Siftquisition of feature Siftquisition

  (36 votes)
  (27 votes)
  (18 votes)

A total of 81 votes have been cast on this poll.


The Siftquisition has been a featured part of our community for some time now, and I believe it is time to throw it out in the cold again. I am tired of having the "Call Siftquisition" link glaring in my face every time I visit Sift Talk. It goes contrary to what my experience of this community is, as mostly harmonic and loving, and I believe just having the option there makes us a colder and harder society.

That was my personal reasons for wanting it gone. Here are some more pragmatic:

The Siftquisition is essentially a feature bloat. I don't see why we need two different polling features. The same purpose could easily be served by shackling (I refuse to call it hobbiting) the alleged offender and starting a regular poll. This would also remove the dubious fact that Siftbot carries out the sentence. I am of the conviction that banning is such a serious business that it should require a final human intervention by an admin, and not be carried out automatically. Otherwise it is a feature that just screams out for abuse. Abuse may not be a big issue in our still quite transparent community, but you never know how it might look a year of five from now.

I understand the admins' reasons for handing some responsibility over to the community, but this is a case where a benevolent dictatorship is desperately needed, IMHO. If it makes you feel better, think of it as a ceremonious role to carry out the sentence decided by the community in a poll. The admins will then also be a final floodbarrier against abuse. If you are afraid of the workload, you might consider giving a small number of members (crowns?) the ability to act as final arbiters.

Final thought:
The FAQ says: "The Siftquisition has been an informal part of VideoSift almost since its inception. The Siftquisition feature formalizes this cultural ceremony into an important aspect of administering our community."

There are a lot of unwritten traditions that are just as embedded in VideoSift as the Siftquisition, but that haven't been given their own feature. It is my opinion that some cultural baggage is more worthy of chiseling in stone than other, and the Siftquisition is not one of them.

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