And #4 seems more like a slap on the wrist than an official Warning. Anybody who doesn’t have a few of those on record hasn’t been trying. 
Wow.
As for the OP, suck it up bitch. Get a thicker skin.
You have the ability to not respond to posts that offend you, you have the ability to ignore a poster, you have the ability to go to a different web page.
Your whining about emails to mods, and their treatment of you, is sad. They are not babysitters, and you should be an adult. Mods do not get paid to do this (AFAIK), why would they want to wade through ten feet of shit (any American Idol thread) to find out whose wrist needs a slapping?
If you’re an asshole, you’ll get banned eventually. Is that you, or just the other guy?
Do you have a citation for a post in which I took a shot at you that carried the “[ /Moderator Mode ]” closing tag?
Have you ever seen me engage any poster in an exchange of barbs, only to post in “[ Moderator Mode]” to silence them?
While this is potentially true, have you actually seen warnings issued that appeared to be based on simple dislike?
I notice that I am the author of two of your warnings, (and yet, still you post!). I also noticed that in each case, you responded by acknowledging that you had violated the specific rule about personal insult in GD. I further note that I do not seem to have been engaged in any of the hostilities in the threads prior to issuing the warnings.
In other words, it seems to me that despite the fact that abuses are hypothetically possible, we do not appear to be engaging in the abuses that concern you. (And if some Mod is doing so, it does not appear to be me, yet mine is the username you invoked in raising your point.)
If I am acting as a Mod, I insert the “[ Moderator ]” tag into the post. To the best of my knowledge, every Moderator follows some variant of that formula.
If I issue a Warning, I will explicitly note that I am doing so.
A post that lacks “[ /Moderator Mode]” or “[ /Moderating ]” is simply a post by the individual tomndebb. A post that lacks an explicit statement that a poster has been Warned yet carries a “Moderator” tag is merely an effort to [del]Moderate[/del] Arbitrarily interfere with frictions among other posters.
The only way to truly avoid the issue that concerns you would be to prohibit Moderators from posting at all except as Moderators. I doubt that you would find many posters willing to take on the hassle of Moderating if that was the only function permitted them.
If you see a Moderator behaving in a manner you believe is biased, send an e-mail to TubaDiva or Ed Zotti or blast the Mod in the Pit. (There have been a couple of cases where Mods were Pitted and an examination of the case resulted in sanctions against the Mod. Does that mean that fairness always prevails? No more on the SDMB than in life, but we’re making the effort.)
One point of clarification: the Teeming Millions asked the staff to be more explicit regarding official Warnings last May or June. Prior to that time (such as duffer’s Warning number four, listed above), we had not always distinguished between admonishments to cool off and official Warnings. Since last June, I have, indeed, always included the word “Warning” when I have issued an official Warning.
Finally, I get some clarity of how many warnings I have. This is the first I’ve heard of the number and what they were for. Are they all permanent? Do any of them expire? What is the time-frame for my egregious offenses? What link do I click to see what my record is?
Frank, I’ve been one of the Doper’s you’ve had issues with for a long time. Going back to when you were someone other than “Frank”. I don’t expect you to forget any animosity you had towards me when you were a minion like us, but as a Moderator I expect you to step back and moderate forums. If you want to get into threads, log in as a Doper.
As a Moderator, keep your opinions to yourself as a Moderator. If you need to offer an opinion, log on as another Doper.
Again, the “Moderator” tag is bullshit. You and other Mods hand out warnings from on-high with no accountability other than other Mods.
You’re Arbiters, not Moderators. Like it or not, and hand out some warnings if you wish, but that’s what you are.
This isn’t very important to me in the overall picture. But I am calling you out for thinking you’re better than those you disagree with. You have the power, and you’re letting it get to your head.
2 and a half years and I get to finally see how many warnings still stand against me. Of course, nothing about any of them having an expiration date.
I love this tightrope bullshit. It’s so thrilling!
Let me just add, Biggirl, that if you feel a mod is falling down on the job, you might write her. I had the same combo you did back in August or so, when I reported Liberal for shitting up a Daily Show post in Cafe, and CKDH closed the thread and whined a whole lot instead of addressing Liberal directly. There followed a monster pit thread that didn’t faze him. When that got closed too, I wrote Ed Zotti an email. TubaDiva wrote back and the problem was taken care of, no thanks to Dex.
