zlacker

>>bluu00+(OP)
Moderation is the hardest, most subjective problem on the internet today. Plus, it doesn't scale well. Part of me wonders if the way we design the forums themselves lend itself to this problem. Is there a way to design forums so that the need for moderation is lessened or unneeded? I think the answer is no, but I'd like to think it's yes.

>>madrox+Fx1
I'd like to think that too—it would be so much easier—but I'm pretty sure the answer is no, and I think I know why. It's because the moderation problems are all traceable back to the fundamental things we struggle with as human beings. Pain and misunderstanding in relationships, mostly.

I do still have one optimistic belief about this, which is that groups have a kind of consciousness (call it culture) and that this can develop over time, and get more organized. To the extent that that happens, moderation is not needed so much. Moderation is there to try to provide the organization that the group can't do for itself, so it's always a substitute and not a very good one.