CAPS LOCK or not? That is the question... but wait there's more!
27 2016-10-01 by SovereignMan
In posting the following I stand on the reputation I've built up ever since this sub was new. There's no doubt I'll get bitched at by a couple mods and maybe even demodded for this. I'm old and tired and especially tired of what's happening with the mod team, so at this point it's time to make a stand out in public. Win or lose.
(Sorry for the wall of text but it's all important.)
A) Recently our Rule 6 was changed to remove the "No caps lock" in titles. I was in the minority in voting against it. Note that since then it has read
Titles and comments with a large percentage of caps lock, bold text, large fonts or text colors are considered "shouting" and can be removed.
B) Also recently, the mod team voted to ignore rule violations of posts on the front page (AKA selective enforcement). Again, I voted in the minority and explained the consequences.
A couple days ago, it was brought up in modmail that the front page was getting overrun with caps lock titles and the discussion led to it being addressed. A vote was taken and after one full day the vote stood at 5-2 (I can post images of each mod's vote if it becomes necessary) in favor of going back to the way the rule was written prior to the last changes. So I modified the rule as approved, as I have done many times over my years as a mod here. Shortly thereafter, one of the mods switched his vote simply because I had made a post described in the following paragraph. Not 'in the best interest of the sub' but strictly because he 'didn't want me to get my way'. But the vote was still 4-3 in favor of the change back. Since then there's been several threads about it and intentional distractions so it's impossible to tell what the vote is currently.
Yesterday and during that discussion I ran across an article that had quite a few caps in its title. As soon as I saw it I knew it was exactly the right post to renew the discussion about caps lock and to make my point that the majority of the team had chosen to ignore. I didn't edit the title to include caps, it was just that way in the article. There were actually 44 out of 133 spaces (33%) that were caps that would not have been if the old Rule 5 was followed (no caps lock). I posted it, without it violating any rules as they are currently written (is 33% a "large percentage"???).
The post did much better than I expected and reached #13 on the front page (defined as the top 25 by the mod team).
Then the post was removed, without actually violating any rules and, even if it had, removing it was against the recent mod vote about removing front page posts.
There are a couple of other mods that are going to come into this thread and argue about what the vote count actually was. They were the ones that pushed the hardest to allow all caps titles and not removing front page posts that violated rules. As I said, the ones in favor of selective enforcement.
One of the mods actually threatened, if I didn't change it back within one hour, to make a public post blatantly lying about the situation claiming I made the rule change "on my own" yet admitted that he never actually counted the votes himself (the thread was long with a lot of distractions). I don't respond well to threats but will not name names here nor will I respond to PMs with names.
I just want our subscribers to be aware that all is not well amongst the mod team and it's been going on for a couple years, getting constantly worse. I also want you to be aware that all of the arguing, bickering and infighting amongst mods has all occurred as a result of the actions of one particular mod. I actually have only a little problem with the mods he's scammed. Not everyone recognizes a con artist when they see one. (You'd think all of the mods of r/conspiracy would though!)
So I ask these questions:
1) Should we prohibit capitalized words in titles (except acronyms and initialisms) as we did prior to about a month ago?
2) Should selective enforcement of the rules be allowed?
(Note that the mods, as a group, will probably do whatever the one mod wants regardless of what you subscribers/regulars think. Yes, he's that good of a con man)(Note also that I won't be able to respond to anything here for about 12 hrs)
36 comments
12 KnightBeforeTomorrow 2016-10-01
Guys, don't let this gnarly issue be a problem among you.
you're doing a fine job.
My best liked option is to try to allow the maximum freedom.
The users will sort out the crap with the ol' downvote.
It's a marketplace of ideas. May the best approaches and information win.
That would be a better outcome than having the mod team feel this friction and ultimately tightening a layer of control that could be sorted out by the readers.
I don't like the cheap, uneducated look of too many caps and exclamation points but its not worth the internal friction,We don't want anyone replaced, particularly with someone with the jaundiced look of a BiPolarBearo. or a FaceHammer.
Peace and keep up the good work.
7 sheasie 2016-10-01
makes NO sense to ban ways to HIGHLIGHT certain aspects of a title.
next we'll ban bold italics ?!
...so why not skip to the end.... and just force everyone to use all lowercase - zero tolerance.
/s
just allow the up/down-votes decide -- isn't that what's they are there for ?
9 TheGhostOfDusty 2016-10-01
Drawbacks to allowing people to shout in their titles:
It reduces legibility
It is essentially a marketing technique used to manipulate the reader
It is widely seen as "hectoring and obnoxious"
It makes the sub look like a Poe's Law trolling playground
In my experience posts that abuse ALLCAPS titles are often misleading and use ALLCAPS to distract from that fact
7 s70n3834r 2016-10-01
If there's a mole in moderation using it as a wedge, then yeah, let's go back. It's only ever been necessary in Hearst publications anyway. No caps in titles, I'm good with that; it only works in a perfect world anyway.
6 [deleted] 2016-10-01
[removed]
2 gavy101 2016-10-01
Yes
No
And the sad fact of the matter is every regular to this sub will know, even without you naming names, that the ******* will be ******* and/or ****************, the two r/conspiracy ** that have over the years actively tried to ***, ****** and destroy this ***.
