Drawing the forum moderation line

Got this in the Koreabridge inbox today

Seriously Jeff, why do you let 'certain users' ruin your forum like this?
Their rampant hatred of all things Korean and their absolute sense of entitlement (since none of the people who made pusanweb the success it was bother to come on Kbridge and put down his nonsense anymore) on the forum is driving away traffic and pretty much just making Kbridge a real drag to visit.

My aim for forum discussions is to encourage  civil, genuine conversations about the whole range of 'living in Korea' issues that include as many perspectives as possible. I don't want Koreabridge to be a place where only sanitized views of life here get expressed, nor to I want to be a hub for Korea-bashing.  I want it to be a place where people with different views can engage in meaningful exchanges of ideas and opinions. 

The challenge is to formulate fair, enforceable policies.  Personally, I don't agree with a lot of what is said on the boards and find some of it borderline offensive, but as long as those views appear to be genuine and abide by our policies, then they make it onto the board. If they appear to be trolling (just trying to antagonize people for the sake of getting a reaction) or if posts include  an insult or personal attack, then they don't.   

Still, I'm open to adjusting our posting polices in ways that better encourage discussion and reflect 'community standards'.  So, what do you think?  What is your opinion of our current moderation standards? Where and how should we draw the line of what gets online and what doesn't?  Please be as specific as possible in suggesting policy wordiug that can be used when notifying users why their post was deleted. 

Thanks,
Jeff

Re: Drawing the forum moderation line

Hello there Jeff,

I think you are quite right to ask this question, however, in my opinion, I feel as if it is rhetorical. The reason is that if there really is someone with a radical view, I think it is ok for others to see it. My reasoning? Because others will realize how insulting and idotic it is and generally they will be taken care of by the community members.

Yes, I often see things that are offensive, however, if I was to start censoring others, where does it stop? I guess one might say it is a slippery slope, but I think of it more as "the people are the best to police themselves." I think it is good to encourage others to voice their honest opinions, and that others can voice their opinions of other's opinions.

I like this forum because I know I can say what I like. If someone doesn't like it, then they also have the power to say that. I wouldn't want to live in a sterile world.

If I don't like something, I should take it upon myself to ignore it. Does that make any sense?

But again, thank you for saying something, because that is just as important as allowing the community to post what they like. I think being more active on commenting on those abuses would be better than just censoring.

Thank you.

Re: Drawing the forum moderation line

Gilbert, the only problem now is that the community that made this forum what it is are no longer coming here thanks to two particular numbnuts (but mostly one who have turned this from a community buldingwebsite into their own $hithole for spouting idiotic nonsense and berating anyone who doesn't think the same. I don't know how long you've been here, but trust me, it was a lot better before and that's a real shame because I know Jeff has nothing but the best intentions in mind.

Re: Drawing the forum moderation line

nice of you to ask for input, mr. manager.  the main solution/problem that i see with any of the forums is the idea of keeping things on topic.  that makes it much easier to use koreabridge and be in the audience or participate in a discussion.  as amusing as it can be to watch things descend, when things are on topic more information exchanges occur.  for example, if someone asks what the health regulations might be for dog meat, anything about the possible ethics of eating dog are irrelevant-that could be moved to a separate discussion, leaving the original topic intact.  someone may just be doing research and wanting to know what people can share about there topics.  the same goes for wanting to know the location of the best raemen restaurant or the best casiono or the best subway toilets, information is great, it is the social commentary that drags down the information flow.  if someone asks about  people's experience traveling to japan, talk about comfort women would be off topic and distort the flow of information, when all someone wanted to know what is a good place to stay or what the visa laws are, but some people might want to talk about japanese treatment of koreans and that discussion could continue in another forum.   this may be a daunting task, this monitoring, but i do not know.  i do remember just being in the audience for good discussions and being entertained in a good, healthy way in between classes.  now it seems that there is a great deal less of that.  oh, to deal with that 'censorship' word, every comment that contained off topic things could be sent to the SAME forum, creating a space where people could continue the onslaughts that lack a proper information exchange/discussion pertinent to the topic, but leaving those posters free to go about their business.  whoa, that got long.  just had a class cancelled.  anyway, thanks for asking and providing this site.  i apolize if i stepped over any lines unbeknownst to me, i'm just a romantic