The only moderator assigned specifically to the Religion subforum is Skinwalker, who hasn't been active since February, and even then was only here for a brief moment following a several-years absence. We need someone there. So, please, consider adding "Religion" to one of the mods' job titles.
New Mod for Religion Subforum
- Thread starter Balerion
- Start date
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Terrible idea. That would lead to people getting banned for expressing their religious views.
Hell no.
But I am nominating him.
I'll volunteer if you're desperate. My online time and motivation has been patchy. My life situation changes next year (finished study, starting work), and I don't know if that will make me more or less available.
I've been an infrequent visitor to the Religion forum, which will make things a little difficult to begin, but I'm also not bringing in prior bias.
I have a some amateur background in Christian theology, mostly RC, and atheist philosophy. I know little about Islam, and less about eastern religions.
My moderation style varies between laissez-faire and benevolent(?) dictator, although I'm trending more toward laissez-faire these days, because I find that crushing the problematic posters can result in a boring forum. The most annoying posters also seem to generate most discussion, although the signal-noise ratio can be a problem. (I have experimented with splitting up threads to move the most excessive noise and sidetracks out of the best threads, but it's time-consuming, and not always possible to do effectively.)
Who are the most active posters in religion?
How much interventional moderation do you think is necessary?
Are there any particular threads which could use attention now?
I've been an infrequent visitor to the Religion forum, which will make things a little difficult to begin, but I'm also not bringing in prior bias.
I have a some amateur background in Christian theology, mostly RC, and atheist philosophy. I know little about Islam, and less about eastern religions.
My moderation style varies between laissez-faire and benevolent(?) dictator, although I'm trending more toward laissez-faire these days, because I find that crushing the problematic posters can result in a boring forum. The most annoying posters also seem to generate most discussion, although the signal-noise ratio can be a problem. (I have experimented with splitting up threads to move the most excessive noise and sidetracks out of the best threads, but it's time-consuming, and not always possible to do effectively.)
Who are the most active posters in religion?
How much interventional moderation do you think is necessary?
Are there any particular threads which could use attention now?
Thanks, Pete. Hopefully James R can be contacted to either make you or another mod the permanent fixture of that forum.
To answer your questions (and I agree that annoying posters tend to bring out some interesting discussions, though there are some notable exceptions):
1) I would say Q, Mazulu, myself, wynn, and a handful of others post there often. The rest of the ranks are filled in sporadically by posters like lightgigantic, Jan Ardena, Grumpy, and Hapsburg, who can all post frequently over short-to-longish periods. (You might see Jan Ardena post five times a day for a month, and then not again for a month, or more, for example)
2) Enough to keep Mazulu's baiting/flaming in check, as well as stopping the random preaching of certain members when it gets out of hand. As you can imagine, it's a bit of a heated forum at times, and giving us the traditional leeway Sciforums is known for is appreciated. But when a poster's sole purpose is disparaging others (as is virtually always the case with some posters) then intervention is necessary.
3) Wherever cslewis posts. Here's an example. He just spams passages from this ridiculous "Urantia" book, virtually always with nothing else in the post. That constitutes preaching, in my opinion, as well as spamming, and those posts should be removed. As should the member posting them (but again, that's just my opinion)
You threatened to ban me for saying that dark matter could make an afterlife possible (by providing the particulate matter necessary to create it). In any even, I'm playing around with the idea that perhaps there is a reason why dark matter is invisible. I'm toying with the idea that in the earliest ~10^-37 second of the big bang, there were particles created that have supremely high energy content (perhaps 1000's of TeV). The electromagnetic force is implemented by virtual photons. But what if EM virtual photons transmitted between dark matter have frequencies that are so large (f~10^37 Hz), that they pass right through regular matter. Why? Because there are no features small enough on regular matter for a f=10^37 Hz virtual photon to interact with.
Bells, I truly am sorry for the pains that you moderators have to suffer. An example is below --you Post this :
And in response you get this:
Again, you people have a "hard row to hoe" - religion and politics do not partner all that well with true science - hang in there!
