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The Suggestion Screening Team


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If I may, I have a suggestion as to a solution? (Though I'm a touch tipsy right now so don't blame me if this is, unfeasible)
 

I suggest... The Suggestion Screening Team.
Basically a group of people who operate independently and differently from the current mods, who have the power to influence the outcome of a suggestion but not the actual power to accept / decline it.

 

Allow me to elaborate. Before a suggestion is accepted or declined by a moderator (not necessarily before, but usually because screening is faster) it gets screened. That is, one of the screening team gives the suggestion a quick once-over to ensure that, essentially, the basic rules have been adhered to - proof is present and relevant, overpay is applied and prices are in-date in the case of unusuals, etc. From there the suggestion is briefly noted on from the results of the screening, and let back out to wait for moderation.
I think this is a good idea for a number of reasons:

1. It adds an additional layer of failsafe to suggestions - the likelihood of two people making the same mistake is far slimmer than one person making it.

2. It could in the long run save the moderator team a lot of time - coming to a suggestion already knowing, say, overpay hasn't been applied, and being able to close it outright there and then it certainly a streamlining of the process.

Honestly I've wanted to suggest this idea for a while, but the moment never came.

 

At the end of the day, of course the moderator team work together, but not on every individual suggestion. Individuals make mistakes. That's, we're not to blame anyone here, the mods do fantastic work, but it happens. That's, just a fact. So I feel any way to mitigate that would be a step in the right direction <3

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-dis-

I'd join butt

I'd be the one making the suggestions :D

 

I already do minor work rules if i find free time amidst my suggesting in the case of newbie suggestors

I even throw out a compliment if they actually make a reasonable attempt

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Isn't a better solution, rather than a "screening team" just... more mods? So the ones that currently do unusual suggestions are not so stretched?

 

Like, if someone was trustworthy enough to be on a screening team they could probably just... be a mod and help out even more?

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Isn't a better solution, rather than a "screening team" just... more mods? So the ones that currently do unusual suggestions are not so stretched?

 

That's still only one person looking over a suggestion. More mods doesn't actually deal with the issue raised here. Plus screeners don't have all the associated paraphernalia to deal with - they're LIKE mods but with the sole purpose of preventing mistakes in suggestions.

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That's still only one person looking over a suggestion. More mods doesn't actually deal with the issue raised here. Plus screeners don't have all the associated paraphernalia to deal with - they're LIKE mods but with the sole purpose of preventing mistakes in suggestions.

 

I think more mods would help with the issues raised here, cause if the mods aren't so stretched/overworked with so few of them handling so many suggestions then they would have more time to devote to looking into each one thoroughly. Idk what "associated paraphernalia" is referring to, lol.

 

(Not that they don't do that now, I've not  been around long enough to judge, just responding to screening as a suggested fix.)

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I think more mods would help with the issues raised here, cause if the mods aren't so stretched/overworked with so few of them handling so many suggestions then they would have more time to devote to looking into each one thoroughly. Idk what "associated paraphernalia" is referring to, lol.

 

(Not that they don't do that now, I've not  been around long enough to judge, just responding to screening as a suggested fix.)

 

No amount of thoroughness prevents oversight. This is why peer reviewing is a thing.

''Paraphernalia'' is dealing with bans, forum stuff, etc etc. Mods have a lot they have to do, and could focus on THAT more.

Besides, VERY few people have the qualities necessary to be a mod, currently I can think of exactly zero I would approve of, whereas the ask of screeners isn't nearly so vigorous. 

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No amount of thoroughness prevents oversight. This is why peer reviewing is a thing.

''Paraphernalia'' is dealing with bans, forum stuff, etc etc. Mods have a lot they have to do, and could focus on THAT more.

Besides, VERY few people have the qualities necessary to be a mod, currently I can think of exactly zero I would approve of, whereas the ask of screeners isn't nearly so vigorous. 

 

Comments and votes already cover peer-review - mostly comments. Glaring errors are often pointed out by peers before mods get there.

Mods don't have to mod everything.

Is that up to you? :P

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Comments and votes already cover peer-review - mostly comments. Glaring errors are often pointed out by peers before mods get there.

Mods don't have to mod everything.

Is that up to you? :P

No, comments don't, that's the issue - they're being ignored on a regular basis. Have you actually read anything in this thread?

Mods have to mod everything that's why they're called mods.

It's not up to me but I, like everyone else, get a say. But I've spoken to mods and they tend to share my viewpoint right now.

PM if you wish to discuss this further, we've taken this thread off-topic.

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No, comments don't, that's the issue - they're being ignored on a regular basis. Have you actually read anything in this thread?

Mods have to mod everything that's why they're called mods.

It's not up to me but I, like, everyone get, get a say. But I've spoken to mods and they tend to share my viewpoint right now.

PM if you wish to discuss this further, we've taken this thread off-topic.

 

As I said... if mods don't have time to read through comments because they're overworked, more mods = less work load. Have you read anything in my posts? :P

No, they don't? I don't know what the system is here but there's no reason a community can't have forum mods, site mods, and among those mods who deal with partiicular things more than others.

I'm not sure how this is off-topic but sure, I won't respond again if you feel we should keep this conversation out of here.

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Made it it's own thread since I still dislike the one it originated from and I think it deserves its own. ;)

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Why is a special designation/group nescessary? All it should take is a comment and I know there's the odd time where I'll do exactly this, usually on a white belt suggestion. Those of us who'd likely be considered as acceptable members for this group are going to be active(ish) and experienced suggestors anyways and there's not exactly a huge crowd of us so our names should be recognizable enough (assuming they stay static in some way) and a quick look at our profile would reveal impersonators since I know they would inevitably pop up.
 

