# Why should we be PMing a mod, anyway?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [September 19, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322 "2016-09-19T01:46:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/21 "2016-09-20T04:36:00Z")
> [@TBG](#):
>
> So what? Maybe some of them also get their jollies by having someone ask and get told they have to PM the staff.
Because they won’t know it’s about them specifically.
> [@](#):
>
> What difference does it make how someone no longer allowed to post here gets satisfaction, unless it’s by making another, disallowed account?
The last part of your sentence is the entire point: if they get satisfaction, they are more likely to return. And being disappeared without a trace is less likely to give satisfaction than being able to see what a mess they’ve made. The policy is intended to provide a disincentive for a troll to come back as a sock.
Look, we haven’t done a scientific study of troll behavior. But in my experience as a mod, under present procedures few trolls that have their posts promptly disappeared appear to come back. The trolls that tend to come back are the ones that have managed to hang around for a time and provoked some train wrecks and discussion of their behavior before being banned. Some of those can be quite persistent.
You’re free to believe whatever you want about troll behavior. But we’ve dealt with hundreds of trolls, and probably have a better sense of what makes them tick.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/22 "2016-09-20T07:13:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> But people don’t seem to consider that asking in ATMB is also inconsiderate of the mods’ time.😉
The difference (to me) is that if I PM a mod, I’m asking for personalized attention. A thread serves the whole membership.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/23 "2016-09-20T10:00:49Z")
To clarify, in my OP I was considering my question from the perspective of the mods. In other words, I felt it would be easier on the mods if the question/answer were made public (and done just once) thereby decreasing the number of PMs they have to deal with while at the same time informing the community.
I didn’t really consider the feed-the-trolls aspect.
That said, what about other, non-troll queries? Why must these be private?
mmm
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/24 "2016-09-20T13:10:38Z")
You’ll have to PM a mod to get that answer.
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/25 "2016-09-20T13:37:13Z")
What I’d like to see is a subforum of ATMB that is accessible only by paid members in good standing. For which things like trolls and other board minutia could be discussed privately.
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> In practice, I receive very few PMs asking about disappeared threads or posters. The present policy is far more efficient for us since we don’t actually get many queries.
As a poster who doesn’t care enough to PM a moderator, but is sometimes curious about such things, your statement could be taken as a challenge. 😃
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/26 "2016-09-20T13:39:25Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> The difference (to me) is that if I PM a mod, I’m asking for personalized attention. A thread serves the whole membership.
Whereas PM’ing a mod serves the whole membership which actually gives a shit, and avoids polluting ATMB with pointless and unnecessary noise.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/27 "2016-09-20T13:46:12Z")
> [@Grrr](#):
>
> Not seeing why I should care though.
Sadly, this is the attitude we see in most of these “Do things MY WAY!” threads questioning the moderation of the board.
There is no point at which the (voluntary, unpaid) moderators are required to explain things in great detail and justify their decisions and actions to any single individual or handful of members. Doing so is presuming upon their time (unpaid, remember) and your power and influence (minuscule if any) on this board.
Frankly, no one else cares if you care or not.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/28 "2016-09-20T15:09:26Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> The difference (to me) is that if I PM a mod, I’m asking for personalized attention. A thread serves the whole membership.
Except, as I said, very few people actually care enough to inquire.
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> That said, what about other, non-troll queries? Why must these be private?
Such as? The vast majority of disappeared threads and posts and unannounced bannings involve spam and trolls and their socks. The particular case you inquired about recently and that seems to have prompted this was a subject that we preferred to handle privately. Other cases involve privacy or confidentiality issues.
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> What I’d like to see is a subforum of ATMB that is accessible only by paid members in good standing. For which things like trolls and other board minutia could be discussed privately.
PMs already serve that function.
> [@](#):
>
> As a poster who doesn’t care enough to PM a moderator, but is sometimes curious about such things, your statement could be taken as a challenge. 😃
As I said, I am perfectly happy to have people PM me.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/29 "2016-09-20T15:20:03Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> What I’d like to see is a subforum of ATMB that is accessible only by paid members **in good standing**. For which things like trolls and other board minutia could be discussed privately.
(bolding mine)Who would be determining which members are “in good standing”?
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/30 "2016-09-20T16:22:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> (bolding mine)Who would be determining which members are “in good standing”?
That has been the topic we’ve been discussing the past couple of weeks in the ITK\* sub-forum.
\*In The Know
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/31 "2016-09-20T17:09:23Z")
I’m a little confused about what we’re talking about (spams, socks, trolls): aren’t 99.9% spams robots, who have no feelings about anything?
And socking is a human thing only, as defined by mods/Internet convention? So then at least I understand the mods’ position.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/32 "2016-09-20T17:23:21Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> I’m a little confused about what we’re talking about (spams, socks, trolls): aren’t 99.9% spams robots, who have no feelings about anything?
Most spam that gets through is posted by humans, who are able to respond to captchas and avoid filters and other blocks. But we are mainly talking about trolls. Socks are created by both banned spammers and trolls.
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/33 "2016-09-20T20:02:20Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> > [@Pleonast](#):
> >
> > What I’d like to see is a subforum of ATMB that is accessible only by paid members in good standing. For which things like trolls and other board minutia could be discussed privately.
>
> PMs already serve that function.
Not exactly the same function. A private forum with threads operates differently than personal messages. For example, you and I were to exchange a series of PMs, no else would know. If we were to discuss something in a private forum, anyone with access to that forum could listen in.
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> > [@Pleonast](#):
> >
> > What I’d like to see is a subforum of ATMB that is accessible only by paid members **in good standing**. For which things like trolls and other board minutia could be discussed privately.
>
> (bolding mine)Who would be determining which members are “in good standing”?
The moderators. I simply meant paid members who had posting privileges.
Of course, it’d be even better if we could exclude post-millennium posters, since we '99-ers are clearly superior. 😉
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/34 "2016-09-20T20:17:11Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> Of course, it’d be even better if we could exclude post-millennium posters, since we '99-ers are clearly superior. 😉
I suppose it would only be fair to give you _late_ '99-ers a seat at the table, and maybe some limited voting rights.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/35 "2016-09-20T21:01:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> (bolding mine)Who would be determining which members are “in good standing”?
Fortunately, there is no reason to make that distinction in order to accomplish what that person wishes to accomplish. It probably just sounded good.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/36 "2016-09-20T22:52:50Z")
They get lonely.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/37 "2016-09-20T23:00:12Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#):
>
> They get lonely.
You try holding a conversation with a goat. They reply, “Baaahhh!”, no matter what you say to them.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/38 "2016-09-20T23:16:03Z")
> [@Pleonast](#):
>
> Not exactly the same function. A private forum with threads operates differently than personal messages. For example, you and I were to exchange a series of PMs, no else would know. If we were to discuss something in a private forum, anyone with access to that forum could listen in.
I’m not really seeing a significant benefit here. As I said, very few members seem to really be that interested.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/39 "2016-09-20T23:40:49Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> As I said, I am perfectly happy to have people PM me.
For the record I’m perfectly happy to have people PM Colibri too.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [September 21, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-should-we-be-pming-a-mod-anyway/766322/40 "2016-09-21T01:01:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Most spam that gets through is posted by humans, who are able to respond to captchas and avoid filters and other blocks. But we are mainly talking about trolls. Socks are created by both banned spammers and trolls.
Huh. You mean those links with semi-possible subject heds, which contain only links to soccer streams, eg, are actually typed in by some poor bastard paid by an agency somewhere?
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