Fair warning: this is another installment of "Gustav complains about moderation". Feel free to disregard as you choose. As always--mods, I like you as people and this isn't intended to be a shot at any of you personally.
I've actually been fairly OK with the state of moderation since my survey article went up, and I think it's great that the voice of the league was able to change things. Posts in the ban thread no longer just say "Code of Conduct", and I've thought that mod-not mod interactions on mod-related issues have a level of respect that they were previously lacking. I've had a mod or two reach out to me about one thing or another, and we've always been able to have civil conversations. So, I sincerely commend the team for improving in almost every regard over the past few seasons.
With that said, there's one thing I'm not a fan of, and I've seen it happen enough that it bugs me enough to write an article I don't even need because I've maxed out this week. For a while--and this is nothing new--there's been a heightened focus on keeping certain channels in the league Discord server on topic. We talk about health stuff and brag about our latest workouts in the health channel, we talk about graphics in the graphics channel, and we talk about games in the gaming channel. Frequently, we'll see a mod request to move a talk out of or into one of these specific places, because it's either unrelated to the channel or directly related to another. This is something I disagree with most of the time, because (as you should all know) I'm very much of the "if it's not hurting anyone or getting in anyone's way, I see no reason why any action should be taken" group, but I honestly don't really care beyond just rolling my eyes and switching over to the requested channel. As much as most of the convos in question don't hurt anybody, the mod policy really doesn't either. I'm content to just be quietly annoyed with it.
Except in one specific situation.
When a new member joins the league server, and makes a post (almost always in #general) looking for help, the ONLY correct response is to HELP THAT NEW MEMBER!
...not to tell said new member to take it to the help channel and to then proceed to not offer help in the help channel.
I can understand having the help talk move over there if genchat is popping off and everyone's messages are getting buried in everyone else's--that's one thing. But when genchat is relatively uncluttered--and even when the only thing going on there is the new member getting the help they need from someone else--that's another. The member in question deserves some level of understanding that they've posted in the first channel they saw, they are hurting absolutely no one by asking a question, and giving that person a helpful answer--which is supposedly one of the league's top priorities--is far, far more important than talking about kranch. What kind of welcoming atmosphere do we say we pride ourselves on if someone joins the server, asks how to build, and the first response is, in effect, "we don't want that in here, take it somewhere else"? That, especially when I've seen questions go unanswered for a few minutes after they've been directed to the help channel--which is sometimes enough for someone to lose faith and disappear. When an innocent question is asked in a (supposedly) fairly supportive environment, there will be an answer--let it be. Please.
I'd like to conclude this article with a suggestion so it isn't just me complaining. Currently, people joining the server are thrown directly into #general. Why not have the default channel for server entrances be the help channel? Someone coming into the server for the first time with a question will already be in the place to ask it. Now, this won't eliminate all instances of new members asking questions in #general--so, mind you, my point still stands; play it where it lies and let the question be asked and answered--but it will probably at least lead to more questions, at least first-time questions, going into the channel created for said questions.
Turns out I do need this article after all--I can claim my donation doubles week from it!
As always, if you sincerely consider my point of view, then I sincerely thank you. See you next week!