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People not looking at what they Vote for when moderating

What happened today

I have noticed that sometimes people don't really look at what they vote yes for on the moderation page, for example, I just noticed that there were 2/3 votes for archiving a post that I have written an answer to and the answer is accepted as well.

So if I hadn't voted against it, it would probably have been removed just because one person marked it as not answerable (I guess because they themself didn't know the answer?) and then a second person that most likely didn't read the post before voting since it had an accepted answer.

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Similar things back in time

This isn't the first time I have had the feeling that people just vote to accept the moderation whiteout looking at what it actually is about. I don't have any more examples, but I just feel like too many people don't really look into what they do.

What to do?

So I'm wondering if someone has had the same feeling, that people just don't spend time to make things properly?

Do you have any ideas about how it may be prevented? Should there be some kind of tutorial that is obligatory to go through and accept before getting access to moderation?

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Hi @eke0909, that's an interesting issue you're bringing up. Can you share some screenshots here as you come across them? When I went to look I wasn't able to find the examples you were talking about (they must have already been cleared out of the queue.)

We also have some newer users, so it may be a matter of them getting used to/learning our way of marking things.

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@amber The example I had seems to have first been accepted to be removed as not answerable, then reopened by a moderator.

But I feel there are times when people just vote for everything whiteout looking into them, I have seen times where people are voting for "Accept as Solution" when the OP clearly has commented that the problem wasn't solved. It's the first time I have seen the example I first wrote about, but I have seen multiple ones where the OP has stated an answer didn't solve their problem but the answer still was voted to be accepted as a solution just because it includes a possible way to solve similar problems.

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@eke0909 @amber I noticed this as well whenever I am in Moderation. I believe that votes on Spam and ARCHIVE AS NOT ANSWERABLE are often a bit premature. I do try (and most often succeed) to reverse those votes and maintain the answer. I wonder if there is a way to address the voters directly to inquire about what they see as the reason for their vote. It may just be a matter of sharing opinions.

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@oldturkey03 I totally agree with you, I have seen a lot of things that I don't feel like should be moderated in that way that gets moderated and voted for.

A way to comment on moderations or something like that to be able to discuss/understand others thoughts would be a really helpful thing.

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I see and share this problem.

@oldturkey03 suggestion would be a great help. Share or consult points of view, you can help and teach.

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@oldturkey03 Like you know mine -- it's not hard and fast but the ones I mainly do it on are beyond help and the OP isn't coming back.

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I think this is a really great conversation to have and I commend you, @eke0909, for writing about it here. Meta is the perfect place to look at this process. I brought this to the Community Team this morning and we chatted about a few angles.

First, and foremost, we totally understand (and share with you all) that when people vote without (seemingly) paying attention, it's really annoying and disruptive to our system that you all work so hard at to uphold.

The second thing we talked about with it, is that maybe these users don't really understand our moderation system or how to evaluate the items in the queue. Seems like a great learning opportunity! Along this line of thought: what does everyone think about tagging those users here (in a new Meta post) to ask their reasoning? I typically err on the side of everyone means to do their best and we should reach out to help.

I think a post containing the following could be helpful (but I'm 100% open to suggestions!):

  • a @tag to grab the users attention
  • a link to the post in question
  • your thoughts behind why their decision was incorrect
  • a request for why they chose what they did
  • an open invitation to discuss the post
  • (if they're new, thank them for contributing to our community =])

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Let me tell you all now. @ me on the post and I can reassess. I may not be able to get to it instantly so cancel my vote out if you feel strongly enough that I should reassess.

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@eke0909 @amber @nick @oscarsp "everyone means to do their best and we should reach out to help", absolutely! I do not think for a minute that there is anyone that would moderate with malice. I like the idea about discussing this on Meta in a separate post. Of course, we should only have a post on those moderations that are questionable. We should always be respectful of each others opinion and remain open minded. Let's do it :-)

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I think this could be a good way to go! :D

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@oldturkey03 Everyone is going to decide something may for example, be dead end and vote accordingly while say, you or me may find a perfectly valid answer to force accept. There are times I even asked you for a second opinion on something I'm not fully familiar with but there's enough bite for someone who has seen it to have a shot and to leave it available for the taking.

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@nick absolutely. I do not foresee very many issues coming up on this. What I do see more off are the Spam and Archive issues but even those can easily be resolved. Just because we should at times discuss differences in opinion about moderation, does not mean that every decision will be scrutinized. Look at it as a great educationally opportunity for you to teach those that are coming after us to do the right thing.

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Erik Eriksson will be eternally grateful.