I’m obviously not aware of how much spam you all get and are protecting us from so I understand you probably have good reasons for moderating posts and it must be a heck of a lot of work for all of you, so thank you!
I do want to bring up some of the downside of moderating posts, however (assuming it’s not something specific about the posts I write that you think need to be moderated; in which case I’d love to know that!).
First, for me, personally, it’s a meaningful disincentive to take the time to write a post if I don’t know whether it will be posted at all, or when (given that posts after mine may be automatically approved before mine and make my post redundant at best). It makes me much less likely to post a reply because taking the time to do it feels like an increased likelihood that the time won’t be well spent.
Second, the feature, as it works in Discourse, doesn’t let me see these pending posts. It looks like I might have two right now in queue, but I have no way to see what they are or indeed if I’m correct.
Third, given that I’ve been posting in the Google group for some 10 years, it also feels like a strange kind of downgrade in the community that does affect my motivation to participating, though I recognize that’s childish.
Assuming there’s really a good reason for moderating posts by default, I wonder if there’s a way to approve folks by default who were migrated over from the Google group? Alternatively, are the existing post moderators sure the pros really outweigh the cons having considered some of the above issues (and most of all how much time you need to spend moderating and the loss of quality of posts when they aren’t timely)?
It’s nothing specific about your posts - all new posts are currently set up for moderation until someone has been approved a certain # of times. That said, I haven’t found a way to trigger this based on retroactive participation, so in some cases I’ve been manually flipping off the mod queue. But I haven’t gotten to everybody I’ll make sure your account is marked as safe ASAP!
The only posts that are ever specifically NOT approved are ones where the only thing being posted is clearly an attempt to spam the list or boost traffic to generic articles or real estate listings.
For a bit more transparency, the most common action besides approving posts is a bit more nuanced than keeping out blatant spam. In a lot of cases, the mod queue has been a valuable opportunity to encourage folks to introduce themselves and contribute to the conversation rather than show up to drive-by promote a product or service.
Besides products and services, the other most common thing is generic brand accounts trying to promote their coworking space to this list instead of introducing themselves and participating in the conversation.
I think of it a bit more like giving someone a tour of expectations rather than a specific “hey, don’t do that.” Discourse tools make this fairly quick and painless, and more than half of the time folks are extremely receptive to reminders and encouragement!
The only other thing that occasionally happens is moving the post to a different category if the one chosen by the author doesn’t really make sense. But that’s pretty rare.
Thankfully, Discourse is generally designed around the principal that trust can be earned through active contribution, and recognizes regulars with more ways to help keep the community running smoothly.
Thank you, Alex. It absolutely makes sense and I really appreciate you taking all that time to reply. Mainly was posting that to be sure some of the cons to moderating posts by default were highlighted, though I get it and it seems clear the pros have it!
I’ll make sure your account is marked as safe ASAP!