Could someone please clarify the Discourse model of trust level? Are admins of the forum chosen by merit or by current admins?

https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-do-user-trust-levels-do/4924

Thank you @pfitzseb, it seems that the privilege of admin is only granted by existing admins regardless of the trust level, can you confirm?

No, but you are most probably right :slight_smile:

Yes, I think that the source of all issues on this forum regarding lack of politeness in the comments and other things all boil down to the fact that the board of admins is made of a small group of people on one side of the equation. It lacks diversity. If admins are chosen by merit, however; everyone is treated equally, and the code of conduct would be respected. I don’t see other solution to the current situation.

First let me clear up some definitions here: admin: Technical maintenance of this discourse forum. moderator: Traditional discussion moderation The list of who is part of these two groups can be seen here: About - JuliaLang Everybody who has a shield next to their name is a moderator. (As you might notice I do not have that and my primary role here is of technical nature). The choice of admins and moderator is mostly historic. Admins are people who have the know-how and ability to manage this site and are well known and longstanding members of the Julia community. Admins have read/write access to everything, so it is very intentional to keep the group small. Moderators were originally chosen based on who used to full fill these roles on the old mailing list and it again consists of well known and longstanding members of the community. The group is again intended to be kept small. The philosophy of discourse the software and what I have tried to advocate for is that the platform offers tools for the community to self-moderate. As an example flagging a post brings it to the moderators attention, but you can also choose to contact the person personally. Furthermore if several people flag a post (and here the trust level system comes into play) that post gets automatically hidden and put into the moderation queue. Trust-Level 0 to 3 are based on activity and other factors in this forum and they are automatically granted. Trust-Level 4 is something that an Admin can give to a user and is a basically a moderator, without access to the moderation queue. We have given that out only to a few community members. I think primarily to the community Stewards (which function outside this forum).

Thank you @vchuravy for taking the time to reply. You are one of the most respectful members of this community, and I am always very happy to learn from your answers since the beginning of Julia. My point remains in that no progress is possible without a system that evolves by itself. We need this for a more diverse community and more civilized conversation. I wonder if another platform exists that would provide similar features and would still be fully based on merit where the feedback from the entire community is taken into consideration, not only a small group of people sharing similar views. Friends won’t flag friends, and that is what is happening.

I think that the kind of diversity that builds a community already exists here. We can all say our minds and disagree. Best idea wins. Allowing for a looser stewardship and administration would make things less efficient. Do you really feel like you are marginalized?

I disagree. I feel that many users are being disrespected with impolite comments, and that the code of conduct is not being applied to everyone equally.

I know what you mean. I’ve seen it. But i think this isn’t much more of a case of: Us users getting prime attention from top developers all being involved in the front interface of a cutting edge tool. Then there are tons of cases i would just class as culture shock/ clash. I personally would be a lot more harsh if I’d shed my fake politeness. I try to make an effort despite my genuine opinion that it’s less efficient to be so polite. But… We are all different and being more polite brings love to these forms. I agree that some of the replies could be more polite, but then they really don’t owe us a response. The ones less polite tend to be the people I’d rather have developing Julia rather than answering my (honestly) uniformed questions. Then it could also be v1 fever and stress related. In any case, i know what you mean. You’re not alone. They are overly harsh and set in their ways at times. But it’s also kind of fine. I for one would rather have a slightly smarter and powerful developer than a bunch of me’s…

How Discourse trust level works?

Community

vchuravy December 23, 2017, 8:06pm 7

Also see this post Admins, Moderators and Trust Levels

Topic		Replies	Views
Usage of "Slow down" mode Meta Discussion	28	2858	February 28, 2021
Censorship issues and community behavior Community	40	5334	December 5, 2017
Dealing with flamebait Meta Discussion proposal	50	5516	March 23, 2021
Discussion categories Meta Discussion	44	6797	November 24, 2016
Admins, Moderators and Trust Levels Meta Discussion	0	2519	October 20, 2016

How Discourse trust level works?

Related topics