# Question for the mods **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 6, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218 "2008-05-06T00:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/1 "2008-05-06T00:07:05Z")
It’s clear you don’t want me to ask this in ATMB, so I’ll ask it here. Does [post=9763876]this post[/post] belong in the pit? Is it really out of place in ATMB? If so, could you explain why? Thanks much. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/2 "2008-05-06T01:28:47Z")
I don’t see how it’s any more dismissive than (no offense) “welcome to the internet.” You been tuggin’ Giraffe’s tail or something? Spittin’ into the wind? Pullin’ the mask off the ole lone ranger? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/3 "2008-05-06T01:39:38Z")
Yeah, that whole exchange struck me as odd. The Mods certainly seem to have a bit of a hard-on for **CarnalK** , and your post to **DSYoungEsq** didn’t seem at all out of line to me. Let me be clear: i wasn’t especially offended when **DSYoungEsq** implied that my complaints about the board constituted “whining.” BUT I don’t see how his implication is any less offensive, or any less pit-worthy, than someone telling him that his post was insulting or disparaging. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/4 "2008-05-06T03:37:15Z")
When I told you to take it to the Pit, **Ellis Dee** , I wasn’t referring to the post to which you linked. Instead, it was your post right before mine: [QUOTE=Ellis Dee] As far as I can tell, that’s a personal grudge between the mods and him. Since when is it against the rules to point out that characterizing somebody as “whining” is, in fact, disparaging? Wait, I think I know. It’s when a mod got called out for tossing out the “whining” characterization, and now all the other mods circle the wagons, right? And that roll-eyes smiley is non too helpful on the “non-disparaging” front. [/QUOTE] **CarnalK** had just been instructed to keep his comments on mod actions confined to the Pit. Your comments on the same didn’t belong in ATMB, either. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/5 "2008-05-06T03:44:35Z")
[QUOTE=SkipMagic] When I told you to take it to the Pit, **Ellis Dee** , I wasn’t referring to the post to which you linked. [/QUOTE] If that post was fine, why didn’t you explain to **DSYoungEsq** that [post=9763915]this post[/post] was misguided? He clearly got the impression from you moderators that my first post (linked in the OP) was out of bounds. Right? So why didn’t you explain to him how and why he was mistaken? Additionally, why no word about his blatant junior modding there? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/6 "2008-05-06T03:53:13Z")
And on a second point, please explain how [post=9763876]my post[/post] – which you now imply was just fine – was any different from [post=9756912] **CarnalK** ’s post[/post], which drew threats of being banned. Here they are reproduced in their entirety: > [@Ellis Dee](#): > > > [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > > > …whining about it… > > […] > > I’m not intending to be insulting, or disparaging, just matter-of-fact about it. > > You failed miserably. > [@CarnalK](#): > > > [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > > > I’m not intending to be insulting, or disparaging, just matter-of-fact about it. > > Then don’t use the word “whine” because it is both disparaging and insulting. Seriously, am I the only one who knows this? How is the first fine, but the second justifies threats of banning? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/7 "2008-05-06T05:24:18Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] And on a second point, please explain how [post=9763876]my post[/post] – which you now imply was just fine – was any different from [post=9756912] **CarnalK** ’s post[/post], which drew threats of being banned. [/quote] **CarnalK** had just a short time before been instructed by **SkipMagic** in a different thread to refrain from criticizing other posters in ATMB. Despite that, he chose to criticize **DSYoung’s** post in that thread, completely ignoring what he had just been been told. I reminded \*\*CarnalK \*\* of the fact that he had been instructed not to make that kind of post in ATMB. I did not give him an Official Warning. If I had, it would have been for not following moderator instructions, not for the exact content of the post. You had not been specifically instructed not to make such a post, so your situation is not comparable. > [@](#): > > Here they are reproduced in their entirety:How is the first fine, but the second justifies threats of banning? **CarnalK** has had multiple previous official warnings and has been given a suspension. He has explicitly been informed by the moderators that he is on Final Warning, and that even one more minor infraction could get him banned. Deliberately posting in defiance of moderator instructions, as he did in that thread, was something that would justify banning. I reminded him of that fact, which he seems to have forgotten. You, on the other hand, although you have received a couple of recent warnings, are not on Final Warning. Since you neither directly violated moderator instructions, nor are on the verge of being banned, there is no real similarity in the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/8 "2008-05-06T06:15:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You, on the other hand, although you have received a couple of recent warnings, are not on Final Warning. Since you neither directly violated moderator instructions, nor are on the verge of being banned, there is no real similarity in the circumstances. I bet you have no idea how lame you sound with that post. Super-secret-double-probation, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/9 "2008-05-06T07:25:01Z")
