Premoderation status

[Anthony]

Is the thread on ecclesiology now being premoderated? Just wondering if I missed an announcement...

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Anthony,

Yes, the area in which that thread is found is on moderated mode at the moment. No particular announcement was made concerning this - simply part of the normal alternating between open / moderated status of parts of the forum, as described in the FAQ. We've found that with topics that tend to heat people's tempers and evoke bouts of internet flaming, it is sometimes best to use this as a proactive tool to reduce 'flames' before they happen. :-)

INXC, Dcn Matthew

[M.C. Steenberg]

Just as a follow up: some may be interested (horrified, amused) to learn that there are groups on the 'net that use software searching systems to scan forums for certain keywords, which, when found, invoke a standard set of 'flame' responses. There was a notable instance of this a few years back, when any post containing the phrase 'papal authority' had about a two-hour turnaround time before over 200 posts were automatedly submitted by various 'flamebots'.

The various 'safeties' we've developed on this forum have been largely born out of experiences of such things in the past - as ways to combat predictable issues. There is, in this particular case, the minor annoyance of posts being delayed a bit before they appear on the system (i.e. a wait until a moderator looks to see that they're real posts, and not automated or angry 'flames') - but I trust most will agree it's better than conversations routinely being hijacked by such means.

INXC, Dcn Matthew

[Anthony]

Thank you for the explanation, Fr Dcn Matthew. I think you had actually explained how these things work before, but I had forgotten - sorry :o.

Anthony