I'm not going to defend the current way RAWK is entirely here, however some things need clarifying.
Take this for eg:
It sometimes comes across that there are double standards when it comes to moderation. If a poster's view is 'orthodox', then they seem sort of immune to any criticism, whereas a well-thought out post arguing against the grain will get shouted down and abused, and can earn a poster a ban (think that was the case with Dr Manhattan- who was one of my favourite posters on here.)
That simply isn't the case. We've long said that a variety of opinions and debates are welcome but as someone else put it here, reasoned debate not childish abuse. For example,RAWK has always held the belief that until we think otherwise, the manager is the manager and we as Liverpool fans support our club and manager. Now they may do things that we believe are wrong, and we have the right to question them but not the right to attack his position. There's a big difference.
I think this is to the detriment of the site as a whole and is what has given rawk its caricature among some other football fans. The whole Suarez debacle typified that for me- for a good few weeks on here, it was almost impossible to say anything criticising Suarez or the club's handling of the affair without it being immediately jumped upon and shouted down. This then stifles proper debate as people can't be bothered going against the bandwagon knowing they'll just come in for a load of abuse.
Not from us there wasn't. I happen to think the affair was handled badly by the club once the verdict came in. However I'm not going to insult Kenny nor Suarez and take the piss. What I will do is question and argue. I really do think that many people (not you Slinky, just using your points as they're interesting here) have lost the art of reasoned argument instead preferring to abuse, insult and contradict, believing somehow that the louder one shouts, the more validity they have.
Overall though, brilliant site and by far the best of any football forums I've come across. Like others have said there is some top quality football writing on here in places like the round table threads.
Thanks but that's down to the membership not the mods.
Some suggestions.
1. Mark some posts with an expiry date. For example the post game rants. Give them say two days then lock them (maybe you do this already).
We do. We started locking the post match thread after 24 hours. I believe that a thread is needed to vent the frustration of a poor game, and get it out our system. In the old days, we'd have kicked the cat on the way home from the match and vented in the pub. So we do shut threads down when they're done.
2. It's ok to allow rants. People do get fed up and want to bitch. In a way that is what people think.......don't try to suppress people who want to air their views. Once again put a time limit and then lock them.
See 1.
3. Quality topics that are quite technical and enlightening - put them into a special area where the posts must be well thought out (even if misguided) and delete any one liners or rubbish. I'm interested in why people think the club is going backwards or forwards. I wouldn't worry about "offending" players or manager as I doubt they read RAWK. If the criticism is backed up with a good argument then it's valid even if many people don't agree. Keep any personal comments out of these threads and deliver short bans for anyone who attacks the poster.
We do. Its the Opinion Board. Also we tried 'heavy' moderating on some threads, but you know what? Its also a responsibility of the membership here. You and we get the site we deserve. Many posts in this thread are berating poor quality threads, posts, abuse etc etc. You can help police and shape all that by either using the report to mod button, ignoring them, posting better stuff yourself.
4. We had a great thread about old players that people may not have seen.....they were quality and I haven't seen them for a while. I think some people were invited to start a thread (I did a couple and they were fun).
Its something we're hoping to make more of and its a good point.
5. Be careful about over moderating - just because you don't agree with somebody (maybe even very strongly) then don't jump in. If you see that the poster has a well thought out position then let it go.
I think the first point is a good one and by and large we live and let live. But again we need to understand the difference between debate and abuse. Constructive criticism yes. Insulting no.
6. For "serious" threads then add a "like" button which allows people to give a thumbs up but doesn't add noise to the thread.
Personally I don't the site needs that much fixing with things like this. One can scroll through a thread easily to find the points needed and personally I'm not that bothered if someone just adds, "great" or thumbsup. Doesn't matter to me.
7. Maybe have a closed thread where several people discuss a topic. Allow the rest of us to "like" any posts.
We are discussing that right now but again we don't want the site to be elitist and exclusive. We're one of the very few sites that let anyone on. I should know, I was let in.