With all due respect: What I understand you to be saying, **Colibri** , is that **CarnalK** can be banned for doing something in a post which is “fine” in Ellis Dee’s post. There is one rule for him and another for her (and apparently others). I am asking for clarification purposes. Does the rule against criticizing others in ATMB apply to everyone? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/10 "2008-05-06T07:38:54Z")
Sorry, **Colibri**. Post 8 was way more mean-spirited than I promised myself to be tonight. That said, I maintain that my correction of the usage of “whine” by DSYoungEsq was not a continuation of what I was asked to stop doing by SkipMagic, i.e. “junior mod’ing” and personal criticism. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/11 "2008-05-06T08:19:51Z")
The post that I would’ve made, that was going to refer to another post here, but didn’t, could’ve appeared in the pit, but didn’t, because if it did, it would’ve referred to a post that never happened. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/12 "2008-05-06T14:16:19Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] With all due respect: What I understand you to be saying, **Colibri** , is that **CarnalK** can be banned for doing something in a post which is “fine” in Ellis Dee’s post. There is one rule for him and another for her (and apparently others). I am asking for clarification purposes. Does the rule against criticizing others in ATMB apply to everyone? [/QUOTE] No, according to how I read things, he’d be banned for disregarding instructions given him by a moderator. While what he was told not to do is something that other have, and will do… sometimes you can do something that’s tolerated once or twice but not accepted once it’s become commonplace. If **CarnalK** was told he’s going too far in making critical statements in ATMB and continues, what’s a mod supposed to do? I haven’t read the original thread, but have read the two pittings coming out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/13 "2008-05-06T14:17:43Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] With all due respect: What I understand you to be saying, **Colibri** , is that **CarnalK** can be banned for doing something in a post which is “fine” in Ellis Dee’s post. There is one rule for him and another for her (and apparently others). I am asking for clarification purposes. Does the rule against criticizing others in ATMB apply to everyone? [/QUOTE] Although I agree with the gist of your post, speaking from personal experience, the repeated drawing of attentions to oneself appears to directly effect the severity and frequency of warnings by moderators and the severity of such warnings in general. After my personal experience with the moderation of this board, I find although expressing my opinion somewhat freely, it’s best to allow them the lattitude to conduct thier moderation with only a modicum of scrutiny. I allow the same lattitude with most authority figures as it has proven over and over to be generally conterprodutive to the overall execution of their authority. Please don’t take the statements I have made here to be an indication that I feel they are always in the right, only that I have found through much past experience it is always wise to pick one battles carefully. Most of my comments as of late, some being a little over the top, have met with no moderator action what so ever leading me believe they are willing to respect my opinions as I respect theirs. I am only one example of this, I feel confident, as I am not a charter member nor do I posses the same level of education generally represented on this board. Just my two cents. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/14 "2008-05-07T00:03:57Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] You, on the other hand, although you have received a couple of recent warnings [/QUOTE] I am unaware of any official warnings levied against me in my entire time as a member of the boards. Could you please enumerate these warnings? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/15 "2008-05-07T00:07:01Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] I reminded \*\*CarnalK \*\* of the fact that he had been instructed not to make that kind of post in ATMB. I did not give him an Official Warning. If I had, it would have been for not following moderator instructions, not for the exact content of the post. [/quote] This is a total crock of shit. If my post was fine, then you are saying that you created a special CarnalK rule where he’s not allowed to post as regular members are allowed to. If true, that would make you a vindictive bitch who is abusing your power for no legitimate reason. Shame on you. The fact that you so willingly admitted to it is mindboggling. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/16 "2008-05-07T00:37:35Z")
