There's only one thing wrong with the DK moderation system, and that is the TUs. They are entrusted to hide comments which are disruptive. They are misusing the system to control the conversation, and as I intimated in my previous diary of this series, it kind of is all Admin's fault. But it is their (the TUs') problem and they can simply do it right, and then Admin will not be a problem anymore.
So basically what I am saying is that if we want to prevent DK from eventually becoming nothing but a PC-worshiping authoritarian hivemind protected by intellectual bullies with no interest in seeing outside their bubble, we must take it upon ourselves to engage in a revolution against the authorities. We must establish new authorities which serve the community, not the politics of any single in-group.
And I know just how to do it, and it requires zero effort on most people's part other than voluntary compliance, no programmatic corrections to the algorithms of the site, and doesn't require any witch-hunts. If you like pie fights, you'll get more pie fights, if you like over-intellectualization, you can do that too. It is a win-win-win. The only one left out of the deal is...
Chaoslillith, because I'm going to under-bid her.
Because I have an advantage. There is a cost, granted, but that mostly just involves overly-long comments and diaries. But I do have a kind of secret weapon that makes me just that much more qualified to be the new authority, to establish the environment and atmosphere of calm candor in pursuit of serious goals we are looking for, that is what binds us all together as the world's most successful on-line democratic political community.
I'll tell you about my super-special-awesome powers at the end, though. You have to wade through yet more of my blathering to get to it.
All education is indoctrination. A controversial declaration (one I picked randomly to show the point without pissing anyone off too much.) It may be insulting to educators. But essentially it is true, to a rhetorical approximation, and might in some context have real meaning. What purpose a person has in saying it is important, but how important, if it's utterance causes distress? How much distress, and why? Are we even allowed to ask?
MB dropped the ball, big time, when he posted a guideline allowing anything which could be construed as an "insult" to be HRd, without following up to ensure that the related guideline that no comment that has anything which could be construed as an insult be recommended was being equally enforced. That's an impossible standard, ripe for abuse and gaming; it is nothing but permission to bully as long as your side is the more socially powerful. I expected when I first read that message that most TUs would recognize the fallacy of the principle. Particularly since MB illustrated it so well by absolving the terms "Clintonista" and "Obamacrat" as if no insult could ever possibly be intended by their use.
The problem we have isn't with banning. Both autoban and administrative intervention are functioning successfully, if not perfectly. The problem we have is the connection in the minds of the TUs between hiding and banning. That needs to be directly addressed, and I think will do the most to change the environment, so let me put it first. That doesn't mean it is the top priority; all of these guidelines must be balanced by good judgment, not a fixed order of priority.
Meta meta moderation guidelines:
0. Don't take offense. It doesn't matter how readily it is given, with very few rather obvious exceptions, you are not required to take offense. Hiderating is primarily for preventing insults to other people and other groups, not you and your group.
1. A comment can be HRd for three reasons:
I. It is a tip jar to a diary which is distastefully bad AND would qualify to be HRd if it were a comment, OR spam.
II. It is a comment both apparently and entirely* intended to insult a specific person or group AND not in a diary or thread to which you're contributing.
III. It is a comment made by a HOS troll. Note that general TUs cannot unilaterally determine who is HOS.
*Note that comments which merely contain insults do not qualify. It does not matter how direct or purposeful the insult is. There is (as always) allowance for judgement on the part of TUs. If the insult is so explicit and/or vicious that it can be reasonably determined that the comment or diary is simply an excuse to provide the insult, then it should be hidden.
2. Comments in threads which have become escalating-insult pie fights should not be recommended, no matter how much you agree with them regardless of their HR status (special exceptions can be made for notable use of style in such exchanges). TUs should show great caution in recommending any comment which contains offensive language, base insults (note that sophisticated insults are judged separately), or even excessive snark. It may be entertaining, but snark is cheap. TUs must show extreme caution in recommending any comment that has been hiderated by another TU (uprating), but this caution should be balanced by how strong the case for the HR is (see 1, above.) This rule does not apply
3. With the singular special exception of HOS, the rule is that you HR the comment, not the commenter. Retributive HRs or HRs accompanied by insulting responses (see 4, below) are forbidden. Kossacks are not required to be respectful of any other Kossack in any way, but should do so voluntarily in all cases.