And in response you get this:
Again, you people have a "hard row to hoe" - religion and politics do not partner all that well with true science - hang in there!
It could have something to do with the centuries of persecution caused by Religion towards Science, it's only over the last century or so that it's started to turn the tables, which is where Religions are fuel by fear, fear of one very important point in regards to Evolution... Extinction. (It's odd that religion chooses to prove the concept of Evolution through their fear of obsoletion)
Litany against fear said:
If anybody is seriously interested in moderating the Religion subforum, please send me a PM explaining why you want the job, and what your approach to it would be.
Nominations of other people will not be considered.
Obviously, this requires that you're here reasonably regularly - at least every couple of days, if not more often - so don't apply if you don't have the time.
Also, if you're a person who regularly receives warnings or infractions, please don't apply. You won't get the job.
Nominations of other people will not be considered.
Obviously, this requires that you're here reasonably regularly - at least every couple of days, if not more often - so don't apply if you don't have the time.
Also, if you're a person who regularly receives warnings or infractions, please don't apply. You won't get the job.
Why bother with it ( moderating religion ) If only the atheists would stop insulting religion and the people who post religious post
I'd rather have a chainsaw suppository than mod the religion sub-forum. Geez...it be like walking into a tiger cage wearing a sirloin suit.
Hey Mac :wave: that would especially be true for you, but it would all be water off your back. You're way to chilled out to let the maniacs get under your skin. Hey everybody I nominate Mac for Director of Site Morale, and I second Pete's nomination to sling hash as Religion mod. As he deems appropriate of course. And hopefully with generous doses of wit from the likes of Mac.
It's too bad you're not around more often, AI. I'd gladly run your campaign!
Bells
Staff member
Nope. I didn't threaten to ban you for your gibberish in claiming that dark matter was proof of the afterlife, which is what you tried to claim. Frankly, if you wish to make yourself look like a stupid fool on this site, you are free to do so.
I threatened to ban you if you persisted in posting hateful and threatening posts to anyone who wished to discuss anything scientific or to anyone you believed was an atheist, not to mention for your trolling across this site.
If only religions didn't insult, degrade, debase, diminish, disgust, oppress, and indoctrinate people, there wouldn't be insults towards it.
Yazata
Valued Senior Member
Sciforums has an area labeled 'Philosophy'. It's divided into a general philosophy forum, a (highly politicized) ethics forum, the religion forum and an eastern philosophy forum. It seems to me that one moderator can probably cover all of them, and needn't be a religion moderator specifically.
Addressing the religion forum specifically, I'm not convinced that it's in need of more moderation than it currently has. It's true that the signal-to-noise ratio there is extremely low, but that's true all across Sciforums. All Sciforums fora face the challenge that they are populated by laypeople and are driven in large part by ego-battles.
I'm not really sure that a moderator can do anything to change that, short of banning all of Sciforums current participants and importing a new collection of university graduate students to replace them.
I'm a little concerned that if the religion forum gets a new and more activist moderator, that moderator won't have any formal background in religious studies either. Even worse, the moderator might have views of his/her own that he/she subtly or not-so-subtly favors while moderating.
Maybe the best solution is laissez-faire moderation that only intervenes when it receives a complaint. That seems to be what's happening there right now.
Bottom line: If it aint broke, don't fix it.
Addressing the religion forum specifically, I'm not convinced that it's in need of more moderation than it currently has. It's true that the signal-to-noise ratio there is extremely low, but that's true all across Sciforums. All Sciforums fora face the challenge that they are populated by laypeople and are driven in large part by ego-battles.
I'm not really sure that a moderator can do anything to change that, short of banning all of Sciforums current participants and importing a new collection of university graduate students to replace them.
I'm a little concerned that if the religion forum gets a new and more activist moderator, that moderator won't have any formal background in religious studies either. Even worse, the moderator might have views of his/her own that he/she subtly or not-so-subtly favors while moderating.
Maybe the best solution is laissez-faire moderation that only intervenes when it receives a complaint. That seems to be what's happening there right now.
Bottom line: If it aint broke, don't fix it.
I think God would make a good moderator.
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