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Policy Changes: How do you feel?

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ashton:
As I'm usually Uncle Heavy, and seem to attract my fair share of complaints about how I operate, I'll just make it clear here: I publically post as a moderator in a thread to indicate that the thread is in my opinion salvageable, but that more than one poster has either come dangerously close to the line or crossed it entirely. It's up to the people in the thread to get it back on track. In general, I try to indicate where and how it's gone off the rails so that people can adjust their behavior accordingly.

When I publically chastise or ban someone, it's an easy way to say "that behavior? Don't be like that." so that everyone can see where the line is and have an object example of what crosses it.

Finally, though, as users of the board, you're just going to have to accept that you won't see the whole story. Very often, what you see is the culmination of a series of actions, starting with gentle correction and ramping up through more aggressive warnings, temp bannings, and finally the Hammer of God. Ask any of the new moderators what it was like having their eyes opened to the behind-the-scenes action that comes with being a moderator, and they can tell you: it's night-and-day. No banning happens in a vacuum, and there's always a back story. Very often, revealing that backstory would be completely counterproductive. In other words, you see a small part of the situation, and that's by choice on the moderators' parts.

That is not going to change.

I think I have about as good a perspective on the moderation here as anyone but Iago, because I was the first assistant moderator drafted back when McAnally's was a mailing list. Moderation here has never and will never be random, whimsical, or prompted by personal grudges on the parts of the moderators. We simply do not operate that way, and any perception of personal bias is, in my considered opinion, a phantom of the imagination.

OnlyElise:
I think it's worth my time to point out that the mods ARE working extremely hard on keeping everything civil; the amount of work that PG puts in every night as I try to drag him to bed is astounding and he's doing it FOR FREE.

That means that he's going through the threads, making sure everything is going along happily, talking to the other mods, figuring out how to deal with good and bad posters, and basically helping this forum to run smoothly, along with all the other mods and minimods. Knowing how much work they're putting into talking to people first, then warning them to stop acting like jackasses, then having to deal with the backwash of ill will when they point out to someone that they're behaving in a way that no one, including Iago, the owner of the site, and Jim, the INSPIRATION of the site, would want to deal with. It's easy to say that everyone understands this is Iago's playground, but when it comes down to it, the mods are doing the best they can to keep the forum civil and happy, so why SHOULDN'T they be able to get a little snarky when someone is just not taking the hint?

David one Mutts Friend:
No, I really do not like the changes. Maybe because I was painted with the ban hammer brush and feel that no matter what I say it will be looked at more closely than it would have before.

I know how Harry felt with the Doom over him and Morgan looking over his shoulder every second.

David

Niccos Shadow:
If the general response is "This is the way it works, deal with it" and/or "It's ok for mods/admins because their forum experience is more stressful, deal with it". Then what is the point of asking for member feedback?

I understand all too well the work involved. I've seen and dealt with junk in other online communities that make the rudest post I've read here look like a pleasant conversation over tea (including stuff in TT). But I've never seen a forum/community where it was acceptable for the administration to break the same rules they were trying to enforce, regardless of how stressful or burdensome their task becomes.

There's nothing wrong with "Ok, this person was banned because <insert reason>". But there's a big jump between that and "Wow you guys are ignorant children. Stfu or i'll ban you... on second thought, I'll just ban you now!". That kind of thing is unnecessary and promotes the same kind of issues that the administration is trying to prevent. And it just plain looks bad.

OnlyElise:
I'm not a mod, nor is anything I wrote attributed, or approved of, by a mod. I'm saying this is their coloring book. I shall color inside the lines, or I will  need to go get my own coloring book.

As far as favoritism goes, I happen to know that when they feel they may be taking someone's writing too personally, they will hand off the issue to another mod who is detached.

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