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Posts posted by Joshy
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I'm going to take the hit and hide the rest of it. I'm sorry. While we were talking about it... looked okay ish might be relevant enough, but it took a turn towards a bad direction. If you want to reword it please think about some of the earlier suggestions focus on a topic/process and try not to make it about a person.
I think a good topic related to that is talking about the standards for server managers and how to hold people accountable if they are doing something that is not right (or doesn't look right).
edit:
I put some guidelines here.
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I'm going to hide a few posts. Moderators are looking at the posts. It might take us a few minutes to think about what is being said and if we're being fair. A lot of this is gray area no right or wrong answers and so it's hard. It's okay to use the "report" feature. I don't recommend backseat moderating (just heard that term the other day-- wow wee).
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Looking good!


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Something that might be helpful with some of these ideas or challenges or is addressing them one by one in separate threads. Let people have a concentrated take on it and spread it out over some time; note that some strategy and political maneuvering might be necessary if you want to make something of it. Despite the bad timing it looks like some people agree with you on some of those topics... by the time April comes around you might be able to swing yourself to the top and really have a say on it. I think something else you pointed out too... some council members were able to gain Server Manager roles during their term (one of them even grew into a Division Leader)... I don't think it would be a stretch for you. I really think a practical solution is staring you down; I hope you take advantage of it. A bit of other good news is it looks like a lot of people can relate to you and it seems to me that most of them have been able to recover despite their past stumbles.
🙂
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.bf 5000 h

🙂 Always a special treat
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Was getting to that. Thanks! You may have noticed some posts were hidden.
It's a very touchy and hot topic. For that reason people react more strongly to the comments made here compared to a lot of other threads. I personally have a strong preference for leniency, but the team has decided on a direction they are going to be a little bit more critical of low quality content. We're all trying to be consistent with each other; we're also trying to avoid warnings if we can although it's still a possibility.
The reason for keeping this topic open is we want to be transparent and allow people to voice their opinions and perspectives that have been brought up.
Example of low quality content that might be hidden is something like (just making fake examples here)
QuoteIt's just a game. Get over yourself.
Something else that might be hidden is something like this
Quote*insert very thoughtful sentence or two here* but you're kind of a dick and nobody likes you
A good strategy to not get tangled in that is to really think about what your posting. Try not to make it about a person; focus on a topic. Try not to name and shame. I think that will help a lot. You can also talk about your own experience too say for instance maybe you applied for a position and you felt that your application was more carefully vetted than others.
I think a few good things that could still be talked about is like:
- Application process for team positions.
- The flow or process if you don't get along very well with a council member or team leader.
- Demotion process where do people draw the line
- Accountability for people in higher tiered positions making not very good statements (are there are higher standards for them)?
- Opinions about the council rework and its direction.
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Thanks. Christmas itself was good for me. Loved your last thread. Got all sorts of great gifts this year.
So far as the other topic goes...

Let's keep it in there and not have two threads about it. Welcome back!
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I'm not sure about Duck's chances after a thread like this, but probably a good reminder if anyone has something they want to work on or change I think the next community representative election is around April. If elected, then they would have a seat on council and have a say louder voice on some of these topics. It apparently worked really well for some of the people being discussed in this thread and I even heard that some people who may have been demoted or banned in the past did well in the last election 😉 ; so: maybe some of the applications aren't totally dead in the water.
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I wish you didn't post this.
I think you bring up a few good points in areas we can all work on. Some of these problems we're already working on it. I think any of the ones lacking progress could have been very constructive 2-3 threads in the proper areas with some time (you don't want to drop all of your grenades at once). I'm not sure if any of these are eye-openers revealing a totally broken community.
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Do you guys have any new year plans? We were chatting about pizza in Discord and my fiance and I want to just eat a ton of pizza and feel painfully full at the beginning of 2021. It's going to be that spinach and feta + garlic one. We were also looking at pictures last year and couldn't stop laughing at some of the pictures that were like "bbyyeee 2019 you suck! Hi 2020". Good laugh! I hope I can get another haircut too wow wee my hair was shorter then and had it cut in March, but it's so long again.
Some pictures from last year

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Maybe someone can try Ash suggestion do it with their own server then bring it to GFL if it shows promise-- can help it grow further? I think we've had a few other servers do something similar although can't point my fingers to the exact ones (I think it was CS:S). Is hosting a minecraft server expensive?
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I'm going to move this to suggestions to see if it can get more attention 🙂
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1 minute ago, JerryBomb said:
I got airpods, whole GFL website smells like broke rn
also a big book filled with classical sheet music. As a pianist, this made me excited
My fiance wanted to buy me airpods, but I told her to save her money. She bought clay instead and made some
it was cute.
I'm not very good at the piano, but I like it. My twin bought me an electronic one with some headphones for it; also some music to play a little bit. I'll try to post a picture of those later.
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A follow up to the previous thread: What did you get for Christmas (or for the holidays)?
I did get a telescope. Pins. My girlfriend made me another calendar this year although most of the pages are blank this year. She's going to pain pictures on them throughout the year. The cover of it was a starry night and the first month we've been really into the Vampire Diaries... they make references about "blood from the vein" but we say "kissies... FROM THE VEIN!!!". There's a CD from Imagine Dragons I've been planning to buy; she got it for me first. She made a ring holder the outside of it looks like random circles to a regular person, but she tried making it a Smith chart (an RF engineering tool); the inside we make references to the stars often and so there's a pillow with stars. You might also notice my ring looks like it has some traces from circuitry.


