I haven't actually been around here much since the software changeover - most of the bugs were never really sorted out, and I will say, as a tech-geek: it sucks. So I haven't really seen what the new "lesser" moderation is like. But I will agree with those that said the old moderation was simply too strict. I got so many warnings and alerts for really ridiculous nit-picky things. All the old policies that were a whole lot of double-speak drove so many of us to drink (well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). I really miss the days where we could just have harmless friendly banter in TAO.
I wonder - is there some kind of middle-ground between the loss of moderation that has led to nastiness and trolling and the previous uber-strictness?
I think this is what, as mods and admins, we're struggling with. Let's face it, with the old UA, we wouldn't even be discussing this at all. Lightening up the moderation was meant to encourage things like bantering in TAO. I miss that too!
But we are getting such mixed messages here. More moderation, less moderation. We can all be adults, there is too much childish behavoir going on.As for getting alerts for knitpicky things, well, yeah. We were kind of between a rock and a hard place with the old UA. There wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room to use our own discretion. Namecalling was namecalling, no matter what. Mentioning religion in TCAC was the same thing as striking up a coversation dealing directly with religious circ. So, I think the ability to have a bit more wiggle room and take into account people's intentions, not just words, is great.
I like that we aren't handing out reminders or alerts, just asking for edits if necesary and letting conversations take their course. There have been quite a few conversations where we used to step in and shut them down. Now I've seen some conversations that started out a bit scary, end up with people actually working through things, maybe agreeing to disagree, but still feeling they have been heard.
I truly hate the nasty meaness and accusations that are flying. I hate the idea that people really think the mods were in some way constructing a conspiracy to "get" some people. We didn't ever have time for that crap. Of course, now that we've got so much more time on our hands....Bwahahahahaaaa!
I would really like people to give us the benefit of the doubt. We still haven't settled in to the new platform and we certainly haven't settled into the new moderation style. We are working on it, though. It just takes time.
Thanks for posting that QOTM. and I do believe that mods were really working for the good of the board, and also constrained by an overly-rigid UA. But I will say, as someone on the other end, it was, at times, pretty easy to feel "conspired against" and persecuted. Especially when some threads - that really were harmless, playful banter - had mods assigned to watch over them constantly. Anyway, paranoia aside, I'm really glad to see that there's a healthy dialogue going on :) I'm sure we can all work something out that's healthy and workable for everyone.
). I know I've overturned a few, because I misinterpreted something. I think most mods are happy to discuss things up to a point. Then we usually just turn things over to the admins. That's why they make the big bucks! 
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