I would imagine it is burn out. Teachers get it after awhile.
It is one thing to come here on the board and read when you want, but to HAVE TO read this stuff day in and day out, and start to see the same posts, in varying degrees, over and over…plus you get to know the posters (Oh, god, there is DMark again going on and on about whatever).
I think the best thing is to let them fade away, although the cynic in me says they all get a new name and come back and rip some of us a new one in th BBQ Pit. The SDMB is like crack…you think you can break the habit, but suddenly one night, after a few drinks and a bad day at work…well. Hi Manny! Enjoying all the posts about you?
This thread is a wind up, right? Why on earth would anyone consider an ex mod any differently to any other contributor who has moved on- for whatever reason?
LOL. I think it’s hilarious some people here can’t tell this is a joke. roger’s wit is so dry it’s Saharan. Damn, roger – take the tongue out your cheek and actually go “Neener, neener, neener,” so people will quit being puzzled.
I can’t really blame some people for not getting the joke, since those nearest and dearest to me sometimes struggle too, and, as they say, the dividing line between comedy and tragedy is so fine anyway.
And I was trying to smuggle a serious point in among the nonsense. But what that is will have to remain a secret! Can’t be alienating too many folk on a beautiful Wednesday morning with the prospect of a night at the races to look forward to.
Do they? It’s been, I think, more than a year since manhattan resigned as moderator, during which time he continued to post quite a lot. As far as I know, the majority of former moderators are still posting - at least UncleBeer, JillGat, Eutychus, Coldfire that I can think of have posted in the last month, though some not as much as they once did. (But that goes for a lot of posters.) Nickrz and David B are two who are not. Who else has “faded away?”
I would venture to suggest that being saddled with the title of ‘Scientific Advisor’ is a weight that some ex Mods are finding it just too heavy to carry (especially now, when it is being bestowed on ex Mods as an honorific in recognition of services rendered regardless of their scientific qualifications). Another related question which immediately leaps to mind is whether this automatic dispensation waters down the title for those who have earned it the hard way, by sitting at Cecil’s feet and contributing fascinating reports on various subjects that fall within their purview.
A knotty problem indeed - perhaps worthy of scientific investigation by Cecil, if he’s not still looking into fractured penises, or one of his delegatees.
Maybe former mods have the Mark Twain syndrome. Since becoming a riverboat pilot, he wrote, he could no longer enjoy the sunsets, the beauty of his surroundings or the river itself because each had been reduced to the practicalities of the job: not sinking the boat on a snag now hidden by the rising river, a red sunset that portends bad weather, and so on. (This may have dogged him in every job he had because it also came across when he wrote of newspapers and their readerships.)
If a mod is in the same boat, as it were, any loss of enjoyment could include posting. Leaving a modship and making fewer posts could be one and the same.
I think that as a gester of good service, it would be a fair policy to grant the ex-mods life time membership at no cost. The ones that would like to post once in a while, wouldn’t find that they need spend $15 to post and decide to not visit from time to time. As for how they feel, only they can say for themselves. I know the feeling of burnout though and the best remeady is time away from what burned you out.