A question about DU jury service

[PJMcK]

Since 2001, I've been a reader of the articles and opinions posted on Democratic Underground. Over the years, I've donated to the site when I could and I post comments from time to time.

What I'm curious about has to do with the random selection of DU jurors to adjudicate objectionable posts. It seems as if recently I've been asked to serve on juries much more frequently than previously. Are DU members really that contentious or are my experiences unusual?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. people alert more during primary season

plus i vaguely remember skinner mentioning that some people would not be allowed to be on juries, and if that's happened, the pool of jurors has gotten smaller

[Raine1967]

9. A hide will lessen the chance of getting on a jury.

Detailed Explanation of the Jury Selection Process

For those who are interested, this sections provides a detailed breakdown of the Jury selection process.

Immediately after a Community Standards alert is sent our software begins to seat a Jury by randomly flagging members who are currently browsing DU. Members are excluded from serving if:

• they have their "Willingness to serve on a DU Jury" option set to "Unwilling"
• they are ignoring the alerted member
• they are blocking DU mail from the alerted member
• they have replied to the alerted member within the last 24 hours
• they have alerted on the alerted member within the last 24 hours
• they have posted in the thread which contains the alerted post
• they are on the alerted member's Jury Blacklist

After checking to see if a potential Juror is not excluded, the software then does a virtual "dice roll" against the member's chance of serving. Every member's chance of serving is represented as a percentage and is publicly displayed on their Profile page. A member's maximum possible chance of serving is 100%, and their lowest possible chance of serving is 0%.

Things that increase a member's chance of serving:

• Increase 1 percentage point for each 100 posts (up to 20 percentage points max = 2,000 posts)
• Increase 1 percentage point for each 10 days of membership (up to 20 percentage points max = 200 days)
• Increase 1 percentage point for each post in the last 90 days (up to 20 percentage points max = 20 posts)
• Increase 40 percentage points for Star Membership

• Things that decrease a member's chance of serving:

Decrease 20 percentage points for each hidden post in last 90 days

Once a member is selected to serve, they will be sent a request which they can either accept or refuse. If the member does not accept the request within five minutes the software will cancel the request and search for another Juror. If the member accepts the request within five minutes, they are seated on the Jury and can immediately begin to review the alerted post. The software continues to search for Jurors until six members have been seated. If any Juror does not complete their review of the alerted post within 30 minutes, their Jury Service will end and the software will search for another Juror to replace them.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=modsystem

[PJMcK]

10. Thanks!

Great information, Raine1967. I guess if I took the time to read the TOS I'd have understood the methodology. Thank you.

[Raine1967]

11. You are very welcome.

and welcome to DU!

[redstatebluegirl]

2. I have been asked a lot more as well. I think this is a very bad primary season not normal times.

[trof]

3. It's an election year. GDP

It's like a food fight in there every day.
I've been on a jury almost every day I've logged on.

[Trust Buster]

4. Alerts are out of control. Very un-democratic IMO.

[3catwoman3]

5. Requests to serve on a jury...

...appear multiple times a day.

IMO, everyone needs to lighten up a bit. If you don't like something, just move on.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. The jury system here is a joke.

The whole thing should be scrapped.

[merrily]

7. Your experience is not unusual. Search DU for alert stalking.

[Warpy]

8. It's primary season and that usually turns the site into a war zone

as cults of personality develop and skins become thinner every day. After the election, we'll go back to a new normal.