I'm going to repost what I posted in the constructive community discussion thread in here, as I know a lot of people just don't visit that section, lol.
Whenever I see something like this happen to another active community here, I can't help but wonder if, in an attempt for the forum as a whole to be a bastion for everyone to escape from nazis and transphobes and all the other ilk of the internet, the super strict "no fun allowed" moderation approach just doesn't work when smaller issues arise.
For instance with the Media Create fiasco, you had a thread series that was enjoyed by many people, people who said they came to the forums just for those discussions. Recently, some of the regulars went to the staff and said "hey, we don't like how these people are tolling the thread, can you ask them to cool it?". Seems like a small and simple issue, right? In response, the thread gets locked and upon reopening, there's a nine point list of rules and guidelines to follow. Talk about an overresponse to an easily solvable issue!
I mean hell, we're posting on forum software that allows staff to ban members from threads entirely if they don't play nice. The proper response should have been...
"Hey, member X, we're getting reports from the regulars in the Media Create thread that you're a bit trolly, could you please cool it? If not, we might have to thread ban you from all future Media Create threads. Thanks!"
Instead we get a massive list of points and rules handed down from on high like this is some corporation and now human resources has just sent out a company wide memo telling everyone off.
I have always believed that light touch moderation in response to small, simple issues is the best. Like most of us old fucks, I've been on forums since it was illegal for me to be on forums because I was underage. The forums where moderators posted corporate sounding memos in response to the small issues weren't fun and drove people away. In fact, I've never encountered such a forum until this one.
I'd even go so far as to say we don't need as many staff members as this site has! Sure it's a massive forum, but so what? If something truly egregious gets posted, it's usually reported en masse, (as evidenced by the numerous times threads are closed while "we review reports"), and swiftly dealt with. You don't need 20+ moderators to do that. A small team of 10 would do.
My suggestion would be to let the biggest communities self-moderate. Have the staff appoint someone, not as a mod, but as a ward of the community, and they will act as a liaison with the staff to alert them, in addition to reports from the other regulars, when shit goes awry in said threads.
I'm sure some with vehemently disagree with most, if not all of what I've said here, but I wanted to say it anyway.
