Anti-mods, a moment of your time...

The BBQ Pit
1

(not aimed at any one specific poster, but at the general mindset that some posters seem to have)

Over here, in response to the banning of Weapons Grade Bull-whatever, we had such comments as

Oh Good Goddamn. :rolleyes:

Please.

We have here two hypothesises:

#1) For the sole purpose of upsetting some poor, delicate posters asthetic sense, the EEEeee-vil mods (Admins, actually, mods can’t ban anyone) chose as their sacrifical lamb Weapons Grade Bullshit. Once banned, they feasted on his still-warm flesh, a sacrifice to their dark masters.

OR

#2) The twerp had multiple user-names at the same IP address and after the silly/stupid stunt the twerp pulled a the beginning of the thread, someone got suspicious, checked the logs (I assume there’s logs) and banned him.

Repeat after me: Occam’s Razor is my friend!

I have had it with this sort of crap. Must every decision that the Mods and Admins make turn into a rectal exam? If you don’t like the way they’re doing their jobs, there are many, many other boards that may be to your liking. Perhaps you could go find them. Or, if you’re committed to trying to change someone else’s board, then why not try in a more constructive way, like say…e-mail rather than these public Mod and Admin floggings? How likely is it that an admin will say “Gosh…Poster X called me a fascist…I should rethink my decision!”

The Mods and Admins aren’t perfect, but it’s not helping make their lives easier or make the board a better place if there is constant mewling every time a Mod or an Admin does their job.

One last point: It’s not your board. If you start a message board, feel free to run it as you see fit. You post here at the Board’s pleasure. You aren’t required to and no one’s forcing you to stay. Until then, the Mods, Admins, The Chicago Reader and Cecil owe you nothing. They don’t owe you an explaination for every Goddamm thing they do. They don’t owe you a response to every slimy insuation that’s made. They don’t even owe anyone the courtesy of a reply. The fact that they often choose to give it, in light of some of the accusations that they put up with, speaks a lot to their credit.

Flame away.

Fenris

2

YOu mean the Mods AREN’T out to get us?

Damn! I was hoping to start the Board WArs, when the band of lowly SDMB rebels fight against the Evil Mod Empire, with Darth Zotti and Cecil Vader.

:wink:

Okay, I"m in a weird mood.

3

No prob, Guin :), but I get to be Han Solo (even if I look like Chewbacca’s shorter brother)!

“What an amazing troll you’ve discovered, Princess!”

Fenris Solo

4

I recognized the foul stench of the Troll when I was brought on board.

5

Fenris,
Ed Zotti is really your father.

6

Did you sense a great disturbance in the force, as if millions of trolls suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced?

Nice!

Fenris Solo

7

The ability to destroy an argument is insignificant next to the power of the Cite.

And let’s not forget the great Wally-Wan Kenobi…

8

Help me, Wally Wan, you’re my only hope.
Princess Guinastasia Organa

9

Okay. I have had a REALLY bad couple of days. I am in the mood to flame.

Ummmm, well…

I agree with Fenris. Especially the “one last point” thing. Sorry…I am in a bad mood and can’t come up with a clever Star Wars quip. I tried, I really tried.

Scotti

10

Episode IV: A NEW HOPE

It is a period of civil war.
Rebel posters, striking
from a hidden Internet
Service Provider, have
won their first victory
against the evil CHICAGO
READER EMPIRE.

During the battle, Rebel
spies managed to steal
secret plans to the Empire’s
ultimate weapon, the
DEATH STAR, an armored
server with enough power
to ban an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire’s
sinister agents, Princess
Guinastasia races home
aboard her PC, custodian of
the stolen plans that can
save her people and restore
freedom to the World Wide
Web…

[sub]It’s too bad you can’t add a sound file to a post–Obviously you have to imagine the opening fanfare and main title track from Star Wars playing while you read this.[/sub]

11

I’m sorry if it looked like I’m anti-mod… first Welfy goes into self-imposed exile (for her own reasons, and no fault of the mods or anyone else) and then I get mail from a mod telling me my sig line was too long… when I can log in and see dozens just as long or longer.

