Criticising Mods

…in theory.

But yeah, that, and a feeling that it wasn’t fair to ask people who had volunteered to help run the board, to subject themselves to insults and abuse as part of the job. Also, that it wasn’t fair to make posters open themselves up to that stuff if they had a problem about something a moderator had done.

Clarify your antecedents, please. For whom, exactly, is it a no-win situation? The mods? Or the posters who will always find a reason to complain about moderator actions?

Frankly, I’m not that disturbed by chronic complainers being in a no-win situation.

I was under the impression that trolling is permissible in the pit

Me neither.

If I had started a thread like that in ATMB, essentially saying, “Guys, we have this blatant, obvious troll running around, almost every thread he touches turns into a shitshow for nearly a page whenever he shows up, can we maybe do something about it?” what would the response have been? Best case: “Post this in the pit”. More realistic case: “Warned for insulting another poster. Send it to the pit.”

I was around before this rule was implemented, and I never understood why posters could say atrocious things about mods in the Pit. If you go to a store and have a complaint, and start the complaint by cursing out the employee you’ve been dealing with, that’s the end of the complaint - you’ll be asked to leave.

People who are performing a service for you, especially for free, are entitled to be treated with respect, even if you disagree with their service.

And, it’s the usual thing: if you’re upset about a particular action, but make your complaints extremely personal, the debate will turn on the personal issues, not the action that has upset you. It will trigger pages and pages of pro and con comments about that person, and the action that you’re upset about will get lost entirely.

If you’ve got a complaint about management, you have to make the complaint in a civil fashion to be listened to. That’s how pretty much all businesses operate. Why should the Dope be any different?

Is trolling against the rules in the Pit?

It’s technically not (see John Mace’s post), but even if it was, that “admitted troll” (to use his own term) that I quoted posted one of those admissions in ATMB.

So? It’s where the “trolling” happens not the admission. Unless you’re contending that admitting to trolling is trolling.

Defense lawyer:
“Your honor, the District Attorney has no witnesses to the shooting, only my client’s admission that he shot the victim. I call for a mistrial.”

He admitted he sometimes trolls in the pit, which is allowed to large degree. So in your anaology he admitted shooting someone while at that place you’re allowed to shoot people. Somalia maybe?

Man, has everyone forgotten the handsomeharry incident so quickly?

Sorry, “them” was the moderators.

Congratulations … Clothahump … two ATMB threads in one week about you … that has to be a record of some kind … I’m impressed how well you get the liberal/hippy/commie McGoverniks all stirred up … look at the way they’re chewing on each other, and now they’ve turned on the moderators … this must be a special win for you, have you been nominated for “shit-kicker of the year” yet? … or have you won this award already? …

Someday, your work here will bring the results you want … a kinder and gentler set of fora for the more conservative posters … someday because of you, posters will be able to say “personal liberty Trumps social equality” without 17 pages of potty-talk … this is like Reagan taking down the Soviet Union … it’s a shitty job, but someone has to do it … a two-fer this week, man I’m impressed !!!

You got the snowflakes so damn crazy one of them actually Pitted Moderator Miller … what ever might be said of the other moderators here, there’s one who is entitled to our sympathy, our love, and all our compassion … bitching about Moderator Miller waiting three pages to close the thread, my God people, do you have any idea how rarely the other moderators let Moderator Miller out of his cage? … it’s just an hour a day for exercise and you expect him to be prompt with the slightest insult … that’s just kicking below the belt … obviously even Clothahump is insulted by that …

Keep up the Good Work, Clothahump, these folks here on the SDMB claim to “honor diversity” … but only as long as all of us think and act exactly the same … it takes balls to show these folks how wrong they are …

I suppose I should add some meaningful comment here … I think the people who complain about the moderating here should be compelled to be a moderator … one week in a small dark cell next to Moderator Miller ought to clarify the rules for them … “No Pitting moderator actions” … the thread in question deserves a warning … better if we’d made a collection to hire someone to clean and cook the rats the other moderators feed Moderator Miller, the poor soul, he should get a gopher once a week I say …

I’ll have a lot more sympathy for this point of view when the moderators consistently fulfill their entirely voluntary duties without snark, sarcasm and the ever popular zinger/threadlock combo. Some of the moderators are much worse than others on this account. It was rather shameful that several mods used the “can’t block a mod” property in the thread that spawned this one to “force” Clothahump to see something from a poster he had on ignore. That isn’t blurring the line between posting as a mod v. Posting as a member. That’s wiping your ass on it.

I think I agree with you. Using moderator powers for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do moderating is an abuse of those powers, period, even if said moderators are not the ones assigned to that particular forum.

The one that always sticks in my memory was that time a mod moved a thread to the Pit just so he could call the someone an asshole. :wink:

Some people have a medical condition that prevents them from breathing if they aren’t bitching about something. And the mods are an easy target because they actually do something here.

Mods should never be allowed to move a thread to the PIt. Move it elsewhere or lock it. I

Whatever happened to that mod? I always liked him.

He was defrocked and now lives a life of shame. Still posts frequently though. :stuck_out_tongue: