Sigh. Sorry again. I should re-read the damn threads before I comment here. I was confusing your situation with another that happened at about the same time, cthiax. Gotta keep my warnings straight.
You were commenting about Zebra posting about a topic he wasn’t interested in. I read your comment as either (a) calling Zebra a bumbling ass, or (b) accusing Zebra of trolling. Hence, the comment… and it wasn’t really a warning, it was just a quiet cough.
“When Administrators clear their throat, mere Members come down with bronchitis.”
– Message Board Wisdom, #392
Editorial.
These days there’s a tremendous amount of second guessing, armchair quarterbacking, and junior modding . . . these have always been present in some form, but never in this quantity and virulence.
Where in the past someone would ask for clarification in the thread or ask us in email for guidance – both of which we’re always happy to supply, as always – seems the thing to do these days is to run to the Pit and yell about what bastids we are and then all the gang chimes in on the chorus.
Going to a subscription basis has also given some of our members a sense of absolute entitlement, a sense that is most misplaced and inappropriate and manifests itself in abuse.
As the negative factor has risen, there’s been a similar decrease in common courtesy, civility, basic good manners . . . as community members to staffers and in the community at large. Sometimes it’s like seeing incidents of road rage in pixels.
The staff here works hard and give a lot of themselves to the community; they are entitled to basic civility and a modicum of respect at the very least. Y’all could also be a tad more patient and understanding with one another. As staffers we strive to be patient and polite; that also is sometimes strained.
A bit more kindness all around could make a difference for the better.
TubaDiva
I think it’s only natural that when you start paying for a service, expectations regarding that service will change. That some of the staff don’t seem to appreciate this only furthers the frustration many subscribers now feel.
We never promised our problems would be solved by going to subscriptions. Though we had hopes . . . and still hope that situation changes somewhat as we look for better solutions. This is an ongoing process.
Beyond that, there has also been a shift in how staffers are perceived and treated. Just because you’re paying to subscribe here does not necessarily mean that someone is here 24/7. I’ve been yelled at because I didn’t answer to a technical problem within a HOUR of the posting, to give just one example. All the other staffers have also been called to task on similar situations. That’s what I mean when I say “absolute entitlement.” If that’s the kind of board and the kind of service y’all expect, we’re going to need to see more than what most of you are paying now. . . which I bet nobody wants to do.
TubaDiva
Well, I realise some people have totally unrealistic expectations – there’s always going to be a few people like that. The trick is to make sure that people with genuine, reasonable complaints feel like they’re being listened to and not dismissed out-of-hand. The staff doesn’t have to agree with the complaints, just appear to give them genuine consideration.
Fair point, though you could hardly claim that **cthiax ** was yelling that Dex was a bastid - quite the opposite, really.
You’re right on the money that there’s a lot of threads where yelling at the mods seems to be the first-choice method of communication, though. For a board that’s supposed to be fighting ignorance, there’s sure a lot of folks who are ignorant of basic manners. :eek:
On the other hand, if I was reprimanded by a mod, I’d probably query it here too, since it does say that this is the forum for asking those kinds of questions. Even though I’m aware - in a fuzzy kind of way - that mods can receive individual emails, I’d be less likely to do that than to post a generic question. I don’t really know why.
Maybe because it’s intimidating to be reprimanded. If I genuinely wanted to know exactly how I’d stepped over the line and the mod took the attitude that their reasoning was self-evident (and therefore that I was either a total moron for not understanding, or else that I was trolling) I’d be deeply hurt. That kind of response is a lot more likely in email, in my experience. (Note: I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with the mods here. I’m speaking strictly of experience gained in a work or personal sense at the moment, but experiences gained in one area tend to affect how you approach things in another area.)
On the other hand, if I posted my question in the public forum, then:
a) perhaps my peers could explain it for me (or at least admit they don’t understand it either)
b) a mod’s response would be more likely to be clearly explained and
c) if the ruling was, in fact, unjust, it’s more likely that this would be noted and fixed, and
d) other mods could look at what was said on both sides, perhaps see where the miscommunication occurred, and act as liaison in fixing it up. (Which is exactly what tends to happen.)
Of course, I’m posting this purely as someone who’s been screwed over by authority figures before. I’m admittedly untrusting and skittish, and I try to minimise the opportunities for people to ride roughshod over me. So, given my nature, were I in cthiax’s shoes I’d query a warning like Dex’s in this forum too.
For me, at least, it’s got nothing to do with not appreciating what you do; it’s a generalised lack of faith in human beings. I have a great deal of respect for the jobs the mods, admins and advisors on this board do, and am personally very grateful that they do it. That wouldn’t stop me from taking a question to the boards in preference to email though; nor, really, should it. A public reprimand surely deserves a satisfactory public explanation - at least for posters who do not have a reputation for troublemaking, rudeness, or other jerk-type behaviours.
