QOTO + PEER REVIEW = MODERATOR/GATEKEEPERS?
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Peer review is at the heart of the processes of scientific journals and all of science.
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Do we not all understand that peer review is the method by which grants are allocated, papers published, academics promoted, and Nobel prizes won?
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The peer review process has gatekeepers, not unlike our QOTO moderators -- an online fact-of-life full of problems but the least worst option we have.
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The most important question with QOTO moderator review is not whether to abandon it, but how to improve it when stumbling blocks arise.
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A. A specific QOTO issue or
problem has been clearly
identified: Moderators can't
currently read or prevent
advertisements in foreign
languages.
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B. A QOTO community vote
rejected a rule proposed to
address the problem.
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C. What next? What can
QOTO do -- what are we
willing and able to do -- to
mitigate harm caused by
doing nothing in response
to a clearly identified
problem?
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Moderator/gatekeeper review is a flawed process; but it is likely to remain central to QOTO because there is no obvious alternative,
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Going forward, QOTO will grow by learning lessons the hard way, right? And QOTO needs to figure out to do better, right?
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NOTE: This post paraphrases Smith R. Peer review: a flawed process at the heart of science and journals. J R Soc Med. 2006 Apr;99(4):178-82. doi: 10.1258/jrsm.99.4.178. PMID: 16574968; PMCID: PMC1420798; see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/
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QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?
@chikara Thank you for a nice and relevant post. The process is ongoing, we haven't reached conclusions yet.
There were many goopd posts and points made, we had people participating from different instances even. The question of controlling undesirable actions and content being add to any particular instance or service is important.
The voting on the open survey you mentioned had very small number of votes, and even those were not restricted to local, verified users. So I wouldn't take it as a mandate for a certain direction.
Qoto is in a way VERY unusual - in having this kind of discussion out in the open, on a public feed, that is spread out across the whole Fediverse and the Federation too.
(yes, there's TWO biggies, I have learned recently)
I have been participating in many networks actively for many years, starting from the pre-Internet days. And this kind of discussion was held "In Camara", on meetings for site staff, or on a physical meet at some public space in case of a local entity.
While we had that and another related big discussion (the instance's thematic focus and the surging unrelated, general posting by new users).
That is equally important, and also was done in the open.
Meanwhile, posting continued as usual, but I think we are making progress.
Leadership is important in all kinds of aspects in life. Here as well, there's space for anyone who is caring and willing to pitch in.
