Just thought that I would mention that you guys (as a group) seem to be making more and more capricious rulings, and in general seem to be in decline. The way that you enforce rules is very random and uneven (dare I say unfair?) and the thread closings across the board seem to be serving to make this place less interesting.
What the hell is going on with you guys? If you are burned out, why not quit? You sure aren’t doing anyone any favors.
Now there’s an OP that’s sure to do some good.
“You suck” doesn’t inspire self-evaluation, ya know.
You know what?
I read more topics on here, I’d say, than probably anyone. Seriously.
I print out about 50 topics a day from all forums and have even started reading them ON HERE since I have glasses now that keeps my eyes from growing tired and therefore hurting.
For the past two weeks or so, I’ve put the threads in all forums in order of post counts, decending, and from the beginning. Recently I’ve finally moved on to here, The Pit, after doing it forum by forum.
And here’s my point (Yes, I do have one, imagine that), I don’t think I’ve EVER seen you not complain about the mods or admins or staff on this forum. Ever. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a post by you in here (about the staff, that is) that has ever been FOR anything they did. I realize that, being in the pit, it probably wouldn’t be…but seriously, I’ve gotten to the point where, when I’m reading past threads on here in the pit, and it’s something in the last year or so, and about the critisizm of the mods, that chances are Binarydrone will be in there adding to it. You’ve become that predictable.
Geez, is “drone” in your name purposeful? I seem to see a lot of droning on and on about the same thing.
I don’t know you, no…and I’m sure you’re a great person. In fact, you are very smart and intelligent and come across well.
But man, you seem to be really one sided and never fail to show your distain for the moderation here and how this place is run.
If you’d like links to places you’ve done this (excessively), just tell me. But I wouldn’t get me started.
And yes, I know this is the pit and this is where it goes. I know it’s the place if you have a problem with the moderation of the board. And I know that I don’t have to read it. But it’s kinda hard to not read it when I’m reading most the topic histories on here and it’s everywhere.
Personally, I haven’t seen anything that you’ve mentioned overly different on here. Maybe it’s just me. YMobviouslyV.
The more I hear about the random rules-enforcing in this place, the more certain I become that it’s just whining by compulsively anti-authoritarian posters. I’ve never noticed the moderators being anything but fair and just.
Now, this is where I am called a brown-nose, suckup, sycophant or any variation on the theme. I’m fine with that. The idea that only a sycophant would agree with the moderators fits quite nicely with the image of “compulsively anti-authoritarian”.
For what its worth I’ve noticed more incorrectly moved and closed threads recently.
What are you on about you brown-nosed, suckup, sycophant?
I kid
:d&r:
Here is the thing. As far as I can tell, things have changed around here. My guess is that it comes down to some of the old guard moderators and administrators that just can not, for whatever reason, make the switch from the place being free (so fuck you if you don’t like it) to treating us as customers that have a reasonable expectation of even handedness and consistency.
To be honest, I am reminded of politicians more than anything whenever the moderators (as a group) condescend to reply to a criticism. The wagons circle, the issue gets spin and we never really get any real information.
Now to be 100% fair, it is true that I have issues with authority. That being said, these issues really only come into play on a personal level and so I don’t think that it can be said to be the case here (as for the most part this is something that I am noticing across the board, and not feeling like I am being singled out or individually treated badly).
And it is more than that. It seems to me as if there is something at play here that serves to stifle excellence in the moderation. Take Giraffe as an example. When he first started out here in the pit, he was kicking ass and taking names and booting the fluff back where it belongs. Something seems to have happened and (although he thinks I am a douchbag) I don’t think that it was just us terrible posters wearing him down. I suspect something more is at work here.
So now it’s a conspiracy. The plot thickens!
Oh, do tell! What sinister forces have gotten to me? Why was my noble crusade stifled? What powerful enemies were enraged into action by my moving threads from the Pit to MPSIMS? Who keeps stealing my newspaper, and for what nefarious purpose?
The fact is, moving threads is not always cut and dried. A thread may not be ideal for the Pit, but may be an even worse fit for MPSIMS or IMHO. For example, if someone is bitching about something fairly mundane, but which is likely to generate ranting from other people, that may be more appropriate in the Pit than MPSIMS. Sometimes I’m not around when a thread starts and by the time I see it it’s a bit too spicy for MPSIMS, and sometimes I simply wait to see what direction it takes before I make the decision to move it. When we first started moving threads, there were a lot of obvious candidates but as people have gotten used to the new guidelines, the lines have become a bit blurrier.
