Mod bias in declining Image Pickin'/Repair Shop pages?

Note that I'm not questioning the mod's wisdom. It's just that I've seen at least two threads (admittedly both mine) where the mods make a consensus amongst themselves instead of opening the threads for discussion so that fellow tropers can give out their opinion on how to fix the trope image.

One example is the Image Pickin thread for Not Me This Time. It was declined because the mods discussed this trope's page image amongst themselves and decided that "while texty, it works well enough to be a keeper."

Another is the Trope Repair Shop thread Subtitles Are Superfluous. It was declined because the mods decided to allow me to go ahead and make it less exclusive to video games. (For the record, if I had received the get go and the thread was opened instead of closed, I would've used it to discuss what to change the description to as I was clueless in how to do so).

Those two are such examples of moderators deciding for themselves on what to do with the trope instead of opening the page and letting the general public to discuss the page.

Granted, these doesn't seem to be that often, but this does seem to happen sometimes.

In addition, Septimus Heap used the word "think" several times in the context of his reasoning for locking pages, implying to me that he's guessing or using his own opinions when he locked the pages in question.

"I think" is a sort of Verbal Tic I've picked up over time. It doesn't really say anything.

For Not Me This Time, that is a dialogue trope. Of course these are going to get texty images, that doesn't render them a problem. Subtitles Are Superfluous was judged to be too minor a change to warrant a whole thread.

The only problem I see is that in the second case, there's no comment about why the thread wasn't opened.

Also not very good examples of how you write a good OP for IP and TRS.

Part of the reason we went to vetting threads in IP and TRS was to get people used to making good opening posts, O Ps that contain not only "I think this should be changed": but a clear explanation of why it needs to be changed, along with supporting information. We were havoing a lot of threads that were started with posts that could be boiled down to "I don't like this image/name/definition", "I think this other image/name would be cooler", "I think this trope is broken, but I can't be bothered to do a wick check or actually check for misuse; someone else can if they feel like it" and such.

In the case of Not Me This Time, part of your reasoning for replacing it was that "without showing the real culprit (which would be a spoiler) it's not a good example." That's not the case: the trope is the denial, whether the real culprit is shown or not. Also as Septimus said, it's a dialogue trope. That means that "Might as well be a quote" or "too text-heavy" has a higher bar to clear to apply.

edited 6th Jan '15 6:22:35 AM by Madrugada

It helps if the supporting information isn't ignored, though.

Yeah, I'm talking about my Eagle Land IP thread that got unceremoniously dumped into the morgue with a claim that it was borderline "I don't like this".

How does that image "not illustrate" one of the "boorish" types listed? "Look at our guns", prosperity borderline obesity, and a smug attitude are all there. It doesn't matter whether someone knows the source; it does illustrate one of the stereotypes listed. Also, your OP fell afoul of one of the other habits we want people to break: " I think this image needs to be changed, but I can't be bothered to find one I think is better. Someone else do the work."

edited 6th Jan '15 7:46:14 AM by Madrugada

Setting aside disagreeing about whether they qualify as "boorish" (tacky, maybe), what's "American" about them? With the "Beautiful" picture, at least, the shoulder patch on the astronaut clearly isn't Russian (for example).

No alternate is a fair cop, but a search I made wasn't very useful (unattractive people with something "American" worn, or "lol Republicans suck" for the most part) so either I'm terrible at search terms or it's not an easy thing to picture. What's there certainly doesn't.

That big flag in the top image is unambiguously from the US. And the stereotype of being overweight and stupid is also something associated with the US.

So an image not illustrating a trope (I still fail to see how the couple pictured look "stupid", but whatever) is fine if it's also paired with a putatively related image that does illustrate?

Yeah, that isn't abusable...

In the case of my threads (that were apparently decried as being bad posts), if you don't say I'm doing it wrong, as well as saying how I did it wrong, how am I supposed to know and learn for next time how to do it properly?

...I think that another problem with the way you're doing things is that you're not explaining clearly what you're doing.

Also, please don't decay the thread by speaking about Eagle Land, ~Nohbody. This page's not to protest about Eagle Land's Image Pickin thread getting locked.

while I was editing.

edited 6th Jan '15 12:44:35 PM by KarjamP

That's something I gotta agree is a general weakness of the mods here, which could use improving.

This thread is about mods making unilateral decisions instead of allowing discussion, right? It seems to me that the Eagle Land conversation fits perfectly here.

Yep, that one was actually discussed in the Skype channel.

What does "mod bias" mean?