You'll notice that so far these posting guidelines roughly mirror but clarify one issue: the idea that suppressing "pejorative" words, or even pejorative comments, is the way to encourage civilized debate. I will admit it is counter-intuitive that allowing more insults in comments will lead to fewer insulting comments. But a lot of things are counter-intuitive, including language itself.
4. The traditional and official practice of posting a response explaining an HR should be abandoned. If a TU believes there are circumstances requiring explanation, they can post a brief reply giving relevant information, but should not engage the contributor or their comment, or reply any further except to clarify their call if requested by other TUs. Ideally, an open diary should be available to discuss moderation issues (see below) and any discussion should occur there. TUs which have themselves been HRd should not question the call unless and until the comment is actually hidden. Quoting text from the offending comment should be avoid.
5. In order to encourage the maximum benefit of threading which the DK system can provide, do not reply to tip jars. They are there for tips and donuts only. If you wish to reply to the diary or the diarist generally, please use the "Post a comment" textbutton. Replying to the tip jar leads to unthreaded sequential comments which can lead to multiple kinds of problems, including difficulty collapsing the thread, identifying conversation topics, and recognizing the sequence of responses.
So now for the part about my edge, the reason I'm just a little better at dealing with moderation than most people, and how Kos can take advantage of it. I realize there are a lot of Kossacks out of work who need and deserve a job more than I do. But nobody here, nobody anywhere, deserves this job more than I do.
More than a dozen years ago, just as I was making and losing my Internet fortune, I was diagnosed with ADHD. I know, I know. I hear a thousand of you (in my head at least) saying "well that figures; I knew there was something wrong with you." But while it leaves me, frankly, ahead of the curve in emotional health and intellectual ability, it does severely limit my employment opportunities. So I work cheap, and can start immediately. What I'm going to do is pretty much exactly what I've been doing, avidly, since DK4, and more sporadically before that as well. I'm going to keep an eye on the hiddens, and provide unrequested advice to anyone about how to best herd cats, spank fools, or stomp trolls. Because I've got time on my hands, and its entertaining. Once in a great while, its even a bit rewarding, at least temporarily. But that's not all there is to it.
What ADHD does, in terms of its cognitive effect, is really quite simple, but profound. It seems that the process of organizing, categorizing, and planning (and through that, scheming) is not a conscious one, as everyone seems to believe. It is neurological; a task handled automatically by your brain without you even being aware of it. I'm aware of it, though, because it is both notably lacking in me, and undeniably obsessively present in all of you. Putting people into boxes is your favorite hobby. I, on the other hand, have a far more difficult time simply reducing the world to categories and being done with it. My perspective shifts from context to context unbidden, leaving me relatively free of bigotry or malice. I'm practically incapable of holding a grudge. All of these things make me good at precisely what you are all bad at, and vice versa.
So I hereby volunteer to be Daily Kos's new Top Moderator. Every week, I'll publish a diary where I'll document (without exacerbating) whatever's going on in the hiddens, so that other TUs, and even non TUs, can have at least some idea of how the task of moderating DK is actually going. Lack of feedback was a problem with the mojo system long before active moderation was abandoned. And of course active moderation hasn't been abandoned; you just can't go squealing to MB. But now, if you want, you can come squeal to me. You can even argue with me in a way that only the assholes could argue with MB, since I'm never going to have Admin power. If this becomes a real deal, I'll send a message to Admin as necessary to have someone manually banned, if I think it is appropriate, but I'm never going to be the one pulling the trigger.
That's another thing my condition does for us. I may like a bit of adulation as much as the next guy, but I'm seriously not in this as a means of getting or exerting power; a backdoor way to make my particular political tastes the de facto standard of the hivemind. I don't have interest in power, wouldn't know what to do with it if I got it. I just want to get buy, and enjoy the ride. Which is why, despite my need for an income, I'm willing to do this as an Intern on a trial basis. I'll do the job for three months, for free. If after that you want to pay me a living wage (I'm used to family charity, and have no kids, so I can live pretty cheap), then you do that. Obviously at any time if Admin wants me to stop, just let me know. If at any time anyone else wants me to stop, you can go suck a lemon.