I bought my first Kubota early in 2019, started reading here sometime in early 2020 after a search for something or other brought me, and joined here in April of that same year. I started messing with social media around that time partly to stay in contact with old friends. Also was looking, despite many hours of YouTube research on the topic, to get schooled up a bit on the differences in operating and maintaining a modern Tier 4 utility tractor v the much older tractors and construction equipment I was used to.
For the friends part, signed up with Facebook and NextDoor. For the tractor/equipment part, signed up with TBN, OTT, and a L owners group on Facebook.
I rarely use Facebook for reasons too vast to fully elucidate here, but moderation of the main forum is part of it. I can’t post “I hit a deer with my truck on the way home this afternoon. Killed the deer and messed up the truck pretty bad.” There are key words such as kill that are picked up automatically, result in vacations for violating community standards, and are upheld on appeal to alleged real people regardless of context. Yet I see people demean, insult, excoriate, profanely dismiss, and condescendingly abuse others with impunity. That’s fine according to FB, but if you want to say you’re trying something new, make sure you’re not “taking a stab at it”. Makes zero sense to me, but not my forum so if I don’t like it I don’t have to use it, thus I use it in a highly limited manner. Phone, text, and FaceTime work better for me keeping up with friends.
The L group in Facebook was worse. It was moderated by its creator who, it became clear pretty quickly, was either on the payroll of an implement manufacturer or a drooling fanboy of said manufacturer. Anything negative about that manufacturer or anything suggesting another manufacturer might have a superior product was promptly squashed. No discussion or differences of opinion allowed. Also, every time I said anything, the same old dude from California who had a BX despite being a member of an L forum would respond with a comment that I shouldn’t post anything about real tractors because L4701’s were golf course mowers. I’d respond with something snarky, we’d go back and forth a bit (which I’m ashamed to admit I enjoyed), and as soon as others started piling on him for someone with a BX being on a L forum preaching about real tractors he’d get his feelings hurt and report me. My comments would be deleted along with all others disagreeing with him and his would stay. After about a dozen times of this, requested the moderator remove his comments if they were removing mine, and maybe consider not allowing BX owners in an alleged L forum. Got a one month vacation for the request. After that, just ignored the old guy’s routine comment. There were other reasons that were the primary motivation for leaving that group in addition to moderation but moderation was part of it, mostly as it related to the implement manufacturer.
NextDoor. Thought that might be a way to get to know and interact with some neighbors, particularly during COVID restrictions. They have some key word stuff as well, but at least they allow review by real people who review context to determine if it’s truly in violation of their rules. However, depends on who you know. Some people can post anything. Some can’t say good morning without getting smacked. Last time I posted there it boiled down to disingenuous trolling lady: allowed. Response to troll: not allowed. Reviewed troll’s posting history and see she is one of those who can post anything. Turns out she’s related to one of the local moderators. If the forum allows sparring I won’t start it, but don’t mind it. If one member is allowed to throw jabs at another who is handcuffed, I want no part of it regardless which position I’m in. I’m still technically on there because my wife occasionally sends me a link with “look at this”, but that’s my only participation.
I’ve done very little on TBN. No comment on mods there due to limited experience. For my purposes, OTT is a better fit. At this point, OTT is the only social media I still participate in to any degree. Inevitably, part of that is the moderation. I can go to the Hunting and Game thread and say I killed a deer without an automatic vacation. I can disagree with a fellow member politely, even with a reasonable degree of passion. But I don’t believe I can, or should be allowed to, disagree via personal attacks, profanity, insults, condescension, or similar non-constructive means. Those type comments are usually dealt with appropriately.
Mods don’t make the forum. Members posting and responding make the forum. But mods shape the forum, ensure it stays true to its vision, and enforce the rules. Much like front line workers in a company do the work but it also takes leaders to shape the company, keep the company moving toward a common vision, create and enforce procedures and rules. Takes quality leaders and quality front line workers to make a successful company. Takes good mods and good members to make a good forum.
Here, it doesn’t appear there are any keywords automatically scrubbed. While I would argue having real people read posts and review complaints results in the best quality of moderation, it also likely results in some things being missed which mods wouldn’t allow if they saw them. If I was a moderator (which I’m not and don’t want to be) I’m pretty sure I’d get tired of scrubbing politics. If it’s not the most frequently broken rule, I’d like to know what is. Not saying the mods here are perfect, but considering the scope of the task and quantity of mods, looks to me like they do a very good job of keeping things civil and on track without squashing legitimate discussion.
Follow the forum rules and listen if corrected by mods. If you can’t do that because you don’t agree with the vision of what the forum is or because you’re locking horns with a mod (a tussle you’ll always lose), walk away. I’ve done both. Neither is difficult.
Having some experience on other forums with what I consider to be bad moderators, I very much appreciate the moderators here.
BTW, Sidecarflip was still here when I started here. He and I never got sideways with each other and I think a portion of his purported knowledge was/is real, but I saw how he interacted with others. I forget his name on TBN but I saw him there as well a few years ago. Don’t know him personally so no comment on him IRL. His online persona… not surprised he was banned.
