No.
Is that junior modding? Might want to edit that in case you get noted!
I would say the opposite is true.
Much of the world’s troubles are the result of naïve idealists who let the supposed perfect be the enemy of the sort-of-tolerable, and wreak havoc and destruction in their wake, as they tear things down in pursuit of the perfect utopia.
His 7 hours are up. 
Moderator Note
I’ve been letting this go to make sure people get their point across, but let’s have a bit less of these types of comments and let’s at least try to adhere to ATMB’s rules about civility. Snarky comments generally aren’t helpful when trying to resolve issues.
Hey engineer, can you let us know if there’s discussion in the mod loop about if the use of roundabout phrases like “deliberately misleading”* are now allowed in GD? (I vote “yes”, for whatever it’s worth, but then, I’d like to ditch the whole “no liar” rule anyway.)
*Or whatever. Let’s not bog down on the example, ok?
For me, I’d just like to know if tom’s use of that phrase, as he did in the thread in question, breaks the rules (and if not, why not). Not trying to force the mods into a broad ruling here, just a narrow one in this particular case.
That’s one way to look at it. But it is backward.
Rules need to be followed. When exceptions are made, then everyone wants to know why their particular exception is dismissed. This is a message board, not utopia. And if they just simply did what was right, it would not be an issue.
Tomndebb screwed the pooch twice, and instead of owning up to it, he doubles down, and the mods all pat themselves on the back and act like they did something. But they didn’t.
Tomndebb called someone a liar. I was dinged recenty for calling someone a liar by Jonathan Chance, and he had no problem tagging me. No morale dilemma there. I didn’t think I deserved it. I never actually called the person a liar, but JC disagreed and that was that. Where is my appeal? Why didn’t I get a “mod note”? Did I imply the poster was lying? No more than Tomndebb.
So, as long as this stands, I hope everyone uses the weasel phrases **Tomndebb/B] used. Word for word. And then point back to his post as a cite as to why you aren’t actually calling someone a liar when you clearly are.
Just be consistent. This whole thing would have washed away if Tomndebb received two warnings. No one is calling for Tomndebb to be removed as a mod, so other than his ego, why would the warnings be out of line?
Thank you. Avoiding the appearance of impropriety is almost as important as avoiding impropriety itself.
This has already been explained.
Mods can not warn other mods. The system was set up that way. And God forbid the mods keep some manual tracking of themselves. That would be WAY TOO MUCH work. So it’s easier to just note them, after there has been much outcry from the community for abusing mod powers and the mod in question themselves admitting they deserved a warning. Way too much trouble. So it’s easier for the mods to just let themselves break the rules and get away with it than to actually do their jobs.
The jobs they volunteered for and desperately wanted to have and some of them admitting that they waited years on the waiting list to be able to do as their volunteer job.
It’s just too much work.
It’s so much easier to just warn us regular posters and let the other mods slide, and in the case of Twickster let her “note” herself for calling another poster an “asshole” while moderating that poster outside of the Pit, as they break the rules and then pretend nothing happened. Unless there is an outcry from the community as has happened here and them the mods after a:
decide, “Yeah, I guess we should at least make some semblance that we are bound by the same rules as regular posters when we post as regular posters.” decide a “note” is worthy of the infraction even though the poster, tomndebb, said he in fact deserved a warning.
But mods can’t warn other mods, so the system is set up to protect them from themselves. So they can basically post infractions as much as they want and since no one is keeping track there will never be a post in ATMB saying, "So and so, who is also a mod, has recieved 3 warnings in the last couple of months and is thus suspended due to 3 warnings in the last X months. As has happened to other posters.
I assure you that people are keeping track. This won’t be a problem.
WADR I don’t think the question can be answered as a narrow ruling on this particular case.
Either mods-who-are-posting-as-posters are subject to the same rules as everyone else, or they aren’t. If the ruling is that tomndebb did break the rules but is not going to be sanctioned for it, then MWAPAPs are not subject to the same rules as the rest of us. If he didn’t break the rules, because the context was that his accusation of deliberate intent was merely pointing out errors, then posters posting as posters can also make accusations of deliberate intent when they are pointing out errors.
Or they can just not answer.
Regards,
Shodan
It’s not like this is some earth-shattering issue, but it would be nice to know what’s going on. Is there some on-going discussion in “the loop” or is this question just not going to be answered? At any rate, that’s the last I’ll have to say on the subject until one of the mods does tell us what’s going on.
How much of a problem is this? Does it come up frequently or is this the only time?
I can see breaking out the pitchforks if it’s a daily thing, but I’ll go back to bed if this is the only time it happened.
Where does this lie in the spectrum?
Which “this” do you mean? If you mean the edit 7 hours after the fact, I don’t think it is at all common. But AFAICT that was dealt with. If you mean the circumlocutions around accusations of lying in GD, it is my perception that it is not uncommon. Peter Morris gave the most recent examples and I linked to some previous ones.
Regards,
Shodan
Those weasel-words are used constantly by everyone*, not just Tomndebb. Sometime those weasel-worded calls of “liar” are modded and sometimes they’re not…but if a mod can use them, we should all be able to. Or if it’s not ok, all they need to do is start modding everyone including Tomndebb under the new clarified rules.
I have no idea why it’s taking so long for the mods to simply say “Hey, the stupid “No Liars” rule is A) stupid, B) unenforceable and C) stupid, so it’s gone now.” or (worse option) “Doods, the “No Liars” rule is holy writ and attempts to skirt, weasel-word or circumvent the rule will bring divine moderator wrath down upon thee going forward.”
*Hyperbole. Learn it, live it, love it.
Oh for God’s sake! Let’s just tar and feather Tom and have done with it.
The guy has been a mod here for ever, moderating one of the toughest forums. He’s been mod noted for his infraction, he’s admitted his error and promised not to repeat it.
What more do you want from the guy?
Correction - he’s been mod noted for one of two infractions. He’s hand-waved the other one away … but refuses to say whether the rest of us are allowed to say “pretending” or similar in GD. And his behaviour on that point is worse than the original posting.
I know you used to be a mod and so would know this stuff so thank you for the answer. As long as we’re all treated equally, as posters, then I’m happy.
I’m an Admin on the Giraffe Boards. I’ve never been on staff here. My comment was on the very long memory of many posters. If tom gets another note in ten years, people will remember this one.