136
votes
Is the Teachers' Lounge toxic, if so why?
I was a regular of the Teacher's Lounge from a few months after chat started to some time in 2017 when I mostly dropped off chat (not just TL), but still checked the transcript now and then, until the ...
97
votes
Accepted
A letter to SE Inc. - please protect our moderators
A few notes:
You're exactly right: it isn't fair to expect hundreds of people from a dizzying variety of backgrounds and cultures, wielding an even larger variety of languages, interests and beliefs, ...
95
votes
Is the Teachers' Lounge toxic, if so why?
This is a complicated question.
Up until a little while ago, I was an appointed moderator on the network. I... spent a lot of time in the TL; I was among the chattiest users in the room the couple ...
59
votes
Disclose the discussion that started the current SE-moderators debate
Where did this conversation take place? On a private SE chat?
Yes. Most of it did take place in the Teachers' Lounge, a private chatroom for ♦ moderators across the network. Some of it in (...

GlorfindelMod
- 221k
48
votes
Disclose the discussion that started the current SE-moderators debate
Do the involved parties agree or object to its disclosure?
I have made statements in the TL relating to a number of aspects of the relevant issues and I object to the release of the transcripts. A ...
46
votes
Disclose the discussion that started the current SE-moderators debate
The specific discussion itself happened in the private moderator chat room Teacher's Lounge, but there were also emails and/or discussions that only the two directly involved parties have access to. ...
46
votes
Why do moderators behave as a separate, private sub-community? (i.e., why does the Teacher's Lounge exist in its current form?)
It's the same reason that your parents would shoo you out of the house or go to their bedroom when they needed to discuss something of gravitas, or the same reason that one-on-one meetings with your ...
43
votes
Is the Teachers' Lounge toxic, if so why?
Well, one reason could be that it's hard to moderate a chatroom full of moderators. They can't be kicked or suspended, so if toxicity levels rise, eliminating the problem users isn't an option; it ...

GlorfindelMod
- 221k
37
votes
Rename the Teachers' Lounge
Uhm.
Quite honestly?
You're never going to see it until you become a mod. Most people spend their entire lives not knowing it exists.
Also, If we're going to ever rename it.
It should be...
The ...
34
votes
Why do moderators behave as a separate, private sub-community? (i.e., why does the Teacher's Lounge exist in its current form?)
Rather than speak entirely abstractly, I thought it would be good to give examples of things I've done in the Teachers' Lounge which require such a private backchannel:
I've pinged a mod on another ...
30
votes
Disclose the discussion that started the current SE-moderators debate
I'm one of the folks who was involved in a good chunk of the conversation in question.
I would consider the sharing of transcripts to be a complete an utter betrayal of trust of the moderator ...
26
votes
New chat moderation tools for the Teachers' Lounge
This is good to see, not just for moderators but for the people who depend on them
I do have one question:
A new user type, a "Room Moderator"
This seems like something that would be ...
22
votes
Why do moderators behave as a separate, private sub-community? (i.e., why does the Teacher's Lounge exist in its current form?)
The Teachers Lounge (“TL”) is first and foremost a place where mods can ask for help doing a task they haven’t been trained for (unless you count the privileges that come with high rep status). There’...
19
votes
Accepted
Are there any topic boundaries for the private chat room Teachers' Lounge?
It was created more than ten years ago for the following purpose:
The "Teacher's Lounge" is a private chatroom where moderators can discuss issues related to moderating.
(Of course, like many ...

GlorfindelMod
- 221k
16
votes
Is the Teachers' Lounge toxic, if so why?
As others have said, the chat moderation tools that can be used in normal chat rooms don't really work in a room full of moderators. If moderators don't discipline themselves to avoid controversial ...
14
votes
Rename the Teachers' Lounge
I have no skin in this game and no strong opinion either way, but as the person who invented this name in a distant past, I thought I'd leave my two cents here.
For me, my experience with teachers ...

balphaStaff
- 152k
12
votes
"refer to the Teachers' Lounge" and "your fellow moderators" is inconsistent with reference to site mods vs network mods
Go to [place] and do [thing] implies that you'll be doing [thing] in [place]
I disagree. The context here is "if in doubt, please do X and Y". That doesn't necessarily mean X and Y are part of the ...
12
votes
Is the Teachers' Lounge toxic, if so why?
I have hardly ever visited the TL, and perhaps I can give my opinion without being guilty of disclosing what's meant to be confidential.
I think that any social interaction -- including online -- is ...
10
votes
Is the Teachers' Lounge toxic, if so why?
We (moderators) are also people.
Rules in TL are a little bit different, there people are more expressive.
In each community/society would be people, who are offended by that community.
Very often ...
10
votes
New chat moderation tools for the Teachers' Lounge
This has kinda been in the pipeline for awhile - I'd suggested the move as a "temporary" thing, which got tempermanent. It's going to be nice to have the tools to moderate ourselves ("...
10
votes
Correct link to the Teachers' Lounge
The lower box where you see "102 people chatting" is not a link to the Teachers' Lounge per se: it shows recently active private chatrooms on chat.SE. Different mods are going to see different things ...
7
votes
Accepted
Regular moderators can still purge the history of messages in moderated private rooms
Thanks for the report!
This was fixed a few days ago - going forward, only CMs and moderators who were assigned the full moderation privileges in the TL will be able to purge message history.
7
votes
Correct link to the Teachers' Lounge
The solution to this problem is simple: stop using the old chatroom. What you see there are two of the most recent active private chatrooms on the chat server of that site (the new Teachers' Lounge is ...

GlorfindelMod
- 221k
6
votes
A letter to SE Inc. - please protect our moderators
I think there could be a simple answer, within the community: the moderators find a set of simple rules for the TL, or any similar "private channel".
Then those community moderators that have access ...
4
votes
New chat moderation tools for the Teachers' Lounge
I ask the following hesitantly, as I know that the changes mentioned here were a bit of a priority when it comes to chat...
Are any future touches to normal chatrooms coming at all?
We've got a couple ...
2
votes
Accepted
Correct link to the Teachers' Lounge
I would close this request as the room was renamed today to INACTIVE Teachers' Lounge. (I seen Em C's comment too late, but it was renamed again today, so I happened to see the change (2020-05-27))
...
2
votes
"refer to the Teachers' Lounge" and "your fellow moderators" is inconsistent with reference to site mods vs network mods
There's usually communications methods, both official and unofficial, in addition to TL - for example there's private chat room for mods, or even chatrooms for similar sites to share their experiences....
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
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