What are the moderators doing?

[Brian]

Can't promise 'round-the-clock attention (in fact, I can promise the contrary) but I'm willing to assist as the mod team deems appropriate.

[xor]

Steward over the pit!!

 

Sounds good to me... lol

[Aaron]

I think the quality of the board has certainly declined over the last few years. I think making certain people who are known to be contentious and opinionated, who even have a history of bickering themselves, into moderators or stewards isn't going to solve things, only make it worse. Stewards aren't a solution, they're bread crumbs thrown out to appease people. In the end if there are no real consequences for your actions, then you wont change your actions.

 

Look at me, suspended two times and I learned my lesson. You will rarely ever see me post on this forum anymore. I know others who learned their lesson as well. Don't be so reluctant, Many of these perpetrators did far worse than me, I called out someone who was making fascist statements and revealed personal information about someone on accident. Both carried hefty suspensions, even though the second offense I apologized sincerely and did everything I could to make amends.

 

Maybe the problem has less to do with the perpetrators, but rather who they're bothering? This is certainly something to ponder.

 

Apech's thread gets thrown in the put and you split it, mine gets thrown in the pit and you do nothing about it. I think my mistake was believing that the bounty on my head was gone.

 

Aaron

Edited October 16, 2013 by Aaron

[zerostao]

aaron,

 

"Stewards aren't a solution, they're bread crumbs thrown out to appease people."

stewards volunteer their time and energy,selflessly, serving this community. i see that stewards are a position here that fall into the 'thankless' category. do you realize how much mayhem we avoid due/thanks to the efforts of our lobby stewards?

do you have any idea how many hours and hours the general discussion steward has logged on here, dilligently volunteering countless and thankless hours?

 

"Look at me, suspended two times and I learned my lesson. You will rarely ever see me post on this forum anymore. I know others who learned their lesson as well. Don't be so reluctant, Many of these perpetrators did far worse than me, I called out someone who was making fascist statements and revealed personal information about someone on accident. Both carried hefty suspensions, even though the second offense I apologized sincerely and did everything I could to make amends."

maybe you can let go and move on from that. quit holding onto it. how many mods have come and gone since then? the lesson learned was not for you to post less often.

 

"I think my mistake was believing that the bounty on my head was gone."

i am missing something here, that just flew way over my head, whoosh, seriously?

 

"I think the quality of the board has certainly declined over the last few years."

we certainly have far more members actively posting now. more members posting and less mods than before too. quality of moderation? quality of content? quality of experience? quality of ?

 

"I think making certain people who are known to be contentious and opinionated, who even have a history of bickering themselves,"

bickering is fine, but personal insults, belittling another member , and revealing personal information about another member is not fine http://thetaobums.com/topic/31825-thetaobums-three-foundations-eclectic-egalitarian-civil/

aaron, you know where i stand on fascist thought, controlling thought, stifling freedom of expression that is not personally attacking a member here , etc.

 

ctiticism is fine, suggestions are fine, we have a comment box and any member is free to post what they like, in the way of criticisms and suggestions, my pm has alot of available space,, free to post whatever they like as long as it does not violate ToS

[dawei]

"Look at me, suspended two times and I learned my lesson. You will rarely ever see me post on this forum anymore. I know others who learned their lesson as well. Don't be so reluctant, Many of these perpetrators did far worse than me, I called out someone who was making fascist statements and revealed personal information about someone on accident. Both carried hefty suspensions, even though the second offense I apologized sincerely and did everything I could to make amends."

maybe you can let go and move on from that. quit holding onto it. how many mods have come and gone since then? the lesson learned was not for you to post less often.

 

I think you have missed his point... this is the classic sport problem of the 'second foul' gets the worse offense. The originator and baiter(s) are empowered more. What may be lacking is an understanding that posting behavior which *appears* within the guidelines but IS the source of the problems. There is either a flaw in the rules or in the interpretation of the rules when the real source of problems is ignored as 'not breaking any rules'.

 

 

 

"I think my mistake was believing that the bounty on my head was gone."

i am missing something here, that just flew way over my head, whoosh, seriously?

 

This is simple stuff. Maybe the problem is rotating moderators don't have enough time to understand posting behavior and 'the old boys club' mentality that arises on almost every board.

 

I am sure it is coincidence that it took Cat to push my question to get an answer. And at least one ex-mod (I think) admitted that Deci avoided more reprimands except for the 'quality of the posts'... That is smokescreen for 'old boys club'. If you don't actually understand this occurs on most boards then time to find people who understand posting behavior and moderator favoritism and knows when it applies and doesn't apply. This is simple stuff.

[zerostao]

dawei,

i am encouraging aaron to post more and not fret over past mod decisions that are not held in any way against him.

i used to log onto this site looking forward to some new thread/examination by 'twinner'.

sometimes the 'second foul' does get the harder hit. but we could also consider that deci is often in this 'second' category. but i am not going to debate member by member , what type of mod decisions are made.

