I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to the new moderator team we’ve put together for Discourse.SuttaCentral. Everybody, please meet @brenna, @claralynn, and @anon29387788!
We’ve been blessed with a polite and constructive community here so far, and I have not have the need to moderate anyone. But this is the internet, and good things don’t last. I’ll be disappearing on my 18 month retreat soon, and I wanted to make sure the forum is in good hands.
We will continue to have @blake looking after the backend and doing the admin and technical stuff. But we need some people to look after the people, as well. Discourse is designed using best practices to foster civil dialogue, but a strong, and pro-active hand in moderation is still essential.
I looked out for some people using the forum who I felt seemed qualified; and—I make no apologies for this—I reached out only to women. The internet is often not a very female-friendly environment, and I wanted to ensure that women’s voices would be a strong part of how this forum evolves.
Moderation is a tricky and fluid thing, and can be difficult: no-one likes being the bad cop. Okay, well some people do, but they probably shouldn’t be doing moderation!
I would ask our users to be respectful of our moderators, and to help them out if needed. Remember, if there are trolls on the forum, don’t argue with them, just flag their posts.
Below here, perhaps our moderators would like to introduce themselves.
Also, if anyone has any ideas or preferences regarding moderation, you can make some suggestions. Would you like this forum to be more tolerant of problematic posters, or would you like to ensure that everyone felt comfortable and safe? I used to lean towards the former; these days, I lean towards the latter.