Let’s be honest, alright? Some of the mods are idiots and/or make idiotic decisions. Many of them make stupid judgement calls and interperet the rules of the board in a bizarre and completely random manner. Some of them obviously don’t even seem to understand the meaning of some of the very rules they’re supposed to enforce. Naturally, this will piss people off.
What can we do about it? Well, if someone pissed me off I’d Pit them. We are unfairly denied the right to do so with mods, however. What can we do then?
If you feel you’ve been unfairly treated, take your complaint to ATMB.
Ok, sure. Problem is, though, that:
Those who feel they’ve been treated badly by a mod can’t say what they’d normally say to any other poster who pissed them off.
Threads about mods get locked pretty quickly, what a surprise :rolleyes:
I think this is bullshit. We should be able to say whatever the hell we want about the mods, we should be able to Pit the living shit out of them when they piss us off just as we’d do with anyone else on this board. Why should they be above the criticism of the users of this board? Why is it that I can call Rand Rover a fucking douchebag in the Pit, but if I say the same thing to Marley 23–and trust me, I’d really like to-- I’d get warned for “insulting a mod” or “personal insults” (ironic, really, since Marley wouldn’t know what a fucking “personal insult” is even if it bit him in the ass. But I digress…)? That is a bullshit double standard that unfairly benefits the mods and should be changed.
I agree up to a point - whatever a mod says outside of the normal duties of the position should be fair game for being pitted, as long as they are being pitted for things they say without their Mod hats on - just like any other poster. However, I disagree with pitting them personally on any decisions they make as moderators. If you have an issue with any decisions they make when performing their duties, I find no fault with the current format. Question their decision all you want, but do it fairly and without resorting to insults. It’s called respecting the position. Even if you personally don’t respect the mod in question, have the courtesy to question them without resorting to calling any of them a “fucking douchebag.” I agree, they shouldn’t be held above criticism for anything they say as a regular member, but as a sign of respect for the position, I don’t believe we have the right for personal criticism if we disagree with their mod actions.
Respect for the position? I didn’t elect any of them to be mods, I’ve seen mods abuse their power and make ridiculous calls that came out of a wildly off-the-wall personal interpretation of the rules, and these people have the power to decide if we can continuing using this board or not. If they’re going to possibly use their banning or warning power against me, at the very least I’d like to be able to say how I really feel about them. Pitting them as regular users rather than mods is useless because most of the complaints I have about them (and others have about them, I’m sure) come from them creatively applying the rules so it benefits themselves and other mods and then misusing their mod powers. They should be subject to the same criticism that any other user of this board could be.
This is not unique to the SDMB. Most boards I belong to have similar language. Message boards are not democracies, and I’ve seen very few well-run message boards have members “elect” the moderators. Pitting them as posters may be useless to you, but telling them how you really feel is akin to committing “suicide by mod.” I am sure your opinion is not shared by a majority of the members here. However, I’ll step aside and see how many other posters agree with you.
I know I live in fear of mod power abuse. I heard that when they suspend you they implant trojans on your computer (even Linux and Mac) that can bypass any protections, and if they ban you they come to your house and kick your kitten too.*
The mods/admins have no power to abuse except that which posters give them by going apeshit over nothing. And the vast majority of the time, it really is nothing, except a bunch of nit-pickers continually want to quibble and argue over their ability to say “cunt” and “fuck”.
Don’t own a kitten? They’ll give you one, and then kick it. That’ll show you.
Up until a couple years ago, we were allowed to Pit Mods over their decisions as Mods. Now you can still Pit them for anything except how they perform official duties.
And I’m curious as to why that changed and why we can’t Pit them about how they perform their official duties seeing as how that’s (probably) where most of the complaints about them come from.
Take a look in this very forum starting in February of last year and you’ll learn more about why things changed than you will want. It, among other changes were over the top controversial.
