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#Post#: 31144--------------------------------------------------
Being an Admin
By: Victoria Date: May 15, 2019, 10:09 am
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I am an admin of a Facebook group that abruptly swelled to 500
members and is still growing. The group is about the Method of a
popular Authority Figure. The Method is relatively simple to
understand but a bit complex in its implementation, and I've
stated in the rules that advice to the contrary of what
Authority Figure teaches isn't allowed. However, there are
several shades of gray and several areas open to interpretation.
There are even instances where Authority Figure's advice
deviates slightly from what Method is on its face when
extraordinary circumstances present themselves.
As a result of the fact that there are nuances, I have tried not
to "police" the group too much unless something is blatantly
going against Authority Figure's advice or Method. But I've
noticed that when I comment on a thread, it tends to be a
conversation killer, or people just end up liking the comment
and not saying anything else. I know that I'm not overly harsh
and I don't say anything like "My word is law" or "This is the
right answer, end of discussion" but I'm wondering if by
commenting at all (even if it's just "my personal opinion is X,"
I'm implicitly saying "Question answered, shut it down, next
topic."
I also wonder how much participation is actually appropriate for
an admin. I probably comment on 1 in 15 posts when it's an
opinion question or when the answer is a bright line rule from
Method, just to show that I'm still there. I'm trying to walk a
line between looming over everyone and seeming like I'm checked
out and not paying attention. I'd love your thoughts if you have
experience as an admin/mod, and particularly on Facebook where
we're using our real identities.
#Post#: 31167--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: Pattycake Date: May 15, 2019, 7:16 pm
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[quote]but I'm wondering if by commenting at all (even if it's
just "my personal opinion is X," I'm implicitly saying "Question
answered, shut it down, next topic." [/quote]
I am a mod on a page, but it's (no big surprise...) a crafting
page so not sure how much help I am, but I don't think that it
is implied that you are shutting it down. People may infer that
because you are the admin, you know LOTS about the topic and
take you as more of the expert, so drop it after you say your
bit, though. Do you think it might help if you said "my personal
opinion is X, but I would also like to know what others think so
please chime in with your thoughts!"
#Post#: 31200--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: Victoria Date: May 16, 2019, 8:00 am
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[quote author=Pattycake link=topic=1138.msg31167#msg31167
date=1557965797]
[quote]but I'm wondering if by commenting at all (even if it's
just "my personal opinion is X," I'm implicitly saying "Question
answered, shut it down, next topic." [/quote]
I am a mod on a page, but it's (no big surprise...) a crafting
page so not sure how much help I am, but I don't think that it
is implied that you are shutting it down. People may infer that
because you are the admin, you know LOTS about the topic and
take you as more of the expert, so drop it after you say your
bit, though. Do you think it might help if you said "my personal
opinion is X, but I would also like to know what others think so
please chime in with your thoughts!"
[/quote]
That may help, thank you. I think saying "My personal opinion"
implies that it isn't the end of the thread, but "Please chime
in" is explicit about it.
#Post#: 31203--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: Chez Miriam Date: May 16, 2019, 8:09 am
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Have you ever shut down a thread, Victoria?
Might sound an odd question, but many of us were active on a
previous etiquette forum, and whilst I could sometimes tell if a
Mod was adding to a discussion, often I couldn't...
If they used the phrase "move on", I was supremely unlikely to
comment again in that thread, even though the comment was never
aimed at me.
I often couldn't tell what had gone wrong to get a thread
locked, so I was often too nervous of causing that to happen to
risk making a comment that could be construed as argumentative
[which almost invariably meant I became the keyboard equivalent
of tongue-tied ::)].
Do you know (personally) any other members? You could PM one or
more to ask them to continue the thread, and so it would 'become
known' that you weren't shutting off discussion just by posting
your opinion/restating a rule?
#Post#: 31208--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: Hmmm Date: May 16, 2019, 9:11 am
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I'm actually wondering if you are the Admin of a FB group that I
belong to and has similar issues. Mine is for a diet by a Dr.
who published his first book about 20 years ago and it has since
been written and updated in different languages. There are also
different websites for different countries. Advice between all
of these "official references" is not always consistent since
some products are not available in different places and also the
advice has matured and modified over the last 20 years. So in
discussions you'll often see someone comment that someone else's
advice is not accurate. (Sometimes the advice is just plain
wrong, but other times it's because they are referencing a
different source.) And to make it more confusing, the Dr. came
out with a modified version of his plan a couple of years ago.
