Time for some moderation?
Wow, I mean sorry that I am late to this party. I have been away on holiday for the last week so not in touch with what's been going off webbie stuff. Last I looked about a week ago here was a secure and safe place, friendly and very open forum. This thread was the first to be picked up on catch up missed list unread. I read a good few opening responses and comments and thought what could have possibly changed in just one week. Looking down my list of unread posts it is easy to see what has happened, new to PT are numerous people from other places new here and who permanently seem to live down some pretty long rabbit holes! They are imposing their same random self indulgent arguments and rants on PT. I left PW after quite a long time to the new PC, became quite despondent that the same oracles were posts there and finding out and joining here was like a breath of fresh air. That will teach me to take a few days away! I do hope better people than me can find a way controlling all this. Just my first thoughts mind, so I may have more positive comments as I get back to normal.
Josephine this place would be so much nicer without you.
Never! You were one of the few reasons I kept coming back to another forum despite the less than optimal atmosphere. And in this forum I think you are positively radiant. Your opinions and knowledge are highly valued. I clown around a lot but I can be serious too 
Killomiter I think if @navindra can figure out a way to implement a proper Block function (because Ignore is just as ineffective as it was on PW) it would solve quite a lot of problems!
I did see on some Flarum forum that Cybergene had requested this feature a few years ago but then there was no follow-up update, so I'm not sure if anyone implemented it... If this feature is something we could pay someone to code I'd certainly pitch in!! 
BartK I think we already have a great mod team of people who care about the community. I don't know if there was any announcement but currently there is @navindra, @ShiroKuro, @rsl12, and myself. We are part of this community and very much wish it to remain vibrant without the toxicity of of internet discussions in general. Therefore, I think the best thing you can do if you think any post is crossing the line is to simply flag it. We will see your comment, discuss it amongst ourselves, and take appropriate action. Perhaps you might not like that this is going on behind closed doors but please understand that making a public trial of someone is a really bad idea if you want forums to remain a healthy place.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has volunteered to moderate. I’ve said it before; I think this is a largely thankless job. Everyone will have different sensibilities about things, and I know that there are times when I probably would make different calls about when things have crossed a line, but overall, I trust the moderators to handle difficult situations, and I agree that moderating decisions should not be aired for general consumption.
One common issue that occurred on the other forum (and that has started to crop up here) is something that I think is very tricky, and I wonder if people feel there are structural things we can do. This is the issue of people getting on soapboxes— and filling threads with long and multiple posts, which all tend to basically say the same thing in many many words. I will say, for the record, that there are plenty of times when I don’t disagree with the substance of the posts. At times, it can feel like trolling, and at times (and with some particular users) these posts can devolve into personal attacks. Somewhat more commonly, my feeling is that these long and/or repeat message posts can come across as ‘browbeating’ to one or another participant. But I think that most of the time, there’s nothing inherently un-civil or off-topic, and so they’re not really in violation of any rules. My personal approach to these discussions is to respond at most once and to try not to feed the soapbox pontifications. But I think that the soapboxing can have the effect of quashing engagement/participation/diversity of viewpoints. So I’m wondering if this is an area where discussions can be broken off, or if we can develop a framework to deal with this issue.
Of course, if I’m the only one who feels that this is an issue, I’m not about to get on a soap box about it!
- Edited
With my short attention span, I would welcome a limit in the number of words per post. This may be an unpopular idea, though. Feel free to downvote it 
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Killomiter new to PT are numerous people from other places new here and who permanently seem to live down some pretty long rabbit holes! They are imposing their same random self indulgent arguments and rants on PT.
This says it all. Those particular individuals aren't content to sling that stuff around PC, where it's supposedly welcomed, if not encouraged. They seem to want the attention, good, bad, or otherwise, anywhere they can get it, which is how some of them got banned from PW.
I think the townsfolk should get their torches and pitchforks and ride them rascals out on a rail. I personally think that anyone who joins PianoTell and launches some contentious generic inflammatory post, veiled as piano-worthy information, or sprinkles posts with politics, religion, or social commentary, should be immediately kicked out, or at least, banned with one last chance. And would PianoTell suffer by eliminating a few trolls and troublemakers?
PianoMonk I think a better approach would be if everyone is willing to say "let's keep this place positive". If a post is creating a negative atmosphere, we can call it out. It happened to a thread that I was on where someone was saying things that weren't helpful and only made me feel bad.
If we keep reinforcing (in a polite way) that this is a friendly place and that those kind of comments aren't welcome, those people will either go away on their own or will tone it down. And if they don't, a moderator can step in. But if we as a community want to keep this a nice place, we should do it without pitchforks. People can change!
A Block function would sure make it easier though. Sometimes there are people who don't have bad intentions but you just don't want to see their posts.
twocats I like the idea of community members calling out unwanted behavior, as long as the calling out is positive and respectful regardless of the toxicity of the post that provoked it.
A few of you are doing this already and I think you are doing a great job!
I am also grateful to @BartK, @navindra, @ShiroKuro and @rsl12 for being moderators!
In a way I'm glad that the honeymoon period is over. It was not going to last anyway. Now we see what we are really dealing with. It's not too bad...yet.
Rubens but things never stay the same! Even if it was the same group of people, we all change over time.
For a hot minute there with that negative poster I also felt like the honeymoon period was over and maybe I didn't want to be here anymore. But the truth is that there are many more supportive and nice people here than the bad, so why let one or two people ruin this for me? I can choose not to interact with them anymore and I know that others have my back. I may make some use of the Ignore feature even if it's not as effective as I'd like 
twocats we all change over time.
Do we, though? It's interesting I recently discussed this question with a friend. He believes people can change, I don't. In my view, if you see a person "change" into another person a few years later, it's really because their "new" self was already part of what they were in the first place. In other words, they already had it in them to begin with. In any case, how often do we really see people change anyway, especially for the better? Maybe I'm a pessimist, but think about all the "bad apples" who have been polluting the PW for years. They were bad apples when they joined, and they are just as bad if not worse now.
Rubens In other words, they already had it in them to begin with.
That may be true, but what matters to me is their outward behavior. I do see that one person over on PW is much better behaved than they were years ago.
And yes, there will be people who are always unpleasant but not breaking any actual rules or people who want to stir up trouble. The best way to deal with those people is not to engage, both for your own mental health and to prevent them from having additional fodder for argument. I am the first to admit that it's hard to be the bigger person but it is remarkably effective
Coming in late to this thread and I just wanted to apologize for being a little absent here (still unpacking!) but I'm grateful to everyone for their commitment to keeping PT a nice place to be!
It's inevitable that difficulties will crop up from time to time, but I think PT will be ok, thanks to all of you here!
We should definitely all try to be the bigger person. But I admit I do struggle with that sometimes because it makes me look fat
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Sometimes there's a mismatch between those who post from an emotional perspective - which, IMHO, tends to be opinion-based - and those who are posting from a reason-based perspective re factual stuff. Room for both but the combination can be like oil and water and can go downhill fast. But stepping into this mismatch can invite trouble from both sides. (Long ago, on a training course, I, a mere male, stepped in try and moderate/calm/ or whatever a furious argument between 2 women participants. They both instantly turned both barrels on me. It was a good lesson!) I'm reasonably happy with argument as long as it's not a personal attack and where everyone genuinely accepts it's mostly opinion anyway. To extend it a little further, gratutious attacks on matters dear to others, eg a favourite piano, composer, genre, VST etc. can also be inflammatory. I for one tend to get all fired up - but try not to respond - when something I hold dear gets trashed. I may not like composer A, but trashing him - it's usually a him - can be seen as trashing those who like that composer.