Online communities are fragile in some respects, like democracy. The trick is to respond to bad things without throwing the baby out with the bath water.
I am inclined to agree with Mole on this based on my experience with the .INFO Sunrise problems. I think that the moderators we have here do an excellent job. If one wanted to expand and enhance the moderator funciton, one could go with the medical model and have a back-up "moderator on call." Perhaps one could have an "on call" button somewhere on the site that members only could push if it looked like things are getting out of control and there does not appear to be any moderator at the moment. This "on call" buttom could e-mail one or more on-call moderators who could come and see what the matter is.
If I understand it, the other proposal is to have a screen for the completeness and accuracy of membership entry information? Although this sounds good in concept (and I might add, I seem to have put in a lot more information than most members), if someone wants to cause trouble, they can probably just as easily lie about what information they put in the form... so this might discourage some good participants from participating and not discourage some bad folks. Also, wouldn't it be a pain in the neck for moderators or others to have to get into verifying member's submitted information? I do not think that would be much fun for anyone.
So, on balance I would recommend continuation of good human moderators (assuming Snoopy really is human... his bio says he enjoys "eating dog biscounts"... better verify that :laugh: ), possibly with the addition of "moderator(s) on-call" for emergencies, activated by a member-only call button?
My two cents. Dan, Snoopy, and the rest, I really appreciate this forum. Thanks! It is almost too good. I need to get a lot of research done this summer before the students come back!
