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If you feel there moderator abuse or is not impartial or marginalising view coming from not so mainstream lineages how do you report it?

Some moderators have:

  • couple of times said that my questions are not genuine, and implied they are not inclined to answer them, and I am not expecting an answer which is far from the truth
  • couple of times closed question which might bring your alternative view on a particular matter
  • showed selective ignorance to certain topics (symbolism embedded in a Pagoda)
  • said I am asking too much questions (there many who ask more)

Problematic question:

  • I asked questions on Discourses on Satipatthana Sutta - S. N. Goenka (abriged of the original) on phases which was mentioned to be different from the more generally accepted interpretations. I wanted to get an unbiased representation of the other interpretations. These question were mostly received with hostility. Followed by later comments by comments which saying I am not asking genuine questions.
  • Above reference makes a reference to the shrine room in a temple (one everyone comes from different practices and comes to this point beyond this all meditation is the same) and unification of the meditation after is all the same. The referenced phase one which different interpretations. May be if this interpretation is not held then this
  • I asked questions on the effects on Body Language (something that comes up in Bhante Vimalaramsi's teaching - smiling. He once referenced the psychology research in this area in a talk I cannot locate it any more) trying to get an unbiased Buddhist rationalisation of how it works which was also shot down by the moderator (Banthe was one a student in the same linage but changed due to differences in some interpretations.)
  • I asked a question on a practice of a particular type of meditation which I did not get a clear actionable instruction to practice it. So I asked for more elaboration. After this I got comments like I am not asking question with a genuine interest to get answer (I might be wrong about rationalisation as I cannot read throughs.)

If any questions are unclear the moderators can edit them which is a better way than closing them. If the meaning changes the OP can edit it again progressively improving. Not every one is as good with use of language as others. Also comments should be used to clarify the question or suggest improvements mainly and should not be judgemental about the OP or the questions. Also moderation should be light touch in a forum like this and after getting further explanation and clarifications from the OP when you do not understand.

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    If a question is unclear, it's usual to close it (temporarily) until it's clarified. After it's clarified, then it can be reopened. A reason why it's closed is so that it cannot be answered while it's unclear: because if it's answered while it's unclear, then that answer may be answering the wrong (unclear) question. An existing answer makes it more difficult to improve/clarify the question, because editing the question might invalidate the existing answer; for that reason it might be better to have no answers, until the question is clear enough to answer.
    – ChrisW Mod
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 2:39
  • Please reference actual questions/answers/comments relating to your claims, otherwise it becomes "he said, she said" kind of stuff.
    – yuttadhammo Mod
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 2:40
  • Some comments seam to be deleted. One such instance is: buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/3867/…. Let's leave this aside now. Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 2:52
  • I think one other is: buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/2522/… Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 2:57
  • For questions whose issues have been resolved, the comments pertaining to the issues are normally deleted. For the first example you cite, my comments regarding your activity on the site were not the reason for closing that question - it has legitimate issues, IMO. You can vote to reopen if you disagree. The second question you cite was deleted by the community, with the votes of several members, including non-moderators. I think you might want to reflect on your own actions, especially your accusations in the first question you link to above.
    – yuttadhammo Mod
    Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 3:36
  • I think the answer for this question will be valid for both of them: buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/3889/… Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 3:43
  • For the ones that were closed I am thinking on how to ask a better question. Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 3:45
  • Moderators can use different ways to abuse and they can be really corrupted that many people can be hard to believe the truth. That's why we need experienced meditators like my teacher Ven. Yuttadhammo, Lanka and maybe another person who is in deep in this path to be moderators. I still don't write my opinions about this subject, but one day I can decide to write it with details ;)
    – Murathan1
    Commented May 14, 2019 at 17:37

2 Answers 2

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Reporting abuse

To answer your question, What recourse do I have if I believe a moderator has abused his/her privileges? describes how to report it.

Personally I've never tried to "report abuse".

Lineages

I hope/expect it's wrong to assume that questions are closed because of "not so mainstream lineages".

It's more likely to be ordinary close reasons, "unclear what you're asking", "off-topic", "subjective", "too broad": reasons why a question might be impossible to answer accurately on a StackExchange Q+A site.

Using chat

On other StackExchange sites I've seen, people (including at least one moderator) use a site's Chat room. A moderator might be lurking in the chat room (or have visited the chat room recently enough that you can @tag them there). If there's a moderator decision or comment which I don't understand, I might post a message in the chat room, hoping/expecting that a moderator will see me post in chat, and discuss/explain the decision.

As a result of using the chat room and using meta (on other sites), for discussions over weeks and months, even if I (still) don't agree with 100% of the moderator decisions, at least I understand them better now, know that I'm not 100% correct either, and that when they disagree with me that's not "moderator abuse".

However, people (including moderators) on this site don't seem to use the chat room on this site. Maybe it would help if they did (it's good to "chat", when you can't "see" the people you're working with). Or maybe it's not worth their while, I don't know. I'm grateful people even take time to be here on the main site.

Private chat

Instead of using a public chat room, moderators are also able to initiate a private chat if they think that's necessary.

Using meta

Alternatively you can discuss specific questions on meta: ask whether a question on-topic, whether it should be asked, whether it can be answered, whether and how to improve it. Use the tag on meta, for meta-topics whose subject is a single/specific question on the main site.

Moderators are, to some extent, here to enforce the rules and standards expressed/chosen by the community. And Meta is a place where people ("community members") can discuss specific questions.

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  • OK Thanks. I will just wait and see how things turn out before forming a more concrete opinion what is going on. So will leave the matter to rest for the time being. Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 1:11
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I would say, bring up an actual case here on meta, and let community and other moderators take a look. If discussion confirms there is something to be corrected, the other moderators should ask the moderator in question to change the approach.

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  • OK. Let me put this together. The community option may not work well as because of some lineages may have a bigger following here. Best is to let the other moderators and SE deal with it. Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 23:04
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    Well... moderators on SE are elected by community, so the power to decide comes from the people, mods are only representatives. Mods should consider people's opinions before they make major decisions.
    – Andriy Volkov Mod
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 23:13

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