 

here is something that you may be overlooking with "find people" ;

folks are not exactly lining up for any openings that we have, we are lucky in that 2 members have expressed interest in becoming stewards, that is encouraging.

we have been discussing the "real source of problems" ,

and there have been very recent developments that the board is not yet aware of

[dawei]

dawei,

i am encouraging aaron to post more and not fret over past mod decisions that are not held in any way against him.

i used to log onto this site looking forward to some new thread/examination by 'twinner'.

sometimes the 'second foul' does get the harder hit. but we could also consider that deci is often in this 'second' category. but i am not going to debate member by member , what type of mod decisions are made.

 

here is something that you may be overlooking with "find people" ;

folks are not exactly lining up for any openings that we have, we are lucky in that 2 members have expressed interest in becoming stewards, that is encouraging.

we have been discussing the "real source of problems" ,

and there have been very recent developments that the board is not yet aware of

 

I don't expect member by member discussion. I get it.

 

You don't need a line-up. Just ask those whom the board thinks would help the board. You get a simple yes or no thanks from them. It doesn't need to be only a passive approach. It is really that easy to try. I just hear lots and lots of excuses for various things but I do appreciate the exchange and information.

[Trunk]

"are they moderated the same as everybody else or do they get special treatment?"
we are all members that have agreed to follow the ToS, a mod could also face mod action if in violation of ToS.

I want to echo what Zerostao just said.
Moderators are also members and if they insult, etc, feel free to report them! They are subject to the same ToS as everyone else.

[thelerner]

dawei,

i am encouraging aaron to post more and not fret over past mod decisions

and I'm encouraging Aaron to buy the world's smallest violin and learn to play. <and I say that as someone who usually agrees with his grievances. Imo he has to let things go, a bit more>

 

Its just a forum. All the drama and perceived injustice don't add up to a hill of beans. Its good to make known one's grievances, but if they're not being acted on and the forum causes someone more grief then good, then move on, change the channel, its not worth it, nothing to see here.

 

 

 

 

and <this kind of sarcastic post shows why I should not be a mod.>

Edited October 17, 2013 by thelerner

[Aaron]

and I'm encouraging Aaron to buy the world's smallest violin and learn to play. <and I say that as someone who usually agrees with his grievances. Imo he has to let things go, a bit more>

 

Its just a forum. All the drama and perceived injustice don't add up to a hill of beans. Its good to make known one's grievances, but if they're not being acted on and the forum causes someone more grief then good, then move on, change the channel, its not worth it, nothing to see here.

 

 

 

 

and <this kind of sarcastic post shows why I should not be a mod.>

 

And I say this as someone who has been targeted to someone who hasn't, walk in my shoes then give me grief. My feelings about what happened are justified. Did you know that when I was banned for revealing personal information about another member, I never actually mentioned that member's name? No one knew who he was, absolutely no one. That person decided to come out and reveal it was him. If he didn't want people to know, he could've remained silent and no one would've been the wiser, but he decided to bring it out in the open and make it even nastier with his own accusations. Even after that, though I felt I shouldn't have had to, I apologized and removed everything that I'd said, per the request of a moderator, whom I wont name. I was led to believe that everything was fine and nothing would happen. The irony is that the other person involved revealed as much about me as I did him, only he mentioned me by name. The penalty, I received a 2 week suspension, he received 3 days.

 

I wasn't just targeted and given harsher sentences, I was also harassed. When I made a comment, more often than not, one of three mods would come in and make a veiled threat about being careful with what I was saying. It got to the point that I no longer made comments, nor did I feel safe starting threads.

 

I think the phrase is forgive, but don't forget. I have forgiven, I hold no resentment towards those people now, but at the same time if I forgot their actions that would make me a fool, because I'm just setting myself up for the same kind of treatment. I have chosen to speak out about this so people are aware of what's going on so it doesn't happen again. If I need the world's smallest violin, I will happily buy one and play 'cry me a river' until people start to listen and know what's happening, because what happened to me then, could very well happen to you in the future.

 

Aaron

Edited October 20, 2013 by Aaron

[Aaron]

This will probably be my final post in this thread. I've talked to some members and I wasn't aware that the Moderator staff is completely new from one year ago. I am happy that they have new blood and I hope that their able to moderate with the objectivity, compassion, and humanity that reigned in the good old days.

 

I would also like to thank those previous moderators who did so much for us in the past, especially Mal, Apech, and Steve. You all helped me so much when I was the "Steward" of the Tao Section, but you also were great role models for how everyone should moderate. I'm glad you all stuck around, you're all valued members of this community.

 

Also thank you Zerostao for your kind comments about my old threads. I don't think I'll be starting any new threads any time soon, but I do appreciate your kind words.

 

Aaron

Edited October 21, 2013 by Aaron

[Mal]

I'd like to think that (while it may not always appear that way) you are also a valued member of TTB Aaron.

 

 

These days I find that I'm not really drawn to debates and discussions. But I do value keeping in touch with the 'bums I've met along the way and hearing how they are traveling.

[zanshin]

helpful hint: don’t volunteer for things. 

Edited April 19, 2020 by zanshin