Who are the Fluther "trusty moderators?" How many of them are there? Have they ever "censored" your otherwise free speech in this flutherworld?

I care (a little bit). This site would be awesome if it allowed a little more openness and freedom. There are other sites out there that are the same thing. If it gets to bad, you can always jump to another site. I just emailed a mod to ask a similar thing. Hmmmm.

a question about which users are fluther moderators was asked before, but i can’t find it :(. well let’s see some of them are: sndfreq, erik, richardhenry, soundedfury, sferik etc

edit – i forgot to answer the rest of the Q. they monitor comments that could be hurtful to others, or are plain stupid and causing unnecessary drama. they work hard, most aren’t paid and we are all very grateful to them.

Well, my question just got pulled. I understand…too vague. So I changed it and still don’t see it :-( They have guidelines (just like in the real word we have laws) that need to be followed. Without them…pure chaos!!!
Some of the mysterious people are…

@ beadholder – you found the link i was looking for!!

They have a chatroom. They have guidelines about questions that should be asked.

It is totally fine if someone has a stupid question deleted.

I did have one fairly harmless smartass answer to a technical question “removed by moderators” once, but that’s it.

I’ve only had one post removed that I know of, but it really did need to be so…. I wasnt upset.

I think the mods are very important and do a great job. Thanks guys!

I make smartass comments on a regular basis and some have been filtered, But i have absolutely no problem with that, If i did i would choose not to come here and THAT will never happen, I love this site and have the utmost respect for the people who make this site possible. As well as the amazing community that adds to the overall experience. If I was to weigh the pros and cons of fluther it wouldnt even be close. it seems to me that the only ones that have a problem with this site are the one who can not play nice with others. And as far as im concerned they dont add to the experience. And they are MORE than welcome to find another site that accommodates thier views and or attitude

Hello.

ok beadholder some good info on the link. John Powell some would say there are no stupid questions. Perhaps there is merit in some stupid questions however. Profanity or outright rudeness I don’t necessarily condone. I like this communitybut my experience is rude or harrassing people are almost universally ignored and it doesn’t take long for them to hit the road. I was just wondering.

You can also look at this and this to get more info on how mods think and act.

Hi Standswithacane; as one of the mods here, I want to take a moment to welcome you to Fluther! I think you’ll find that most people here have a genuine understanding of the sense of community, concern and respect for the “collective” knowledge we all share. The exchange of information, ideas, humor, empathy, insight, and hilarity are all values that we (speaking for the community) cherish; with that in mind, I hope you feel that your ideas and insights are welcomed here as well.

As for the question about moderators: we (mods) play a role in helping maintain the high quality of the site. Currently there are six moderators for the discussion forums, three more moderators for the chat room, plus three site administrators.

In short, moderators are fellow users, who at one point have been asked by the site administrators to assist in maintaining a high quality and standard of questions, answers and dialogue. We (mods) are not paid to do this, and the responsibility of monitoring is carried with utmost care and concern for each user’s time and contribution.

For the most part, the community does an excellent job of policing itself, and a major component of this is the function of flagging questions and responses if anyone feels that the information falls in the “gray area” of the Fluther guidelines (as johnpowell mentions above). Basically, the users above have put it best: the Fluther guidelines are the criteria by which we (moderators) use to help regulate the content of the site. When a question, discussion or single post has been flagged, it is sent to us for review, and we make recommendation as to whether the post needs to be moderated.

While your question is a valid one, it is one that has been asked before (see below). For reference, a quick search using the “Search” function at the top of the screen and using the keywords “moderator” and “free speech” yielded these relevant past discussions below; I believe they serve as a testament to the genuine concern and quality of the community, just as do the responses listed in this discussion. Some of these have already been mentioned above ^^.

(Note: the discussions and information in these links are views and answers of the users of the site, not necessarily the views of the site’s administrators):

http://www.fluther.com/disc/15346/who-are-the-moderators/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/16552/who-on-fluther-hates-it-when-their-question-is-removed-by/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/15237/how-can-you-appease-a-moderator/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/11860/how-does-having-a-fluther-question-deleted-make-you-feel/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/10036/fluther-moderators/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/9649/what-kind-of-questions-have-been-moderated-that-you-asked-while/

And discussions related to the general concern and quality of the site:

http://www.fluther.com/disc/9752/have-you-noticed-a-steep-degradation-in-the-quality-of-questions/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/8154/a-message-to-new-fluther-users/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/7817/how-do-we-fix-fluther/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/11303/i-like-fluther-and-all/
http://www.fluther.com/disc/9862/why-is-everything-being-moderated/

Lastly, If at any time you have a comment or question for the site administrators, feel free to use the “Contact” link at the top of the screen and let the admins know how you feel-they’re great at what they do :)

Again, welcome to the collective!

I have to agree with JP. There are stupid questions… (and there are stupid statements like “there are no stupid questions”)

I know, I know, bad delirium! Bad!

Here to help:

andrew — Andrew (admin)
ben — Ben (admin)
brownlemur — Carl
GD_Kimble — G
omfgTALIjustIMDu — Tali
sferik — Erik (admin)
sndfreQ — Jon
soundedfury — Charles
richardhenry — Richard

ok. Sndfrq lots of info on the links and I’m still going through them but my question still had original value and, if nothing provided you an opportunity to answer it once and for all, which it seems you have. I see nothing this thorough, as yet on any of the links. By the way, did you insult me first before you politely responded? I bet it was good. Delirium, do chickens lay eggs?

we all are mods. Anyone can flag!

@standswithacane – It’d be funnier sndfreQ insulted you, but alas, he simply double-posted.