• 9 years - 901 posts - Latest - RSS
• OP: 38 Goods vs 36 No Goods
• Thread: 3593 Goods vs 3450 No Goods

1. Kirk
   Rep: 95

   Hi all,

   It's been a while since I've had a good discussion with everyone at PSR.

   I've been spending a lot of time trying to improve EJMR lately which has been very successful. Partly by introducing an anonymous report post tool to flag bad posts to the mods and partly through better moderation. On EJMR a lot of users are now mods giving a lot more credibility and buy in to deletion decisions.

   I'll be introducing the report feature here soon, but wanted to ask if anyone has any other issues with PSR or any ideas for improvements.

   Best,
   Kirk

   9 years ago # QUOTE 38 YEA 36 NAY!

2. Kirk
   Rep: 95

   ^My concern here is that we won't have critical mass to split discussions between two forums.

   On EJMR we've been cleaning out the trash from the serious discussion topics, which has kept the forum together and allowed for good discussions.

   9 years ago # QUOTE 17 YEA 16 NAY!

3. Matilda
   

   More mods on duty for the really hateful stuff. I am thinking the "chink" troll and similar staying up for hours sometimes.

   More targeted modding of controversial threads with fierce argument. We should be able to argue fiercely, and sometimes be insulting, about the professional lives of established academics; this should not be censored. But off-limits should be purely personal attacks not connected to someone's work. ABDs should be protected more than tenured folks.

   9 years ago # QUOTE 31 YEA 18 NAY!

4. Rina
   

   I agree with the above. Also - We're at the point where pornography is permissable but the mildest criticism of a senior scholar is censored! We need more commonsensical rules about discussing political scientists. Otherwise this will continue to degrade into 1 qual-quant post for every 9 "let's bang the undergrads" thread.

   9 years ago # QUOTE 36 YEA 10 NAY!

5. Allyson
   

   Do you want actual rumors about jobs? What would that include? Stuff like:
   1. New openings, i.e. Reposting the APSA job listings;
   2. Moves, potential moves, or tenure denials, i.e. Gossip about individual scholars
   3. What is that place "really looking for?" and what is that place "really like?", i.e. Lots of bashing of small towns, undesirable cities, or nasty colleagues...bashing individual scholars
   4. Has the job been filled and who got it? I.e. More bashing of individual scholars, probably ABDs deemed undeserving of the job

   9 years ago # QUOTE 15 YEA 14 NAY!

6. udhr1948
   Rep: 85

   I've been thinking about asking to mod. Maybe now is the time. I agree it's been pretty bad at times lately.

   9 years ago # QUOTE 12 YEA 17 NAY!

7. Sarah
   

   Many of the humanities rumors pages are just wonderful. They give real information, people seem open and honest about news. I don't know how, but I would love it if we could reach something like that.

   9 years ago # QUOTE 19 YEA 14 NAY!

8. Janele
   

   ^ that is more possible with a private forum.

   9 years ago # QUOTE 11 YEA 13 NAY!

9. Eldon
   

   Sarah:
   Many of the humanities rumors pages are just wonderful. They give real information, people seem open and honest about news. I don't know how, but I would love it if we could reach something like that.

   Links please

   9 years ago # QUOTE 13 YEA 11 NAY!

10. Tobin
    

    It would be cool if you had a picture of Sadie on a banner at the top of the page.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 23 YEA 23 NAY!

11. Grace
    

    Tie threads' visibility to up/down votes, like on Reddit.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 18 YEA 12 NAY!

12. Liza
    

    Agree with Grace.

    More importantly though is heavy modding on the serious threads and elimination of clutter. Trolling on the serious threads often derails good discussions.

    A problem I don't quite know how to deal with is the negativity. Many of the off-topic posts here are filled with really aggressive trolling. On EJMR the overall tone is much more friendly. Maybe this is just because people are wary of the trolls here? Or the good people get driven away?

    Last thing - EJMR has a much more specific policy on what's permissible vs. not. I think that would be helpful to both commenters and mods. I don't have any specific opinion on what that should be, but the more specific the better I think.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 16 YEA 16 NAY!

13. Liza
    

    You also probably need to add a Kirk bot here. I'm sure Sadie can give you some words that are obsessions of the PSR trolls.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 7 YEA 11 NAY!

14. Keaton
    

    Add a politics subforum for current events like Ukraine. It's different from political science.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 15 YEA 14 NAY!

15. Allyson
    

    People often post negative comments about small towns, Southern universities, teaching oriented institutions, and often question the utility of research in our discipline in negative, unconstructive ways. All such posts should be banned.

    Liza:
    Agree with Grace.

    A problem I don't quite know how to deal with is the negativity. Many of the off-topic posts here are filled with really aggressive trolling. On EJMR the overall tone is much more friendly. Maybe this is just because people are wary of the trolls here? Or the good people get driven away?
    Last thing - EJMR has a much more specific policy on what's permissible vs. not. I think that would be helpful to both commenters and mods. I don't have any specific opinion on what that should be, but the more specific the better I think.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 11 YEA 27 NAY!

16. Rina
    

    trolololol

    Allyson:
    People often post negative comments about small towns, Southern universities, teaching oriented institutions, and often question the utility of research in our discipline in negative, unconstructive ways. All such posts should be banned.
    Liza:
    Agree with Grace.
    A problem I don't quite know how to deal with is the negativity. Many of the off-topic posts here are filled with really aggressive trolling. On EJMR the overall tone is much more friendly. Maybe this is just because people are wary of the trolls here? Or the good people get driven away?
    Last thing - EJMR has a much more specific policy on what's permissible vs. not. I think that would be helpful to both commenters and mods. I don't have any specific opinion on what that should be, but the more specific the better I think.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 12 YEA 14 NAY!

17. Liza
    

    That would be a bit much. It's a strange dynamic that doesn't really exist on EJMR (where everyone slams podunk Us) which I think is a function of the job opportunities available to poli sci vs econ grads.

    Allyson:
    People often post negative comments about small towns, Southern universities, teaching oriented institutions, and often question the utility of research in our discipline in negative, unconstructive ways. All such posts should be banned.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 5 YEA 13 NAY!

18. Allyson
    

    Not at all. I agree with Grace and Liza. More aggressive moderating could remove those negative, unseemly posts that put down other schools. I'm sure as heckfire tired of that nonsense and I don't care who knows it! We've got some goshdarn idiots on here who spoil it for all the swell guys and gals who just want some All-American political science rumors. Let's accentuate the positive, by golly.

    9 years ago # QUOTE 12 YEA 18 NAY!

19. Raven
    

    I like the Sadie picture idea, except you should do it like those about.me pages where the huge photo of The subject (in this case, Sadie) takes up the entire background.

    That would be cool

    9 years ago # QUOTE 6 YEA 19 NAY!

20. Obiwan
    

    How do you volunteer to mod?

    9 years ago # QUOTE 3 YEA 11 NAY!

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