Subject: Can moderators block objectionable text? |
Bible Note: Thanks for responding, Mr. and I emphasize Mr., Angel :-) I quite agree with you that it would be helpful to be able to eradicate grossly offensive posts quickly, or better still, to pre-empt and dispose of them before they ever appeared on the pages of the Forum in the first place. The first option involves the installation of sophisticated software and the re-writing of complicated programs of which I know next to nothing and do not presume to understand. The second option involves flesh-and-blood full-time moderators. Both are expensive and neither guarantees a perfect, smooth-running Forum. The Lockman Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that makes it fiscal way in the world by sales of Bibles and by gifts from supporters of its mission, which has always been chiefly the translation and distribution of Bibles. ..... There was a time when I felt that this Forum should have a live moderator (or moderators), but having thought the matter over carefully I now am convinced that there are at least as many talking points in favor of not having a moderator as there are for having one. For example, how likely is it to be able to find a moderator who was totally unbiased, knew Scripture thoroughly, and was absolutely reasonable and fair in all his decisions? And on the matter of having the ready capability to erase a post: Lockman has this capability, as I've stated before, and has used it very sparingly for two reasons: (1) The process under the existing system is painstakingly cumbersome and time-consuming and (2) in the four-year history of the Forum, the occasion to use it has arisen extremely rarely. ..... My conclusion: Given that Lockman's chief raison d'etre is the translation and and distribution of God's word, and given that Lockman is a not-for-profit organization and does not have unlimited financial resources, I'd much prefer that they continue with their main mission of translating and putting Bibles in the hands of spiritually hungry people across the world, using their financial resources chiefly in this endeavor, than to dump more funds into questionable schemes in the hope of streamlining Study Bible Forum. The majority of users of this Forum are responsible adults and dedicated Christians. We can help ourselves and improve the quality and usefulness of this Forum at the same time by shouldering our responsibility to abide by clear Forum guidelines ourselves and report offenders who do not. Lockman through the years has been highly responsive to requests by "law-abiding" users to deal with abusers. No matter how much sophisticated equipment is installed and no matter how many moderators are employed, this Forum will never rise above the level of the quality of the people who use it. Not many of us are geniuses and not any of us knows everything about God's word, but all of us can be kind and loving toward one another on this Forum, all of us can be honest in all we say and do, and all of us can take the clear guidelines seriously and abide by them. And I saved the most important thing for last. All Christians on this Forum can pray for one another and pray that God will use StudyBibleForum.com to his eternal glory. --Hank |