Thread Placement Rant...

[Pat-n-Eil]

I hope this is the right forum to post this in.. I just don't know anymore.

Recently I've had a couple of threads moved by the moderators from the main Disneyland board to other topic areas. In my opinion, they have become too aggressive in their board moderation in this regard.

Today I posted a thread about how with only 12 days to go I was getting very excited about the trip and how it was all I could focus on. It got several good replies and then poof.. the moderators moved it to page 39 of the countdown thread. Now, instead of getting a good conversation going, it gets lost in the jumble of 967 posts and loses any momentum it had and any exposure for folks like me who like to keep things simple and consolodated.

My post certainly wasn't just a countdown post and tagging it onto the end of a super long topic like the countdown thread is akin to saying "this topic isn't worth looking at, let's throw it away."

Same thing with the trip report policy or the picture threads being moved.. I, for one, don't want to have to go searching in 6 locations to find these things. Why not let the topic run its course, then archive it on one of the "appropriate" thread areas after some period of time, like 30, 60 or 90 days. That way they can use their thread moving powers and utilize what they feel is a more efficient way to organize the board without alienating posters and burying posts into oblivion prematurely.

That's my 2cents.

:mad:

edit: Now I see they are moving any discussion about Finding Nemo subs to the "Finding Nemo Opening Day" thread.. I hate to tell them this but opening day is over and this ride is now in full operation. I wouldn't look there if I were tyring to find information about the ride today!

Maybe they need to post the rules for which topics they don't want in the thread at the top of each forum page and we won't have to waste our time.

[wwithers]

Funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing about the WDW board earlier today.

Sorry that happened. :(


eta: Just my $.02 but it just makes it more difficult to post responses...like in the "new" ADR sticky in the WDW forum...I don't want to troll through the whole thing to see whether or not there might be one question that I can answer...I'd just as soon not bother personally. Someone may have a question about strategies for getting CRT and someone else might have one about a totally different aspect like how to get ADRs once you are there. Consolidation is a GOOD thing when it streamlines things but this (IMO) doesn't seem to be the case lately.

[AVP]

I'm not a moderator but I am an admin, so I guess that makes me qualified to address this "rant."

First, if you have a question about a specific moderating action, it's always a good idea to ask the mods via PM or by using the "report this post" feature. That's the best way to get a response about your particular situation.

Having said that, we are currently looking at a plan to split the higher-level Disneyland and WDW fora into sub-fora that would create a specific place to discuss trip planning, and remove those discussions from the general "news and rumor" topics. But with only a single forum per resort right now, having 25 people with their own "help critique my ADR" and "Only X days to go!" threads means that the front page of each forum can easily be dominated by such threads.

That's why the mods are currently trying to merge those types of threads into a single place, so everyone who is discussing ADRs can have a single conversation, and so everyone who is counting down to their trip this weekend can do it in the same thread.

If you have some suggestions as to how better to split the fora, or great arguments against doing so, I'm all ears. You can post here or PM me. And, just to be ironic, I'm moving this thread to the Admin section where it belongs.

AVP

[Andrew]

Recently I've had a couple of threads moved by the moderators from the main Disneyland board to other topic areas. In my opinion, they have become too aggressive in their board moderation in this regard.
We don't discuss moderating decisions--and moving/merging threads is part of moderating--in public. Please contact any moderator or administrator if you feel a thread has been moved or merged in error--we're only human and sometimes miss things.


...they ...they ...they ...they ...they ...they

We are accessible either by reporting posts or PM. And nobody likes to be talked about in the third person.

[wwithers]

AVP, I really like the idea of separating forums into sub forums. That would be very helpful in organizing them and yet avoid consolidating threads that are only similar insofar as the larger picture. I would even argue that, in some cases, the more sub forums, the better (for instance maybe a sub forum for WDW resorts, then some sub- sub forums for "deluxe" "moderate" "value" and "off property").

I hope you understand that I'm not so much critical as somewhat frustrated (or, critical but not angry, if you prefer).

Thanks (you too Andrew) for addressing this.

[Leap for Joy]

Not a rant, but a request on the same topic... I know that when threads are merged the moderator often puts a small note under one of the recent posts. Those small notes don't always catch my eye, so I'm sometimes confused because a thread seems disjointed. If it doesn't create other issues, I think it would be helpful to have the merge noted as a reply post.

[Pat-n-Eil]

...And, just to be ironic, I'm moving this thread to the Admin section where it belongs.

AVP

Of course, because it is so clear where to post this kind of thing.

Maybe I didn't want help from the moderators so I didn't post it in the Admin area. Maybe I just wanted to vent a little and on every other board I've been on, that would be the lounge.