I've noticed that if the admin does chime in to a thread it will
often stop. So I do like the advice above of inviting others to
continue the conversation.
#Post#: 31220--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: Victoria Date: May 16, 2019, 10:52 am
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[quote author=Chez Miriam link=topic=1138.msg31203#msg31203
date=1558012145]
Have you ever shut down a thread, Victoria?
Might sound an odd question, but many of us were active on a
previous etiquette forum, and whilst I could sometimes tell if a
Mod was adding to a discussion, often I couldn't...
If they used the phrase "move on", I was supremely unlikely to
comment again in that thread, even though the comment was never
aimed at me.
I often couldn't tell what had gone wrong to get a thread
locked, so I was often too nervous of causing that to happen to
risk making a comment that could be construed as argumentative
[which almost invariably meant I became the keyboard equivalent
of tongue-tied ::)].
Do you know (personally) any other members? You could PM one or
more to ask them to continue the thread, and so it would 'become
known' that you weren't shutting off discussion just by posting
your opinion/restating a rule?
[/quote]
I have shut down a couple of threads. One was removed due to a
violation of our rules prohibiting personal attacks and name
calling. I posted my own message that basically said "I am
locking this thread since it has become more about attacking
individual posters than the original topic, and name calling is
prohibited." I then PM'ed three members with some boilerplate
"No name calling" message. Another was locked after someone
asked for advice about a particular aspect of Method, and other
people started chiming in with "I know Method and Authority says
X, but we've been using [Y thing that blatantly contradicts
Method in every situation]." Before I shut down that thread I
added a comment and said "We're getting a good discussion of X
so this thread will stay open, but if people keep recommending Y
then this thread will be shut down." Naturally people kept
recommending Y, so I locked it after a few more comments. I
don't personally know anyone in the group but I have a moderator
and it may be good to discuss with her.
Hmmm, that doesn't sound like my group but this seems to be a
common problem!
#Post#: 31223--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: Chez Miriam Date: May 16, 2019, 11:12 am
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Ah, that sounds very different to some of the moderating I was
writing about, so I'm not sure of anything to suggest (other
than creating a chatty alter-ego who can post after you post as
a Mod).
#Post#: 31230--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: JeanFromBNA Date: May 16, 2019, 12:54 pm
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[quote author=Chez Miriam link=topic=1138.msg31223#msg31223
date=1558023127]
Ah, that sounds very different to some of the moderating I was
writing about, so I'm not sure of anything to suggest (other
than creating a chatty alter-ego who can post after you post as
a Mod).
[/quote]
I was wondering if that was possible. OP could post as Admin
Victoria, and "Just Victoria." Maybe that would be enough of a
difference.
#Post#: 31231--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: Victoria Date: May 16, 2019, 12:57 pm
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[quote author=JeanFromBNA link=topic=1138.msg31230#msg31230
date=1558029280]
[quote author=Chez Miriam link=topic=1138.msg31223#msg31223
date=1558023127]
Ah, that sounds very different to some of the moderating I was
writing about, so I'm not sure of anything to suggest (other
than creating a chatty alter-ego who can post after you post as
a Mod).
[/quote]
I was wondering if that was possible. OP could post as Admin
Victoria, and "Just Victoria." Maybe that would be enough of a
difference.
[/quote]
Facebook doesn't allow you to have multiple accounts or I would
do this. I really like that idea for a message forum.
#Post#: 31287--------------------------------------------------
Re: Being an Admin
By: daen Date: May 16, 2019, 8:29 pm
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Not a moderator myself, but I have seen mods start a comment (or
section of a comment) with MOD HAT ON and end with MOD HAT OFF.
That way people can tell what comments are official moderation
and what comments are simply one person's opinion.
If the mod is more likely to comment officially than
unofficially, perhaps marking personal opinion posts with MOD
HAT OFF/ MOD HAT ON instead would require less work.
In my offline experience as a discussion group facilitator (in a
religious organization), I discovered that as soon as I, the
"moderator" expressed anything resembling an opinion or a
statement, the discussion ended right there. I would have to ask
a question to restart things. I got very good at asking
questions and then carefully drinking coffee and saying
basically nothing while the discussion swirled.
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