I always enjoy how whenever someone bumps an old thread, 3/4 of them are banned.
This place went fully dysfunctional a long time ago. Everyone points it out but nothing gets done about it. Just about every mod here should be fired and replaced, but it’ll never happen.
Seconded. An eleven-year habit is hard to break, but it’s been getting easier.
Go look at the comments on YouTube or some other boards. I think you’ll begin to see just what the Mods do and how they keep the 'Dope at the high level it is.
DoU undrstnd?
And yet he we are, being asked to take seriously the claim “If the modes didn’t engage in precipitate bannings, overbearing warnings, and pretextual post-hoc justifications, this board would be just like YouTube.”
In other words, “I think you’ll begin to see just what the Mods do and how they keep the Dope at the high level it is,” does rather seem to assume facts not in evidence, doesn’t it?
I don’t think so, Kimmy. The facts are (and I don’t think you will get much argument) that this is an intellectual board with educated adults participating. (Mostly) I think maybe we differ in the definition of “high level.”
Why should “intellectual” and “educated adults” need such stringent moderation? My old man moderates (and I use this term in the loosest sense possible) a board dedicated to heavy drinking, of all things, and somehow the posters there all manage without warnings left and right, frivolous bannings, and anti-cunt-saying rules. There isn’t even a rule against personal insults, mainly because there need not be. When the occasional slap fight appears, the posters seem to self-moderate, and by the third page of the thread, everyone has agreed to lighten up hoist another. It is not, despite the lack of overbearing moderation, a “lol fag” “no u” YouTube-lite board. Surely a set of intellectual, smartest people evar, adults whose primary cause is to “fight ignorance” can figure out the basics of acceptable behavior.
Meh. More and more Reddit has a higher standard of discussion than here, and the rules and moderator actions there aren’t as overbearing and strict as they are here. It’s also a lot busier, too.
There’s a board for that?? Please share!
Intellectual board?
BWAHAHAHAHAHA.
Good one, Jake.
This board is no more intellectual than most other boards. The only difference seems to be that more people here seem to think they’re intellectuals.
I don’t think it’s wise to play the intellectual card, Jake.
BOX! BOX! BOX!
Whoops wrong board.
I don’t think moderators from other boards are watching what I say here.
What on earth does that mean?
He’s trying, in his oh not so subtle way, to say that moderators from here watch what he says over on the 'raffe.
If you think that it’s so damn easy to run a message board, why don’t you start one yourself.
Which doesn’t necessarily make it so…
NVM
No problem whatsoever!
I’ve been lurking here on and off for over 10 years and I have noticed a definite change.
Also, for a very long time, one administrator (Tubadiva) seemed good enough, now there are several. And lots more moderators. Maybe the new ones just aren’t as good at it. Or maybe the newer members are just more ornery.
I also noticed that “Ed Zotti” posts a hell of a lot more then he used to (which was never).
That said, I run a much smaller message board and would probably close down many of the same threads that get complained about, except for that whole “harassment via PM” thing which I find baffling. We don’t ban people or suspend them though, ever. Usually after a couple thread closings they knock it off.
It’s not a democracy after all. 
I don’t think there’s anything up with the staff lately. In 2010, at least, I think there have been a few more suspensions than normal, but not by a lot. Nor has there been any kind of rash of bannings. (We’ve banned one longtime member and a couple of guests. Some of them, mainly Cesario, did make a big splash in a short time.) Most of the bans and suspensions had at least one thread devoted to them, so I’m not going to reargue them. Obviously some of them seemed ridiculous to some posters, others passed with little or no comment.
As far as lockings go, yeah, we’re quick on the trigger with that sometimes. In ATMB it’s pretty standard even though it often doesn’t make a difference. (When a thread gets locked, a new thread is often opened to reargue the issue and ask why the earlier thread was locked.)
I found four relatively recent closings by TubaDiva- by recent I mean in the last month plus a few days.
There’s this one, which was closed because it had been inactive for six months and then got a bump for no particular reason. This one was closed for the same reason.
It looks like this one was closed because it had degenerated into insults between a couple of posters. This one, too.
Czarcasm has closed some threads in IMHO, I know. But I didn’t follow those very closely, so I’m not going to comment.
I don’t think it’s because anyone has been on the job too long. (And most of us haven’t been doing this for more than a few years, anyway.) Creative Loafing’s financial issues aren’t a factor in our moderating. We hardly ever discuss them and they don’t drive any actions or policies we make.
I won’t go that far, but you may be disappointed by this answer anyway: perceptions about stuff like ‘the mods are cracking down’ are very subjective and in general they don’t have anything to do with whether or not we’re cracking down on anything. We rarely make a concerted effort on any front. Sometimes tensions between the staff and everybody else do run higher, but those things come and go.
I can’t give exact dates, but if this was ever the case, it hasn’t been in a long time. I think C K Dexter Haven and Lynn Bodoni were admins here before I started posting. xash was an admin years ago, too, although he took a long break from active work and we’re glad to have him back. Ed Zotti has also been an admin since the beginning.
In part this is because we have more forums. And some of the longtime staffers are now moderating in more of a part-time capacity and other people have been hired to take up the work.
Can’t say I notice any major change. Perhaps if the OP had included some links…