At the launch of Daily Kos 4 and the departure of Meteor Blades as moderator, Kos said that the users would need to take an active role in community moderation to keep the site healthy and functioning. Some folks took this to mean that trusted users should every donut every day. But a focus on hide rating as community moderation misses so, so much. The positive side of community moderation is open to all registered users. Not only that, it's fun! To take a look at the positive side and your (yes, your) role in it, join me beyond the swoosh ---
Geneticists like to say you get what you select for. The parallel saying in psychology is that you get what you reward. DK4 has given us many tools to reward what is good or gets us closer to where we want to go. Here they are, in no particular order:
- Recommending comments
- As you read along, pause a fraction of a second and click "Recommend." My comment recommends mean many things: thanks for answering, I agree, too busy to say more, Oh boy! and a variety of other positive things. Daily Kos says I've given over 88,000 comment recommends (counting stopped with DK4). I am generous (perhaps some would say profligate) with recommends and give out more than four for every comment I make. I tend to recommend any comment in one of my diaries that is civil and pertinent (and tend to feel somewhat the same way about threads a comment of mine has started). Perhaps this is too many, but stop and think about the diaries where recs are given generously. The tone in those tends to be positive and supportive, people in them are quick to offer constructive feedback or solutions - wouldn't that be a good thing in more diaries?
- Making comments
- Yes, this is a form of community moderation. Adding a quick, civil comment to a lightly answered diary, or a diary by a new user, gives reinforcement to the author and tends to increase the diary's visibility in the recent list. A diary that has no comments by the time it is 15 or 20 on the recent list is likely to fade. Think of making the first comment in a fresh diary as a chance to act as a miniature rescue ranger squad.
- Recommending diaries
- This one is obvious, but diary recommends have positive effects even if a diary doesn't see the Recommended list from a block away. Obviously a diary recommend warms the cockles of an author's heart (very reinforcing!) but it also shows up in the recent list as a little flag to suggest to others that a quick look may be rewarding. It also means that the diary will show up in your "Recommended diary" list, and folks may find it through that route as well. My diary recommends don't necessary mean that I agree with the author. It may mean that the diary was well written, or that it made an interesting case for something where I know too little to judge, or even that I disagree but think that it has made the clearest case for the point.
- Replying
- Up in your profile box near the top right corner, there is a replies link. This takes you directly to the recent replies to your comments. Sustaining a meaty conversation is reinforcing both to the participants and to casual readers (note: sustaining a tit-for-tat "Yes you did! No I didn't!" is not positive community moderation).
- Following authors and groups
- Following was presented as a tool for the user, and indeed it can be. The groups and people you follow will automagically show up in your stream, which makes it easier (not automatic) that you'll see the diaries you want to see. But it is definitely also a tool of community moderation: the authors and groups will get the message that someone has noticed them (usually a positive message, though there is always the revolving vase of doom (but yes, aoeu does follow people he likes, also)).
From
rebel ga: do something even niftier
When I find a really informative diary. Or a kossack who sells stuff, or needs help. I often incorporate their diary into one of my diaries on my home page. This way more people see them, get to know them and maybe can help them. I always say referenced by and usually, if I have the strength, give a link to them.
From
Villanova Rhodes: There is a theory, w/some evidence
from the justices, that the Supreme Court deliberately takes some cases every year that they know will not break down along partisan lines, and may even result in unanimous or near-unanimous decisions. (Not trivial, just not as contentious as others.) They do this because collegiality is so important to their overall enterprise. Taking some non-constitutionally based (usually statutory interpretation) cases allows justices to align who might otherwise never make common cause, thus lubricating the process for all cases and bolstering the institution. (Unclear whether it applies to the current Court, but seems historically true.)
The lesson I apply here is to deliberately visit other diaries (particularly community diaries) for the chance to rec up & chat with people with whom I might otherwise disagree. Clique-busting, if you will. Some might not agree with regular participants in the RKBA/nonRKBA or I/P wars, yet share movie or music references, life experiences, or food interests with them. We become real-ish people, less likely to be misread and more likely to react calmly to reasonable criticism. Sort of a non-substance-based social lubricant.
Share the Love!
Taken together, these positive forms of community moderation do far more to shape the site than the hide ratings do. Are you doing your fair share of moderating? Have I missed an important one? Take the poll!