Also, I haven’t been a mod for that long – I’m still learning when to intervene and when to let the community handle things. It’s a surprisingly difficult line to walk, truth be told. I do think I’ve migrated toward a slightly more hands-off approach than when I started, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.
I’m glad that you were pleased with some of my actions when I first started, and I’m sorry to hear you think I’m doing a worse job now. It’s not due to any conspiracy, though: any change in my moderating has come about solely due to member feedback and my gaining experience.
And, to address the OP, are there specific rules you feel are being poorly enforced? If so, do you think the rules themselves could be clarified or rewritten to reduce what you see as unfair enforcement, or is the problem solely that we’re just a bunch of dicks?
Time on your hands, much, eh, Idle Thoughts?
Giraffe, I am not sure why we have to start waving the bloody shirt of “conspiracy theory”. That seems to be nothing more than a dismissive attitude, and an evasion of the issues that I am raising as well.
What I will say is that when you first started moderating, there was a very noticeable improvement in the Pit, enough so that when you were absent for a while it was enough to prompt me to start a thread asking if you were on vacation. For whatever reason, that seems to have gone by the wayside. As you have made no public declaration (that I have seen) in favor of a kinder more sunshine infested Pit, I seek alternate explanations (too many puppy brigade posters complained? Who knows?).
So fine. Tell me that I am wrong. Tell me that we don’t have a hair trigger for closing potentially interesting threads these days. Tell me that the rules (which, with few exceptions, I tend to agree with) are enforced evenly. Tell me that in the last, say, year or so there has not been a noticeable change in tone around here
Dude, it was a joke. The wording of your post was very ominous, and I made fun of it. Did you read the next three paragraphs?
Look, I’m trying to talk to you about this. It’s not going to work if you’re going to be a combatitive dick.
You raised two issues: my moving threads out of the Pit, and problems with the overall moderation of the boards. For the former, I gave what I thought were the likely factors for why I’ve been moving fewer threads than when I first started, and why I don’t see any evidence that “something more is at work” to stifle excellence in moderation as you postulate. In general, if you see a bunch of threads you don’t think belong in the Pit, I suggest you report the posts or perhaps start a discussion saying “I think these threads belong in MPSIMS” with a bunch of links. I’d love to hear people’s thoughts on some specific thread-moving decisions – I rarely get feedback on that. (I’d also like to add that lately I haven’t moved nearly as many threads because fluiddruid keeps beating me to it. I swear that girl doesn’t sleep.)
Regarding the latter, what do you want me to say? If you have specific suggestions for improvements, I’d be happy to discuss them. If you just want to complain about how the other mods (and now me too, I guess) are all a bunch of dicks, you’re welcome to, but I probably won’t participate (unless I get inspired to call you a douchebag again).
Please note that the last part of that last sentence was just a joke.
I, myself, have no issues with authority. I love authority! And yet, I too feel that the quality of administration in these parts has declined over the last year. That said, I think it’s been better the last month or two than the month or two before that. I also think that there are a handful of moderators (off the top of my head, I count four) that are really the ones I think have caused most of the problems. The only one I feel comfortable mentioning by name is Rico, because he admits openly that he’s committed errors and I have observed a learning curve.
I also agree that the almost-exclusive response to posters complaining about poor moderation is the circling of the wagons.
That said, I believe that most of the moderators are doing a fine job except when it comes to recognizing the failures of their compatriots. And for all I know they’re doing that in private; I hope they are.
–Cliffy
:: takes the chance to sneak off with Giraffe’s newspaper again ::
:: uses it to line her birdcage ::
Can’t it be both?
Only if you take out the word “solely”. And then yes.
Is that a bunch of dicks in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
[sub]Wait…that didn’t work at all…[/sub]
Aren’t all rules in all places selectively enforced to one degree or another? Shades of gray combined with human biases that will never go away will always make for rules - even ones that are fairly crystal clear - to be selectively enforced one way or another.
Ironically, you beat me to editing John Stamos’ post by two whole minutes. grumble