How does a Forum maintain unbiased, neutral stand ?

Since long this question was coming up in my mind - How is a Forum able to maintain unbiased, neutral stance ?

An open public forum has a wide participation. There are several Automobile forums running in India. The question gained momentum as its seen that certain forums have off late started leaning towards particular manufacturers. e.g. some forums are seen becoming pro-Honda. Its quite visible from the way the discussions are controlled & directed in a manner so as to implicitly favour a manufacturer.

I feel the answer lies with the controllers i.e. Moderators. They're seen as an image of the forum - the way they post, the way they control discussions etc.

What do you feel?

It takes two hands to clap.  It depends on both the moderators and the members themselves.

Its true that a few forums do take on a character and tend to be for certain brands or against others - this may not be a conscious decision but it may purely be because of the fact that the forum consists of like-minded members who all think along similar lines.  But you're right - there is also a possibility that the forum is being 'steered' in a definite direction.

IMHO that would be a pretty boring situation - like living in some sort of communist paradise.  There will always be differences of opinion because we are people, we are individuals.  Its only when there's an overt pull towards one direction that the moderators need to step in, or other non-partisan members take that extra step to ensure parity.

Full and true neutrality and a totally unbiased forum is utopia.  i dont think anybody wants to go there.

A very good thought Lion heart.

I really appreciate your gesture.

Its indeed a clap with two hands,still scope of improvements from both sides are endless.

Atleast we humans cant be god!

Thanks guys for participating in this discussion.

My take is slightly different. I think a forum is represented by a vast majority. If the participation is very small, then it can be expected that a major section of participants may be leaning towards some manufacturers. But when there is a substantial participation with no. of members getting into thousands, its difficult to automatically divert discussion to any 1 track unless its done meticulously from the top.

Banwari/ Pankaj & other Mods,

there is a thread -- The other Forum - tbhp -- which a member, soam had started today. Just saw it now but it is just closed an hour back. Its actually a very good thread & can actually help forums to expand & improve. I would like to share something very important & want to contribute there. Could I request you to open that thread ? There seem to be many members here who are members there as well. it would be interesting to see their feedback which would only add value.

as banwari mentioned, we, as a forum, will ensure that the discussion will be healthy in spirit of Carwale

Banwari has since reopened the thread.

lionheart,

Nice topic you have brought forth. I'm sorry for joining so late!

I really didn't know if we have many automotive forums in India. I am sure there are 2-3 popular ones though. All these forums I know of are unbiased in terms of intent, however they may be biased depending on the likes of majority of members there, as Steeroid pointed out. Forums normally have enthusiasts and these enthusiasts always strongly feel about what they drive or use. The passion for their own stuff is so forceful that they end up becoming chauvinists for that brand/product. They criticize everything else on this earth. This is true for all the enthusiasts forums starting from books, music, cars, bikes or normal household stuff.

I completely agree that moderators can play a big role in saving the forums from being categorized as biased. Of course members too are equally responsible for this. We all need to understand that no car is a bad car and there is no car that is good enough for everybody.

And yes, the thread is now open for new posts.

A good thought lion heart.  Even I had felt the same.  Like for example why is ANHC always compared with Linea (which is 2 lakhs cheaper)?  Why is not compared with Verna, SX4, Fiesta, Optra etc?  Why pick Linea always for any comparision, especially if it's a city?  Am not blaming the mods here, the friends who open such threads are not neutral I think.

Guys, Whatever generic discussion is to happen, I think THIS thread is the one where it should happen. The thread owner himself requested closing of the other thread - that way one ensures it does not get hijacked, of turn into something that the owner never imagined/anticipated.

That was the intention of closing that thread. One can always spawn new threads, and also link them back to previous ones if a thread of thoughts needs continuation.

Coming to being unbiased & neutral, if I may ask, what is the GOLD STANDARD? Can one sanitize the mods out of their personalities? No - The task of moderation involves some participation in the discussion, and also directing it for a fruitful and civil outcome. So the neutrality comes out as not Switzerland-like, but like NAM. There! We've got something contentious to discuss!

The relatively lightweight moderation process at CW forums requires direct participation from the mods in the forum. This not only cuts through the red tape but allows some personalities to peep trough, which makes it easy for the members to relate to the forums.

Just for example I would like to give two examples - both intense in their own way, but these were the ones that brought out to me what the moderation here on CW is - compassionate and correct.

1. HHO thread by Girish. I was wondering why Banwari was indulging the owner with obvious vested interests. I was not a member then. But following the thread evoked a strong emotion in me, so I joined, just to post my opinion. The seemingly meandering, yet mature handling of the thread by Banwari has resulted in me addressing Banwari with the honorific -ji most of the time. (Warning - long thread!)

2. Other end of the spectrum, again with Banwari in the eye of the storm. This discussion could easily have been taken off the forum, but it would have raised eye-brows about something being suppressed or dealt with in a hush-hush manner. Letting it hang out in the open resulted not only the mischief maker being snubbed roundly, but also garnered praise for the patient and logical handling of the situation by the mods. Of course, with nice entertainment as a byproduct.

True, Krishna.  It had so occurred to me too, on reading lionheart's suggestion, and had almost posted here requesting him to share his views in this thread itself.  I had also given a thought on merging the 2 threads but didn't, as it may not have been appropriate keeping in mind the spirit in which Soam had created that thread.  Banwari was online so I sent him a link & suggested if we should reopen the thread.  We had a very small chat & decided in favour of it.  The only thing we didn't discuss/knew was that who had closed the thread.  I thought he had closed, while he thought it was me. Lol.

Sometimes Mods are not aware of each others' actions & the thought process behind it - and are not able to discuss it out immediately. In fact I posted my views in the other thread - not knowing that it was closed. All said & done, we/Mods are so like-minded that any approach adopted would have been proved equally good