Meta: Can I be a Moderator?
First: THIS SITE NEEDS MORE MODERATORS. There are SO MANY SHITHEADS from other fan-bases who are polluting this site with trash that no Michigan fan wants to see. And there are other Michigan fans who aren't following basic rules of the site. And the content creators shouldn't be responsible for policing all of this.
I'm not a content creator on the blog portion of this site obviously, but I read and contribute to the board with regularity. And I think I have a level-headed finger on the pulse of what this blog is trying to be. And I want to contribute to the site being less of the shit show it has been since the Wisconsin game.
And if the answer is: "No, not you", can we please have some other people be made moderators? Others (I just saw Magnus, who is definitely a better option, offer his name up) are willing to take up the mantle.
This site needs more moderation. I want this site not to suck, in the way it has over the past several weeks, and also at other specific shitty times for Michigan football. I will do this for free. I just like the site.
October 8th, 2019 at 10:45 AM ^
woe to those that grant power to those that seek it
October 8th, 2019 at 10:51 AM ^
I appreciate the quote, but I legit just want this site to suck less.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
maybe the mgopopulace should nominate their desired overlords.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:57 AM ^
You posted a couple of things in a prior thread regarding Shea's lack of "captaincy." Do you recall what thread that was in? I am curious to read it but can't track it down.
October 8th, 2019 at 1:04 PM ^
Overzealous mod probably deleted it. This site is crawling with them.
/S
October 8th, 2019 at 12:08 PM ^
Sure! Just FAX THEM via TRANS CON.
Dylan and I tabulate and collate and FAX!
We'' ll handle triplicate-- It's on my website
October 8th, 2019 at 12:13 PM ^
Karen, never change, please. You bring joy and wonder to our humble little blog.
October 8th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
Karen FAXCOM is awfully close to being able to start a thread. Can't wait.
October 8th, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
Here's a big cup of shut the hell up....
And, Harbaugh sucks, derp, derp
MSU owns UM brah
OSU gonna shit on UM again, Harbaugh sucks - owned
October 8th, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
what is this from? google search only brought up this post
October 8th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
I think it's a variation of Frank Herbert (author of Dune) who said "Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect those who seek it."
Which is fine, as long as you are just wary, but still can appreciate anyone who volunteers to make the world (or the blog) a better place. This site isn't going to fix itself.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
Did you know that 1986 animated movie Transformers wasn't a box office success? It didn't have... "the touch"
October 8th, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
Stan Bush would like to have a word with you...
October 8th, 2019 at 10:45 AM ^
I thought there was a call for mods at some point. I don’t know if any were added or not. I offered to be one, but I also admitted that I’m not perfect. I’m proud to report that I am now much more mature than last reporting. Lol
October 8th, 2019 at 11:04 AM ^
Same here, offered - no interest.
In my humble opinion all of us seem to consume the blog at different times so a variety of moderators depending on the time of day/day of week always made sense to me.
For example I'm all over the board from Monday at about 6:00 am till Friday about 6:00 pm. Almost nothing gets posted I dont see (unless it's an apparel thread - those are boring) so I could moderate during those times. I'm not here much on the weekends though so someone else would need to cover that time slot but I know there are other posters whose usage here mirrors mine.
FWIW as long as the point system works the board kind of self-moderates in the broadest sense. Those with very unpopular takes have their ability to post restricted/removed thereby reducing their voice here. And I dont think the lack of moderators is something that Brian/Seth see as a problem.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
Biggest issue I see for anyone transitioning from being a poster to a moderator is cutting some emotion out of the equation. I think that’s tougher for some than for others, and it may depend upon where you are in life. Michigan football specifically used to be something I was maniacal about, and now I’m still a huge supporter but I have a child now so my focus is largely elsewhere. Honestly, this has been a positive change for me regardless of what the product on the field looks like.
Edit: I agree with you on moderator coverage times. I’m sporadic during the day, but very active from 8-11pm.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:36 AM ^
The coverage argument does make sense, especially since there does appear to be a decent number of users outside the usual timezones.
That said, I think it's hard to moderate any site, and the point system does a decent job of keeping people in check. Honestly, I'd like to see the point requirement rise up a bit. It's not that new people can't have good ideas, but even 300-400 points would cut down on the slack-jawed yokels who can reach the threshold by posting shittakes in a game thread. And I say this as someone who posts here way too much, stupid takes come from all walks of life. But even a slight barrier would help.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^
"...and the point system does a decent job of keeping people in check."
Does it, though? You and I have enough points to whether a serious shitstorm against us, so points won't have any bearing on what we may post despite how angry we may become at something. It also doesn't appear to affect most of the trolls that hit every thread with red hot, flaming, shit posts - even if they 'only' have a thousand, or so, points. A serious negbang might reach -100, but those are few and far between. Personally, I don't think points really determine anything aside from how often one posts or how popular a particular passage may be.
