Don’t hit submit quite yet…

[Matthew / BPL]

Hey everyone!

Today we published new text above the bright green Submit button when posting on the forums here at Backpacking Light. We decided to refresh the message to encourage people to think about their tone before posting.

Don’t Press Submit Quite Yet: Our core community value is generosity: be kind, give freely, and be inclusive. Does the message you’re about to post reflect those values? (Argumentative posts, sarcasm, and negativity will be moderated in accordance with the Forum Guidelines)

[Bruce M]

Thanks! This is one of the reasons why I left another popular BP site and came here.

[BlackHatGuy]

Killjoy….

[R L]

So… don’t poke the bear with a stick?  I wants to think most of us, me included, never intentionally mean to cause harm.  It’s hard to type tone of voice on the interwebs.  Used to call it , bench racing, back in the day.  Peace, ~RL

[Matthew / BPL]

It’s hard to type tone of voice on the interwebs.

Sure. That’s why we are asking members to take a moment before hitting submit. 🙂

[bradmacmt]

Thanks for your moderation Matthew… it’s a thankless job, but for myself I want to say “thank you.”

[BlackHatGuy]

+1. You do an admirable job of moderating Matthew and, as bradmacmt says, it’s pretty thankless and not always all that easy.

[Matthew / BPL]

Thanks Brad and Belly (Rub?). That is very nice of you to say. 😊

[Sam Farrington]

Matthew,

I’ve been on BPL for a couple decades, and have seen some pretty unpleasant stuff; but far less these days.  So thanks for your efforts.  You must be doing something right. Or maybe it’s that folks recognize how Covid has affected us, and we must be more careful.  But I have no problem with “argumentative” posts and the like, and would not want to see BPL forums sound like a chorus of angels.  “Negativity will be moderated,” sounds a bit heavy handed to me.  And if the forums, which are the best part of BPL that remains, become mush, then I’m afraid we might lose them due to an exodus of posters.  Just a thought.

 

[Greg Pehrson]

Just want to add a +1 thanking you, Matthew, for your moderation, and your focus on BPL being an inclusive and welcoming space. I appreciate you! I’ve enjoyed our conversations very much, and hope we get to hike together some day.

I don’t think that generosity and respect necessarily lead to mushiness. We can disagree and share different points of view without picking a fight or name-calling. And maintain a healthy skepticism of gear companies’ claims, basing our judgments of them on real-world experience and data.

[Marcus]

Matthew does a great job a containing and appropriately dealing with trolls. Without a marauding troll, peace is relatively easy to keep.

The other thing BPL has going is we all like data. Nearly all arguments can be settled with a good empirical test, and there’s enough engineers on the board we produce some damn good results per Ryan, Stephen, Rex and other test series on here.

[Brad W]

I am in agreement with Sam. Obviously any forum needs moderation when threads devolve-name calling, harassments, etc. BPL has always done a great job of filtering out the blatant offenders. I am worried about censoring tones of threads though. You can often have very thought provoking, meaningful discussions that may be culled due to some thinking it’s ‘negative’.

[Matthew / BPL]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their thoughts.

I am grateful for the positive statements about my role in moderation here. Thank you. I care about this community and want to help make it a better place. I believe in BPL’s mission. Paraphrasing here: Spending time outdoors helps make people into better people and the mission of BPL is to help enable people to thrive outdoors. I’m an optimistic humanist that believes in the intrinsic good in people. I strive to play a role in helping others become who they want to be. I think this is why I found my way to teaching and it’s why I want to help support to this community.

I hear the concerns expressed about over-moderation or censorship. I always look at the Forum Guidelines before I moderate a thread. The Guidelines are the rules.

It is important to note that I did not make the change above the Submit button by myself. It is the outcome of some long discussions between myself, Ryan, and Andrew. Ryan wrote the final text and implemented it yesterday. This is a team thing, not a Matthew thing.

[AK Granola]

I appreciate the effort to keep discussion civil. I also strongly encourage allowing disagreement. I’m on a FB group of all women, and occasionally someone will post something they’re doing that is downright dangerous. No one is allowed to criticize or be “negative!” I’m not kidding. It’s not just about being polite over there, you can’t suggest that someone take a few more practice hikes first. I appreciate when someone wiser than me makes a safety suggestion; it’s up to me to take it or leave it. I would never get offended.

[Monte Masterson]

+ 1 Sam and Brad

Personal insults and gaslighting cannot be tolerated, yet if dialogue is over censored BPL will become sterile and stale and then be abandoned by many members who simply want to express their points of view, without getting cancelled. There is a proper balance to everything and if moderation goes overboard member subscriptions will drop off considerably. Readers will find the content very boring.

Disagreements are part of everyday life, however that doesn’t mean disrespect should be allowed toward any members. But being overprotective and striving for BPL to become some sort of Shangri-La where there’s never any conflict just isn’t realistic in my opinion. And if the quest to make BPL all warm and fuzzy is done too heavy-handedly you’ll see readership plummet. Trying to coddle those who will always find something to complain about isn’t a good business model. The same people who always cry foul will abandon you for a website that is more filled with human drama.

 

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Being a good moderator is a tough job.  I recommend that Ryan set up a “Buy Me a Coffee” button so we have the option of tipping our moderators. My 2 Cents.

[Matthew / BPL]

Disagreements are part of everyday life, however that doesn’t mean disrespect should be allowed toward any members.

Well said, Monte.

I don’t see anything in the Forum Guidelines indicating that disagreements are to be avoided. It has never been my intention to eliminate disagreements. The forum that AK Granola describes sounds awful. Let’s not do that here.

[jscott]

I have strong opinions when it comes to cheddar cheese. I did manage to contain my rage and foul language when responding in that thread, however. Barely.

 

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Life is Gouda, no one got too Sharp in that thread. In queso emergency, a moderator would have stepped in. That’s a good sign as no one ended up feeling bleu. It was a Grate thread.

[R L]

You’re foo tunny

[Author]

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