He who does not trust enough, will not be trusted.
-Lao Tzu
I trust no one, not even myself.
-Joseph Stalin
I have been a daily reader of this site since before the Iraq invasion. I am a subscriber, meaning I paid money to hide the Ads. This userid is in the 30k range but I have an older one in the 13 thousands that I abandoned when the username no longer appealed to my sense of self. I've established trusted user status many times when I've been inspired to comment more. That usually didnt last long. I'm a lurker at heart. Not a joiner.
I say all this to establish my credibility because presently I am "Un" Trusted.
I am "Un" Trusted and therefore I see something vital that trusted users do not see.
Namely, the moderated version of the site.
Longtime or permanent trusted users simply can't fathom how different the site is when you are not trusted.
Community moderation IS working. The trusted community just can't see it as well as those of us who aren't trusted because they are "burdened" by the task of moderation.
I am not minimizing the change in the experience of trusted users. Indeed, I can imagine your frustration by the increased workload of dropping donuts and arguing with trolls. I think the point being made by many that they feel they are ill equipped to deal with the storm without the powerful tools that Meteor Blades had is a crucial point. I trust the trusted users who are saying the task is beyond them and I trust the trusted users to propose solutions to this and I trust Kos to listen to them. This whole system is about trust. We trusted Meteor Blades and eventually we will trust what comes after him.
But trust me as well. I do NOT see a higher volume of hateful or trollish comments since the end of admin moderation, even in the biggest flame wars of the past week because they are hidden. I don't know how many trusted users there are. Maybe Kos will chime in and tell us the percentage. But I am guessing that an overwhelming majority are seeing what I see:
A meta discussion about hate and vitriol that is hidden from view, as it should be. In fact, without that meta discussion my experience 4 months ago would look exactly like my experience now.
Kos, if I can address you directly, in my humble opinion community moderation is working to protect the experience of the vast community of "un" trusted users. I am not letting you off the hook in regards to protecting your base, but I trust you to work through it. Indeed, this whole discussion is as much about improving their user experience as it is about moderation.
Good Luck.
Luke
Updated by apotropaic at Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 09:07 AM PDT
Rec list, eh. Bummer. There goes my cherished "un" trusted user status.
Updated by apotropaic at Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 09:11 AM PDT
indycam makes the point below that we can all simply log out to see what the majority of those here see. Everyone should try that and take a look at some of the major flame threads and judge for themselves how community policing is doing.
Updated by apotropaic at Thu Apr 21, 2011 at 09:18 AM PDT
Wee Mama also shares that we can hide hidden comments on our profile page.