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I PM'ed a reply to the mod/appeal changes. I like some of it, but it seems to ME, as a former staffer, that it significantly decreases accountability of staff and increases staff authority. OF COURSE, in the hands of "fair" staff and with VERY active admins supervising everything, it will work. But I think the reason for protocol is to provide a process that helps insure such - not that makes such more important.
ONE of the things I always LIKED about CF was the embrace of balance. Mods worked as a TEAM toward consensus. And there was some effort to "mix up" the staff so that TOGETHER they brought a range of knowledge and perspectives - forming a TEAM that likely would be fair and balanced as they worked toward something of a consensus. AND the appeal process is CRITICAL - no matter what the portocol, things can go wrong. I know appeals are rare and they do not often overturn the mods (such speaks well of the mods and the process), but they provide an "accountability" and "check" on the staff and the process - and such is CRITICAL. The elimination of such in many (probably most) cases now concerns me.
When the Ecumenical Team was first formed (and I was there, I know), the WHOLE CONCEPT was to encourage interfaith discussion, to build BRIDGES rather than walls, and to firmly embrace this idea of balance. We PURPOSELY "mixed it up" so that all faiths would be understood and represented - as much as possible. What soon happened is that the Catholics objected. They demanded "walls" around OBOB and Catholics posting elsewhere. Even among the Staff - at one point, the Catholics demanded that Protestant staffers could only speak to them with questions or greetings and could NOT work with them or they with us. I worked hard against this 180 degree shift from BRIDGES to walls, from TOGETHER to separate, from BALANCE to defense. Let's just say I lost, lol. And accepted that. Eventually, OBOB was a "safe haven" with exclusively Catholic mods and staff and the Catholic Admin basically just supervised that one forum, leavning all the others to the Protestant Admin (we needed to go to 2 Protestant Admins for awhile because of this unbalanced responsibility). I found this all SAD and very contradictory to the ecumenical purposes of CF.
Ironic how it quickly got twisted. What was to be the ECUMENICAL Team - dedicated to helping us COME TOGETHER got turned upside down to keeping people separate and apart (well, at least our Catholic friends). As one high ranking Catholic staffer wrote to me, quite passionately, "WALLS are necessary to protect the innocent, especially from those who would attack them." He went on to rebuke my "nieve" thought of discussion, bridges and ecumenism as "youthful immaturity" and insisted that "high, thick walls make for good neighbors." I stayed on that campaign a bit too long - and paid the price, but I STILL hope that the day will come when the ECUMENICAL team will be about ecumenism rather than separation and protection.
When I returned to CF, I was shocked to see noncatholic mods in OBOB - but I rejoice in that. The admin situation seems to be the same. The "war" seems to have quieted a bit, for which I rejoice, the site is MUCH smaller, and while CF once had a slight Protestant majority, it now seems about equal. For all the time I've been aquainted with CF, it has been in continuous flux. When I was on staff, it seemed a full time job just to keep up with the constant changes. Some of this was a result of trying to contain the "war" and some to try to insure fair and good modding, but I think much of it was because while CF was an ecumenical website, MANY of the upper staff had very different agendas from that - and so Erwin kept trying to bring balance, openness, togetherness, listening. He left. Many of us did.
I support "mixing up" the mods in the various forums. I encourage Staff TALKING and LISTENING to each other and the posters. We need MORE communication and openness, not less; more balance, not less. And we need staff that is appreciated and supported but also regarded as accountable and responsible.
One more thing: I was a mod at another site, when I was probably 13-14 years old. It was a much smaller site, but the modding process wasn't a LOT different than here. Anyway, the mods were encouraged to be primarily facilitators and teachers rather than police. When a post was problemmatic, we "pulled it" and opened a thread to discuss it, and then, immediately, the poster was encouraged to come to that thread. It was a DISCUSSION among staff and the poster - all with the goal of helping the poster be a better poster. We "succeeded" if the poster said, "oh, I get it, let me edit my post." If so, no further staff action was needed. He edited the post and staff put it back in the thread. This actually worked the majority of the time. I brought this up, several times, when on staff at CF but was told that CF is "too big" with "too many Reports" to permit that. I never agreed, but in any case, CF is a LOT smaller now. I think mods need to be seen more as counselors and less as police. Isn't the goal to empower conversation - not to issue citations?
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