Liminal states

A kerfuffle that recently went on in one of the online communities I hang out in is a nice illustration of some of the complex interaction between moderator privilege in discussion forums, power vectors and bullying.

Briefly, a poster engaged in a bunch of techniques such as using loaded and admittedly-pejorative terms in a theoretically-neutral discussion, lashing out at critics while claiming victim status, ignoring constructive suggestions, and trotting out the hoary “I’m privileged” chestnut of disclaiming responsibility while attempting to put the burden of making up for his ignorance on others (“I’m looking for some specific suggestions here” aka “I don’t think my mistakes is important enough to feel like doing the work myself”). While I don’t see the guy as a bully in general, this is classic bullying behavior.

What made this case particularly interesting is that the moderator took the bully’s side. As moderator, he could edit the discussions after the fact to rewrite history — and he did. For example, he deleted a post as “an off-topic flame” (later reposting it on his private friends-only blog). He deleted a thread of mine and then posted his response (quoting my original words, but now in a way that marginalizes them) in a thread he had started. And so on.

(The really funny thing is that my thread that he deleted specifically called him out for abusing his moderator privilege by deleting threads. I tell ya … you can’t make this stuff up.)

Those who have spent a lot of time online will recognize the dynamic. In this particular case the forum’s very new, and so it’s not a big deal: at some point soon, the moderator will either realize that if he wants people to work together he’ll have to stop bullying and start listening and learning … or everybody will get bored and drift away. Regardless of what happens here, the bully will either change his ways, leave the community, or become another “self-exile”, feeling excluded from the power structure and unable to understand why.

Still, it gives a very interesting and unusually clean snapshot into the kinds of power vectors that moderation — or other control over the discourse — inherently introduces.

Thoughts, similar experiences, discussions of how this plays out in other discussion media (wiks, email lists), etc.?

jon