Wow, i figured that after i returned from my weekend out of town (and away from the SDMB) this whole brouhaha would have blown over, but it rages as fiercely as it did last week.
Before i left, i was going to make a post to Garfield226’s earlier Pit thread, but never got around to it. Now that i see the debate is still going, i’ll make that post here, and take the opportunity to agree with don’t ask.
In the past, i’ve never really spent much time weighing in on the big moderating controversies. Some of them passed me by altogether, and i only found out about them later on. And, when i do contribute to threads about the mods and admins, it’s usually to address the particular issue at hand, rather than to make blanket criticisms of moderation in general, or of a particular moderator. I don’t think i’ve ever before said “[Insert name here] is a consistently bad moderator and shouldn’t be in a position of power.” In fact, when i do make a generalization, it’s usually to the effect that the moderation is generally reasonable and fair. And i still believe that.
But it has become clear to me over the past year or so, based on events during that time, and on other events in the more distant past that i only recently became aware of, that Tubadiva is, in fact, a very poor moderator, one who consistently treats this place like her own little fiefdom and whose standards of professionalism are not even up to the level that might reasonably be expected from a volunteer.
The last bit of that sentence is, i think, important, because even if TubaDiva and the other mods/admins do what they do for absolutely no remuneration—
not even a coffee mug—we still have the right to expect a certain level of courtesy and professionalism. We expect volunteer firefighters and volunteer charity workers to be competent at their chosen avocation, and it should be no different here. If you can’t perform at a certain minimum standard, you need to stop doing it, whether you do it for free or not.
Now, to Left Hand of Dorkness and others who are defending TubaDiva here and in the earlier threads:
If this particular incident were an isolated and unusual case, your rearguard action would be completely understandable. If everything else had gone swimmingly, and TubaDiva had always been a model of disinterested professionalism, i could certainly agree that Garfield and others were blowing this particular issue out of proportion. The same could be said of any one of a number of the earlier criticisms of TubaDiva and other mods; in fact, the relatively minor nature of some of those incidents was a key reason that decided not to weigh in on some of the discussions.
But for some folks on this board, the accumulation of incidents, large and small, over an extended period of time, becomes noticeable and disturbing. From the resume-padding incident to the privacy incident to any one of a number of poor moderating decisions and inconsiderate or peremptory actions, TubaDiva has provided, over time, ample evidence that she is just fucking God-awful at this job.
Sure, there are people on this board who seem to have a bit of a hard-on over the whole issue, and who look for any opportunity to criticise. But there are also many other members, fair and level-headed and not interested in stirring shit, who have noticed the lack of professionalism combined with self-righteous indignation and have become annoyed enough to comment on it.
I guess you might possibly argue that every single person making these criticisms is being unreasonable, but i’m not sure that’s a tenable position. Just how many people have to complain before it becomes reasonable to conclude that there may, in fact, be a problem?
Will my attitude to all of this have any effect on my participation here? Probably not. And that’s one possible reason that nothing changes, because while we might complain we continue to stay here and post. I like this place, despite its problems, and one incompetent administrator isn’t bad enough to offset the pleasure i get from posting here. Also, i’ve never suffered directly from TubaDiva’s incompetence and capriciousness, so my own posting habits haven’t really been affected. I just carry on, keeping in the back of my mind that i have very little respect for one of the people running this message board. My opinion of her need not affect either of us in any practical way, but it seems that quite a few people share my opinion, a fact that is already leading to problems, and might lead to even more down the road.