My understanding is that any criticisms that we have of their official duties can be done at ATMB. You don’t have to use anything but regular vocabulary to make your concerns known. (I have nothing against the use of “colorful” language, but it isn’t really necessary to get your point across.
I was told my someone who is in a position to say, that mods are not supposed to personally criticize Dopers or try to antagonize them at ATMB. But some do because they are very defensive. You can recognize some of them by their use of loaded words. Criticism is labelled as “whining,” for example.
We have some excellent moderators and some very intelligent moderators. They aren’t always the same people. Some moderators are mean-spirited and snide and were before becoming moderators. It always amazes me twhen someone like that is given the stamp of approval. It doesn’t surprise me that they want to be mods though. It’s a good way to bully and get away with it.
Also, some mods were once seemingly reasonable and intelligent Dopers. I often agreed with their ideas. And then they became insensitive and bullying with the title of “Mod.” That has been a surprise.
It takes only three or four bullies to give Mods a bad name. I think most of them are reasonable. But I find myself spending less and less time here because of the three or four hateful ones.
Some have difficulty criticizing others without screaming, spitting and hurling insults. We call this, “Having an anger management problem.” Others are less emotional and are capable of calm and restraint. Sometimes they are called, “Adults”.
One of the things that can make discussing mods and their decisions in ATMB less than productive is that the mods have the ability - which they use - to curtail the discussion by closing the thread. They might feel everything that can be said has been said; or they may just not like the tone. Either way, if the posters don’t agree, it can be frustrating.
No, I don’t think we should swear at mods - mainly because I can’t see how that would be productive either. They have a job to do. If they make what is considered to be a bad decision, more is likely to be achieved by civil discussions than spleen venting. And that stricture should apply to the mods as well. If they adopt a snarky tone, or if they swear, then they should expect to be replied to in the same manner. Preferably that shouldn’t arise, though.
I didn’t elect the cop who busted me for speeding either but that doesn’t make him/her some kind of creep. OK, I can say what I want about that cop or even Pit them here but the Mods aren’t paid professionals, more like volunteers for a thankless job. Me not being able to constantly Pit them for every decision they make is the closest they will ever come to a benefit.
(No, I don’t agree with everything I’ve seen the Mods do here. But you find a board with a bunch of moderators that dances the edge of the knife between free-flow exchanges and chaos better and I would be interested in getting the URL via PM)
Compared to many boards I’ve been on, the mods here are models of civility and restraint. Of course, compared to those other boards, that wouldn’t be saying much. Still, the same rules apply at those other boards. Same zero tolerance of abusive language toward mods, etc., so I can certainly live with the rules as they are here.
If you believe someone shouldn’t be a mod, due to too much personal baggage, bring it up in ATMB, see if the community agrees, stay civil about it, and accept the decision of TPTB. That’s the best deal you’d get anywhere else, and a better deal than many.
Just as a reminder: you can say pretty much anything you want. The only thing you can’t do is offer personal insults to other posters (including mods) outside the Pit.
Yes, we have a few words on a “do not use” list (even in the Pit) because, at one time, the personal insults were way over the top. Forbidden words include “cunt” and “nigger,” amongst others, because these words are socially offensive (sexist, racist) to our members in a way that “motherfucker” or “shit head” are not. Obviously, none of these can be applied to posters outside the Pit.
We believe that it is possible to have discussions about any topic without calling the other side names. We believe that it is possible to have discussions about mod decisions without calling the mods names. And please note that there is a diff between “using profanity” and “name-calling.” We like to think that we have a more civil tone than most message boards on account of making these distinctions
And here’s where we embark on a 50+ page debate over whether the Registration Agreement comprises an *actual *obligation, or is more akin to believing in the Tooth Fairy…
Someone called TubaDiva a cunt in the Pit and Ed decided that that constituted mod abuse, so he moved mod criticism to a forum where name calling isn’t allowed.
Check your rule book. " Motherfucker" cannot be applied to posters inside the Pit.
