Feel free to email me to discuss any moderation issues. We've made some good progress from email in this thread.mailto:wejo@letsrun.com
This thread went off the rails a bit with 1 particular poster hijacking it and trying to make it about one moderator so we have locked it.
Before I give my takeaways, if you have concerns about moderating, or posts, please report them or email me directly. We make it very easy to be heard at LetsRun.com and reach us. But if you sidetrack threads by discussing moderation, those posts will be removed and can lead to temporary bans as they ruin the discussion for everyone else.
But some takeaways. 1) Dealing with the problematic posters/troublemakers isn't easy but we need to make sure in dealing with them we do not go too far and harm the experience for other posters 2) The filters often flag people by accident. Exempt SC members from the filters at the very least. 3) Consider creating a toggle so people don't have to see "this post was deleted in a thread". In the posts where the trouble makers try and takeover, these notifications start to ruin the experience. 4) Consider moving some posts out of the main forum. 5) Look at limiting how often people can post in a thread. 6) Try and get a better handle on the use of VPNs by people posting, reporting posts, upvoting, etc. 7) I will actively monitor all of malmo's moderating and posts for the next week and give him feedback. We already actively communicate but some of your points and emails were helpful.
Summarizing, I see some people upset with malmo's moderating. (Honestly I often think this is the same 3-4 people who constantly complain about him despite being told it is off topic) If you have specific issues with him or any moderation issue, or specific posts, please hit the # button and send me the posts.
So this would imply most of what we do is moderate too much or inconsistently but some complain we don't do enough.
Hi Weldon,
Nice chatting with you briefly on the DFW Skylink while we were coming back from Tallahassee.
I think the biggest issue with moderation generally is inconsistency in what's allowed to stand and what gets removed. There's also unfairness in who gets banned and who is allowed to continually post here despite repeatedly violating the rules.
It reminds me of a common complaint in football, basketball, and baseball: players get upset when refs or umpires don't call the game consistently. Players just want to know where the lines are, and they want everyone held within the same lines. If this forum was moderated fairly and consistently based on the posted guidelines, then I think there would be less complaints.
With malmo specifically, I think the biggest issue is abuse of power. I've seen him personally attack people for expressing opinions that he doesn't like, then remove their replies when they try to defend themselves and call him out on his behavior. I've not only seen him do this to others; he's done it to me.
I previously emailed you and Robert to express my concern about malmo's abuse of power, and I never got a response.
As this thread has shown, there are more than just a few people who object to malmo's moderating.
I just clicked a thread titled, Bekele running Boston, his first marathon on American soil to find it was deleted for the reason "pornographic content".
That would be wild if it were the case. Here is a way to improve: Give the actual reason for thread deletions. If the reason can't be found in the list of reportable offenses, don't delete the thread.
That’s as descriptive as it gets. The post contained a link to a porn site and nothing else.
3. Dahl actually does repost the same material if undeleted and he feels it didn't get enough attention. And he does post more responses too, often with his sockpuppet accounts.
Is the up/down vote thing a negative? I think it can give those posters capable of introspection some perspective on their posts. Its annoying because it is abused by those who mutivote. I know Dahl stalks some posters through the boards to downvote every post they make and maybe some others do too. As an aside, it amazes me that some people have that much time, but I guess if they aren't in school and don't work, what else are they going to do all day.
There are no vendettas. Don't flatter yourselves.
None of the trolls here have a clue how the sausage is made behind the curtains -- to mix a few metaphors here. And you're all wrong. The guy i quoted above is close, so there's that.
All of the mods can see how the other mods moderate and all of us do so in pretty much the same way. In fact within the last two weeks a new mod boarded ship and his activity is exactly the same as the rest.
This is going to be the last time that I'm going to speak about Dahl but it needs to be said. Forget the lies and phony credentials, he's put up porno links, bestiality porn, and just last week he put up an incest/underage porn link. Within the past few days I learned that he was accusing me of revealing personal family information. Like everything else he claims -- FALSE.
The spam attack posts that you see are all made on a prepackaged assembly line. He has an inventory of at least 50 different pre-loaded crude posts for your reading consumption. All he needs to do is load, fire, switch servers and repeat.
He isn't autistic, he's a very disturbed man-child. Everything he does is thought out and deliberate.
Thats it.
PS. Dahl even posted one of his prepackaged spams on this thread.
This post was edited 11 minutes after it was posted.
I just clicked a thread titled, Bekele running Boston, his first marathon on American soil to find it was deleted for the reason "pornographic content".
