I can't stand by and watch stuff like this happen around here. I will not support subverses (by featuring them or making them defaults) with moderators who impose questionable rules such as "your post has to end with a questionmark". Moderators need to calm their tits and focus on nurturing and growing their communities. Rules can always be bent and what better time to bend the rules then now, while Voat is still growing and under development?
I am thankful for moderators who help keep Voat spam-free and I respect your work. I really do. I started working on automoderator for comments and submissions and your job will be made much easier when this is implemented, but for the time being, moderators need to relax and focus on removing spam and eventual illegal content. If I submit a new post and it gains some traction (hundreds of comments, views and upvoats), and my post gets removed because I broke a rule by forgetting to include a question mark in my submission title... well, I would be pissed. People take removal of their comments and submissions very seriously and moderators must think twice before removing stuff if they want to avoid offending users. Voat has a ranking process where time acts as gravity and older posts will eventually fall off the frontpage. Voat also has automatic public moderation logs and everything you remove will still be visible in these modlogs and your actions may be questioned by the community, just like what happened yesterday.
This action can be reverted if /askvoat mods can convince us that the issue has been dealt with or if some other, less restrictive community takes over.
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TheKillerRabbit ago
We need to institute a system where the subscribers can elect/kick out mods through voting. Subs turn to shit when mods are allowed to go unchecked for their actions. Thank you Atko for showing us that you don't take kindly to mod abuse.
SpaceRosa ago
And how do you stop it turning into a popularity contest? Worse, how do you make sure the better mod comes out on top and not the mod who panders to whatever the circlejerk/popular attitudes are at the time? You'd never see a more liberal moderator voted in by people on this website, even if they were absolutely the most fit for the job. People are too quick to associate that with thier boogeyman SJWs.
TheKillerRabbit ago
In the long term, it is better to have a democracy than an authoritarian regime simply due to the fact that you can vote the shitty people out. I'm not saying we let everyone vote. Just people who have garnered a certain amount of CCP, who therefore have some credibility in that sub. The fact that transparent modlogs exist, and that these elections could happen anytime, means mods are constantly in the danger of getting voted out of office if they show abuse.
tpdplsio ago
It's just too easy to create drama with numbers then. Subverses will fill up with drama just like /v/Askvoat has in the last 24 hours. People will work the long con to fulfill whatever CCP or time requirements you impose. The modlogs are transparent, if a mod is abusing a sub then you should have to make your case directly to the admins.
TheKillerRabbit ago
Remember reddit? The admins themselves might be tyrannical. I love what Atko is doing with Voat, but I would never trust him with the power to seat and unseat mods. His own biases will definitely affect who he picks for moderator. I want the people to decide as they have the most objective bias since everyone's bias is taken into account.
tpdplsio ago
I mean, you have to give some trust to the guy that had the vision to start the site and put in the work. You already trust him with managing the whole thing and setting the tone for the whole site. I don't know what to tell you then if you don't trust him to make good decisions about mods.
TheKillerRabbit ago
For now, I trust him to make Voat great. Yet Voat will need money to survive in the longterm. Atko will eventually start making decisions that favor monetary gain over what everyone else wants. When that time comes, I lose my trust.
tpdplsio ago
You're assuming he'll have to choose between making money and protecting speech. Just because Reddit chose the money, that doesn't mean Voat can't do better and have both.
TheKillerRabbit ago
That is where we differ. I'm more pessimistic over what he will do while you remain hopeful.