Board Specific MODERATORS!

[ygfperson]

i sometimes go through the c/c++ forum and change code tags, but i don't do it regularly.

the problem with current efforts is that it won't help any newbie get an answer. many newbies come for homework, then leave, never to be seen again. the only solution is to tell each newbie beforehand to put code tags on his/her piece of code.

i suggest a better front page. when anyone goes to cprogramming.com and clicks on "Board" or "Forum" or whatever, they go to another page which warns them what to do and what not to do.


we don't need to warn them. we need to make it known that a mistake in that arena will make their future uncertain. we need to inspire such a fright into a mind that he/she doesn't quite turn away, but the words:
CODE TAGS!!!
are imbedded into the retina of the viewer.

[kermi3]

So appoint board specific moderators to moderate a SINGLE board

...

If it was up to me this would never happen. The problem with that is you start ending up with 10,12,16,20 mods...Right now we have a very low number of mods, all the mods know each other fairly well, and we all know how the webmaster likes the site to be run.

The webmaster does have to do a certain about of "Mod Managing," basically communicating broad policies for the mods to carry out, or for them to use their judgement on. With a reletively low number of mods who are known and trusted by the webmaster this is not an issue.

Therefore it will be i long time in the future I believe before we get large numbers of new mods like that. I know of many boards who act that way, many mods with little power each, our mods are few with vast power.

As to code tags, I don't think that there is a solution. Since FAQ's are rarely read that won't do much good (though I'd love to work with you on standardazation Salem). Furthermore, not answering Newbies without codetags won't help either. The size of the board pop'l will just decrease over time because people will get discouraged and not come back.

I don't disagree that PMing them might work....If they notice they have a PM, but i think posting it on the thread is much more effective. When mods see it I'm sure they'll fix it, but no mod, under our current system, has that much time.

Furthermore, even with board specific mods, that's a lot of work for the C++ mod to do. You have to assume that one person will do it all because there is no way of indicating (easily) which thread has and has not been checked already, so every mod will have to do every thread. An insane amount of work for a volenteer.




Does this make sense or am I missing something?

It just seems the general discussions board is the only one that's moderated.

This is not totally true, but the GD does get a lot of attention I think, for a couple reasons. First of all it is among the more active, secondly it is the one in this most need of moderating under our current style. A Loose hand.

In general when moderating, our mods try and do as little as possible. We don't, for example, go fix the grammer and spelling on people's posts (or mine for that matter ). It is very rare that something on the other boards goes beyond PG-13, cross posts happen, and occasional off topics and recruitments, but otherwise it's usually clear. I wilol however make an effort to look there more often than I do with a mod's eye...

Oh and if you disagree with me please tell me...

[Hammer]

It just seems the general discussions board is the only one that's moderated.

Poor Salem.... he spends his life in the C/C++ boards, rarely making an appearance in GD, and you deal him that card?

[Hammer]

Originally posted by Salem
(and kermie, the notices need standardising across all the code related boards).

Agreed, this one is particularly good, and should be more prominent (and should have a better subject line, imo).

[Nick]

What about writting some sort of script so that anything
inside { } gets indented appropriately or at least
using a fixed font? Have this be the default so that
anyone registering would have to turn it off or use some
kind of escape code to print out normal text using { }.

[Hammer]

>What about writting some sort of script ...
The board is proprietary software, and as such, I doubt it can be changed to that degree.

[Eibro]

I still think a board specific moderator would fix all of these problems... at least try it for a bit. I can think of a few good candidates.

[Driveway]

Oooh!! I nominate ********. I like to keep my votes private.

[Eibro]

Oooh!! I nominate DRIVEWAY I like to keep my votes private.

Oooh, nice edit.

[Nick]

I think you would have to pay a moderator to do that
kind of busy work.

[ygfperson]

Originally posted by Nick
What about writting some sort of script so that anything
inside { } gets indented appropriately or at least
using a fixed font? Have this be the default so that
anyone registering would have to turn it off or use some
kind of escape code to print out normal text using { }.

i asked a bit earlier about creating a script that would mimic a user using lynx and other tools, but they said it would only add to the problem. there's no real code tag detector that works well enough.