I do agree, though, with raising the 'create a thread' limit to something much higher. That might knock off some of the (as you put it) slack-jawed yokel crowd that bounces in off the street after a bad game. (Mostly from idiots that aren't getting enough attention on MLive...)
October 8th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
Yeah, I guess it doesn't stop a persistent troller. I also tend to believe that people who've been here long enough to accumulate that many points tend to know what's kosher, or at least can restrain their worst tendencies. And the mods can obviously strip them of those points if they so choose; I'd rather the mods focus on those cases than 100 "UMSux69420BarStoolPresidente" starting threads because they're bored.
October 8th, 2019 at 10:46 AM ^
I second your self nomination, thanks for offering.
October 8th, 2019 at 10:46 AM ^
Brian and the moderators know exactly what they are doing. The trash that gets posted on this board generates far more revenue than anything else. Moderation is bad for business
October 8th, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^
Good point. If we could categorize threads by categories like hawt takes, troll, way OT, actual relevant news, etc. sadly those threads with the most relevance or thoughtful content will have the fewest views, comments, etc. the law of triviality holds very true on this board.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
That's not our business model at all. The numbers for our board are alright but pale in comparison to the traffic the main articles get. What drives revenue for this site is long form content, followed by podcasts, followed by the book.
It's the internet and there are a lot of readers, so controlling the riffraff is not easy to do. We have to be careful who we use as moderators. We added one this offseason, but the old mods aren't doing as much lately, and our staff don't have time to chip in. We're fighting human nature, and up to 1 million humans (about 100,000 whom are every-day readers and sometime contributors on the message board). Imagine an entire Michigan Stadium of people talking to each other, and now try finding the exact conversation you want to have and not paying attention to the drunk getting escorted out, or the bros yelling dumb shit. Things that piss you off are going to grab your attention faster than things that make you think. We can try our best to prop up the latter and hide the former, but I can't be held responsible for how brains are wired.
But the trash tends to drive more people away, far more than whatever little burst we get from a few people reloading the page while they argue. Because we get a lot of revenue from network ads, it's of much greater value to us to have 10 readers see the page once than 1 reader see the page 10 times. Other sites use flame wars to raise their engagement numbers, but ours are already off the charts because most of our readers are taking their time reading long form content.
A big reason our site remains successful when every other indie blog sold out or went to a clickbait model (cough cough Eleven Warriors) is because of this hyperfocus on quality content. I think the crap they teach social marketing managers and salespeople these days is extremely short-sighted. The guys who bought SI are going to run that name into the ground in a matter of months with those tactics. If you're only looking at short-term pageviews, you don't understand the first thing about what drives people to read things on the internet, and we're going to be here long after you are.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:04 AM ^
Mic drop.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
Well said Seth.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^
Used very long post to explain that very long posts are what drives revenue. ISWYDT :P
October 8th, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^
If content is so important to the sites revenue, it would nice if Brian didn’t mail it in and go emo with weird movie references when things go sideways.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
Nah. That's why most of us are here....or most of us have stayed here.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
It's like the MST3K of websites. Sometimes you get it. Sometime you don't and have a choice to move on or educate yourself.
October 8th, 2019 at 6:47 PM ^
Reminds me of a great Frank Zappa quote (who could be a little out there, to say the least):
"Look, you either get it or you don't. I'm not going to spend my whole life explaining myself."
October 8th, 2019 at 2:18 PM ^
Whistling in the wind on that, Brian checked out long ago
October 8th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
Still, an "ignore user" button would be nice.
85% of posters are fine, but the rest are icky.
October 8th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^
Sure. I'll add it to the list.
October 8th, 2019 at 1:18 PM ^
Can we go back to you sharing the list with us so we have some idea of what's getting fixed next?
Because it sure would be nice to know if we're going to get that "new comment" feature back on the boards so we can more easily have conversations about the long form articles that get written.
October 8th, 2019 at 9:56 PM ^
If we're entertaining suggestions: I'd love to see this week in schadenfreude on mgoblog.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:29 PM ^
Seth,
Is there a suggestion box that we can slip our suggestions into now ??
October 8th, 2019 at 11:25 AM ^
I would argue that you have a much more valuable demographic than the average website. This enables higher cpms and podcast sponsorship packages. No one wants to pay top dollar to service the 11Warriors retirement planning market.
If it was me, I'd offer a premium service for ad free mobile content for users that wanted to go that route. Mobile display ads are a losing proposition for all involved. Luckily it's not my call and I get to just complain about something that's really hard (running a small tech media business)
October 8th, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
Seth is a badass.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
Thanks for your response, but it deflects from the topic of this thread: the Board. Moderators have no incentive to nuke shitty threads (or approve threads before they get posted) because these threads generate more hits/views/clicks than decent threads. There's no incentive to slow down the money train when these threads have the ability to bring more eyes to the advertising merchandise even though it hurts the quality of the board
October 8th, 2019 at 1:14 PM ^
What an atrocious response to a thoughtful post from Seth. Do you actually believe that garbage?
