The moderators are a police force, yes, but we cannot be everywhere. In fact, we can't even be 10% of everywhere.
This is where you come in. If there's a problem happening that is bothering you, that you aren't seeing fixed by folks talking it out amongst themselves, assume that we -- the forum moderators -- are completely unaware of it. Use the "Report To Moderator" button on a post to point out the problem where it is most in evidence.
A few things will happen at the point that you do.
- We'll look at the post. It's possible we won't think it's a problem (at least not on the level of taking action). It's possible we'll think it's borderline, and will make note of it for future events. Or we could agree that it's a problem. Regardless of what we thought of it, we'd still rather you make the report than not.
- We probably won't reply to you to let you know what's afoot. That doesn't mean we're not doing anything, and it doesn't mean that we didn't appreciate it. We might, though, if we think we need more info from you specifically.
- If we think the matter needs to be examined deeply or a decision made, we'll have a private conversation among ourselves. We have no interest in giving problems on the forum a wider audience, and we want to avoid an appearance of "shaming" the folks involved beyond what might be necessary in the thread (such as a message to the effect of "Hey, X, Y, and Z, stop having this argument right now or what-have-you).
- If action is taken, we won't be publicizing the details beyond the minimum necessary, for similar reasons.
But at the end of the day, if that button isn't clicked, the whole apparatus of moderation may lie dormant. That's not good and that's not healthy if there are problems afoot. So please -- let us know.