I accidentally got @JGuary55's gift. I'm keeping it. I love having pins.

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Happy Birthday
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I moved this to off topic because it was a low quality post. It looks to me like an inside joke?
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Would it be possible to get more people who can undo the bad reps? Maybe forum mods or next Mod TL? That might help minimize the problem and still let people enjoy the features on the forums. I felt like I've heard a few people suggest that they might like the limit although I admit I can't think of their names off the top of my head. Maybe they'll poke out with this thread? I haven't tried undoing the reps but it looks like there is an editing button I haven't dared touch yet.
Is it possible to do it by time online increase their limit if they are on longer or do something like .timely where it refreshes every few hours?
I'd like to push on this because I think features like this actually enhance people experience on the forums and means a lot to them. I think the psychology of a like is very similar to what works on social media like Facebook. People really like it and gets them sticking around posting more. I'd aim to be introducing more features the forums rather than taking it away. Plus even if someone got a few extra likes 5 or 6 boo hoo what harm is done there? We already took away the other reps and I felt like other people were not too thrilled about that.
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What do you guys think of the reaction limit? I personally don't agree with it. I think in the rare case that someone is abusing the reaction limits, then they can be taken care of... let people like all the post they want if they like it.
If not that, then is there a way to increase the number based on the time online? I would imagine a limit of say for instance 10 posts might be tremendous number for someone who is on for like 5-10 minutes versus an active member browsing the forums for hours and liking a few threads they've stumbled upon.
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Would it be okay if we gave these hidden threads its own trial period? I feel like it's unfair for people to ask for a trial period on the visible applications when it was already that way up until recently... now that we have hidden threads seems to me like only a few weeks maybe a month? Now it's not okay for a trial period.
I think hot topics like these ones it's very hard to have a measurably "right" or "wrong" answer. I'm a very big fan of transparency. As some have pointed out before some of the threads do get low quality posts and harassment especially for more prominent members applying for roles. The consequence of that is that is we miss out on a lot of very active talent; the only ones who can make it through squeaky clean are actually "out of sight; out of mind" people because nobody has anything to complain about regarding them (they've done nothing). People who are more active like yourself, Amelie, become much more controversial because people have had time to develop an opinion of you, and I find that we are far more likely to hear complaints from the 1 out of 10 people who might not be a big fan... than compliments from the 9 out of 10 who adore you. I don't know why that happens. I think it's a very natural thing and I've seen in my retail experience the scarce few angry customers are far more likely to say something than the many happy ones.
I actually think in an odd way, that less visible applications might help with the transparency. You might not be able to see the applications as a members, but now that we've pushed out the 1 out of 10 who drag the applications down... we've created a pathway for more people to apply for roles with confidence. If you don't trust higher ups to make the decisions, then what better way to have a say in it than to have yourself and a few other joining these teams (diversifying the teams) and than having a voice on each topic. With the visible topics you'd only be able to see something; you wouldn't be able to say something. Wow. So I'd personally rather give you a means to have a louder voice instead of bigger eyes, and I think it would help bridge the large gap and barriers between member and "higher ups". What do you think?
I also want to give another hint too I think some of the other teams like Writer and Social Media... these are also really good ways to "get in." I recommend people start applying for it. They'll be included on the staff discord and I think they might even be able to see more on the forums too? I can't recall (can correct me on that). That staff discord we all say a lot of things in there too, and since you'll be a part of it you'll also have more ways to include yourself if you want to be involved too.
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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
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6 minutes ago, Pyros said:
I'm pretty sure that if you refresh your browser or change posts and go back (clicking again on the link) it count as a new view. I can be totally wrong on this though.
I think you're right. The take away I meant was that hidden applications are a new thing.
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Do you know of other (successful) places where they make their application public? The previous places I came from they did not have public applications. A few places I have visited didn't even have applications... it was by invite only.
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I think the hidden applications thing is very recent. A "trial" period does not make sense to me since we just got out of the public one.

It couldn't be any sooner than September 23rd for sure, and I'm pretty sure it was still public for a while after too. Absolute maximum 3 months if we assume the post above was the last time someone posted on an application? Just right before I became a forum moderator other applications were still visible.
A little more possible evidence even on more recent applications. Look at how many views those threads got that are allegedly only visible to high tiered staff? I have to admit I'm pretty skeptical.

Maybe it would be a fair idea if we gave hidden applications a trial period?
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I can see them now, but a few a weeks ago when I wasn't a forum mod I could still see them.
edit:
Yeaup. Became a forum mod November 26th so not even a whole month yet
I think the applications did become more hidden like a few days maybe even a whole week before hand.












