DiMarie, I'm uncertain if your concern is with anomymous mods on BT or transparent mods her on BT2. I have long-term experience many forums, including very very large vBulletin ones, and NONE of them has ever had anomymous mods. I'm not saying they don't exist elsewhere - just that my area of expertise, support groups, I have not encountered a single instance..

For example of how they work, In one very large support community I have known with transparent mods, griping is allowed, but meanness is strongly discouraged (but the mods don't delete threads or comments, no banning, just gentle prodding and encouragment to help people end their upset with each other. Threads are locked if the people involved cannot rein themselves in after a few days. No, I'm not saying they necessarily are friends afterwards, but at least they've had their say and got it out of their system.

And people see the mods as "real people" with their own problems, medical and emotional. That makes their enforcement comments have so much more effect - it is a fellow human, someone from their own ranks, and there is empathy in both directions.

Not having a mask to hide behind, mods do not go power hungry or let their latent sadistic tendancies come out. And they have their own private forum where they can discuss the time to time the major issues that come up so a consensus can be reached, so a mod having to have get increasingly firm with angry people is recognized as carrying out what the management team wants, so there is no lashing out at the particular mod

When people are not punished for having an unpopular point of view or a quarrelsome relationship for awhile, there is not such a pressing emotional need to create a sock to be able to speak your mind. And it is allowed to post links to other forums, too. JL regularly sets the software to recognize the names and addresses of varous groups he sees as competing or who allow former or present BT members to talk about BT problems. That is censorship, pure and simple. It is oppressive and the bannings that happen create a community with threads of fear.

Now, on the other hand, true democracy is not available and never has been available on BT. But it isn't present in any forum that I know which has lasted more than 6 months. Just as America has mandated rules of behavior and police and courts to enforce those rules, so it is with groups that how to be civilized and serene happy places to retreat to...

It is not wrong for JL to say BT is a dictatorship because HE wants a dictatorship. But if one looks thru history, it will be seen that the only dictatorships capable of survival are those that are generally benign and that treat their citizens well. And it is those two factors where BT fails.

I agree that JL needs to turn the operation of the forum over to someone else. Ever since he moved from Boston to California a year or so ago, things have gone steadily downhill. I think he should listen to Dr John and not be so obsessed with having total control. He could die tomorrow, and THEN what would happen to BT with absolutely NO ONE able to step in and take over -- which is what should have happened recently when he not only had the forums offline for 2 months, but also never bothered to post more than 2 briefly available notices that were never updated as the weeks went by.

I do get the feeling that he cares only for the alternate online avator community he created for autistics. I feel he is finding BT less and less of interest or satisfaction.

To return to mods, it is the biggest problem because it isn't just the issue of anomymity -- it is that it is indictive of the oppressive management style. I have already heard from people who say that because of the time spent here in an open atmosphere, they each experienced a sinking heart and a negative emotional response to seeing that the anony-mods are still numbered. Going back to BT would be choosing to be victimized for hundreds of present members. And, inevitably, future members.

OneMoreTime


PS: THANK YOU, EACH & EVERY ONE OF YOU!!