[BoyToy]

Originally Posted by pinkgothic

Not to the thread as such - but the decisions they make are MEANT to be subjective/empathic, so that the decision is made depending on the situation, not on the exact phrases use, the amount of times a 4-letter word is used, etc. Clearer now?

Yeah. And agreed!

Originally Posted by pinkgothic

If you want to know why, it's because if you start mod criticisms in public, you are undermining what little authority moderators have - [...]
moderators NEED to radiate authority... it's all that keeps a board running properly. If mods lose their authority, they have more work than they can handle with pushing actual buttons like "delete" and "lock".

The latter is true, moderators need (more than just technical) authority! But the former is plain wrong. Because someone's authority comes from intelligent thoughtful actions and arguments, and not just from wearing a tag.
So the best a moderator can do to presererve his initially elevated level of authority (beyond access to some buttons), is to say intelligent things and make sensible decisions.

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."

Moreover: Even if an appropriate criticism is only sent as PM, it doesn't prevent the moderator's authority from taking damage. Cause other people have witnessed the criticised action themselves too. And, although they might not have made an effort to voice it, they might have made up their own opinion anyway.

Originally Posted by pinkgothic

What reason was there to post what you thought was a misunderstanding between two people publically?

The misunderstanding happended in public, and I was hoping for as many people's opinions as possible. (As is generally the reason for us to post in forums.) I mean, I could have been (and still can be) dead wrong, and I'd like people to tell me, if that's the case.

Originally Posted by pinkgothic

Would you not, if it had not been a moderator, tried to PM the person who misunderstood and point out how it could have been meant?

Absolutely not! That's the nature of a forum: People discuss. People post, people reply. People agree, people disagree. It's the most natural thing on a forum (as long as it's not flaming or trolling)!!! This is really very important for me.
Just look at any of the larger threads on this forum. It happens all the time, and nobody says: "Oh, you should have criticised/disagreed-to me in PM, rather than in public!"

Now, I'd like to add another thing: The particular topic in question, is a pretty minor thing in my opinion - and tabs hasn't lost any of his authority in my eyes! And it speaks for the quality of this site and their moderators, that we can have such an intense discussion here.

Tabs, if you read this, I respect you very much!
(And that's not out of fear, but since I think you're a sensible person.)

[pinkgothic]

Originally Posted by BoyToy

Just look at any of the larger threads on this forum. It happens all the time, and nobody says: "Oh, you should have criticised/disagreed-to me in PM, rather than in public!"

Those thread also tend not to be about what people should and should not have done in a particular other thread. You might notice threads like that get locked and stowed away pretty quickly, commonly at least.

Originally Posted by BoyToy

Now, I'd like to add another thing: The particular topic in question, is a pretty minor thing in my opinion - and tabs hasn't lost any of his authority in my eyes!

I'm certain of that

Originally Posted by BoyToy

And it speaks for the quality of this site and their moderators, that we can have such an intense discussion here.

I'd agree, except I know from experience that this sort of thing is a lose-lose situation for moderators. They can let it run, try to debate their point, and regardless what they say come across as, well, powerhungry or whatnot. Or they can lock it. Same effect.

You mentioned some other things, but, well, since I think I wasn't clear enough in the post you responded to, and clarified in the matter, I think you might already see my point in the next clarification post of mine? If not, I'll gladly throw myself back into the discussion of your points, but right now I think I would just repeat myself and give you too much to respond to.

Originally Posted by BoyToy

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

Just a quick response to this as an add-on: In PM one can speak freely and responses are a lot more sincere because you don't need to worry about someone out of a crowd of people misinterpreting your words - you know how you can talk to one person. In public debates, you are always talking with a crowd, even if you're technically discussing things with one person only.

[BoyToy]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

I think this is the most liberal forum in the AG community.

Without even ever having been on any other forum in the AG community, I absolutely agree to that. *hugs forum*
And I'd probably agree if you'd argue there's more important things to discuss about. (So I wouldn't even mind if this thread got moved to Chit-Chat. )
But I don't think it's a bad thing to try to improve something, which is already great, either.

[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

Originally Posted by Jackal

But if you're going, then good luck finding another community with nothing better to do than catering to your every whim.

I think the hardest part will be finding somewhere else that will tolerate his antics as long as AG did.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

You know..........guys........if it weren't for the fact that I am currently taking a break from modding, I would have moved this thread to Forum Feedback. It is in the wrong place.