-1 Sabremesh 2016-10-01
Removed. Rule 10. Keep it civil please.
2 gavy101 2016-10-01
I have removed names, can you re approve please
-1 Sabremesh 2016-10-01
Your comment still contravenes Rule 10.
1 gavy101 2016-10-01
Then so does this thread, i am merely commenting on the op.
5 allyourmemes 2016-10-01
What bothers me the most about the rules is that there isn't a specific cutoff. One mod removed something from the front page for having a single word in all caps. The rules as they are stand to bait people into posting things that can be removed at the whims of the mod team.
In general I wish threads couldn't be deleted for silly reasons like there are capital letters, but at least say what the rules are.
I mean if a mod can remove a post for having a single word in all caps, then that should be listed in the rules. "Large percentage" doesn't mean anything.
3 anarchopotato 2016-10-01
Can we just switch up the css and make the font all capitals or all lowercase?
3 TheGhostOfDusty 2016-10-01
No kidding. /sigh
3 nighthawk1961 2016-10-01
All I have to add to this is that the rules must be applied consistently. This is a must if this sub is to progress and to be taken seriously by the rest of reddit (a struggle at best, I know). As for the "all caps", It looks tacky and reflects as such on the individual.
2 DrDougExeter 2016-10-01
A con man in our midst?? Now this is exciting.
Remember all the mod drama years ago with 9000s? Those were some interesting times.
2 MKULTRAserialkillers 2016-10-01
I think all-cap posts look a bit silly to newcomers. We shouldn't just try to preach to the choir, ya know?
2 Akareyon 2016-10-01
I would also like to be Part of a Mod Team that has no Issues more serious to tackle, no deeper Questions to ponder, no greater Wars to fight than over whether and if so how much Capslock should be allowed.
For your Convenience, this Comment is capped according to german Rules.
2 SovereignMan 2016-10-01
The caps lock and selective enforcement disagreements are only two symptoms of a much larger issue here.
2 Balthanos 2016-10-01
The mods causing the internal drama need to get their shit together. Don't make me sound like a liar, please. I'm always one of the first people in here that puts their balls on the table and vouches for all of your credibility as unbiased mods.
If one or more of you guys are pushing your own agenda while using rules as an excuse you need to stop now before you create a situation that snowballs.
This isn't something we need right now. I understand that there's going to be disagreements but you guys are a team and need to strive to improve yourselves and others within this sub.
This place has grown exponentially and has had a spotlight on it for a long time now. I'm sure there's plenty of factions out there that would love to know that the mod team is in disarray. Swallow your pride and fall back on the principles that made this place what it is.
2 SovereignMan 2016-10-01
I've noticed that on several occasions. Thank you.
Principles have been taking a back seat for quite a while now. Nowadays it's spin and cliches... just like politics. As large as the mod team has gotten, that may be unavoidable.
1 [deleted] 2016-10-01
[removed]
2 SovereignMan 2016-10-01
Rule 6. Removed.
1 phallaciouslycorrect 2016-10-01
aww man
3 SovereignMan 2016-10-01
You didn't really think I'd leave it, did you?
1 phallaciouslycorrect 2016-10-01
I did it all for you.
1 [deleted] 2016-10-01
This post distracts from what should really be happening in this sub.
1 Ronaldjpierce 2016-10-01
I have almost no opinion on this, the original rule did not seem unreasonable. Glad to see you are putting this much thought in to it though.
1 o_c_d 2016-10-01
All this over CAPS?
This post should be in WTF, not conspiracy.
Focus.
1 emilskoda 2016-10-01
I think rule 8 should be changed to say 'advice animals' instead of 'memes'. Meme means literally anything. Literally 'literally' is a meme.
2 TheGhostOfDusty 2016-10-01
'Image macro' is the term I think that works best.
0 emilskoda 2016-10-01
That makes a lot of sense, but I think that is too much of a comedy killer. I like to have some memetic humor interspersed with my conspiracy theories. That's just my personal opinion, though.
1 Icaria25 2016-10-01
I think any selective chance of administration in a sub like conspiracy should be taken with extreme skepticism and it's something a mod should totally avoid to vote for or propose if he has any intention of keeping the sub credible and respectable (2 things there are already a lot of struggle, no need to add the mod team to it... unless... no less.)
You are on point, this may seem trivial but it's actually a very good indication of where the mod team stands.
In selective enforcement there is no need for transparency. Keep that in mind.
1 zophieash 2016-10-01
Create a formal way to vote. Enforce the rules consistently. Consider removing mods who have demonstrated petty behavior.
0 Avo69 2016-10-01
Prohibit that shit. This isn't r/peoplefuckingdying.
0 Big_Girl_Luver 2016-10-01
Here we go. R/Conspiracy's regularly schedule mod drama.
You guys do know this shit gets old after the first couple times right?
-2 kybarnet 2016-10-01
Allow one or two words in caps, max. Such as 'breaking'
1 phallaciouslycorrect 2016-10-01
aww man
-1 Sabremesh 2016-10-01
Removed. Rule 10. Keep it civil please.
2 gavy101 2016-10-01
Yes
No
And the sad fact of the matter is every regular to this sub will know, even without you naming names, that the ******* will be ******* and/or ****************, the two r/conspiracy ** that have over the years actively tried to ***, ****** and destroy this ***.