Elbows: a response from Gary

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1

To avoid further derailing the “U.S. Election 2010 forum will open ~June 1” thread, I’m placing my response to elbows’ post from that thread here:

There actually is a reason that samclem and I haven’t jumped in to answer those questions. We and the other mods are peers. We all have our specific forum assignments, and we defer to each other outside of our assigned areas.

Although we do our best to reach consensus on policy changes, it’s not really our call. The SDMB is not a democracy. If you have an issue with Marley (just to pick a mod at random), neither Sam nor I can speak for him, override him, publicly chastise him, reassign him, suspend him, or vote him off the island. Neither of us share a forum assignment with him, and on the SDMB he is our equal.

If you have an issue on a board-wide policy, a response from an individual mod will not help you a bit.

You did the right thing by opening a thread here in ATMB to ask about the closure of BigT’s thread. But you can’t expect instant response - the staff here is spread across something like 11 timezones, and we all have other jobs. It may frustrate you when none of us respond, but please be patient. As individuals, we don’t have the authority to respond to some of the things you ask, and it’s not a simple hierarchy, either. It’s not like each mod reports to an admin. We all have our various responsibilities, and we all (mods and admins alike) ultimately report to Ed. He, in turn, has his masters. It takes us a while to discuss things behind the scenes, and sometimes to defer it to Ed.

Starting multiple threads for the same issue, or bringing up the same issue in unrelated threads, will not help the issue.

2

I was certain I had seen other mods weigh into discussions of board policy/protocol previously in ATMB, but I am possibly mistaken.

I did not expect an answer on any given time frame I assure you. But when mods weigh in, I don’t see it as unreasonable that one would expect them able to address questions.

Was there something stopping any of the mods, that posted in that thread, from simply saying, “I can’t speak to those questions”, instead of just ignoring them? I was unaware of the detailed web and process of decision making you have so carefully described for me, thank you. One simple sentence would have gone a long way to helping me to understand. I read on the board all the time “take it up in ATMB”. When I read ATMB, I often wish people were more respectful and less harsh, toward the mods. In furtherance of their points, mostly. I went out of my way to be polite and respectful. I do not feel that it was reciprocated. I had a fair question about the moderation, I felt. Perhaps I’m mistaken.

I hope you can understand, I posted in Ed’s thread, out of frustration. Mods strolling into the thread making side jokes only confused things more and frustrated me further. Ed and I have since spoken about it and I have apologized to him and I will offer you an apology as well. I am sorry to have so disrupted Ed’s thread.

3

Why does this phrase make me think of the Darth Vader kneeling to the Emperor? :wink:

4

That’s quite possible. We tread a thin line, being both members of the board and moderators. I do try to keep it clear which hat I’m wearing when I post, but ATMB blurs the line.

No, there wasn’t. I, for one, will try to be better about doing that. Be aware, though, that some of us don’t get outside of our own forums very often, and may not notice threads in ATMB that concern us until days have passed. Reporting a post in ATMB (at the moment) notifies only TubaDiva, so if you see something here that directly concerns a specific moderator or admin, a polite “FYI” PM would be appropriate–and at least in my case, appreciated.

There was certainly a communication breakdown. The best way to handle creating a thread in ATMB is to begin by asking yourself whether you’re looking for information or looking for action. If you’re looking for information, say something like, “Please explain this rule to me.” or “What is the policy concerning X?” If you’re looking for action, tell us precisely what you want (e.g., “Please reopen this thread” or “Please move this thread back to IMHO”).

I think part of the reason the BigT thread went off the rails is that we interpreted the OP as just venting, due to phrases like “How is this okay?” and “What the Hell?” If you wanted the thread reopened, you could have just said, “Please reopen the thread. Here’s why:”

I apologize for the misunderstanding, but believe me, it wasn’t capricious.

Thank you. I do understand.

To repeat the point I made above, we are members of the board in addition to being moderators. Especially when we’re outside of our own forums, we like to jump in to conversations and participate when the jokes begin. That doesn’t mean we’re callous or that we’re not interested.

5

Thank you for the respectful response Gary, I appreciate it very much.

I would certainly hate it if the mods couldn’t post as posters or participate in jokes, but have to seriously question the wisdom of doing so, prior to OP receiving some resolution. Or even in this forum. It seems to me that there is plenty of room in the other forums for that, I’m having a hard time seeing why it should be in this forum. Posters, after all, have to follow strict guidelines about what is permitted in which forum. It’s an odd contrast is all.

I am really grateful you took the time to make such a thoughtful post, thank you.

(And, in the unintended humour department, I’m snickering a little bit over the fact that you started a separate thread, then included, “Starting multiple threads for the same issue…will not help the issue.”:smiley: Somedays the jokes write themselves!)

Hope you’re having a great day!

6

Just as a suggestion, the “GQ jokes guideline/rule” might be a useful thing for moderators to adopt when posting in ATMB. As I understand it, in GQ a humorous response is far from against the rules (or I’d have racked up enough warnings to ban me from not only the SDMB but the State of Illinois!) – but it’s expected that prior to a definitive substantive answer being proferred, members will be very cautious in making joke answers, avoiding it for the most part and posting them if at all rarely and charily.

A similar self-adopted standard, if it seems good to you [del]jackbooted thugs[/del] kindly staff members, might be the appropriate line for self-policing responses in ATMB, where as the Wombat notes, the line between member and moderating posts is necessarily blurred.

Just a thought.

7

Maybe we need an additional mod in ATMB. I know that TubaDiva has a lot of other duties.

8

Yeah, I thought about it as I was writing it, but decided it really did need to be in a new thread, since I was yanking it out of the political one.

We’re doing some mod shuffling at the moment, what with xash retiring, gfactor getting promoted to admin, and Specs being brought up to speed. We’ll see what happens.