Well stated.

For the record, I am happy to step down as a moderator during my term on TalkBoard if Randy would like. I serve as a moderator based on his singular decision vs. on TalkBoard by the decision of many - so I'd be comfortable picking one over the other. (Sorry Boss! ;) )

My statement from three years ago was in regard to the fact that at that time, many considered TalkBoard as the body that would be setting a lot of policy and perhaps even policing the moderators. Randy came out at some point afterwards and separated the "powers" in many regards.

Having been a moderator of a forum affected by TalkBoard discussions (prior to being on TalkBoard), I can tell you there are benefits to having a couple of moderators on TalkBoard as we often can see the "flip" side of a forum issue (i.e. how implementation of a proposal might work or where problems might occur) from experience - whether its moving threads or having to deal with TOS issues.

I also think there are merits in having non-moderator members on TalkBoard. We had several very well-qualified non-moderators run in the last election. I would hope some of them would consider finding ways to serve the FT commmunity. That is how many of us initially ended up as moderators to begin with... but I'm happy to allow others to share in having an opportunity to give back.

As I've never been on TB and am not provided access to TB's deliberation forum, is it fair to take the above as meaning that TB has considered, does currently consider, or will consider proposing new FT TOS or removal/modification/clarification of existing FT TOS?

For the record, I am not currently of the opinion that moderators elected to TalkBoard should be compelled to resign one or the other position. After all, FTers voted for people to TB whom they knew to be moderators and that choice should be respected, respected as not being contingent upon TB members resigning their other positions -- particularly since such a standard was not established at the time of the election (or prior to it).

Actually I recall addressing your question in the top part of post 41?

In my year+ there TB has only ever had the last TOS re-write in front of it for info purposes, and any general input, prior to them being implemented.

Interesting (and thanks). :)

So then I'll take it that the TOS re-writes are initiated elsewhere and then may just be bounced off TB idea-wise before implementation.

I can only speak to the one TOS re-write during my time, and that was pretty much the case there. And that instance was over a year back. I gather it was the first major overhaul for quite fair while and a couple of Mods volunteered to get an overview drafted and in place.

We placed accepting it to a vote and the result is on the public record:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=520581

Glen

Many people who care the most about FT serve as moderators and I don't really see why they should have fewer rights than other members when it comes to running for TB.

In case others feel differently, disclosure prior to voting -- as was clearly done -- provides those folks the information they need to decide their vote.

This appears to be most people's view now, but it is still interesting to see how heated a topic it was three years ago!

I'd prefer not to limit people's choice about who to vote for frankly. If the majority of FTers who vote don't want a Mod as a TB member, then they won't be voted for - but so far they have been (most recently, the top two places in the last election were taken by mods), so I'd say the majority of FT members don't see it as a particular problem - and after all, when it comes to it, that's what is important when it comes to electing TB members.

No... that wasn't necessarily what I meant.

I can think of a few issues that TalkBoard deliberated in the last session that affected a forum I moderate.

For example, one centered around "special interest" travel. I watched those threads (what I was exposed to with the rest of the general public) with great interest because decisions on allowing/disallowing particular special forums - and the parameters that TalkBoard set for them - could potentially affect how existing forums are utlized.

In other case, creation of, consolidation of, or removal of existing forums affects how we moderate as well, particularly when we need to guide users to the correct forum for their thread/post. All dining questions used to be moved to dining, for example, and now they are moved to more navigable regional forums. That affects moderation (although not in the way "forbidden discussion" kind of way).

And I think this is the real answer to the issue. Based on the questions/answers I have seen (from the public forums as I'm not privy to any of the private ones), it seems that while TB may affect moderation, that effect is NOT one of changing how moderators do their job. Moderators will still move/lock/delete/etc threads and posts just like they have always done based on direction from Randy. TB recommendations may change where or if a moderator needs to move something, but not change how they do it.

Based on the posts here, there have been a few times where TB has been asked to provide recommendations on TOS related issues, but it seems those times have been at Randy's request and he is the one that still ultimately makes the call.

The only place I can see any potential issue would be that if elect too many moderators to TB, we might miss out on the diversity of background that could be achieved by having a more balanced split. But this is the same issue from voting too many members from one geographical region or from any single demographic. We can give FT and Randy the best recommendations by having a TB that can bring many diverse opinions, backgrounds, and experiences to the table. But as I stated earlier, I don't think this is something we should "add a rule" about, but it should be something we should be cognizant of and educate ourselves on.