That would be wild if it were the case. Here is a way to improve: Give the actual reason for thread deletions. If the reason can't be found in the list of reportable offenses, don't delete the thread.
That’s as descriptive as it gets. The post contained a link to a porn site and nothing else.
Oh ok, right call then. Must be you know who again. I guess I'm just frustrated because I wanted to discuss the crazy snowstorms this weekend and my thread got swept up in whatever is going on right now.
Nice chatting with you briefly on the DFW Skylink while we were coming back from Tallahassee.
I think the biggest issue with moderation generally is inconsistency in what's allowed to stand and what gets removed. There's also unfairness in who gets banned and who is allowed to continually post here despite repeatedly violating the rules.
It reminds me of a common complaint in football, basketball, and baseball: players get upset when refs or umpires don't call the game consistently. Players just want to know where the lines are, and they want everyone held within the same lines. If this forum was moderated fairly and consistently based on the posted guidelines, then I think there would be less complaints.
With malmo specifically, I think the biggest issue is abuse of power. I've seen him personally attack people for expressing opinions that he doesn't like, then remove their replies when they try to defend themselves and call him out on his behavior. I've not only seen him do this to others; he's done it to me.
I previously emailed you and Robert to express my concern about malmo's abuse of power, and I never got a response.
As this thread has shown, there are more than just a few people who object to malmo's moderating.
Exactly! Either moderate a ton or don't moderate that much. Moderate consistently and i think the critiscism would be much less. not like what it is now when a few things are moderated a ton and others are barely moderated
3. Dahl actually does repost the same material if undeleted and he feels it didn't get enough attention. And he does post more responses too, often with his sockpuppet accounts.
Is the up/down vote thing a negative? I think it can give those posters capable of introspection some perspective on their posts. Its annoying because it is abused by those who mutivote. I know Dahl stalks some posters through the boards to downvote every post they make and maybe some others do too. As an aside, it amazes me that some people have that much time, but I guess if they aren't in school and don't work, what else are they going to do all day.
This is going to be the last time that I'm going to speak about Dahl but it needs to be said. Forget the lies and phony credentials, he's put up porno links, bestiality porn, and just last week he put up an incest/underage porn link. Within the past few days I learned that he was accusing me of revealing personal family information. Like everything else he claims -- FALSE.
He isn't autistic, he's a very disturbed man-child. Everything he does is thought out and deliberate.
Thats it.
If this is accurate, it begs the question as to why law enforcement is not involved. I am not familiar with US law, but I imagine there is some form of restraining order that can be placed on Dahl preventing him from posting here. Notwithstanding the use of VPNs and associated anonymity, criminal sanction may be a sufficient deterrent.
I just clicked a thread titled, Bekele running Boston, his first marathon on American soil to find it was deleted for the reason "pornographic content".
That would be wild if it were the case. Here is a way to improve: Give the actual reason for thread deletions. If the reason can't be found in the list of reportable offenses, don't delete the thread.
I'm not pretending to be Walter Cronkite but I personally believe people should be able to post about running without revealing who they are.
Sir,
If this is what you honestly believe, then you and I do NOT come from the same type of moral upbringing or cultural values.
This thread is a PERFECT example why very few people want anything to do with this website and how the founders(s) are apathetic and refuse to require registration and dont care about the sport.
Users with negative intention who come from bad families would have to spend an hour researching how to register, as would spambots.
I have a mental handicap called autism, and that handicap prevents me from understanding any type of sarcasm or hints or unspoken words that are not direct.
The reason that registration needs to be required is that it would mandate that everyone go through a process before being able to post, and that process would include providing your real legal name. This would make everyone responsible for the things they post, and it would also 100% completely eliminate bad-eggs on here that derail threads and make fun of other users like Greg or Jamin or Adultsintheroom. It would eliminate personal harrassment entirely.
About 99.999% of the time when 1 specific user on here tries to harrass me, I dont even understand what they are saying or what they mean, nor can I even pick up on the fact they are trying to make fun of my post about training, racing, etc. It usually takes a 3rd party administrator on here to email me and inform me that user was attempting to me fun of me. Registration would stop all of this, and it will immediately stop all unwanted soliciting and advertisements.
My personal understanding is that the site founders, wherever that is, do not desire anyone to be harrassed. Its not what they want for the site. Its just what their system currently allows because it's outdated. I spend alot of time think back to my childhood growing up in oklahoma. Some of the things people write on here about others, I cant think of anytime in my life where it "did something for me" or gave me some sort of "inner pleasure" writing something negative about another person. What im saying to you is that I dont understand what people who do this are GETTING OR GAINING from doing that.
