A mod gets to post, yes. But there are some things she doesn’t (or shouldn’t) get to post that other members do, like pile-ons that take the side of one member over another. A mod who has just gone on record posting — as a member — that she thinks you’re a troll has lost all objective credibility. That’s the trade-off for getting to post warnings and cautions. You don’t get to post them in the guise of an ordinary junior-modding member.
I’m also surprised by your experience at other boards, and don’t think it’s typical. I’ve never seen a board where there were zero member complaints about mods posting too aggressively outside their official status.
I think jsgoddess has it exactly right, excepting that she left off “We’re Exceptionally Sensitive and Proud to Shout About It!” I’d go further to suggest that, not only is it not at all a challenge to discern when someone is posting in an official capacity or not, it really doesn’t make that big a fucking deal. If you smoke crack in front of a supervisor, you’ll put your livelihood at risk.
If you post something here that runs afoul of the rules, you’ll get a [Moderator Warning]. Folks, you aren’t going to have to wear an ankle bracelet, report to your local authorities whenever you move into a new town, or start job hunting.
Calm down and tune your emotion regulator up to an appropriate range.
“Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator… You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
Well, since it is hearsay, I would hope you would ignore it completely. Even better, don’t ask the question. He’s not your child. He just happens to work where you do. Your “supervisory” capacity begins and ends at the doors to your workplace.
Why should what someone does on his own time affect how you supervise him? If he is doing his job, why don’t you just mind your own business?
jsgoddess and Hentor the Barbarian have put this into the proper perspective.
As I’ve said many times, this is only a message board.
Granted, it’s a message board populated by some of the most urbane, intelligent, discerning, perspicacious (and modest) people that ever surfed the 'Net.
But it is nonetheless just a message board.
Really? Exactly right, eh? Could you or JS link us to one of those message boards where no one has ever mistaken a moderator’s intentions? Meanwhile, someone who calls people “dumb as a fucking post” shouldn’t be lecturing others about emotion regulators. You get pretty worked up yourself sometimes.
Sarahfeena got my point exactly. I got a skeevy feeling from samclem asking as a regular poster for info that in his capacity as a mod could be used against another poster. That said, I don’t think samclem really had any malicious intent, just poor judgment. He should have done his own searching if he was that concerned about it and avoided this whole mess.
jsgoddess, I wasn’t claiming we couldn’t tell the difference between posting and moderating. Just that mods need to be more aware of their posts and how they will appear to the other members.
Contrapuntal, I wasn’t using that as an example of something I would do, but as an example of a situation similar to what samclem was doing. What someone does on their own time, is their business as long as it doesn’t affect job performance. If a time comes when that question has to be asked, I would ask the person directly.
There’s no accounting for dipshits. I’m just tired of trying to accomodate them all the time. If most everyone can manage to figure out what’s going on, we shouldn’t place special limits on moderators because a few people cannot.
Sure do. Of course, it doesn’t tend to be because I think people are persecuting me or because I am fearful that a moderator may have a serious impact on my life. (Did you want to start talking about a different matter altogether? If so, I still think that someone who calls people a bunch of nasty things cannot turn around and call people out for incivility one page later. On the other hand, I think you were trying to establish equivalence between two vastly different circumstances. I’m sure it makes sense to you, however.)
Finally, there are people who really are dumb as fucking posts - that is independent of my getting worked up about it.
No, he couldn’t have. Never would have gotten away with it. The tighty righty diva league would be rolling around the Pit, shreiking and tearing their hair out in clumps, howling about their persecution. Jackboots, oppression, you know the drill.
And some posts are fucking dumb. None of mine, of course, but I could name some names, ya know…
I don’t know that anyone actually thinks samclem was posting in some sort of “official capacity” when he accused scylla of trolling and admitting to trolling. However, while they get to post “as posters” they don’t get to pretend they have multiple personalities.
Since samclem the poster thinks scylla is a troll*, I can’t help but think samclem the mod thinks scylla is a troll too. Trolling is a bannable offense, so when samclem makes his accusation, it’s clear that a member of the board administration believes scylla should be banned.
We all managed to post here for years without being allowed to call people trolls, or accuse them openly, I think the mods can and should operate under those rules.
When the statement “Scylla is not a troll” is immediately preceded by “I honestly thought you might be trolling, and was looking for where you admitted to doing it in the past” I’m not exactly buying the idea you don’t think he’s a troll.
What special limits? Mods have greater access range than the membership, including a forum visible only to them where they can post such things as this…
Would someone be so kind as to link me to the thread where Scylla admitted that he sometimes trolls the board? I remember it, but can’t seem to find it…to other mods. It’s their own special little place where they can discuss who is trolling and who isn’t and give their input on admin-type things.
You seem to think that you are making some kind of point with this. It would only really make sense if it were true that all types of stimuli should yield the same level of emotional response.
Do you honestly feel that a person should respond with the same level of emotional response to all of a range of incidents? If so, then you are dumb as a fucking post.
What I honestly feel is that you’re not The Decider. President Bush is The Decider. He’s the one who gets to determine what other people should get upset about. You should have known that, what with me being such a big supporter and all.