I appreciate the input from my fellow posters. But what I’m hoping for is “official” mod clarification: Does the rule against criticizing others in ATMB apply to everyone? I would add now: Is it unreasonable to ask for clarification on the rules from the Mods in the Pit? (Or is this supposed to be where we complain but without hope of resolution or clarification?) Should we ask for clarification in the ATMB but complain only in the Pit? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/17 "2008-05-07T00:47:25Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Does the rule against criticizing others in ATMB apply to everyone? [/QUOTE] I dispute that anyone was criticizing another poster. In the quoted posts above, both **CarnalK** and I were criticizing the _post_, not the _poster_. This is exactly what we (as a community) have always been told to do outside the pit. Though apparently if you’re on **Colibri** or **SkipMagic** ’s shit list, they get to make up whatever the hell they want in order to expedite your banning. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/18 "2008-05-07T01:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] I appreciate the input from my fellow posters. But what I’m hoping for is “official” mod clarification: Does the rule against criticizing others in ATMB apply to everyone? I would add now: Is it unreasonable to ask for clarification on the rules from the Mods in the Pit? (Or is this supposed to be where we complain but without hope of resolution or clarification?) Should we ask for clarification in the ATMB but complain only in the Pit? [/QUOTE] I would expect some sort of clarification and I worded my post with that expectation in mind. I’m sure some other poster will be along shortly to enquire what dog I have in this fight so I’ll adress it now. None. But as I pointed out in my previous post about allowing the mods lattitude to do their job, I also pointed out their not always in the right. The issues brought to light by the other posters _do_ need to be adressed and ignoring it will only make matters worse. It is ridiculous to have to ask **Tubadiva** or **Ed** to intervene as they appear to not give some of the problems here the attention I personally feel they deserve. I know for a fact I am not alone in this as much grumbling is done about that issue as well. I’m sure every mod on duty has seen this thread and failed to comment on it. They are probably as sick of this crap as some of you are but the fact remains _they_ have accepted the job as mods and need to offer some clarification. Rules need to be rules, applicable to everyone or they mean nothing. This board prides itself on having some intelligent people here, I certainly believe it does, so lets run this mother through so it will finally die. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/19 "2008-05-07T01:51:53Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] With all due respect: What I understand you to be saying, **Colibri** , is that **CarnalK** can be banned for doing something in a post which is “fine” in Ellis Dee’s post. There is one rule for him and another for her (and apparently others). I am asking for clarification purposes. Does the rule against criticizing others in ATMB apply to everyone? [/QUOTE] No. You misunderstand. **SkipMagic** gave **CarnalK** a specific instruction in the other thread, because this has been a persistent behavior on the part of **CarnalK**. **SkipMagic** did not issue a blanket instruction for no one ever to post any criticism of any other poster in ATMB. Still, this is not the best behavior, and would be discouraged if another poster made a habit of it. In the same way, it is not specifically against the rules to post dumb questions in GQ. However, if a specific poster made a nuisance of himself by continually posting really inane questions, I might consider instructing him not to do so. He would be obligated to follow those instructions or receive a warning. I would note that, despite **Ellis Dee’s** mischaracterization of it, \*\*SkipMagic \*\* did not say his first post in that thread was “just fine.” In fact it was inappropriate, especially considering the previous exchange between **CarnalK** and me. It was however his subsequent post, where he began to discuss moderating, that got him the instruction to take it to the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218/20 "2008-05-07T02:03:43Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] I am unaware of any official warnings levied against me in my entire time as a member of the boards. Could you please enumerate these warnings? [/QUOTE] Here, from January of this year: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9426308#post9426308](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9426308#post9426308) I was in error in saying there were “a couple.” My point was, however, that you hadn’t received many, and hence were not in anywhere close to the same situation as **CarnalK.** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-the-mods/448218.md?page=2)