Calendar
Network
Feeds
Should Sphinn Admin And Moderators Be Able To Desphinn?
As you know Sphinn Admin and Moderators have privileges that Sphinn members don't have. For example Sphinn Admin can remove/delete or edit our submissions. Don't know whether moderators have the same power, but i know for sure they can edit our submissions.
On the other hand, we as members can Sphinn, Desphinn or report spam.
For psychological reasons, which might be well observed by Admins and moderators of forums and social media, the Desphinn or similar actions of Admin and moderators carry much power and more influence (especially on new members) than the Desphinn actions of members.
I.e the Desphinn action of Admin and moderators might be equal in its effect to 5-10 Desphinns of members. Such Desphinn might stop members, especially new ones, of Sphinning the desphunn submissions.
Therefore I wish to ask; in the name of fairness shouldn't Sphinn Admin and moderators decline voluntarily of Desphinning?
18 Comments
Comments
I don't agree that an admin or moderator desphinn is more powerful than an ordinary one. The authority the mods carry here is primarily based on their own names within the industry. TBH aside from Rob, Michelle, Tamar, Brent and Matt - I don't know who else is a mod at the moment. I think I checked the list once when the site started and haven't bothered since.
New users definitely wouldn't know who was a mod here - they don't have markings on their profiles - so I can't see that affecting their decision to sphinn a story anymore than a normal desphinn.
even now i am still not sure who the mods are. I didn't know Tamar was a mod. It is not an issue.
I don't know and don't care. Also I don't look to see who sphunn or desphunn for me to make my decision, that simple.
A list of Admins and Moderators can be found here:
http://sphinn.com/staff.php
except for the admins, I knew about 2 of the people on the list being mods around here, not counting tamar. Goes to show...
Harith ain't you got a job to do or something?
No.
I dont see why mods should decline desphinning - these guys have some serious SEM Online marketing skills - if anything I would be disappointed if the mods didnt desphinn poor articles.
They are probably better judge of quality than most the population that visit sphinn on occasional basis.
Folks,
Thanks a bunch for posting your comments. Highly appreciated.
However, its my comments policy to require "Sphinn Love" from any kind Sphinner posting a comment on my threads :-)
Sooo.. pls. go ahead and pay your dues :-)
- NickWilsdon
- neyne
- semscholar
- evilgreenmonkey (thanks for posting the links of Sphinn Admin and moderators)
- nsmseo
- DLPerry
- rishilakhani
ok sometimes something isn't spam but it's just low quality or plain sucks. Do you think an admin/mod should just kill it? Seems a bit harsh and drastic to me so I'd desphinn it. Don't see how that's a big deal.
If a mod/admin Desphinns a post, it may give newcomers the impression that they should also want to hold-off on Sphinning. Maybe because they want to feel accepted. They may not want to 'rock the boat'.
I kinda hope ppl would be smart enough sphinn/desphin for themselves and make up their own minds and not blindly follow me or anybody else, but you know I'm funny like that. ;-)
@SpostareDuro if the mods/admins were easily identified that MIGHT be the case for some newcomers. However, as is pointed out above, most people here don't know who they are and even fewer newcomers will have an idea of who a mod or admin is. So I don't think that's really a concern.
To take it even further, if newcomers are going to be swayed by the actions of others, maybe we should take away the desphin option completely? And while we're at it, let's not allow people to sphinn things either because newbies might decide to follow the pack and promote something that's not worthwhile.
1 person said that.
test- deleted by Harith
GrayWolf,
Lets take a look at an example from real life
Matt Cutts Unsubscribing To SEOmoz !!!
http://sphinn.com/story/61053
In that thread the subject was discussed in a friendly manner. Rand chimmed in posting the feedback of SEOmoze.
However Sphinn Admin started a Desphinning campaign (unjustified IMO), just after I submitted the post, by these words:
"If people wanted to know everything that Matt says on Twitter, they would follow him on Twitter.".
You yourself (a Sphinn moderator) Desphunn too, by few words:
"lame this is not news"
Though the submission wasn't under "News" but under " Topic Type: Discussion"
No wonder to see janecopland Desphinning just because:
"In other news, SEOs jump on bandwagon! Three-exclamation-points-in-a-row!"
Such attitude from Sphinn Admin and a moderator (you) not only discourage people like me of submitting posts, but maybe hundreds other members of doing the same. Was that Danny's intention when he created Sphinn? I doubt it.
I see no problem with Sphinn admins or mods desphinning stories. We're readers here, too. I've desphunn, and I fully intend to desphinn again, if I disagree with a particular story. I have enough faith that the Sphinn community members will individually make their own decision.
And yes, it was news that Matt unsubscribed. I'll comment more on that in the other thread.
The problem is less about mods being able to desphinn (I have no problem with that) and more about the perception that the mods and admins own this house, they make up the rules, and whatever they say goes. Then what role does the community play in deciding who is banned, and which stories make the front page?
In the past Rob got into hot waters by deleting a story by Andy Beard deemed too "self promotional." After all was said and done, the consensus - which Rob agreed to - was let the community decide. That's one reason I believe Desphin UI was introduced - to lighten the load on the mods and to increase community self-regulation.
At the same time, the recent bannings highlight the fact that the mods are still holding most of the cards and that if you take one false step the mods will enforce censorship, either by launching a desphinn campaign or by terminating accounts and deleting every single comment a member has ever posted on Sphinn.
What is even more troublesome is the fact that those moves by mods aren't based on clear guidelines but a "common sense" guideline that's wide open to interpretation and potential abuse. For example if I exposed some nasty secret about one of the mods (no I'm not implying I know any, I don't), a mod may ban me for violating "common sense" guidelines. That's possible because there's no rule on Sphinn that says a mod can't get away with that.
So the message is clear: go with the flow, don't make waves with the mods/admins. To some that may mean if 2-3 mods desphinns a story don't go near it with a ten foot pole.