Firstof all, I don’t have a problem with JC. Someone has to do it, and he’s doing it as a volunteer. I do think he’s overhanded and overbearing at times. That said, I appreciate his efforts.
I responded in Snowboarder Bo’s thread, which resulted in questions, and answering those questions might result in a hijack of that thread. To avoid that, I’ll take the safe route and post a new thread.
I don’t want to be modded for hijacking obviously.
I posted this in SB’s thread.
JC notes comments that are otherwise a fair ball by telling people to knock it off,or some other thing, because he doesn’t like it. When you ask what the problem was, and whether the comment was fair or foul, JC replies that it was fair but it was almost foul. I don’t mind proactive modding, but JC’s inconsistencies has driven me from 2 forums he moderates. Telling everyone in a thread to cool it is fine. Mod noting others that they are behaving inappropriately because they almost hit a foul ball is, well, admitting the behavior was appropriate but, you know, it was almost not appropriate. Inconsistent, capricious and totally unnecessary.
People responded, thereafter I posted this…
*But threatening to suspend a poster who;
- Has no warnings.
- Is not under mod instruction to do or not do something.
- JC, just 3 days later does the same thing.
Like I said, proactive modding isn’t bad. Capricious modding is.*
Several asked “where, when” etc. with respect to the “suspension threat.”
It’s here.
*The Moderator Clears His Throat
If I see any more sniping at each other about ‘one thread’ or ‘two threads’ or any of that nonsense I’ll lock both threads and bring up in the mod loop that those going back and forth get suspended through November 9th.
Is that clear to all?*
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19706247&postcount=9
No, I didn’t ask him where I was sniping at other posters, because I fully expected " you were about to" as his response.
It’s amazing, From don’t do this, to suspension in 2 sentences, without prior warnings or clear instructions. 0 to sixty in 2 sentences. Capricious.
Note also that JC says, as quoted above, “…No one has a copyright on starting threads on whatever topics…”
Fair enough.
2 days later he posts a thread where he (as a mod or poster, he didn’t make that clear) tells others only one thread, but feel free to post related stuff. The circle is complete about now.
…My fellow moderator Tom and I discussed the recent unpleasantness about the threads about the debates and decided one official one would be a good idea. That doesn’t mean you can’t start your own on side issues and such, but this is a good place to start. Let’s see that there’s no more hard feelings, shall we?..
Not disagreeing with why he did it. But from “No one has a copyright on starting threads” to “decided one official one would be a good idea…That doesn’t mean you can’t start your own on side issues…” demonstrates why i believe his moderation is sometimes capricious. If you’re going to threaten suspensions for doing something, at least determine what the rules are, and apply them evenly to all, including the moderators.