Having to apologize is never fun so props to you for doing it, Ed.
As to whether it’s too late, that rather depends on what you do, now and in the future. Your apology was a necessary start, not a solution. You and your team have several daunting tasks ahead. BTW, I don’t offer any of this in the spirit that anyone should coat themselves in ashes or crawl across gravel for forgiveness.
Institutionalized flaws allowed this mess to develop and fester. So when a way of doing things causes problems, time after time, stop doing them that way. What are you willing to change, for short term remediation of damage and to prevent more problems over the long haul?
First, your information loop is far too insular and entrenched, Ed They are staff and you need to weigh that perspective accordingly. Of course listen to them, but not just to them. In a business model, it’s pure insanity to not listen to customers. Posters are not the enemy. What measures will you put in place to demonstrate you will listen to customer feedback too?
Second, call a do-over. Undo the mistakes. A poster just got slapped for using “jerks” collectively. Lynn still writes, entirely without irony, of “my” rules. If she can make up rules at will, fine. Then you need to make that official, to posters and those trying to mod a forum with her. And then there are your rules. Posters aren’t outraged at the prospect of not being able to swear. That’s a strawman and always was. Posters are upset and angry as hell because of the double-secret-probation tangle they can’t understand but which can be used against them. So, some recent actions were mistakes. The best demonstration of good faith, not to mention common sense, is to stop doing it.
Third, I get–wow, do I get–your point that staff should not have to swallow abuse just for doing their jobs. The “Pit him/her in a separate thread” was a solid, sensible solution. Modding and admining are public-contact jobs. Anybody who can’t take the heat shouldn’t be in the position, for their own sake and the longterm health of the board. Period.
This unholy brouhaha blew up because two of your staff made very questionable decisions in The Pit. The long-established nature and uses of The Pit weren’t a problem until Lynn and Colibri made missteps there, bam bam, right after the other. It was a personnel issue from start to finish. It should have been handled as one. No public humiliation needed or appropriate. Instead, they hard-lined, sparking more incredulous anger, then you took an even harder line in their defense. You bowdlerized The Pit and set staff even farther apart and above. Staff aren’t always right. They’re always volunteers and deserve your gratitude and respect for willingness to tackle the job. But building higher and higher walls to protect them, even from consequences of their decisions, just creates more problems. Demonstrably.
You owe dispassionate, objective consideration to posters as well as staff.
So what do you intend to do to handle personnel problems more effectively in the future? I’m not asking to be pissy or punitive. But all of you need to find a way out of your bunkers. It’s hot, claustrophobic and uncomfortable as hell in there. It’s a big factor in why I left, both modding and even posting much. It sure isn’t conducive to calm, reasoned thinking either. I hope posters are still inclined to give you enough space and grace to do that. I think they might. But you have to take that first step, Ed.