# What's with the mods lately? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 20, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122 "2010-03-20T10:07:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122/61 "2010-03-23T20:48:51Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > ‘Don’t be a jerk’ has been the primary rule here for a long time. It’s a vague principle, but the main idea is well understood: don’t insult other posters and don’t troll. Are you for real? That’s what normal people would accept it to mean, but that’s not how this rule has been applied. Whenever people get their feelings hurt, the mods will often break out their fake mod whistle and declare, “Hey (among that stupid-as-fuck TWEET business), you’re not being nice. That is a violation of the ‘don’t be a jerk’ rule!” The “jerk” rule has expanded and contorted, depending on the day, and morphed into anything that can range from “be perfectly prim at all times” and “don’t annoy me.” ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122/62 "2010-03-23T21:35:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > …‘Don’t be a jerk’ has been the primary rule here for a long time. It’s a vague principle, but the main idea is well understood: … If we don’t like you, we will say you are being a jerk and hit you with whatever we feel like at the moment. There, I finished that for you. I mean, really. “Don’t be a jerk” is the most meaningless and abused rule around. It is not a bad rule, it is just used willy-nilly by lazy mods who cannot be arsed to think of a real offense to mod someone. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122/63 "2010-03-24T00:50:41Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > I mean, really. “Don’t be a jerk” is the most meaningless and abused rule around. It is not a bad rule, it is just used willy-nilly by lazy mods who cannot be arsed to think of a real offense to mod someone. The hell? Transplant 90% of what goes on in the pit to real life, and you would have nothing but a crowd of jerks. Jerk is a fairly low octane insult outside of this board: those called out for jerkdom here are invariably being real assholes, setting aside the question of whether they’ve suffered cruel, unusual and oh-so-unjust punishment by our jackbooted mods. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122/64 "2010-03-24T00:58:22Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > … If we don’t like you, we will say you are being a jerk and hit you with whatever we feel like at the moment. > > There, I finished that for you. > > I mean, really. “Don’t be a jerk” is the most meaningless and abused rule around. It is not a bad rule, it is just used willy-nilly by lazy mods who cannot be arsed to think of a real offense to mod someone. I want to say that this is absolutely correct. And if, as we’re told above, “Don’t be jerk” means “Don’t insult other posters and don’t troll” then let’s announce _that_ as the rule rather than lazily reciting DBAJ, which, while snappy, is nearly completely vacuous and too often cloaks a lot of mischief. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122/65 "2010-03-24T02:57:45Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Which decisions, and what harm? What is it that made you decide any particular decision came from “mod ego and adminstrator fears” rather than just a different view of a situation or the rules? I recognize that people find it frustrating when they think we’ve made a stupid decision, but that’s always been the case. I don’t think that’s changed and I don’t think there’s anything up with the staff lately. All of which misses the point that I have been trying to make, which is not “you did X wrong” or “Poster Y shouldn’t be banned” or “The rule against Z is stupid”. I’m not questioning your “different views”. I am unable to, because it seems like 95% of the time your (your meaning the mods, not you specifically) views are explained with a “because I said so”. Or, even better: [QUOTE=TubaDiva] No, let’s not play this. [/QUOTE] and a thread close. I can’t think of any more condescending way that could have been done. And it wasn’t as if the thread was offensive or had “degenerated into insults” or any of the other stock phrases. So, I may be wrong about mod motivation, but when there is zero effort to explain decisions, when decisions are made with brusque indifference to poster wishes, and when even blatantly mistaken decisions are clung to regardless, I cannot help but assume the reasons for those decisions are the sort that won’t hold up to rational discussion. I’m not going to go on a thread hunt to find every little issue. There’s a larger trend, and I am sure that if people are that curious they can simply go back through ATMB. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122/66 "2010-03-24T14:42:40Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > I’m not going to go on a thread hunt to find every little issue. There’s a larger trend, and I am sure that if people are that curious they can simply go back through ATMB. I really don’t think there’s a trend. But you’re right that sometimes we don’t communicate why we’re doing something and as a result we might come off as condescending or bossy. Simple things can turn into problems if we assume everyone else sees a situation the same way we do, and they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122/67 "2010-03-26T04:49:18Z")
I think there’s definitely a trend of people going on and on and on about tiny little issues. And then going on and on and on about what the other people said. This is NOT fighting ignorance. I’m going back to GQ and recommend all the rest of you do likewise if you wish to save your sanity, or your good humor. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122/68 "2010-03-26T15:46:30Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > … This is NOT fighting ignorance… It is a common misconception that “fighting ignorance” should be interpreted similarly to “singing songs” when it is actually more like “singing birds”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-mods-lately/533122.md?page=3)