# Forum Moderation

**URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/forum-moderation/36114
**Category:** Meta
**Tags:** other, discourse
**Created:** 2026-03-05T21:11:14Z
**Posts:** 56
**Showing post:** 38 of 56

## Post 38 by @kissu — 2026-03-10T12:53:08Z

PS: I wanted to edit my previous message with some more context but apparently, edits on previous posts are also subject to the 4 hours cooldown, hence be careful when it comes down to making tyops.  
Heads up for people posting down below (not sure if mistake or on purpose). :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

* * *

I know that some platforms do some actual elections every year to onboard some new people and have a vote, here is an example: [https://stackoverflow.com/election/16](https://stackoverflow.com/election/16)

Not sure but maybe this could be a good idea in case of somebody willing to stand forward and become an extra volunteer moderator so that way we get the seal of approval from the community (democracy). :white_check_mark:

* * *

> [@parkerchandler1979](#):
>
> Of course, we don’t know why they all left but the timing of it all reasonably implies some correlation but I can’t prove it

Some might join back to give some of the reasons. They’re still considering if its worth their time. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

* * *

> [@pine](#):
>
> I generally find them well-reflected and fair, especially considering how many of them are volunteers

I do agree with you, yet you and me have not experienced any issues with any moderators so it’s hard for us to judge if we’re never been in that position.  
Normal people do not complain about cops in their city, until the cops start bothering them. Now, the question would be: are the cops are bit too tight or were the citizens doing something not so great, that’s a totally different topic whatsoever.

But again yes, the difference here is that the moderators are not paid and do help the forum on their free time. Free (hard) manual labour is not always easy when it becomes draining + piles up. :melting_face:

* * *

> [@pine](#):
>
> My experience as a whole is that in the past half a year in particular

Noooooo, this is when I joined here. :weary_cat::weary_cat:  
I guess I missed the golden age? :sweat_smile:

Still trying to bring positive vibes and some help best as I can nonetheless. :light_blue_heart:  
But in the end, the kind of community a place attracts is not something you can fully control I guess.  
Moreover, I guess that topics like hacking, privacy and security are prone to attract a specific kind of people? I don’t know myself but we probably have quite a diverse age + culture range across the forum overall.

> [@pine](#):
>
> and I’ve seen a number of users deactivate their accounts after negative interactions with other (non mod) users

That’s always the issue with communities in the beginning, you can be met with someone very rude and label the entire community as toxic/lame/immature.  
Exactly the same happened to me but I went over it. I can agree that not everybody would persevere to that point unfortunately. :sweat_smile:

Good thing is, you can always hand pick the users you resonate the most with and converse with them more than with the ones you disagree quite a bunch.  
Even better, those disruptive people might just leave the place altogether (happened to me recently) meaning that you do not need go through those Discourse features because they happen to just naturally once bored being detractors on here.

 ![CleanShot 2026-03-10 at 13.36.36@2x](https://forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/3X/1/e/1eabf5dbb9c0c142b0a6dc19584bdcf57cc83b38.png)

> [@pine](#):
>
> But I want to speak against pinning this solely on the mods and admins

This goes back to the unfortunate vicious loop I described above.  
Not sure how much correlation there is between cool people leaving and the moderation situation, but definitely some. :thinking:

* * *

> [@TinFoilHat](#):
>
> tolerance on languages

I identify myself here as being in the middle of the pack.  
Not blessed with native-english level yet still above the majority (if considering a worldwide community).  
I’ve indeed interacted with some people in my life where I thought

> Wow, you’re a real di\*khead huh! :exploding_head:

Then realized that their communication skills are just inferior to a minimal base and allowed for more leash.  
On a forum with just a few possible lines, your tone can be greatly misunderstood and you’ll be punished for something you do not even understand.  
Still, I guess it’s quite obvious when someone is just here to F around or is clumsy in their paragraph. :sweat_smile:

> [@TinFoilHat](#):
>
> because of different culture and personal history

Yes. And I’ll add age + needs/boundaries/resources.  
Hard to cover all of people’s needs without asking for personal things too. :+1:t2:

> [@TinFoilHat](#):
>
> TBH moderation is more like a customer service / PR job, not police nor judge.

Yes. :100:

> [@TinFoilHat](#):
>
> I am against people asking for tighter controls, I am also against putting too much duties on moderators, esp. expect them to work on multiple levels at the same time

I indeed saw quite some ideas of having double-validations before deleting a post/etc etc, I’m not sure how realistically those are (probably not a lot) but there is definitely a middle ground.  
I can meanwhile understand people being angry at unfair decisions/deletions. :confounded_face:

Yet everybody here is trying their best to push this whole thing forward, it is mostly just a matter of soft-skill and taking 5 extra seconds before making a decision.  
Goes a long way to have patience and take it slow but that again…can only be achieved if people do have more bandwidth, hence more volunteers hence more empathy/will to positively contribute.

A virtuous loop is probably achievable too.  
Not sure how but listening/reading further users’ feedback here might help narrow something sustainable and healthy in the long run :light_blue_heart: so that way we’re not having moderation being overwhelmed with _gangsters doing parkour on each thread for endless chaos_.

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