Discussions

Hi all,  
 
As eBrandon enters a new year and continues to find new and innovative ways to connect local people with information that's of interest and value to them, just a friendly reminder about how you can chip in to help should you ever notice a classified ad or discussion forum post that's clearly against the rules or even potentially in extreme circumstances the law. Even though 99% of posts and people are awesome, human nature makes in inevitable that we will have to deal with the odd post or person that makes use of this site in a way that it isn't intended for.  
 
For those not familiar, this site is moderated using a three tiered system....  
 
The first tier is of course myself being as proactive as possible in reading the site and identifying postings that are in clear violation of the rules. While I can identify a lot of stuff, as one person it just wouldn't be humanly possible to analyze and identify all possible angles when we're talking about a site that has in excess of 1000 new content postings on many days. This is why there are two additional very important tiers...  
 
The second tier is a group of anonymous regular site members (“The eBrandon Moderation Council”) who are setup with the ability to “flag” inappropriate posts. Based on their feedback and a system specifically constructed to best make use of that feedback, posts can and are removed without any action or intervention by myself. This second tier system has been an unbelievable success in that since it's been put into place, it's identified and addressed countless posts that needed it and I can't remember seeing more than maybe one single false positive.  
 
The third tier and the main reason I thought I'd make this post is the “report this” link that you see next to every classified ad as well as each and every single discussion forum post. As part of this tier, any reader of information on this online community (not just registered members but anybody with the same access that they have to read postings on the site) has the opportunity to play a part in the process. If you ever notice a posting that you think is in violation of the rules (or even potentially the law), your click on the “report this” link is very much appreciated and goes a long way toward alerting myself of posts that may require review by sending a message directly to me via email. When a report is sent, it doesn't just send me a message but it also sends me all of the specifics I need to look into the situation... and the more reports the better in that based on the report system I've constructed I'm more likely to be alerted to something instantly based on how many people have reported it. These reports are also important because as a human being with a human being life to live (eat, sleep, movies, other commitments and other lifely stuff), contrary to what a few might think I'm not sitting in front of the site 24/7 reading every single word before you have a chance to read it That wouldn't be possible, and to setup the site in that way would severely limit it's ability to allow people to sell their items at a speed they have a right to sell them at and would severely limit its ability to allow people to have a free-flowing discussion in the forums. Still, no matter what I'm doing these reports make their way to me and are a big part of addressing anything that might require it in as timely a manner as humanly possible.  
 
The third tier has worked quite well and I've received a lot of great and very helpful reports (which by the way are kept between myself and the person doing the reporting), but in my opinion it can always work better with even more participation from others that read the site on a daily basis. Whether in real life or online life, a common issue is the “bystander effect,” whereby many people simply assume that someone else will notice and report something inappropriate.. but just to re-iterate, with every separate person that submits a report it goes that much further toward escalating any concern based on the system that I have in place.  
 
And while I'm grateful for the tons of support I get every day from folks who use this site, to the odd person that might complain about moderation or a decision that they feel may not have been made on a post that they feel didn't belong, a slight re-work of the common phrase around election time that “if you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain” applies.... if you haven't taken a few quick seconds to report something that you've read and passionately feel is against the rules (or even the law), it looks really strange when you complain.  
 
As an aside, I'm sure most have read the rules as anyone signing up for an account over the last several years agrees to having read them before registering, but for anyone that would like to have a read they're at www.ebrandon.ca/forum_rules.aspx  
 
Thanks to all that make this site a part of their day and to all that help in keeping it run as smoothly as it does. If anyone has any questions about the reporting system and how you can report a post, feel free to ask but as usual I won't be getting into general debates on moderation, the rules, etc which are outside the scope of this thread. As usual if you have questions on those topics, feel free to drop me a PM so that we aren't taking up a discussion spot.  
 
Cheers,  
Adam