Poll: Reasons Boingers don't flag

[nimelennar]

Continuing the discussion from Why don’t you flag?:

All right, we’ve all had some time to cool down, and we have lots of feedback to build a poll now (in fact, I had to consolidate and trim it down to 20 options; I had to trim the joke response “lack of reading comprehension is not a flaggable offense,” which makes me sad).

Can we please limit this discussion to trends, instead of specific actions, or specific members/moderators? Going back-and-forth about whether specific post deletions and bans were warranted were what led to the highly-emotional discussions that eventually got the previous thread closed down.

So, first, the multiple-selection version.

Which of the following factors contribute to you, personally, not flagging more posts on the BBS? (Choose as many as apply):

• lack of feedback from mods
• collateral damage / It gets threads shut down and victims banned for fighting back.
• mods react too harshly
• mods don’t react harshly enough
• mods are unpredictable in how they’ll react
• disagreement with the actions taken as a result of previous flags
• already flagged into oblivion
• new members get flagged/punished more than regulars for same bad behavior
• skimming through/avoiding hot topics and/or arguments
• restricting flags to people who aren’t sticking around
• live and let live
• don’t see anything that bad / If I am not immediately compelled to flag it for gross abuses, I’ll usually just keep scrolling
• doesn’t change the assholes
• benefit of the doubt / can’t remember user’s posting history to put comment in context
• leaving the wrongness be as a memorial to wrongness / even some odious posts are actually teachable moments
• difficulty in determining if something is genuinely flag-worthy vs. something I find personably objectionable.
• the vast majority of everything posted doesn’t bother me enough to flag, and I’d always rather err on the side of letting things devolve into flamewars (well, not quite) rather than sit at a dreary tea-party of rigid ideological conformity
• snitches get stitches
• I just figure arguing is how some people have to come to an understanding
• don’t want to disrupt the wonderfully wandering nature of conversation here

Show results

Now, which of the same factors is the primary reason that you, personally, do not flag more posts on the BBS? (one selection only):

• lack of feedback from mods
• collateral damage / It gets threads shut down and victims banned for fighting back.
• mods react too harshly
• mods don’t react harshly enough
• mods are unpredictable in how they’ll react
• disagreement with the actions taken as a result of previous flags
• already flagged into oblivion
• new members get flagged/punished more than regulars for same bad behavior
• skimming through/avoiding hot topics and/or arguments
• restricting flags to people who aren’t sticking around
• live and let live
• don’t see anything that bad / If I am not immediately compelled to flag it for gross abuses, I’ll usually just keep scrolling
• doesn’t change the assholes
• benefit of the doubt / can’t remember user’s posting history to put comment in context
• leaving the wrongness be as a memorial to wrongness / even some odious posts are actually teachable moments
• difficulty in determining if something is genuinely flag-worthy vs. something I find personably objectionable.
• the vast majority of everything posted doesn’t bother me enough to flag, and I’d always rather err on the side of letting things devolve into flamewars (well, not quite) rather than sit at a dreary tea-party of rigid ideological conformity
• snitches get stitches
• I just figure arguing is how some people have to come to an understanding
• don’t want to disrupt the wonderfully wandering nature of conversation here

Show results

Let’s keep this cordial, everyone, please!

[TailOfTruth]

Just an interesting note (I forgot to add this to the other thread before it dissolved into a tit for tat shit fest) but I due try to give benefit of the doubt to certain flaggable posts. For example when a new user posts a affiliate link in a non spammy way instead of flagging I’ll usually just PM them myself and let them know in a friendly way that they can’t post comments along those lines on the BBs. PMing instead of flagging is something I’m trying to do more frequently these days, on a case by case basis of course.

[adonai]

As someone said the other day, 95% of the time anything awful is already flagged due to time differences. I’ve flagged a couple, helpfully it’s almost always people who’ve still got the coloured letter as their icon. Generally if they can’t be bothered to change it (massive generalisation) then they’re more likely to say something dickish in bad faith rather than just have said it clumsily or have further points they need to elaborate on.

[popobawa4u]

I only ever flag posts when I see explicit trolling or personal attacks.

Why I don’t flag is because somebody happened to post an opinion which I find disagreeable. People are accountable for their external actions, not their internal values. For example, if somebody said “I hate queerness and think it’s completely wrong.” I would be content to say “That’s your opinion, and I am sorry that you feel that way.” But if they verbally attacked me over it I would flag their post.

The problem is that it is really easy and comfortable to preach to the converted, but beyond creating a fuzzy feeling of community it does not accomplish much. Not unlike an easily-offended “church lady”, many people in their ideological camps dislike being confronted with ideas, opinions, and attitudes which conflict with those they profess to. And rather than having an interesting self analysis and probe of the other to discuss WHY it is easier to make it all go away. To suppose that continually re-questioning and defending our principles isn’t interesting or worth the trouble. But to me it often looks like angry fits by those with little strength to their convictions. It misses out on seeing this process as an opportunity.