It just struck me as odd… someone does something, gets nailed for it (apparently) and gets banned… no explanation, no nothing. I know we don’t deserve an explanation normally, but this one was a little odd, since other than the possible IP issue, there was nothing else done wrong, and when a poster asked about it, basically got told to shut up and accept it.

I’ll shut up, but I’m ready to start wearing my armband now that I’ve come to Mod attention.

12

Guinastasia, does this mean that in a later episode we get to see you in a metal bikini being led around by Eutychus the Hutt?

Billdo Calrisian

13

You people are, like, ill. Ill, ill, ill–definitely ill.

Fenris said:

Am I the only one here who thinks they oughta really do this, just to liven things up?

(Alright, maybe I’m ill too.)

14

Does this mean no more rectal exams?

Damn!

15

Gah! A Mod!

They’re sending the stormtroopers!

Well, don’t worry… their aim is worth shit, even if their armor is cool as hell…

Just watch out for the AT-AT’s (All-Terrain Adminstrator Transports).

16

Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind. However, if I’m gonna eat something, I’d prefer chewing on something more substantial than a sock.

17

When Mod/Admin status you reach, react as well you will not.

18

Hate to hijack this super Star Wars thread, [/sarcasm]

but

I have been wanting for some time to say something simple and positive about the mods. I suppose here is appropriate.

But first I need to reveal something personal.

You know how there is a very amusing and intelligent poster called CrankyasanOldMan? Well I am not her, nor related to her. But, - I actually am an old man!

Yes I am of an extremely advanced age (not quite as much so as ageless6) and I am aware that by the nature of the computer world and all that, most of those who post here are much younger than me.

This is only relevant because for many of those posting here, they’re at the point in their lives where the relationship they have with authority is having to submit to it.

I’m at the part of my life where I actually have had authority, and still do, and I know what an enormous difference it makes to your life. Not in the cool way you always imagine it will - “I’ll come in late and take my birthday as a holiday, and do as I please” but in ways that can really hurt.

Having authority makes many people treat you differently. They can suck up to you, or play out their old family shit (“nobody’s going to tell me I can’t do that!!”), or just have an ever-present consciousness about you that creates strange little barriers between you.

Minor decisions you make, that used to have no consequences when you weren’t Boss of anything, become prominent and widely discussed, and somehow set in concrete. This now means that to change your mind becomes a Big Deal, and gets called a Back-flip, and people take sides. Hell, once you were the one taking sides!

Once you could just call it as you saw it, and complain bitterly if things didn’t pan out your way. Now you have to make choices when you don’t want to, when you couldn’t care less about the issues, when you really can’t discern that one side is better than the other, and then, when you have made your choice there is ALWAYS someone who will whinge about it.

And (this one is really bad!) those people you thought of as close friends will listen to the whinger, and NOT DEFEND YOU! (“yes, he has gone too far this time…”)

I suspect this is what the moderators live with.

And just recently something strange and intense seems to have been happening at SDMB. Is it the length of the Northern Winter or something? All those people getting banned, leaving, retreating, screaming at each other for post after post after post - I’m a newbie, so maybe this is more common than I think.

Anyway, I have a feeling that some moderators would find the turmoil expressed in some recent threads an added burden.

I am so new as to not be able to distinguish between most of the moderators, but when they post I usually get a sense of wry calmness, of patience, humour and that sort of “I know I’m crazy but I love doing this” thing. I haven’t seen big power trips, and revenges and withering dismissive phrases.

So, I think they’re pretty damn good at what they do.
I’m cautious about saying more because I don’t want to be sucky, and because I DO have limited experience.

What I am certain of is this; their work contributes a great deal to making these boards so bloody entertaining, useful, thought-provoking, fact-based, and addictive. I love this place. Indeed, I love youse all.

Redboss

from Oz

19

Bikinis? We don’t need no steenkeeng bikinis.

Oops … sorry … wrong movie.

20

Dear Administrators,

Would it be possible to ban Jar Jar Binks?

Thank you very much.

Green Bean