I can’t say it would do you any good for sure, though. From what I’ve seen, Liberal’s toned it down a lot since then. But then, I don’t read his favorite haunt, GD, because it’s full of intellectually dishonest shitwits and is generally a complete waste of time. Nor am I pissing away my life reading five pages of American Idol dribble. Those who have seem to share the opinion that you’re the idiot here. TubaDiva doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I’d shut up if I were you.
Liberal’s schtick, Biggirl, is to crawl out along the thinnest edge of the ice and bait others into reacting, then he hits the report button. He’s a dishonest but clever master baiter who’s perfected the art of keeping a discussion just off topic enough to infuriate just about anybody who’s naive enough to engage him. Then, as soon as they point out what he’s doing, he goes whining to a mod about “personal attacks.” He’s always the one who takes a discussion into the realm of personal attack, but he’s very, very skilled at couching his childish pokes in innocuous language.
I mostly ignore him, because when I don’t–pretty much every single time I engage him, no matter how hard I try to keep to the high road–he gets me in trouble.
I recommend you try it, and I hope you’re more successful than I am. Just remind yourself that if it’s **Liberal **saying it, it’s not very likely to be worthy of a response.
::dons fake mustache::
That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard. Were you perchance dropped on your head at some point?
What do you mean no accountability? What more accountability could there be? It’s a message board. Who else were you hoping might provide oversight to the rogue mods of this site? Justice Department? FBI? A secret panel of nerds sworn to secrecy and committed to upholding Internet justice? (Not the mods, I mean, another panel. A secret one.)
In that case, please e-mail me with the number of official warnings. I’m not even even asking for specific posts/threads. Just the number of warnings. Also, how many are permanent and how many are forgiven after a certain amount of time. And how long until the lesser warnings are expunged?
You know damn well you’ve taken some shots at me. As is your right. However, as a Moderator you’re supposed to be above shots as you are a Moderator of threads. A Moderator keeps a thread within the rules of a forum, not jump in with opinions for or against any certain Doper.
Again, you’re arbiters, not moderators.
That’s the only thing I was trying to state. I’m sure I’m setting myself up for Mod-hell, but Goddammit, let’s drop the charade. Favoritism is shown time and again, and when it’s brought up, the malcontent is beaten down.
I’ve come to accept it, but I expect the common decency on your part to allow me to speak up against it. You have all the power, I have none. Quit coming in as someone with all the power telling me I’m wrong and trying to intimidate me for criticizing the setup you’re abusing.
If I’m so much a pain in the ass, and I’m so detrimental to the mission of the boards, ban me immediately. No hard feelings. Based on the actions of the “Moderators”, maybe it’s best. I don’t fit in with the majority sentiment here, and those that I do identify with on many subjects are better versed on the subjects. I’ve never changed anyone’s mind.
And before anyone comes in with the Pity-Party shit, drop it. Just stating an opinion. I should be allowed at least that much.
Just to do a little ignorance-fighting…
It’s not a coding change. Changing the title of a usergroup is a built-in option, one that’s even easier than adding a new usergroup (e.g. “charter member”). All you do is go to the admin control panel, click “usergroups,” select “moderators,” and then change the title to whatever you want. Easy peasy.
I’ve noticed that many times, things that people recommend or request re: the software are met automatically with a “nope, we prefer not to customize the board 'cause it’s too much trouble to upgrade later and/or maintain our service package.”
Now, I dunno what your techie folks are telling you … sometimes techies make things sound much more difficult than they are so that you end up not asking 'em for anything! (I admit I’ve been guilty of that strategem myself. ;)) But the truth is, vBulletin is eXTREMELY flexible and you’d be amazed at how easy it is to customize. Some mighty sweet changes can be accomplished without any programming knowledge, major time investment, or risk of harming the system whatsoever.
Thus endeth the Jelsoft commercial. 
BTW, all this is not to say that I back duffer’s request that you change “Moderator” to “Arbiter.” Blech.
The mods are clearly not arbiters.
Several of them, though, are probably squids. Most likely giant squids.