…on preview, **Lobot ** said it clearer and definitely took up less space. But I put a lot of effort into trying to provide a clear example of one kind of thinking leads to using public forum over email, so darn it, I’m going to post it anyway! 
And as this very incident shows, pretty much every single person to pist in this thread was really scratching their heads over this, uh… throat-clearing. It’s a relief to know I’m not the only one with a touch of dandruff.
And when the murder & violent crime rate goes down, police start giving out tickets for jaywalking and spitting.
Why is this comment in this thread? I didn’t yell at anybody. I thought the Pit was for questions about moderation, and that they didn’t have to be angry or mean questions, as mine wasn’t. In fact, nobody in this thread seems to have done any of this stuff, and now you’ve sort of showed up and randomly accused us all of it. I wasn’t at all upset when I started the thread, I was ABSOLUTLEY nothing but polite and kind to CK both here and in private email, and I would never dream of behaving in any other way, because it’s just not in my nature.
Maybe you meant to post this in the other CK thread, which is far more vitriolic? Because I really don’t see how it belongs here. If I misused or misunderstood the Pit, I apologize. But once again I feel I’ve been implicated in rudeness I did not perpetuate, and it’s starting to really confuse me. Abuse? Road rage? Lack of courtesy, civility, good manners? Cruelty instead of kindness? Where are you seeing any of this in this thread?
Sigh. Typos, of course, are so much better when repeated at the top of one’s voice. I meant ‘absolutely’ of course, and I also meant to go back and put it in italics instead of caps, as I have the habit of emphasizing without itals from mu*ing.
And for the record, as I let **Dex ** know via email, I’m fine with the “cough” (I was from the start, I just wanted to understand so I wouldn’t do the bad thing again) and with the explanation given for it. I didn’t even think of the ‘bumbling stupidity’ angle, as I was just dreaming up some unlikely circumstance for my little joke. Now that Dex pointed it out, it makes sense, and I appreciate getting the explanation.
I can certainly understand that mod-directed abuse is a hot button topic around here, but I’ve seen threads where mods were actually called horrible human beings and had intense viciousness directed at them. In fact, I went out of my way to make sure I wouldn’t be mistaken as a mod-hater precisely because I have been a bit shocked by such behavior.
I just don’t see the “entitlement” I displayed by asking a simple question in a polite way. I may have made a mistake in posting it here instead of taking it to email, but I had perfectly innocent reasons for doing so, some of which Bites When Provoked ** already pointed out - one he missed being that I wanted to make sure it was known by other board members that cruelty to ** Zebra was never my intention.
TubaDiva —We are accustomed to excellent, speedy, fair-minded, and even-tempered modding. Perhaps y’all have spoiled us, but it really does seem as if the modding as of late has been more arbitrary and inconsistent. There’s been a fair bit of turnover amongst the Jackbooted Despots™ corps in the last 6 months, yes? That alone would explain a rise in perceived inconsistency, and that in turn goes a long way towards explaining a sense of heavy-handedness.
Most folks here don’t mind moderators coming down hard where we’ve come to expect it — in fact, we generally welcome it, and yes we do see quite clearly how that makes the board we love continue to function — but as with any instance of the exercise of authority, the folks who are subject to it really don’t like it when its appearances become unpredictable.
No no no, cthiax, what you’ve done is reasonable and fair; my editorial was not directed at you and you were not intended to take it as such. That’s why my comment was marked “Editorial,” to show that it was an overall comment on the larger situation of manners on the board as a whole and not an indictment of you in any way. In retrospect, it was a bit of a hijack, and I apologize.
There’s also the perennial problem with what we do say here in that interpretations can vary, sometimes wildly. One person’s admonition is another person’s highly personal attack. It’s all in the perception.
Unfortunately it is very easy for what we say to come off as officious, huffy, or even bitchy – we do try for a more even tone, but that does not always get across as we would like. And we can never predict how someone will take correction, some do take offense where none is intended.
Got a problem with what we’ve said or done? Say so. Ask up. Send us an email or put it on the board, sure. We’re happy to clarify if needed. We should always treat our members with civility and respect; that’s the baseline. We expect that same civility and respect in return.
TubaDiva
For the record, Dex and TD, my “Message Board Wisdom” was not intended as a slam at Dex or Administrators generally, but a wry comment on how they’re perceived by many. My sincere apologies if it was taken the other way.
Oh whew! Thank you for clarifying. I was starting to think I was stepping on people’s feet every time I moved! 
I am still learning how best to communicate my true tone and intent here. I’ve been online for a long, long time, and I’ve been lurking here a while, but every community has different mores and message-decoder-rings.
Could you close this thread up now, please? I think everything important has been covered and settled.