confuseling wrote:The net is vast. Make a bloody decision.
Go where? As icemen pointed out:
iceman wrote:I am just grateful for a place that is Debian specific.
Therein lies a problem. Where can people go for Debian-specific answers?
DFN? - There are already too few knowledgeable people here. What are there, about half a dozen members who can answer the tough questions? If/When they leave because of the mess, then what?
LQ? - There are a few knowledgeable people there, but fewer than here.
LF? - At the moment there are no Debian gurus there.
DebianHELP? - Slightly moribund.
askDebian? - Is not organised into a forum structure and appears to be as active as DebianHELP.
DUF? - Has knowledgeable members, but is not a hand-holding and spoon-feeding forum, which would make it unpalatable to many DFN members.
If the knowledgeable people are to remain, changes must be made. If DFN looses the remaining talent, the forum would be useless.
Which brings us to:
confuseling wrote:[They're understaffed, and get abused for more or less whatever they do. So they don't moderate much, and make no effort to explain their decisions when they do.
Very good observation. It indicates a problem, does it not?
Understaffed - Solution; increase staff size.
Abused - Because rules are enforced inconsistently. Solution; consistent and fair moderation. Consistency is the key. Whether the rules are ignored, lightly enforced or strictly enforced, do it all the time. And the worst offenders should be punished before the least offenders, not the other way around.
Overall, craigevil does a good job. He gives members a long lease. But he is human and will make bad decisions occasionally. That is where having active administrators would be useful.
What would you do?
I would not volunteer to be a moderator on a forum where the administrators do not give a rat's ass about the forum.