A recent post was published, and then deleted, that, although it was a bit of a rant by a user who was unhappy with the actions an Administrator took regarding some blogs, brought to light some important things that users of this site should know. For the record, the author of the blog was the one that deleted the blog. Progressive U does not censor blogs that complain about the site or the workings of this site (pending that they still fall within the Progressive U guidelines and are done in a constructive manner).
For one thing, moderators and administrators do not act out of sheer boredom or because they have nothing else to do. Believe me, there is a lot of stuff to do to keep this site running! Besides coming up with new features, improving old features, maintenance of the web site, developing Bonus Point Opportunities, finding ways to promote both Progressive U and its users' blogs to outside sources, and helping the site grow - we have to go through, literally, every blog that gets posted every day (and every comment, if possible) to see whether or not they should be promoted to the front page, edited for spelling, or reviewed for violating the Terms of Service.
Every blog - try taking the time at some point and counting how many blogs are posted every day. Trust me - there's a lot we should be doing.
We also keep a log of all changes and messages made. This means that if a blog or a comment has been deleted, unpublished, moved, or edited, or the author of a blog messaged for any reason, we keep a log that includes the reasons, times, and links in place so that all moderators and A-Team members can review them. This also means that if you've found that action has taken place on one or more of your blogs, you can write to any A-Team member and ask for more clarification and they can answer your questions or provide you with more incite.
Additionally, actions are not taken simply because we dislike someone. We don't decide one day that we're going to draw a name out of a hat and pick on that person or screw around with their points simply because it would be a fun thing to do. It can seem like this at times, especially if we have to take action on more than one of your blogs; but generally this only happens when one blog has been brought to our attention (either because a user flagged it or because we were making our "rounds" through the recent blog posts) and it, in turn, brought our attention to another matter.
If you have any questions regarding the maintenance of this site, or how A-Team members handle situations, you are always free to contact any A-Team member. If you are uncomfortable speaking with the same A-Team member who took action on your blog, you can go to another A-Team member as well. We keep an open line of communications at all times.
Some of my favorite bloggers on this site have had multiple actions taken on their blogs, or have had several blogs deleted for one reason or another - and yet they've used the experience to grow and develop a real voice for their blogs. That is our main purpose - to help your blog grow.
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I know what incident you're talking about because I think it happened around some time last night while I was awake....and I have to say I definitely agree with the way the moderators handled it. As I was reading the post, I thought about flagging it myself, until I saw that you responded. It was very polite and pretty to-the-point, but you also managed to put in your own personal two cents without being rude.
I think the choices made in this particular decision were correct, because I found myself as a user getting somewhat annoyed with the multiple blogs/content/format. I have never had a blog changed or deleted, but who knows? It might some day happen. And, most likely, I'll move on and learn from my mistakes. I don't think the moderators on this site are bored or do things out of spite, I've found them to be pretty helpful and great contributors. This is my first time on a blogging site, and I'm glad it was one that encourages good things from people and not just pointless blogs. Moderating is definitely necessary to keep the site from being polluted and getting out of control.
Ha, I guess this was a roundabout way to say thanks!
I think it's also important to realize on this site especially, is that most (if not all) of the moderators running it aren't paid.
Facebook and MySpace and Blogger have staffs upon staffs of people to fix problems and moderate content, and ProU simply doesn't.
It seems easy to blame Evil Facebook for denying your name change to Gussy McGussyPants, but there are real people there. It's just harder to see those folks because they have a 401K.
Basically, we're all in this together, so respect and appreciate one another's work. If you're still griping, write a post about it!
Some people get offended when their blogs get deleted. I personally wouldn't mind if what I write about really cross the lines, which I know it can happen any day. I don't think you need to apologize for your actions as long as they come with clear explanation. We are the ones who should be thanking the A-team for running the website well.
Good point. There are over 30,000 members and anywhere between 100,000 and 500,000 unique visitors a month here. On average there are 68 posts a day (some days that is much higher) that must be gone through,, a slew of emails to the helpdesk to be read and handled, bonus point opportunities to create, FAQs to write, accounts to review and a host of other things to take care of.
There are 50 moderators and of those 50, only an average of 10 that are here every day volunteering time and effort to keep the site up and running. Sometimes, we make decisions that we don't particularly like to make, but someone has to do it. We aren't getting paid to do it, we do it because someone has too if everyone wants the chance to win scholarships that ProU offers. At the end of the day, we just don't have the time to be "out to get" anyone. Takes too much effort (and creates too many headaches to boot) that is better spent elsewhere.
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~Fallon~
"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." Henry David Thoreau
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Sounds like a lot of work! You guys are on here more than I am. Keep up the good work!
Find out everything you need to know about poop here:
http://progressiveu.org/000701-everything-you-need-know-about-poop