# Different standards for similar forums?



## Nino83

Hello everyone.
I noticed that in similar forums there are very different rules.
For example I've seen many threads about pronunciations in translation forums like Spanish-English and French-English, and I can understand the reason. For example many members prefer to ask a question in English because they don't feel comfortable with the other language.
For example in the English-Italian forum, which is similar to these forums, these type of threads are always closed because they are considered "outside the scope of the forum". They are not even moved to another forum, so all those members who can't ask the question in Italian can't receive any help.

Wouldn't be better to set similar rules or guidelines for similar forums, or do you think it is good to have completely different rules for similar forums?

Thank you


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## jann

Hello Nino83, 

While I cannot speak to the particular issue you mention (pronunciation threads), I posted my thoughts about cross-forum differences a long time ago...  

best,
Jann


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## Loob

Just repeating what I wrote in Jann's linked thread:


Loob said:


> Personally, I think it would be a good idea if there was commonality between forums.


Why should different policies be acceptable?


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## swift

Loob said:


> Why should different policies be acceptable?


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## Loob

Another area of difference: other forums delete threads where the topic has been covered before; EO closes them but doesn't delete.


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## jann

Loob said:


> Why should different policies be acceptable?


Forgive me, but did you read my post that I linked to?  

Certainly, in the ideal, there would be sufficient moderation coverage across all sections of the site so that we could avoid having problematic posts go unnoticed, so that we could guide all new members who needed help learning the ropes, etc.  But do you really think it would be beneficial to apply the necessarily stricter policies of high-traffic forums indiscriminately in low-traffic areas of the site where it makes more sense to be building up a community of people who speak the particular language in question?  Do you really think that the mods of forum X should not be allowed the discretion to permit certain posts, merely because those messages would not be permitted on forum Y?

Making everything exactly the same everywhere across the site would be disruptive.  Trying to force different communities into the same mold is complicated. In most cases, moderation practices on a given forum are they way they are for a reason.  The reasons may need to be revisited, but they aren't arbitrary. So it seems to me much more useful to focus on changing specific things that we could do better, rather than advocating for a general homogenization that would affect everyone and everything, even things that aren't broken.

What's really the problem here?  No one ever asks us to delete a post on forum X "because the mods of forum Y wouldn't have allowed it."   It's always the opposite: people feel that a post removed from forum Y should have been allowed "because it would have been acceptable on forum X."  So the question is: why is that particular policy different?  Why does that sort of post cause problems on forum Y but presumably not on forum X?  Does that sort of post truly cause problems at all?  Remember, if homogenization is the only goal, then a scorched-earth policy of forbidding the post everywhere becomes a valid approach.  Personally, I prefer a smaller hammer and a more tailored solution.

If you take issue with a particular policy on a particular forum, then by all means, write to the moderation team of the forum in question!  Maybe your concern relates to the topics that are permitted (e.g., as in Nino83's original post, the matter of whether pronunciation questions are okay in IT-EN, and, if so, which types).  Maybe you have another sort of moderation practice in mind (e.g., whether closed, duplicate threads are removed from view).  Whatever it is, explain your concern.  Point out how the policy/practice is applied (functionally or dysfunctionally) in other sections of WR. If you have specific ideas about what doesn't work and/or how to make things better, I expect my colleagues will be all too happy to listen!

Surely that's more productive than asking us all to be exactly the same. 

Jann
(fellow member and French team mod)


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## Loob

jann said:


> Forgive me, but did you read my post that I linked to?


Yes.


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## Cagey

Prompted by this thread, the question of developing uniform policies was raised in the moderators’ forum. There is general agreement setting up uniform policies across all forums is not practical, in part because of the differences between the purposes of different forums and the traffic they experience. . 

However, there was an agreement that it would be useful for moderators to review specific policies, discussing them within forums, and comparing notes across forums. These discussions have begun.

This thread is closed. 

Thank you all for your input.  

Cagey, 
moderator.


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