Quick Mod Announcement

Aloha, DART!

Virt, Mike, and I are pleased to inform you that Castin has been brought on board as Assistant Moderator for Special Cases. She will be dealing with cases or users in which Virt and/or I are recused or in cases where our involvement would be problematic. To expand a bit more on what her role will be, Castin will handle these cases by evaluating them, then making a recommendation on how to proceed to the unrecused mod who is then bound to implement her recommendation barring any egregious disagreement. In cases where both I or Virt are recused, she will be the final deciding moderator on the case. Virt and I will be obligated, moving forward, to inform her whenever we recuse ourselves. Castin will not be handling vote reports, as Tej is available for those issues.

Castin is a user who, in a very short time, I have come to respect greatly, and I believe the site shares similar feelings. She is polite, level-headed, and insightful, and I trust her judgement as a now-moderator. I believe that she is an amazing addition to our team, and we are all incredibly happy to have her on board.

For the record, the moderation team is now:

Welcome aboard! 

Oh great.... get ready to have to post naked people... 

Another bsh clone.

Questions:

1. What "binds" a mod to her decisions?

2. What is "egregious disagreement" and why does this excempt a mod from this binding?

3. In what way are mods "obligated" to inform Castin of recusal?

4. What is thepenalty for the mods for violating this process?

5. Is this a change in the current process where recused mods still get involved, or will that continue regardless?

Frankly, I think the answers to questions 1-4 are fairly self-evident. As for 5, this process involving Castin will supplant the existing system of handling recusals. 

Umm...?

The bots ruining DDO was the best thing to happen to my online life, like ever.

This site, even though the admin is a faceless illuminati spy, is genuinely what I wish DDO had been all along.

This site is not putting people in power who seem like a good corporate investment but instead people who seem like a good social pleaser. While this attitude will prevent me from being mod, it is a much better method than the former. I have seen too many communities online get demolished by corrupt teams of rule enforcers, where only those who seemed clinical or cold enough to not make any bold moves end up in power and then when the original mods leave or get bored, only sociopaths that charmed them are left in charge. This pattern is consistent and very few resist the urge to put easy choices in charge as opposed to passionate ones.

If they were self evident, I wouldn't have asked them. Furthermore the answers any individual self may think are evident may nevertheless be wrong. So:

LOL perfect addition to his bs team

Somehow I doubt that. But to briefly address the general gist of the questions: moderation has bound itself to these rules to ensure a fair process of rules adjudication. In this respect, it is not dissimilar to the previous system of handling recusals. However, we believe it to be an improvement because Castin will not be intimately involved with moderation in most respects, so she retains a great separation from moderation which will help increase the perception of and actual impartiality in addressing cases involving recusals. The 'egregious disagreement' override can only occur if a mod believes Castin's recommendation would be seriously injurious to the users concerned; and a mod can only cite this if they themselves are not recused in that particular case. I envision such an objection being extremely rare, because I trust Castin's judgement. I imagine that in such a situation a mod would consult with Castin to arrive at another, mutually acceptable outcome. Were this recusal-handling process not substantively followed or were Castin to have serious concerns about the integrity or fairness of moderation's handling of cases involving recusals, Castin could potentially raise those concerns with the general userbase.

Inside joke. When i talked about being religion mod on DDO... she recently made fun of me that i required people to wear clothes while they post online ;P 

Lol. Cool.

Listen, this is related b/c the announcement had this link: https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/812

Can you make announcement links or PM links clickable?

Also when is SeventhProfessor going to become Mafia Moderator? 

Excellent choice.

Castin is great. Glad she accepted.

Things are steadily getting better. Bummed that I have nothing really to complain about.

Good luck Cas!

This is good information. It is certainly not self evident to me that "egregious" means "injurious to the users". Thanks for clarifying. Last question:

Understanding that Castin informing the userbase of violations isn't actually a punishment, is it reasonable to infer, then, that there isn't a punishment for just ignoring Castin (purely hypothetical of course, as Castin is extremely unlikely to disagree with you).

I agree with that appearance, but I don't believe she would have chosen if there was less than the remotest possibility that this would be realized.

What the mod team needs is diversity of philosophy at the highest level.

No. Whiteflame is a sycophant by nature. The moment he gains power, he's a puppet on a string to those that help him keep it. He's a treasure when powerless, a nightmare when in power. He's best as a buddy, not a leader.

Well, we know that is never going to happen. This is America. Bsh1 is liberal and gay. His idea of diversity of philosophy will encompass only views that approve of his, as his lifestyle is also his politics.

But let's be fair. Your idea of diversity of philosophy would probably be similarly limited. For example, PGA2.0 would be an excellent choice for a level headed, honest mod who would ensure diversity of philosophy because he is a real theist (sorry virt) But if you were head mod, would you be able to stomach a conservative theist on your team?

The best we can hope for is moderate atheists like virt and Castin who will not be out and out anti-theists. Your diversity of philosophy differs from bsh1 only in that it falls in a different place, it likely isn't larger or more diverse.

bsh1 is removable, but at a cost I am currently unwilling to pay. So living with him seems to be the pragmatic option. The best thing to do then is to say and do the things that will make him better (or at least less awful) he has shown movement. That deserves concession on our part. We can fold, or play the hand we've been dealt.

I want to continue playing.

By putting diverse view points on an equal level, you necessarily broaden the overall philosophy of moderation. I certainly wouldnt deny anyone being a mod because of their religious beliefs, and you probably don't believe me, but the point is you don't have to because I suggest an arrangement where I couldn't make that decision.

You seem to want a single person in charge that checks all the right boxes. Sorry, but that's a unicorn, it doesn't exist. The most pragmatic solution is to have people with different view points placing checks on each other.

I certainly know that I'm too much of a firebrand to ever be selected, but we can do better than people that have and will continue to just defer to bsh1.

My impression of whiteflame is positive and has always been so. That is all I can judge by. Until he shows me something different, I will continue to view him positively.

That explains his hate for the religion channel and theists. 

He would deny any hate for theists in general, and any hate for the religion board too, but we know better. You are correct though that his worldview does explain his beliefs.

For the record I don't have any mod powers or access to the mod CP or anything of the sort. If this job came with that, I would've turned it down. I'm just a member whose judgment will be deferred to in cases where mods feel a need to recuse themselves. Most of the time I'mma be slummin' it as a commoner so don't expect me to not belch or swear, mkay. Life demands both if you ask me.

The first person who suggests that I am not cool because I'm now part of the "establishment" will have their severed heads mounted on the ramparts of my castle as an example to others who may be thinking about questioning my coolness.

Some quick Q & A's:

I made an offering to Satan obviously. Don't be naive.

They're android extensions of me I'm controlling with my mind.

Magic 8 ball. Expect a lot of "the future is hazy, ask again laters".

Everyone already posts naked, FREE YOUR MIND.