Why does everyone think its so bad?

[Blazestorm]

Like I said mark, if you honestly care that much about AO community.

It may be negative, but you don't have to take it seriously, because I'm not serious. I'm here to have fun, waste some time. Old-School AO I'd actually contribute because Old-school AO was tight...

[shartley]

Sam, the comment about the difficulty is way off base...I didn't say that, I may have inferred it had drawbacks but that was the limit of it. This thread is about what people are trying to see what is wrong/could be made better.

Sorry about that, I guess I misunderstood what you wrote. No worries. Then we both agree that moderating is not hard work. No harm done.

I am also an admin on another forum and I get to do the sum total of zero from a moderation point of view, mostly it is moving stuff to the correct areas. In fact I think there have only been a total of 3 bannings since the forum was created.

Don't be starting with the police officer route since a police officer has to abide with the rules same as a regular person...do you agree with the cop when he pulls you over for some kind of violation...of course not (most cases)

You even say this yourself above when you comment on deciding what to do with a reported post, I have let things be many times with some of the reported posts as in my eyes there was nothing to deal with ..and not once (to date) has a post I left alone come back to bite me. Now I am not suggesting that I am perfect but would every other mod who got that reported post done the same thing I don't know as I can't answer for them...will I back a decision they make..YES.
You personally have been the subject of more than one attack and things came out the right way in your case...now do other users like that it turned out the way it did?..very simply NO. Have you stirred things? YES have they been dealt with? YES. Playing Devils advocate is not a very clever perch to be sitting on. Your one saving grace is that you don't make a post and then delete it afterwards and for that I applaud you on. Do I agree with the things you post, sometimes but not always and quite often it would be pointless replying, this is a different case since you are asking and commenting directly upon a post I have made.

And I understand all that. I also hope you realize that my post to you was not an attack, nor was even out of anger. It was meant to make people think and to look at things from angles they may not have before.

The AO Mod Team was created so that users did not have the target of hate that could be directed at any individual moderator for doing something. This is because often personal issues get brought up as the reason why such and such was banned/editted etc again people looking for an arguement where none exists, a user broke the rules and was punished because of this. I have been the subject of one such thread where all i did was apply the rules as written in the threads I was reading/getting reported, conicidently I happened to moderate an entire clique of friends... to me they were just users who had broken the rules nothing personal what so ever but did that stop the hate thread?

[punkncat]

One problem is that some users find it difficult to stand behind the courage of their convictions, which means when you post something to be read you don't go back and delete it, if it hasn't had the effect you were trying to get.

Also consider those that post something in haste and then decide afterward that it isn't really what they wanted to say, or that it just wasn't worth it in the first place....

[MarkM]

There are person(s) with too much power over others ability to state an opinion or attempt to make/prove a point through their public(or even private)messages. This ability is enforced by a vague set of rules that doesn't have to be followed to the letter by those enacting them....(read through some closed posts and you will see not one but MANY examples of this behavior, and mostly by one person) There is no check or balance. There is no oversight. When an outcry is made about the unfairness of this ability, or to question the reasoning behind it, the answer is "none of your buisiness" or "bring it up, get banned". And to make it all worse, the rulings being handed down commonly lack consistancy.

Made worse by the fact that there are certain other peole who feel its their personal mission in life to bring these inconsistancies and the grey area of the rules to light and question with every single post. In spite of warnings, they continue to frustrate the powers that be with this garbage, pissing EVERYONE off when stopgap measures get enforced to put a bandaid on the situation.

I guess what I am getting at is that(many)people are getting frustrated by the fact that you can hardly post here anymore w/o fear of stepping on (certain individuals) toes. People are getting frustrated at seeing well known members disappearing because of stupid issues and personal vendettas. Due mostly to others inability to leave well enough alone.

Was this made in haste? Afterall you did go back and edit it slightly...if you forgot, it was on the first page of this thread.

Sam,
The policeman thing I didn't know but for all the other users who were not policemen they would take exception to being pulled over. I get pulled for random stops with the alledged reason that they (the police) have had reports of (insert my vehicle description) being involved in some recent crimes...it is normally within a 2 min drive from my house or as in one case 50 yds from my front door!
It is because I do most of my driving in the early hours of the morning so driving at the speed limit on a deserted road for some unknown reason makes me suspicious? Anyhow it was a parallel not a statement of cause and effect.

I also knew you were not attacking me but you were putting only one side of things, which due to the way many users speed read long posts only picking out the parts they think applied and take it as gospel truth.
That was also why my subsequent posts were split up to make for easier reading even if they were split in an incorrect grammatical way

[punkncat]

Was this made in haste? Afterall you did go back and edit it slightly...if you forgot, it was on the first page of this thread.

No I won't say it was made in haste. But (as you well know) I often go back after posting and edit a few things. Mostly just grammatical errors, sometimes to eliminate ramble.... Generally not AFTER someone has replied to it. Unfortunately, earlier, Slarty had gotten to my post before I refined it.

Sometimes I just hit "submit" before I am ready.....

[SCpoloRicker]

The problem is that unfortunately in every issue lately NO responsibility for wrong doing has been acknowledged by the forum staff. It has always been the members who were wrong, every time. And sorry, that is far from being true.

And more so, when moderators/admin do their moderating, if they simply did it without wise cracks, insults, and general antagonism (not assaying all have done this, but it is not uncommon) and not out of some personal grudge or attempt to prove how powerful they are, NONE of these issues would even be issues lately. But again, that would take the moderating staff to own up to their actions and be honest about what has happened. And this is obviously not going to happen.

The Sky Is Falling. Twice in one week, I have dead-on agreed with ya, Shartley.

But, hey. "Old-timers" especially. Go post up some of your AO goodness in the FC thread. I know there are some great tales out there.

[SCpoloRicker]

Also consider those that post something in haste and then decide afterward that it isn't really what they wanted to say, or that it just wasn't worth it in the first place....

Happen often?

[Aegis]

Interesting thread. Markm - have not come across you before, it was late in this thread that I realized you were a mod. Can I suggest that you be added to the mod list?

[MarkM]

Interesting thread. Markm - have not come across you before, it was late in this thread that I realized you were a mod. Can I suggest that you be added to the mod list?

Well that part of the website does need to be updated and to be honest I hadn't thought about that, I will speak to the webmaster and see if it can be changed. I am listed on the bottom of the forums but you are meaning the Meet the Moderators part..correct?

[SCpoloRicker]

You must include a picture of yourself that encourages belittlement, as well.