I don't think most memers are deliberately trying to violate TOS. What if persuasion and reason were a first resort?

A good moderator is always wrong. Well, that's the experience I have, and I've seen it in all places where I held the mod badge the past 20 years or so. It depends on the person in question though. Some people can easily be turned over by talking to them and negotiate with them, others can best be kicked off the site immediately. The trick is to find which category an abuser belongs to. Those who break the rules out of ignorance are mostly easily filtered out.

And once I deleted a post as a mod as it was a site were advertising was not allowed and where I even politely explained the rules about that a new post came that I was acting like I owned the place. Sounds to me like you blame a cop for acting like he owns the road when he gives you a ticket for driving through red light, to be honest. Rules are rules, and I merely did my duty. No ads = no ads. He got an official warning for that action, and when he finally understood I was actually part of the staff, he quit.

Those to whom a moderator acts quite often will deem everything you do wrong. Some people make it easy though. I once warned a user who was harassing other users and he replied with "To moderator Jeroen! Why don't you go f---- yourself?" I love it when they do that. That justifies an instant ban. I wish they all made it so easy for me.

Another lesson I learned over the years. Those who cannot accept there are rules and that there are limitations how far you can go, and who are quite often walking the edge of not allowing a moderator to push the ban button, are also the ones who complain most about moderators. It's a pattern I've seen that is rarely different. Gives one something to think about, eh?

I haven't been a MOD very long and I had the same feelings as you at the beginning. Give users a chance, issue a warning then let them modify their behavior. I'll be the "good police" I naively thought surely they can listen to reason. I can tell you most of the time it doesn't work like that. I've given people an opportunity to delete comments on their own, instead they will refuse, mock you, meme about you, just be all around more defiant and sometimes continue the harassment in earnest, even after putting them on a timer they will log in with an alt to further harrass others. For users I know well and the offending comment seems unusual I will try to talk to them and see what's going on. But for most of the site it's better to just delete before the situation escalates and now they are notified of the offending comment so that should indicate what sort of behavior should be avoided in the future. When you have millions of users it simply isn't feasible to negotiate with all of them.

That's one of the first lessons I learned as a Community Mod: If you try and negotiate, they walk all over you and if you just delete the comment or disapprove the image, they cry about censorship and call you a Nazi. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Yep. Either we are supposed to solve all the world's problems or we are the cause of the world's problems.

Really?!?! People do that?!?!

Yes that was my idea

When's the last time you actually did what we asked you again?

What would you like me to do?

Hoo boy, what a list that would be. I'll start you off easy enough. Read and follow the TOS.

Sound reasonable?

Sounds good brother

If I ever violate it, let me know

Made this because I recently had a comment deleted for "nudity" even after an at-length discussion with site Mods on the topic of sex-themed posts. I know "porn" is a gray area, and site Mods reserve power to moderate any content in the sexual vein, but I'm honestly not trying to break any terms. I really thought my picture 100% complied with all the criteria we talked about regarding coverage of certain parts, but it was taken down nonetheless.

Because the picture in question was in a meme comment rather than a featured image, I was automatically comment-timered and blocked from discussing other important topics such as politics for 24 hours.

I would respectfully ask the site Mods if this happens again, to please comment on the image, and I'm on here enough that I'll take it down in a hurry.

Extending that idea a bit, I think that most memers here aren't deliberately trying to break TOS. The big one everyone talks about these days is cyberbullying/harassment, which is yet another gray area. People get into fights because we're passionate about the things we believe in and get carried away but I think very few are really trying to actively harm the community. Rather than reaching for the delete button right away, a little bit of coaching could go a long way.

I understand it does take longer to comment rather than just delete the content -- but commenting and coaching will help down the road as it will reduce the likelihood that memer inadvertently breaks TOS again.

If the site Mods are stretched too thin to provide that kind of coaching then I think the simple solution is to just add more of them.

There's nothing preventing you and other users doing this. Why not start coaching others on how to be more respectful on imgflip. Before flagging talk to the person. Chances are they will listen to a familiar user more than a site mod anyway. The imgflip community is as good as its members. It needs to have grassroots efforts to end harassment users like you can make a positive difference working together with the mods. :)

I find when I am serious and passionate and invested that's when I am apparently not appreciated.

Think tank never likes my content. Then I believe I got my first ever deleted comment from them. It was clear they believe I had decided to troll their stream. Nothing of the sort could be farther from the truth. A hyper deconstructive meme of the 'change my mind's template was posted.

It asked how 'change my mind' memes themselves had changed users minds. So I answered dead honestly that cmm memes had convinced me that changing other people's minds was futile. So.laughably ironically some mod (my hypothetical conjecture) attempted to change my mind back towards sensible reason.

As a troll my comment was going to be deleted. I guess thereupon I would learn something akin to being tricked-trolled with 'yo dawg I heard you think changing minds is not worth it so here's me changing you mind back by deleting the comment that tells people this." It's pretty wacked but these are the higher level thought process on this site.

I'm sorry if you had a negative experience in the Think Tank. I don't see any memes of yours declined in fact your change my mind meme seemed to have sparked a good discussion which is what we're aiming for. Typically posts that don't encourage deeper level thinking and dialogue don't get featured such as should I change my username, should I delete my account, what's your favorite cartoon? We also strictly enforce the all comments must be respectful rule but I don't see you engaging in any disrespect. There are multitudinous other Think Tank type streams that welcome all kinds of questions that don't fit the deeper questions that belong in the main Think Tank. I can provide a list of these streams if you wish.

Thank you for your reply. My observations tend have flaws. So maybe the general stage should be left. I hope things are well with your stream.

Hah. I remember making this meme for “politics” awhile back and challenged people to share a story of when their minds were ever changed by a meme, but nobody answered in the affirmative. As I suspected.

The echo-chamber of social media is a serious issue and worth talking about. Upsetting they treated your question that way.

What gets me is the hypocrisy: Some of the loudest free-speech defenders being some of the quickest to delete/unfeature. But also, at the end of the day, it’s their stream their rules. The ultimate response to poor modding is for those affected by it to take their content elsewhere.

Yeah, the Mods at Think_Tank don’t like me very much either and are quick to label anything provocative as an attempt to troll their stream. I still participate every now and then and find it engaging.

Thanks. I appreciate the sympathy from someone who seems to feel the same. The irony is that of course one who becomes defensive when accused of being a troll is necessarily a troll.

I am pretty lazy about finding the correct stream for content. I'll admit that and suggest as a problem for your solutions.

I dont actually believe in the getting along stuff. If people were taught more skills, not by impersonal moderators? Somehow memes ought to help with the process more directly.

People want to interpret the TOS to mean anything they don't like. I was accused of violating the TOS by someone who wanted it to mean something that it didn't say.

Where was that, specifically?

Starts here:

imgflip.com/i/4etihz?nerp=1600578479#com5956416

Not trying to snitch on the guy - I'm sure he suffers enough just being himself.

The image you posted doesn't violate site TOS (it's not full nudity) but it does border on violating the stream rules which can be more stringent depending on what the aims of the stream are and how stream mods want to enforce it. Typically these sorts of posts are discouraged in the Think Tank, although I get the joke reference.

At least someone gets the joke.

i get it, but i don't think it's right... lol

Do any of the ideas in the stream ever get added?

Oh, Wow

what do you think of this idea its still a work in progress but, yea. https://imgflip.com/i/4fjzif