Passing the D20: The BBS is Leveling Up with New Moderators

Hello, all!

I am overjoyed to announce that the BBS is taking its first foray into community-led moderation with the appointment of no less than three new moderators from our pool of leaders!

These three will have full authority to moderate all parts of the BBS in addition to myself. I genuinely look forward to having a direct way for community members to influence moderation decisions here as well. The community’s voice matters, and these three have the ability to take direct action when needed, which will hopefully help avoid the sort of blindspots that are inevitable when a single person handles moderation alone.

At my suggestion, the three volunteers have chosen to use alternate accounts to preserve their ability to continue to interact on the BBS independently from their moderation responsibilities, a tradition harkening back to our great Luckdragon that preceded me. (I, on the other hand, have no friends, so it doesn’t matter that everyone knows who I am!)

Moderation is a complex and unforgiving responsibility, but also a vital one to any vibrant community. I am extremely thankful to each one of our new mods for their willingness to give their time and effort to keep the BBS a happy place for all mutants.

So with that, please welcome @Community_Mod_1, @Mjolnir and @Sekhmet to the moderation team!

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Welcome Aboard Hasan Minhaj GIF by Patriot Act

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Moderators old and new, we salute you!

Seriously, this is a good thing. Moderation of this site has grown far beyond the capabilities of one individual, no matter how awesome.

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Oh dear — in the past I have thought of each flag as a sort of private conversation with Ken

Now who knows who’s going to see them :scream:

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Ken and three other people. It says so just up there :point_up_2:

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… they could be anybody — I could flag you and then you could end up moderating it :confused:

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Well really, that shouldn’t affect your flag. You’re flagging because in your opinion, someone is violating the guidelines. Who it is doesn’t change those guidelines, after all, and I’m not about to select moderators that I expect to go on a rampage because they get flagged. Despite two of them being deity- or deity-adjacent. :wink:

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But that could put @Tamsin_Bailey in the awkward position of having to ban herself.

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If it was me, I would simply accept the punishment. I’m not one for ridiculous loopholes or paradoxes.

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The method of procedure – to give a general outline – was as follows. Each voter took an ostrakon, or potsherd, wrote on it the name of that citizen whom he wished to remove from the city, and brought it to a place in the agora which was all fenced about with railings. The archons first counted the total number of ostraka cast. For if the voters were less than six thousand, the ostracism was void. Then they separated the names, and the man who had received the most votes they proclaimed banished for ten years, with the right to enjoy the income from his property.
Now at the time of which I was speaking, as the voters were inscribing their ostraka, it is said that an unlettered and utterly boorish fellow handed his ostrakon to Aristides, and asked him to write Aristides on it. He, astonished, asked the man what possible wrong Aristides had done him. “None whatever,” was the answer, “I don’t even know the fellow, but I am tired of hearing him everywhere called ‘The Just.’” On hearing this, Aristides made no answer, but wrote his name on the ostrakon and handed it back.

Plutarch, on Aristides the Just

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Which of them are “A.I.” moderators? /s Gizmodo(et.al) have just switched over to all ‘A.I.’ moderation and it’s already gone pretty negatively bizarre. Someone tested using a Shakespeare quote and got their comment immediately “rejected”. …certainly do not envy any human moderators their task. good luck!

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But Doctor, I Am Pagliacci! :sob:

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Season 5 Drink GIF by Outlander

Thanks to all who volunteered.
Thanks for giving us your precious time–it is the one thing that is beyond price, and thoughtful mods are the glue of any good bbs. Been there.

Steve Buscemi Thank You GIF by The Webby Awards

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Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not AI.

I’m pretty sure my colleagues aren’t AI either… as far as I know. :wink:

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Ridi!
Vesti la giubba!

People Applause GIF by MOODMAN

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That’s just what an AI would say! :wink:

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I don’t know, that was fairly easy to comprehend.

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That’s just what another AI moderator would say.

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@Community_Mod_1, @Mjolnir and @Sekhmet - thanks in advance for your moderation efforts!

GIF by RealityTVGIFs

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Ask it again, I bet the answer is different.

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