussion of forum rules and moderation decisions must happen in a single thread “forum rules”.
no public discussion allowed of a particular moderation decision in the moderated thread itself or any thread other than the “forum rules” thread (redundant, but usually necessary).
The main goal is, of course, shifting the discussion from the cries of “censorship!” over a particular moderation decision to that of forum rules.
Some of what people call “trolling” (on the net in general, not LW specifically) amounts to asymmetrical resource starvation attacks against humans. This sort of troll can be modeled as thinking, “What’s the least work I can do, that will elicit the costliest response from the mods / regulars / other suckers?”
If the process for dealing with alleged trolls is itself costly for mods or regulars, then it becomes a vulnerability.