October 8th, 2019 at 9:48 PM ^
Did you read Seth’s response carefully? The board, no matter how controversial the threads are, does not drive major site revenue. Main page articles, podcasts and HTTV do. He absolutely answered the question that it would impact very little if mods kept things buttoned up around here.
October 8th, 2019 at 11:43 AM ^
Seth nailed it. Quality, long-form content.
UFR, Opponent Watch, Neck Sharpies, Best/Worst, game capsules, FFFF, OFAAT.
This is what mostly attracts me.
The board is what it is -- quality posters, sprinkled liberally with trolls, other fanbase fans (?Why?), and ad hominem dickhead keyboard tough guys. But there's some good there, and I can vent about stuff, which is good for me.
Anyway, thanks to the staff for the best site on the net, bar none.
October 8th, 2019 at 12:02 PM ^
The comment on Message Board vs. Articles is interesting to me. Ever since the "re-design" i find myself forgetting to visit the main page due to how awful the layout is and stick to MB posts.
October 8th, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
I don’t know if it’s been posted before, but I (at least) would find a meta post on the economics of the blog fascinating. I don’t need specific dollar amounts, but the whole thing is interesting. Especially since, as you say, this site has a different focus from nearly any sports blog out there. And I would have never guessed podcasts were that high, but maybe that’s an ignorance unique to me and other users were well aware of the revenue jackpots that are podcasts.
October 8th, 2019 at 12:10 PM ^
But the trash tends to drive more people away
I'm assuming you mean stupid and poorly thought out posts on the board? Because, yes, the posts can drive me crazy, along with the lack of intelligent response in threads. And this drives me away from the blog. The truth is, I literally did not open mgoblog for a week or so after Wisconsin. I didn't even want to see what people would post. Smh.
Seriously, I really would love to see more mods. And I am not a candidate to be a mod in any way shape or form. Magnus, mgrowold, bronxblue, and a bunch of others would be great. In general, I don't care for Eleven Warriors (since you mentioned it,) but I suspect they have many more mods, which keeps the idiocy and lunatics slightly at bay.
As for what brings me here, it is definitely front page content, and I buy the book. (Just have never gotten into podcasts. Guess I'm too old.) What I miss is significant content and analysis in the board posts. Tom Van H. back in the day used to provide info there. Several coaches and former players also did. There also was content in the threads. A few insiders would comment on injuries or what was happening during the week. There seems to be much less of that.
When I go into a thread, and all you see are one line snark comments, with no commentary or content, I get turned off and move on. I've wondered if part of the reason is that more and more users are on a platform (smart phone?) that doesn't lend itself to writing and actually contributing intelligent content? I dunno, but there is a dynamic which I hate. Someone posts a fairly inane speculative question, with zero actual content, which is irritating enough on its own. (I guess they need to be their own special snowflake.) But then, a host of regular bloggers come in with one liners ripping in to the stupid post. Both the post and the response are worthless and irritating. Of course, "this is a free country," and people can say and do what they want, and no one is forced to read any of this. But the upshot is that I read less. Oh, and this is exactly the reason why I am wholeheartedly in support of more mods.
October 9th, 2019 at 9:05 AM ^
When I go into a thread, and all you see are one line snark comments, with no commentary or content, I get turned off and move on. I've wondered if part of the reason is that more and more users are on a platform (smart phone?) that doesn't lend itself to writing and actually contributing intelligent content?
You're definitely on to something there, because there has been a definite "twitterification" of the board in recent years.
I also think Seth hinted at part of the problem being that lots of blogs are failing because they have a shitty business model, based on page clicks and flame wars and those users, absent of a venue to peddle their shit, wash up on our beach.
October 8th, 2019 at 12:32 PM ^
Thank you for explaining why moderators may not be the way forward. MGoBlog does have the best content around and it's certainly why I've been here forever (well, that and striking the right balance with snark and obscure entertainment references). However, comment viewing on this site has always been brutal. Allowing comments to be viewed based on voting rather than chronologically would be a huge value add IMO. There are really smart and good users here (e.g. Magnus and Space Coyote) and there should be a way to tease out the good from the disaster that is most of the comments.
In other words, I don't need to see the same 4-5 users useless remarks on top of every thread, which is made possible (and in their mind, encouraged) by gaming the current system. But, I admit I have no idea how difficult or costly it is to incorporate a comment viewing system similar to Reddit (for example) on a site like this. But, I think it is worthwhile to at least consider it.
Edit: To add/clarify, theoretically viewing based on voting should apply to both threads and comments.
October 8th, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Since we are throwing out suggestions, how about a model that other sites use: if a post gets a certain number of negative votes (or a negative-vote ratio of some sort) that post is grayed-out?
With this approach, you can read it if you want, but your eye gets used to skimming over the crap in most cases.
Voila, the board polices itself.