Welcome to The Hiddens, an ongoing series of diaries unofficially discussing and documenting moderation activity on Daily Kos for the benefit of the TUs (Trusted Users) who affect it, the Kossacks who are effected by it, and the public who may be curious about it. My name is T. Max Devlin, please call me Max, and I will be your facilitator. As indicated, all opinions and claims made are unofficial and my personal perspective. Contributions of all types are encouraged from the entire DK Community, and all its parts.
One important note I'll share from ace TU aoeu:
At DK3 one could see replies to one's own comments even if hidden through one's hotlist. At DK4, not so much. If you would like to see it as a non TU sees it then logoff and look again. Alternatively you can open another browser and look. My primary browser is FireFox and is always logged in. I can open IE and see what a non-TU sees simultaneously. It's the only way to tell if a common is really hidden.
To be honest, I wasn't aware of this. Since most of the contentious stuff I'd like to see go away is often in the threads in reply to the hidden comment, it makes some difference in how my suggestions might effect things. But I don't think it changes much, really. There are still questions; was my link to that comment a CM violation, since technically it is hidden as the reply to a hidden? The public embarrassment of TUs ridiculing someone who can't read their comments might be mitigated, but if DK was originally dedicated to nothing but ridiculing people who disagree, it no longer is just that, I hope. TUs should still not be replying to hidden comments (or comments that might become hidden!) and if extensive discussion is called for, it should be in some place like The Hiddens, not in the regular diary threads. IMHO.
Today's edition represents the one week anniversary for The Hiddens! So far so good, I think. As far as I know, this is the first look non-TUs (and the general public!) have been able to get at what stuff is going into hiddens, and perhaps the first many TUs have learned as well. I'm not sure if the handful-a-day of incidents I've been reporting as they occur are far more than most people expected, or far less. Post your perspective on that in the comments.
I think this is perfectly true:
But unless certain groups first grapple with privilege and take a good hard look at it - it will continue and it will never "transcend".
I think the author of that quote should be aware that 'certain groups' includes the one the author is a member of. I think every group here needs to grapple with their privilege, the privilege they have to shut down contentious and contrary opinions using both community and social moderation (and, of course, the cause of most of the issues of moderation the author sought to address, the bullying combination of the two.)
I've been a bad boy. Let me tell you about it, then we'll get to the records.
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