[Jeysie]

Originally Posted by pinkgothic

Well, all I can say to that is my experience has been the opposite. See my "favoritism" post a bit further up - that's essentially what I've run into during all my moderating life. Even this place isn't clear of it.

I have to admit I'm not sure why people would have reacted with cries of "favoritism". I mean, if you publicly post what is unacceptable, and punish everyone who shows unacceptable behavior appropriately and with a public statement of what they did wrong, then anyone who cries "favoritism" is just stirring trouble because all the public evidence shows that judgment is being passed equally.

Originally Posted by pinkgothic

Curious, what size was the forum you moderated? If it was a small one, I might even agree with you, since a small community tends to be one where everyone knows each other and so public discussions are less, well. Camp-based?

It was one with about 30 regular posters, 1 admin, and 3 moderators (including myself). I admit I have never moderated a very large forum, but this doesn't strike me as being one.

I should say that I find public discussion tends to dampen any "political" behavior because it makes the moderators as publically accountable as the posters. Or at the very least it brings to light any lurking problems in the politics of the forum that need to be addressed.

If someone has a problem with me *personally*, then yes, PMing me would probably be more appropriate. But during the times I am actively wielding a moderator cloak a disagreement with me is a disagreement with the way I am enforcing the rules, and I think it is better for a community to be aware if rules have been broken or if a moderator is not properly serving the rules than it is to sweep it under the rug and pretend nothing happened and say "Move along, nothing to see here." Again, my own personal experience is that problems which are not brought out into the open and addressed tend to fester and grow ugly.

I think BoyToy also said something very good:

And if someone unfairly criticises a moderator, well what a great opportunity for the moderator to strengthen his authority by proving the criticism wrong!

If the criticism should have been appropriate, it was not the criticsm that managed to undermine the moderator's authority, but the criticised action of the moderator itself.
"Responsibility."

But I freely admit I am very biased. I personally don't like being kept in the dark, and I find that when I have to deal with missing or incomplete information I reach incorrect conclusions and make mistakes. I also have found myself in situations where I find myself in the middle of people telling me "secret problems" that have to do with other people I know, and nobody's willing to say anything "out loud", and it just causes problems and misunderstandings (not to mention putting me square in the middle). I find that having all of the necessary information for a situation makes choosing an appropriate action a lot easier.

*ahem* I should also note that I'm not implying that any of this occurs or may occur at this forum, (mainly because I don't have enough information to make such a conclusion ), I'm just stating my feelings in general.

Peace & Luv, Liz