Unless we get a special name color (red maybe?) I don't think this needs to go further than an encouragement to the experienced suggestors to post more comments like these.
http://backpack.tf/vote/id/54fd59caba8d88e0368b57b5

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Why is a special designation/group nescessary? All it should take is a comment and I know there's the odd time where I'll do exactly this, usually on a white belt suggestion. Those of us who'd likely be considered as acceptable members for this group are going to be active(ish) and experienced suggestors anyways and there's not exactly a huge crowd of us so our names should be recognizable enough (assuming they stay static in some way) and a quick look at our profile would reveal impersonators since I know they would inevitably pop up.

 

Unless we get a special name color (red maybe?) I don't think this needs to go further than an encouragement to the experienced suggestors to post more comments like these.

http://backpack.tf/vote/id/54fd59caba8d88e0368b57b5

Comments are being ignored on a semi-regular basis. Comments also don't actually have any sway in what anybody does - it's no failsafe.

Good to see you've nominated yourself, but the people I had in mind, in this order, were Mopcko dead to me, myself, Victoria (or Rachel, or whatever she's going by these days) and Jacob. Assuming they'd be willing, I already know Victoria is.

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Comments are being ignored on a semi-regular basis. Comments also don't actually have any sway in what anybody does - it's no failsafe.

 

I have to agree with this. Like over here, the sellers at 1.66 were young and they quicksold, the other suggestion was by a black belt, my comments got ignored by the moderator.

http://backpack.tf/vote/id/552c3774b88d888f378b46ef

 

There were 6 sales @ 2 ref in total, 3 in comments, 3 in main notes. 

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Sounds good, theoretically.

 

I think the only reason why I'd be against it is because if there's anything wrong with a suggestion (we're excluding the no-proof ones here) then generally people will comment saying "Oh you did this and this wrong and you need a little more proof and overpay hasn't been applied" etc etc and around 50% of the time the suggestor will close their suggestion anyway because of this.

 

But it would be a nice idea for that other 50%. I'd like there to be a visual notification on the suggestion itself (perhaps for only the mods to see?) to show if it's been screened or not and if it passes or fails that screening (and if it fails, why.) Makes a mods work a little easier (especially if it fails the screening)

 

I do like this though. Could potentially lighten the workload for staff.

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Seems good to me. Most of what I do currently is just look at suggestions at random to examine the proof. I rarely make suggestions myself.

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Sounds like a good idea. If this is implemented, I would gladly volunteer to be a part of it.

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This seems completely redundant with the current setup; glancing over a suggestion to notice basic errors doesn't take that long. Having an entire separate team of people who glance over suggestions but have no power to accept/reject them adds pointless overhead to moderation process.

 

I also agree with what others have said. Whenever I moderate suggestions I do look over the comments, and if a lot of users are saying the same things (unsolds, overpay not applied, need mini, etc), it does save me effort (like being able to immediately check if an unusual is out of date and has no mini, rather than checking all hats involved). One does not need a special designation or role to make constructive comments, though incentivizing it more is something the team will have to consider.

 

Further, while this group could be used to vet/test prospective mods, we already look at comments and behavior when discussing candidates.

 

The concept is nice, but the execution you are proposing makes very little practical sense.

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This seems completely redundant with the current setup; glancing over a suggestion to notice basic errors doesn't take that long. Having an entire separate team of people who glance over suggestions but have no power to accept/reject them adds pointless overhead to moderation process.

 

I also with what others have said. Whenever I moderate suggestions I do look over the comments, and if a lot of users are saying the same things (unsolds, overpay not applied, need mini, etc), it does save me effort (like being able to immediately check if an unusual is out of date and has no mini, rather than checking all hats involved). One does need a special designation or role to make constructive comments, though incentivizing it more is something the team will have to consider.

 

Further, while this group could be used to vet/test prospective mods, we already look at comments and behavior when discussing candidates.

 

The concept is nice, but the execution you are proposing makes very little practical sense.

 

The entire reason that 'should Puddington be a mod' thread exists is because a large number of people are having their comments ignored.

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The entire reason that 'should Puddington be a mod' thread exists is because a large number of people are having their comments ignored.

Polar already addressed that exact criticism in his comment in that thread.

 

Say mods did ignore comments (which we don't; there are conflicting opinions on every suggestion and selection bias will always make it seem otherwise). This system doesn't address that issue anyway. Screeners have no power, so their comments have exactly the same amount of weight as a comment from a regular user; they are just displayed more prominently. It doesn't change the system at all, it just adds another step to it that doesn't have much effect.

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Polar already addressed that exact criticism in his comment in that thread.

 

Say mods did ignore comments (which we don't; there are conflicting opinions on every suggestion and selection bias will always make it seem otherwise). This system doesn't address that issue anyway. Screeners have no power, so their comments have exactly the same amount of weight as a comment from a regular user; they are just displayed more prominently. It doesn't change the system at all, it just adds another step to it that doesn't have much effect.

 

Alright then, suppose this is just a system of drawing attention to people who are more likely to know what they're talking about. Is that such a bad idea? It saves mods time when skimming through suggestions with a lot of comments, and would allow the suggesters to prioritise advice - too often I've seen suggesters close perfectly fine suggestions because people who didn't really know what they were doing were telling them what to do.

 

Plus there's no extra bureaucracy there, we're still just regulars. Just, make badges or rep visible on comments or something.

 

(I've been up since 4AM, I apologise if this is gibberish)

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Just, make badges or rep visible on comments or something.

 

 

This is a really good idea - making badges visible on comments. I'm still learning with suggesting and it's difficult to tell who to take advice from sometimes when I get opposing comments and I can't easily tell who is more experienced.

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not really any need imo, if a mod tells me to look at backlog, I'll look at backlog and give feedback. No reason to make it an official position if it isn't something you already do/enjoy doing

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