A note on moderation and reporting posts

[Svpernova09]

Everyone makes mistakes. Even mods / admins. If you have a problem with something someone has said, report the post. There is no need to completely derail a thread even after someone tries to fix the original problem.

If someone posts something you find offensive, report the post. Even if it is an admin. Report the post or PM the person and express your concern. Do not call them out and completely derail a thread. I'm sick and tired of the mob mentality that people have here to jump on any sort of drama. Next time, I'm going to start handing out temporary / permanent bans.

A few people got offended over something I said. Instead of reporting the post, they completely derailed the thread. We're all here for multiboxing, not derailing threads with our own crusades. Once I got the feeling that a few people were offended, I changed the offensive line to something I felt was a lot less offensive and I removed the posts saying what I had said was offensive as well as conversation regarding it to clean up the thread. I considered the matter closed. Not long after, here comes the abuse of moderation claims. So I fixed what people said was offensive, then I cleaned up the thread (I didn't even fully delete the posts, I left them for other mods to see. They weren't fully deleted until stealthy came in) and I get flamed for fixing the problem? WTF!?

I really thought I deserved better than this. But I guess history and contributions mean absolutely nothing when someone gets a chance to bash you over a mistake, even after you try to fix the mistake.

Get over yourselves, everyone is allowed to make mistakes. Next time, go through the proper channels.


- Joe / Svpernova09

[Naysayer]

I must have missed something.

[Chilaxx]

Imo, Svpernova09 has always done a good job. Even with that other thread that got derailed into doom!
Some ppl forget why you are all here.. to multibox. We are part of a gloriouse community.
We all help eachother, we laugh around, we insult eachothers for a good laugh too!
If you find the insult offensive... report it, PM the person about it,... .
Don't derail a very useful thread into the ground!

I agree with the temporary / permanent bans, for some ppl this is the only way to make em listen.

[Seldum]

/group hug

[Bot]

i dont think he was really saying that mods should get special treatment. hes saying that in all cases you should follow the proper channels when dealing with offensive content. thats what i got out of the first two paragraphs of his post.

[zanthor]

It's pretty simple folks, report posts. They'll be moderated appropriately.

If you have a problem with a mod, talk to another mod.

Ellay is very approachable, if slow to respond (damn you real life!), and exceptionally reasonable. Also keep in mind that like any good community, the guy doing the grunt work isn't the guy making the decisions and policy alone. Most likely he knows something you don't.

In this case I know for a fact that the admins here have long and deep discussions for the good of the community, and Svper is VERY active about enforcing them. This gives him the appearance of a heavy handed power hungry mod, which isn't the case.

He's just doing his job.

Don't get pissed at the cops because the cops give you a ticket, get pissed because you're the idiot who was speeding and got caught.

[shaeman]

Sometimes I wonder why the hell anyone would step up and choose to spend their free time, as an unpaid moderator. Talk about a no win situation.

Then seeing the whinging and whining over trivial crap, the moronic bickering over stupid, stupid things, and I thank heavens that these people exist.

What a truly thankless task.

So all I'd like to say is a big thank you to the moderators, I appreciate what you do even if others don't and look forward to you getting medieval on a few asses......

[Ellay]

Ya I read a lot, it's not in my nature to post - I did a lot in the beginning because I wanted to make a community but my natural tendancy is to lurk :)

But if you ever have any issues always PM me :)

The mods do a great job and everyone is human.. I don't even know what this thread is referring to.. but! they do put in a lot of time for not too much appreciation.

[Tonuss]

I think what he is saying is "be nice, and don't be assholes." What he's suggesting is reasonable-- if you spot something objectionable, use PMs or report the post so that the thread doesn't get derailed. I trust the people who run this place enough that I don't see a problem with that suggestion.

[Jheusse]

I admin a sports team board at one of the major sports sites and regularly refer to myself as "the poor schmuck with the badge". My best threat to posters isn't banning, it's giving them the admin job.

Sound and fury folks, the mods do a fine job here. I rarely notice them, which is the hallmark of a mature forum and a mod staff that's got a discreet touch.

[Malekyth]

The thing that pissed me off when everything was deleted was the reason given: "some people need to get over themselves." This is exactly the same thing as "nyah, nyah, I'm a mod, so I can end the discussion and get the last word in." Get over myself? I wasn't even offended by the initial, mildly *potentially* offensive comment, but I was really offended that a constructive point I took the time to think about and made the effort to write was something that could be blown off because a mod doesn't agree with me. Delete the posts because they're off-topic if you want -- that at least has the virtue of being inarguably true -- but "get over yourself" followed by a slamming door is utter bullshit.

That said, reporting posts is still definitely preferable to responding in a thread.

*Stealthy edit for clarity*

[Knytestorme]

Way to over-state the "drama" and "mob mentality" of 2 people explaining in a non-confrontational way why what you said was homophobic and potentially offensive to people. You weren't called out about anything, a question was made about 1 line in your post and you decided to play the "it's just a joke" card and then go delete happy when it was explained that the joke was understood but had no bearing on the point that was being made.

I didn't see a need to report the post when I was merely asking about one line and figured any reasonable person would see the issue and edit their post. I guess the issue was deciding to treat you like a regular person and not a moderator, but seeing now the claim that "Next time, I'm going to start handing out temporary / permanent bans." it shows that was a mistake that won't be made again...way to surround yourself with eggshells.

I don't have a problem with heavy moderation, it's a good thing as a way of keeping topics on track and the s/n ratio high but it is ridiculous for a mod to delete posts that disagree with a post they make and use the edit reason as an opportunity to have a dig at those people before threatening to ban them if they respond and it's totally beyond the pale when that is done to comments that are not flames.

I wasn't going to post in this thread, I thought long and hard about it, but at the end of the day there is just too much in the OP that is wrong, false and worrying that I couldn't not say something. If it gets me banned, well it's good to see what voicing a valid opinion in a sensible and sane manner will get you when it's disagreeing with a mod.

[EDIT]
Would love to have seen what would have happened to the trhead if someone else posted a thread similar to this but from the opposite side. I'm guessing a lock/delete with a comment that we should get over ourselves.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

To the victor go the spoils (of revisionist history). If everyone could have seen the original (and locked) thread, I think it would have served as a good example:

A) that people really need to stick to the facts in General because we do have a diverse group here, and
B) that dogpiling on people because they "fronted my bro, yo" or some other inane cliquish rationale really does make you look like an interwebz e-Thug retard.

Maybe it's time we looked into an individual post rating system? (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=204117) I hate to suggest it as I know the mods/devs here do what they do out of their own free time, though maybe this one is a fairly easy mod to deal with. I suspect, however, that some folks will really really not like this as they'd end up modded down, even in their good posts, because they just can't refrain from sniping at anyone who disagrees with 'em.

[Stealthy]

Locking this thread before it turns into another flamefest.

Cheers,
S.