Can we change the Moderator title to Giant Squid?
You’re confusing me. Is it “my right” to take a shot at you"? Or am I supposed to be “above shots”? You placed two contradictory statements back to back.
I have not denied taking shots at you. I have no intention of pretending otherwise. As a poster, I’d like to have the same fun as everyone else.
My question was have I ever taken a shot at you, then slapped you for responding?
Every Warning you have received is listed above. Of those, I am responsible for two of them and in each of those cases the violation was flagrant and you admitted as much, yourself, in the same thread. So where have I used my almighty power to crush you?
I am making no claim that there has never been an instance where some Moderator displayed either favoritism or unfair enforcement based on animosity. I am saying that such is rare and that I have seen more Mods bend over backwards to deal less harshly with posters whom they dislike than the other way around. I have not witnessed every Moderator decision and I do not know the personal thoughts of every Moderator, so it is certainly possible that some Mod is being prejudicial to some poster or posters. However, based on discussions of “problem” posters (and I do not remember your name coming up), I suspect that that is a rare event.
Looking over your warnings, I see that you’ve picked up a handful of warnings for different issues. There has been no Final Warning issued. As far as I know, you are not even on any Mod’s radar as someone we think needs to be slapped down or reviewed for banning.
You’re speaking against what you view as our terrible injustice, here, and no one has threatened you, at all. We’re just disagreeing with you. I have certainly not tried to silence you. On the other hand, if you are going to fling my name around as some abusive monster, I think I have the right to point out that I have done nothing out of line to you and to ask why I am being singled out as abusive.
Yeah, we have “all the power,” (I’m impressed), but someone is going to have the power and for all your angst, I do not see where you have been oppressed. If you want to challenge a Moderator decision, go for it. It would clearly not be accurate to say that no Moderating decision has been reversed. Most are probably not reversed, but then, if most were reversed, that would indicate that either the Moderating was really bad, to begin with, or that we were too susceptible to pressure to be effective.
Feel free to express yourself, here. I have no intention of holding it against you. (If I ever decide to go on a vendetta, I doubt that your name would even make my list of targets.) I was just surprised that my name got invoked as someone who was abusing the Moderator powers in connection with your posting.
~escapes~
Wait, what? Isn’t blasting a Mod in the Pit for how they do their job punishable by a 30 day suspension?
Nope, never slapped me for responding. Of course, as a Moderator there shouldn’t be any shots taken. But maybe I have a distorted view on what a Moderator is.
And I appreciate that you want to have fun as a poster. Maybe you should drop the Moderator tag and be a poster.
Depends on the Mod. Some are more special than other’s.
Jeezus!
“The mods don’t pay enough attention to me” Waaah!
“The mods pay too much attention to me” Waaaah!
Everyone seems to be under attack, and they’ve done nothing to provoke the circumstances at hand. :rolleyes:
There needs to be a Finger pointing forum to satisfy those that need to assign blame.
Dude, quit pissing on our parade. 
I’m probably wrong in this, but I’ll throw out a guess anyways.
I think it has to do with excessive mod abuse. You can post a thread disagreeing with a moderators decision (warning, thread closing, wearing white after labor day) and that’s fine and dandy. If your thread consists of one thousand profanities aimed at the mod and their entire lineage because of something they did in the course of their modly labours, you get a swat on your impudent bottom.
What it boils down to is that the mods are volunteering to do an ugly and thankless job. Sure. They do get a coffee mug out of the deal, but let’s not playa hate. Try to keep things somewhere near civil.
I’ve highlighted what appears to me to be the problem. If a Moderator takes a shot at you as a moderator, you could rightfully complain (you’d still be a whiner in my book, but ymmv). But, I think tomndebb is saying that the shots he’s taken, haven’t been taken as a moderator, but as a poster.
Perhaps, but I think the more precise problem is your apparent inability to separate moderator action from poster action. All the warnings I’ve received have been clearly marked as such, and all the shots I’ve taken were clearly done as a poster. I haven’t seen you being treated any differently.
Given that the moderator/poster dichotomy shouldn’t be that difficult to understand, I think it is completely unnecessary to require that moderators no longer act as posters. God knows what kind of moderation you would get if all moderators had to give up their posting privileges.