While I absolutely agree with the general concept of freedom of expression for ALL and that dgolds is quite correct in outlying the actual primary impetus for the new moderated format, please recall that Randy has himself already tried to address this particular issue, headon, from the very outset in his efforts to bring the very best of all possible worlds to FTers worldwide!
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Randy Petersen:
I too find In The News to be quite valuable. I don't think there's a better clipping service at any price on the web for a topic as specific as ours is.
As for the moderators, I can tell you now that as long as I'm involved with FT i will fight against forums that want to dicuss whether moderators are using good judgement in moving threads. I thought I made it very cleear that the next few weeks would be the development cycle of this program and we'd learn from the feedback - which is highly appreciated. But to form a long term forum for discussion of such will do everything to undermine their efforts. Ultimately the TalkBoard will moderate the moderators and i think we leave that to them. In essense they become elected officials which will hopefully and truly represent the communities efforts. It's all new, so let's not worry that everything may not be perfect yet. and at the end of the day......it's always judgement.</font>
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum73/HTML/000270.html
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In a sense, are there not in reality, some checks and balances? I think so, at least in that
WE kind of suggest, if not legislate the proceedures, Moderators enforce the adopted guidelines, and Randy & Co ultimately judge the Moderators!
Again, as I've previously noted, being a Moderator is a very critical and time consuming position, in which much effort is expended by well intentioned and personally selected voluteers! As I said from the beginning, it is not a job that I'd peersonally ever want - even if there were some form of tangible remuneration - but I would like us to ideally show support for our moderators and we can learn together how to make FT the best possible place for ALL of us! Thanks!