All I know is that in addition to coaching and helping and mentoring others, I travel all around the world to run in different track and road races. Nobody else on here does that, especially not at my age. Im juggling a very very fine line with breaking 1:50 800 meters at 39 years old. All of my runs are done from 3am to 6am and I haven't missed a single day of running in 2,001 days. I also prick my fingers and measure my blood lactate levels. Thats how elite and dedicated I am.
When I read the material on this site, it's beyond obvious that NOBODY on here currently runs or is currently involved in the sport in any fashion. Its just a bunch of weird, bad-egg criminal people who shouldn't be on here. Hardloper and Skuj have both been very kind and loving towards me and obviously have a very very GOOD mom and dad. Both of those users have parents that done an EXCELLENT job raising them. Thats why they are so loving and kind and polite towards me.
When I look at what I am now as a runner, everything that ive built around this sport, the entire empire ive created out of passion alone, the comments on this forum simply do not make any sense to me. It does not make sense why any sane person would make negative comments towards me or hardloper of skuj, all 3 of which are beautifully innocent and gentle people with beautiful innocent intentions and beautiful innocent natures.
I do not believe the forum section should should continue to exist at all without requiring registration.
Aside from those 3 people mentioned above, Everyone else on here seems to be just old trash talking creeps who dont run, and just like yacking about Parker Valbys body.
I've been posting here for 21 years. My name is Barrett Dahl. I post here because its my duty to educate others. I also know that ive been ordained by God to coach others. I plan on doing that the rest of my life on letsrun and at our junior college. None of my posts are meant to offend, they are intended to educate. There are a couple posters here who have brought me into their mansion in Colorado made me part of their family. You know who you are. Im permanently part of the lrc community, and all of you are welcome to learn from me, but first you need to open your ears and respect and acknowledge my intelligence from the beginning. My days of proving myself are long long long gone and over. I proved myself many years ago when I got all of my graduate advanced degrees.
I would strongly prefer registration be required to post, but i dont own this business. Im absolutely not going to stop what im doing on here, because all of my knowledge would be left idle and not available for uneducated youth to absorb.
This is going to be the last time that I'm going to speak about Dahl but it needs to be said. Forget the lies and phony credentials, he's put up porno links, bestiality porn, and just last week he put up an incest/underage porn link. Within the past few days I learned that he was accusing me of revealing personal family information. Like everything else he claims -- FALSE.
He isn't autistic, he's a very disturbed man-child. Everything he does is thought out and deliberate.
Thats it.
If this is accurate, it begs the question as to why law enforcement is not involved. I am not familiar with US law, but I imagine there is some form of restraining order that can be placed on Dahl preventing him from posting here. Notwithstanding the use of VPNs and associated anonymity, criminal sanction may be a sufficient deterrent.
Isn’t it obvious? They can’t. He’s behind too many VPNs and personas that you can’t ever definitively say it was him, even if you know.
Just like Kobbs knows he can be as offensive and racist as he wants, whoever is making the Deno posts can be as dumb and repetitive as they want, Jamin can clog it up with more poor me incel garbage or Russian propaganda, and on and on. They can’t actually stop it.
This is going to be the last time that I'm going to speak about Dahl but it needs to be said. Forget the lies and phony credentials, he's put up porno links, bestiality porn, and just last week he put up an incest/underage porn link. Within the past few days I learned that he was accusing me of revealing personal family information. Like everything else he claims -- FALSE.
He isn't autistic, he's a very disturbed man-child. Everything he does is thought out and deliberate.
Thats it.
If this is accurate, it begs the question as to why law enforcement is not involved. I am not familiar with US law, but I imagine there is some form of restraining order that can be placed on Dahl preventing him from posting here. Notwithstanding the use of VPNs and associated anonymity, criminal sanction may be a sufficient deterrent.
I've been looking into it. Its actually easier than you think.
I'm not pretending to be Walter Cronkite but I personally believe people should be able to post about running without revealing who they are.
I have a mental handicap called autism, and that handicap prevents me from understanding any type of sarcasm or hints or unspoken words that are not direct.
I’ve watched your YouTube videos where you use sarcasm.
You’re a liar, of poor moral character, and a pimple of the ass of this form
I'm not pretending to be Walter Cronkite but I personally believe people should be able to post about running without revealing who they are.