[Pat-n-Eil]

We don't discuss moderating decisions--and moving/merging threads is part of moderating--in public. Please contact any moderator or administrator if you feel a thread has been moved or merged in error--we're only human and sometimes miss things.



We are accessible either by reporting posts or PM. And nobody likes to be talked about in the third person.

Well Andrew, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you continue to publicly move threads as I described then you will be the topic of conversation. You may feel free to change "they" to "you" in the first post as you read the post if it helps bring the point home. I just wanted to mention that I feel this thread moving has become ridiculous.

[Pat-n-Eil]

One more thing - since the thread is moved and it doesn't tell me who moved it, how am I supposed to address that person in anything other than the third person. You can't over moderate and then get defensive.

[stan4d_steph]

One more thing - since the thread is moved and it doesn't tell me who moved it, how am I supposed to address that person in anything other than the third person. You can't over moderate and then get defensive.The moderators of a particular forum are listed at the bottom of the index page for that forum. You can also see the forum leaders listed on this page (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showgroups.php) via the link at the bottom of the main MousePad index page.

[cstephens]

edit: Now I see they are moving any discussion about Finding Nemo subs to the "Finding Nemo Opening Day" thread.. I hate to tell them this but opening day is over and this ride is now in full operation. I wouldn't look there if I were tyring to find information about the ride today!

I just read the thread, and I see the point. If I was looking for info about the Nemo sub ride, I wouldn't necessarily think to look at the "opening day" thread.

One of the things I really appreciate about this board is the consolidation of posts, so that there aren't 100 Nemo threads. In this case, might I suggest that a separate consolidated thread be started to discuss Nemo (how long is the wait time, which side is better, etc.) starting from after opening day? Opening day was a unique situation, so while there was obviously a lot of discussion of the ride itself, much of the other discussion really isn't going to apply to someone who's trying to find out about going on the ride now. Just a thought.

Oh, and just putting in my $0.2 that it's fairly confusing to have AVP post that discussion or suggestions on this particular topic are ok either by posting here or by PM, and then having the next post be by Andrew saying these things aren't discussed in public and should be done only over PM. Two completely differing official policy points doesn't make sense to me.

Thanks.

[AVP]

Oh, and just putting in my $0.2 that it's fairly confusing to have AVP post that discussion or suggestions on this particular topic are ok either by posting here or by PM, and then having the next post be by Andrew saying these things aren't discussed in public and should be done only over PM. Two completely differing official policy points doesn't make sense to me.

Thanks.I'll clarify.

There's no problem with a "Hey, mods, I was wondering what the general policy on XYZ" post / thread (we've seen enough of them). But if you re-read my post above, you'll see that I was actually soliciting input about a plan to split the threads, not comments about this moderating action. "If you have some suggestions as to how better to split the fora, or great arguments against doing so, I'm all ears. You can post here or PM me. "

However, specific questions about a specific moderating action "Why did you move this thread / edit this post / warn this member" are best handled by PM. We don't generally (and I'll readily admit there have been exceptions) discuss specific moderating actions in public.

Hope that helps.

AVP

[AVP]

One more thing - since the thread is moved and it doesn't tell me who moved it, how am I supposed to address that person in anything other than the third person. You can't over moderate and then get defensive.You can also use the "report this post" feature, which will send a message to all of the moderators, and the person who moved the thread can reply.

AVP

[evrythngwmn]

The moderators of a particular forum are listed at the bottom of the index page for that forum. You can also see the forum leaders listed on this page (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showgroups.php) via the link at the bottom of the main MousePad index page.

But the moderators do not work only on the forum they moderate. The Lounge for example is moderated by Stan4d_Steph yet AVP moved it. I have seen other such instances.

[stan4d_steph]

But the moderators do not work only on the forum they moderate. The Lounge for example is moderated by Stan4d_Steph yet AVP moved it. I have seen other such instances.It's true that moderators aren't limited to their specific forum. I was providing information in response to the question. Report the Post is the best way to inform all moderators at the same time, as AVP said above.

[Pat-n-Eil]

I must be blind as a bat, I don't see the "Report this post" link anywhere on this page. I even Control-F searched for the word "Report" and nothing..

How do I find that link?

edit: nevermind, I see it is the little red triangle next to the online status indicator.. looks like a white yeild sign.

[DorkySka]

I basically find the mods very helpful (Thanks guys), but my suggestion is simply that when someone does something wrong and a moderator must make a warning, a simple "please" would be nice. Sometimes these warnings come across as really mean when I'm sure they're not meant to be nothing greater than warnings.