The decision by manhattan to stop posting on (though most probably not reading) the Board has generated a fair bit of discussion. It also got me to reflecting as I drove in to work this morning on the difficulties faced by ex moderators. Like Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, it’s not easy for them to function fully after they give up their office. Many people who were active in posting, if not prolific, pre-mod and during-mod, fade away very rapidly as soon as they get to the post-mod stage.
Can something be done about this? We are after all a community, and a community may best be judged on how it cares for the disenfranchised (those who are sometimes, though rather harshly in my view, called “losers”).
Why is it that ex-mods fade away so quickly? Did manhattan in particular give any reasons for no longer posting? Is the mantle of power so difficult to set down once they are no longer part of the Mod Squad (you know that’s what they should be called)?
Thanks both for your thoughtful and helpful suggestions. However, I was thinking more of what can be done to ensure that more of these people (some of them quite young - I can’t remember his name, but I’m thinking of the Dutch chap who married an American - touching Internet story if ever there was one, I think you’d agree) keep on contributing after they’ve stopped being moderators.
Any ex-mod out there, who’s willing to share your feelings so that we can understand better the emotions you feel? Is the Vietnam vet analogy appropriate? A band of brothers (and sisters) attempting to return to civilian life back home after years in a different environment, finding the re-adjustment to “normal” life so difficult, and made even more difficult by the fact you just can’t talk about it to anyone who would understand?
We’re here for you. We feel your pain. Share it with us.
The best I can offer is Franking privileges, as long as their post-per-day rate remains above 1.00, post-modship.
So, ex-mods, as long as you’re above 1.00 ppd, the next time you need to send a letter, just scribble your SDMB handle in the upper right corner of the envelope where that pesky stamp would normally go, and drop it in the ol’ blue box. It’ll get to where it needs to go. I just called Wilfred Brimley, Postmaster General. He said it was OK.
Fine, I think, for the men - they’d probably rather enjoy it - but not so good for the women. Unless, of course, they are fans of catalogue shopping…
I recall various moderators writing how as moderators they have precious little time for actually posting (what with all the myriad of other duties they have to perform), so one would have thought that giving all that up would free them up to post more.
Am I on the right lines, do you think, with my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnosis, or is Spacial Rift on the money with his/her mantle-of-power theory?
We could treat them like champion race horses, and let them live out their days providing stud service to nubile young females, hoping to breed a new generation of moderators.
Or we could treat them like also-ran race horses, and let them nourish school children in the neediest neighborhoods, hoping that some of their spark will be passed on to those who consume them.
I honestly don’t think anything needs to be done for them. There is a certan pleasure that comes with the exercise of power, though there will be some in positions of power who will insist otherwise. For a time, then, one who is a moderator gets to experience that pleasure. If the board no longer is pleasurable for a former moderator without that power, then that’s too bad innit?
Please. If they can’t “function fully” after quitting moderating an internet message board, then they had previous psychological problems. And I’m not aware of any ex-mods who went crazy. Manny left due to political reasons, which I understand… And I suspect he left because he had moved on in life. No trauma, no craziness… I don’t think it had anything to do with moderator status.
Maybe we could bronze the jackboots instead of polishing?
I would guess that, usually, declining frequency of posts isn’t caused by loss of the mod job, but that both come from changes in life or loss of pleasure from/interest in the SDMB.
“Hmm, life’s getting busy. I can’t give my moderation duties the attention they deserve.”
followed eventually by “Life’s getting busy, time to move on all together”.
I’m not sure if you’re joking or not, but if you aren’t, I’m also not sure what could be done under the circumstances.
Some people just can’t–or won’t–be moderators anymore, and that’s that. We’ll always love them and keep them (and their clogs, beanies, hall passes… :D) in a special place of our hearts, but I’m not sure what you want to do. Give them an honourary title?