Sir,
If this is what you honestly believe, then you and I do NOT come from the same type of moral upbringing or cultural values.
This thread is a PERFECT example why very few people want anything to do with this website and how the founders(s) are apathetic and refuse to require registration and dont care about the sport.
Users with negative intention who come from bad families would have to spend an hour researching how to register, as would spambots.
I have a mental handicap called autism, and that handicap prevents me from understanding any type of sarcasm or hints or unspoken words that are not direct.
The reason that registration needs to be required is that it would mandate that everyone go through a process before being able to post, and that process would include providing your real legal name. This would make everyone responsible for the things they post, and it would also 100% completely eliminate bad-eggs on here that derail threads and make fun of other users like Greg or Jamin or Adultsintheroom. It would eliminate personal harrassment entirely.
About 99.999% of the time when 1 specific user on here tries to harrass me, I dont even understand what they are saying or what they mean, nor can I even pick up on the fact they are trying to make fun of my post about training, racing, etc. It usually takes a 3rd party administrator on here to email me and inform me that user was attempting to me fun of me. Registration would stop all of this, and it will immediately stop all unwanted soliciting and advertisements.
My personal understanding is that the site founders, wherever that is, do not desire anyone to be harrassed. Its not what they want for the site. Its just what their system currently allows because it's outdated. I spend alot of time think back to my childhood growing up in oklahoma. Some of the things people write on here about others, I cant think of anytime in my life where it "did something for me" or gave me some sort of "inner pleasure" writing something negative about another person. What im saying to you is that I dont understand what people who do this are GETTING OR GAINING from doing that.
All I know is that in addition to coaching and helping and mentoring others, I travel all around the world to run in different track and road races. Nobody else on here does that, especially not at my age. Im juggling a very very fine line with breaking 1:50 800 meters at 39 years old. All of my runs are done from 3am to 6am and I haven't missed a single day of running in 2,001 days. I also prick my fingers and measure my blood lactate levels. Thats how elite and dedicated I am.
When I read the material on this site, it's beyond obvious that NOBODY on here currently runs or is currently involved in the sport in any fashion. Its just a bunch of weird, bad-egg criminal people who shouldn't be on here. Hardloper and Skuj have both been very kind and loving towards me and obviously have a very very GOOD mom and dad. Both of those users have parents that done an EXCELLENT job raising them. Thats why they are so loving and kind and polite towards me.
When I look at what I am now as a runner, everything that ive built around this sport, the entire empire ive created out of passion alone, the comments on this forum simply do not make any sense to me. It does not make sense why any sane person would make negative comments towards me or hardloper of skuj, all 3 of which are beautifully innocent and gentle people with beautiful innocent intentions and beautiful innocent natures.
I do not believe the forum section should should continue to exist at all without requiring registration.
Aside from those 3 people mentioned above, Everyone else on here seems to be just old trash talking creeps who dont run, and just like yacking about Parker Valbys body.
I've been posting here for 21 years. My name is Barrett Dahl. I post here because its my duty to educate others. I also know that ive been ordained by God to coach others. I plan on doing that the rest of my life on letsrun and at our junior college. None of my posts are meant to offend, they are intended to educate. There are a couple posters here who have brought me into their mansion in Colorado made me part of their family. You know who you are. Im permanently part of the lrc community, and all of you are welcome to learn from me, but first you need to open your ears and respect and acknowledge my intelligence from the beginning. My days of proving myself are long long long gone and over. I proved myself many years ago when I got all of my graduate advanced degrees.
I would strongly prefer registration be required to post, but i dont own this business. Im absolutely not going to stop what im doing on here, because all of my knowledge would be left idle and not available for uneducated youth to absorb.
All of the mods can see how the other mods moderate and all of us do so in pretty much the same way. In fact within the last two weeks a new mod boarded ship and his activity is exactly the same as the rest.
Here’s a problem that I would like a certain nod to address directly and not passive aggressively: this mod deleting any post he doesn’t like and then banning that poster
You all need to retire that mod, though he is helping me with my goal of wanting to visit here less.
I'm not pretending to be Walter Cronkite but I personally believe people should be able to post about running without revealing who they are.
Im juggling a very very fine line with breaking 1:50 800 meters at 39 years old. All of my runs are done from 3am to 6am and I haven't missed a single day of running in 2,001 days. I also prick my fingers and measure my blood lactate levels. Thats how elite and dedicated I am.
This is noteworthy, Dahl.
Running 1:50 at your age deserves recognition.
Why doesn't LR do a front page story on it? I'm all for it.
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