Meeting notes - 29 December 2020
in Moderation Team
Posted · Edited by Joshy
Moderation Team Meeting
Date + Time: 29 December 2020, 7:15 PM Eastern
Where: Moderation VC
Attendees:
@Ben
@Joshy
@Shuruia
@Salad
@Bue.
@Lachaine
@Fafy
@BlazingArson
@Harakoni
@jarm323
@JGuary55
@Serenity
@TheThirdReaper
Agenda Items:
[FORUMS] Alt. Accounts
A recent incident occurred on a person making alts and posting in their own appeals. We should look and see if it is worth creating a rule that you cannot have more than one forum account.
General consensus: No rule necessary for alt. accounts. Would like if possible to include in reports alerts or a ping so that moderators are aware. The problem is not with having the alt. accounts alone, but more of what the person is using the alt. account for (their intentions).Post meeting (2 January 2020): This is under discussion. It appears unapproved alt. accounts may become against the rules.
[DISCORD] Division Specific Rules
Adding specific rules for the Division Discord to prevent unnecessary moments - for example, pinging server admins for absolutely no reason at all.
General consensus: Can’t contradict general/main rules ie. shouldn’t have a server that says they reject the racial slur rule, but can be Server Manager or Division Leader dependent to add more rules (Division Leader gets the final say). Examples where this might be useful is servers like HnS in main discord rules there’s nothing about “Ghosting” another person and so it would be reasonable for HnS to have a rule about Ghosting.
[FORUMS] Forum automation: Filtering Out Severely Bad Words
The IPS (our forum software) includes a feature about filtering out words. We discuss if it’s worth enabling to filter out severely bad words (e.g., racial slurs and words included in the docs for Discords). Thread link
General consensus: Agree to censor severe words such as the N-word (Discord list seemed to be suggested or supported). Other words such as R-word would need to be revisited. We did not want to issue warnings nor automatic warnings for it, but if it’s possible… would like to receive a kind of an approval queue if someone uses it so that it alerts the moderators that someone is trying to use that word. Person can get in trouble for skirting around the censor.
Specific Senior Mods
Discuss the possibility of having future Senior Mods that either tend to a specific section of moderation (Forums/Discord) or the possibility of having Division specific Senior Mods who watch over the moderators within a division.
General consensus: This received support although would like to keep informal no specific title or role for it. Promote people in specific channels or area to Senior as a kind of “goto” person for those Discords. People made it very clear “Senior moderator does not equal global moderator.”
[FORUMS] Retaliation or Harassment Rule
This usually happens on ban appeals. There area lot of reports or request us handling maybe if somebody has a short burst of anger they might reply with a curse word or something like that ie. “Joshy is a b***h” we’ve loosely tied the rule to harassment. Maybe we can probably ease up and hide the post instead of a warn; if a warn, then maybe have an extra rule for retaliation, but something that is more clear for those circumstance rather than loosely tie it with and use harassment. Sometimes fuel is being added to the fire with a warning and maybe one small outburst might explode or continue downward with our intervention.
General consensus: No extra rule. One time outburst should be tolerable (more lenient no official warning) although case-by-case depending on the severity. Can use next section on "user notes" if there repeat offenders.
[FORUMS] Report Categories
Would like to update report categories.
General consensus: Would like to add a "lock and close" for things like Ban Appeals and Applications.
[FORUMS] More Moderators
Would like to see if we can add more Forum Moderators. From his comments: “I’m curious if we can take on more people (like 2-3 more by the end of January). I agree we have good numbers to run on nominal flow and the work is not hard… other positions such as senior mod when they open up we will have a very limited selection to choose from in the future.”
General consensus: “Okay” supported. We discussed the idea of about 2-3 more moderators. Not urgent or a hard number (if there are no good applications we don’t have to accept). Ben said applications can be opened. We don’t want any lingering or old applications so process might be about 1-2 months no longer. Applications that aren't accepted will be closed.
What actions outside of GFL constitute punishment in GFL?
If some GFL Member calls some other GFL Member “a f*****” in some non-GFL Discord, then they report it to a Moderator in GFL, what is the policy? Tell them it’s out of our reach? Punish them in GFL as if they said it in GFL? There are no official guideline on this. What if they do something more extreme like post gore in a safe for work [NSF] Discord? This wouldn’t just apply to Discords, obviously. Game Servers, Community Forums, etc. are probably ripe for the picking too. The assumption is people will answer “do this case by case”... but there can still be guidelines, and especially for the extremes cases.
General consensus: Ben plans to write a thread on this. It will go through the chain of command: Report it to Senior Moderator, then Mod TL, then Council. We’re not expecting for this to happen and also very case-by-case as noted in the description. Example brought up was people DMing others to advertise another community. If the intention is to hurt GFL, then might consider something with Council involvement; but could also be like on a server where everybody has hopped off and just suggesting to a friend to hop on another server for the time being (technically advertising another community server)… then not a problem.
Other topics?
Several decisions were made on Discord moderator applications. Names were scrubbed for public notes.