BoyToy

[tabacco]

Originally Posted by BoyToy

Tabs, if you read this, I respect you very much!
(And that's not out of fear, but since I think you're a sensible person.)

This thread has been providing me with a great deal of entertainment all day at work

Also thank you.

[Fien]

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

Being a mod isn't for people who can't handle it... sorry, but that's my belief.

I'd say most people will agree with that, including me.

Being in the position of hiding your identity puts up a barrier between you and the troublemaker, and if they don't like it, f*ck them.

Sorry, Monkeyman, but that's just a teeny weeny bit naive. You may have been officially anonymous at JA, but everybody knew it was you.

[fov]

I was out of town when all of this went down (sorry Jack ), and I hate to bump a thread that has simmered down, but I'd like to respond to this:

Originally Posted by mag

Because as far as I can tell, there's really not any rhyme or reason behind the closing of threads other than that. I've seen people post things way worse than what temp said and go completely unchecked.

If anybody ever sees something that seems out of line go "unchecked," please report it by clicking the icon that looks like this:

You may think the behavior is being ignored or even condoned, when in actuality a mod hasn't even seen it. We do our best, but there are not that many of us, and this forum gets a lot of traffic. It's impossible to read every single post, so it's a huge help when people take the time to report bad ones. We may or may not choose to do something about it after it's reported, depending on the situation and using our best judgement, but at least that way we've seen it and can decide whether action needs to be taken.

EDIT: Having read all the responses more carefully now, I do want to thank everyone for the honest feedback.

[Fairygdmther]

FOV, does that symbol flag a particular person or that post in that thread? I'm not sure how it works. I think I did use it once, but wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. Does it tell you who flagged it?

Lynsie

[tabacco]

It sends out this e-mail to all administrators and any mods for the forum.

Originally Posted by vBulletin

tabacco ( mailto:[email protected] ) has reported this post:

http://forums.adventuregamers.com/sh...774#post199774

This is part of this thread:
On closing threads
http://forums.adventuregamers.com/sh...ad.php?t=11016

This is the reason that the user gave:
This is whatever the person typed into the box. Fun.

This message has been sent to all moderators of this forum, or all administrators if there are no moderators.

Please respond to this post as applicable.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

It flags only the individual post and whoever made that post, Lynsie. Then a mod/admin receives the report and acts accordingly.

EDIT: thanks, tabs.

[Fairygdmther]

Thanks for the explanation!

Lynsie

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Fairygdmther

Thanks for the explanation!

Uh oh, guys. That winking smiley she used looks a mite evil to me. She up to something? Whatcha think?

[Fairygdmther]

hehehe - time will tell!

Lynsie

[squarejawhero]

Originally Posted by Fienepien

I'd say most people will agree with that, including me.



Sorry, Monkeyman, but that's just a teeny weeny bit naive. You may have been officially anonymous at JA, but everybody knew it was you.

Not everyone. Believe me, only the ones that mattered.

[Sage]

Since it's not a paid position, does being a forum moderator count as "Time Served" in Hell?

ScottMate

[Ninth]

I think the "life" on this forum is a close as it could be to absolute freedom without falling into absolute chaos.
There might be the occasional abrupt thread locking or the very very occasional ban (but then, of all the people I've seen being banned, at least 50% has come back and he seems to be fine here now ), which I'm uneasy with, but seriously, what's a extremely small bit of uneasiness compared to the overwheling feeling of felling free?

On a side note, this all JA_Staff2 thing is one of the reasons why I could not bring myself to post more than once or twice at JA.

[SakSquash]

I'm a friggin wreckingball man!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Ninth

There might be the occasional abrupt thread locking or the very very occasional ban (but then, of all the people I've seen being banned, at least 50% has come back and he seems to be fine here now ), which I'm uneasy with, but seriously, what's a extremely small bit of uneasiness compared to the overwheling feeling of felling free?

What I don't understand is how some of those people who have been banned end up coming back. More interesting is how some people who have requested to be unregistered just don't choose to log off and never return. They don't need to unregister, really. It makes you wonder what it is about this community that they're drawn to.

On a side note, this all JA_Staff2 thing is one of the reasons why I could not bring myself to post more than once or twice at JA.

Huh?

Originally Posted by tempsie

I'm a friggin wreckingball man!

Shut up, you!

temps