As long as you understand the conflict of interest.
Perhaps moderators should not post on threads they are moderating. Simply disuse up threads to different moderators.
Let me rephrase. Considering the current set up, and the platform limitations, this is technically impossible. 
As mentioned in our Community Rules listed above, the mods do not moderate threads they participated in. The PF may be a bit different as we only have 2 moderators and they are active contributors. Nevertheless, we ask them not to moderate flags that are very close to home.
1 Like
Credit where credit is deserved. I have experienced one of the PF mods who both acknowledged and apologized for the perception I had of a possible conflict. Class act!
They are passionate and human and I think it is easy for all of us to get carried away on the PF.
6 Likes
I feel the same way about the Forum Champion title. While I’m considered a Forum Champion for the UCs, I am hardly a forum champion in other subjects. I feel like the title might somehow give my comments more weight than it deserves in those other subjects.
2 Likes
Well…as long as you brought up forum champions…it would be very nice if the forum for which they are champions was listed!
8 Likes
That’s a great idea!
I think the PF is a great addition to the CC experience. It may not be part of the core mission, but many core topics involve politics that get silenced, so it is nice to continue those discussions “privately.”
I participate because political analysis has long been a hobby. I come for perspective, and I give perspective. Twitter is great for timely news and reading statements from the horse’s mouth, but detailed and unique perspectives are hard to find amongst all of the garbage. CC’s PF is amongst the best.
I like that it has evolved to be the lightly-moderated forum it was intended to be. The moderators do a great job.
I have opted out before due to bullying, but that has mostly eased. To me, these are the biggest issues, including one that I was rightfully called out for recently:
- Treating the forum as a courtroom in seek of “the truth” instead of a discussion of different viewpoints
- Referring to politicians or their supporters as evil, cultish, stupid, idiotic, etc.
- News aggregation. I personally don’t care what an article says. I want to know the poster’s perspective.
By nature of being a college forum, there is a built-in bias because only 1/3 of the population graduates from college. Even further, there are universities with 20k+ students that get zero participation in the core forum (the reason I am not super active in the core), so whether this is an intended niche of CC or due to lack of interest on the part of those universities’ students/parents in such a forum, the bias is even more pronounced. This can drive opinions and groupthink, but I imagine there is very little in the way of targeted actions that can alleviate this. The issue is much more systemic.
To the participants, I would encourage them to PM if something really rubs them the wrong way. As nuanced meaning can get lost or misinterpreted in text messages, the same can happen here.
4 Likes
@OhiBro I have always appreciated your posts and your response here is generous. However, what stands out for me is:
I have opted out before due to bullying,
Many posters have opted out due to feeling “bullied.” An additional issue is that those who make some feel that way, are posting elsewhere, so the vibe of CC in general is altered, at least for me, by the PF. I am coming on CC less and less and primarily come on for essay reading at this point.
9 Likes
honestly… I am not a fan of the articles posted. Many times they are opinion pieces or written by very left or very right sources. Don’t feel like clicking and then tons of ads pop up or clicking and the source wants me to create an account and get my information.
3 Likes
I can say this is true. I felt like this a year or so ago. I believe I posted that I wouldn’t be voting for Biden because I didn’t feel like he was competent. I was ripped apart for voicing my opinion (which I clearly said was my opinion) by a certain poster who seemed to do nothing more than speak to anyone who didn’t align with their views. What happened is I just stopped going to CC all together.
10 Likes
That’s endemic across the site. I find posts that contain only a link to be of little value. If a user thinks a link is important enough to post, at the very least they should include a couple of sentences as to why they posted.
7 Likes
For all those who have experienced what they perceive as bullying, especially if this came from a specific user, can you please send me a PM detailing the experience? It seems this is common feedback from several users and I would like to look into each of those specific cases.
We may want to instate a process for us to kick out users who develop a pattern of bullying other users in the PF. Of course, this mustn’t be use as an opportunity to go after people who disagree with.
2 Likes
My personal opinion is that the political forums should be eliminated due to the apparent effect on the site as a whole. The benefit of channeling political issues away from “regular” moderated threads seems to be less than the harm of the occasional vitriol in the PF. The PF was an interesting idea but instead of reducing toxicity on CC, it seems to be increasing it. And, again, students come on CC for support and may witness all this.
7 Likes
I have stopped coming regularly on CC because of the bad taste in my mouth from some posters I consider “bullies,” and I have turned off notifications.
@CMCMLM, as per my post above, can you please send me a PM detailing the experience?
But evidently it’s a potential “money maker” from advertising revenue. So,……
I wouldn’t go that far to call it a “money maker” haha. We will be adding ads on there, but the revenue will most likely be symbolic.
This is an unfair statement. Someone needs to keep the lights on. However it’s obvious the admins don’t place that above the user experience, otherwise this thread would not have been created by a… wait for it… admin.
8 Likes
Actually, I think it was a true statement.