superstring01
Moderator
So you favor a more authoritarian approach as opposed to a democratic system?
Yes. I also favor it where I work (show me a company where you get to vote for the next manager) and in the Military. This says nothing for what I want in a government apparatus.
You could even set a rating system to pertain to only individual threads so that if you get enough poor ratings you will be locked out of a thread.
I think that, that may be desirable but I'm not sure if the system can do that. I'll have to pass the word on to Plazma
I just dont trust a single person to remain objective in matters of politics or religion.
It's a good thing that we have three mods in Politics and three more admins who supervise them.
I realize that other mods have voted for new mods, but doesnt that just create an elitist club and turn us non mods into a lower class of posters?
You're allowing notions of democracy and society to creep into how a website is run. For example, employees in a company don't get to choose who becomes the next manager, do they? Again, it would become a popularity contest. You can't run a hierarchical structure from the bottom up. It won't work.
Again, this website isn't a democracy and there is no proof that it would be better run if Plazma and James had to worry about getting voted out of their position for the decisions they make. I liken this place to a private restaurant. I have an aunt who owns a German Club/Restaurant. Nobody gets to vote her in and out of her own property. She owns it. Yes, it's important that she have satisfied customers, but that doesn't mean that the mass dictates to her how the restaurant is run.
If the only people in a community who had any say about how the community is run are the leaders of that community, how can you ever hope to meet the needs of the larger community as a whole?
Again, you're allowing your notions of how a real community outside this website is run to creep into your notions of how a website should be run. I have no say-so in how this website is really run. I can make suggestions, but at the end of the day, it's Plazma's call. There are communities out there where you get to vote on every matter. They exist. This place is not one of them. The opinions of this community are considered in the decision making process, but it is not the sole deciding factor for how it is governed.
Is it wrong to want that? No. But it's also a bit silly to join a private website, and then demand that its owner give up his private property for public rule. I've said this for a while now: Plazma has a distinct management style, one that incorporates the desires of the community, this is probably due--in part--to his personal style and because it suites the sub rosa purpose of this forum as a whole. I'm not saying that he--or his "boss"--is up to no good, but it's obvious that this community serves a scientific purpose. Part of this purpose is understanding human behavior. By joining this website, it's important for you to know that you do matter, but that it's still private property and that fact isn't about to change anytime soon.
~String