Addendum
Since I’m betting that MystBlogs is about to puck up my previous post on its RSS feed, I’ll put this in a new entry to be sure it doesn’t get lost.
Given the tone and position of my last entry, I feel it’s only appropriate that I step down as a moderator on the MOUL forums, effective immediately. I have sent GD a message asking to be removed from the mod list as soon as he gets the opportunity. I don’t want to bring the rest of the mods there any further trouble; they’re just making the best they can of the bad situation they’ve been put in by the very people who will bring the hammer down once they read my last blog post. And to those people I say: this is not a victory that you can claim and pat yourselves on the back for. This is me making sure that any bile you want to throw gets thrown at me for what I said, not at the other mods on MOUL just doing their jobs.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I’m sorry you have to step down Alah. It seems like a loss since you’ve been a mod. forever in my view (since before I arrived on the scene in late 2003). *hugs*
February 17th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
*adds hugs to Deb\’s* Love you, Alah.
February 17th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I’m sad to see one of the moderators I liked at MOUL departing, Alahmnat, but I can’t say that I blame you one bit.
February 17th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
From my perspective, you were one of the least problematic mods on that board, and your decision and words here are a gross over reaction.
I am one of the evil people you are speaking of too. I know, I know, I am totally ruining your blog with my presence. I appologize.;)
February 17th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Sad to see one of the few reasonable moderators from the MOUL forums leaving, but I can see exactly where you’re coming from.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
You can?
February 18th, 2008 at 4:57 am
Frankly I don’t see why you should step down: you’ve only said what should’ve been said a long time ago, and it’s not like they need a reason to badmouth us anyway. God knows it would only take ten minutes to moderate the forums every day if some people didn’t intentionally and willingly break the rules to cause riots.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:19 am
As a former moderator myself (on what was probably the most vindictive one I’d ever seen - the official SL forum!), I understand and support your request. I did the same thing when my tenure was up over there, and nearly gave up on forums altogether because of that (I certainly saw some of the SL Residents in a new light though - shocking how quickly it was that I became the object of scorn [by friends!] despite their *knowing* I was a nice guy).
But I also agree with Ian; All this really needed to be said (and probably sooner than this). Looking back, I was not forceful enough in my debriefing with Linden Lab regarding their own forum, and we’ve effectively lost that too.
I’m still looking over your older posts (as I was away the past two weeks), but as always, thank you. And trust me, the Myst/Uru ‘community’ is a candle flame compared to the vitrol I see every day with SL (despite my intent on going back there).
/salute
–TSK
February 18th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I honestly don’t say much, at times, when it will ruffle feathers. But heck I’m so tired of this shit. And this isn’t a forum where I can get kicked off for saying Alahmnat is so damn right. Yeah, I know it won’t help, likely. But I know who the shit-disturbers are. Yes Tomala I’m sorry to say it, but you are a shit-disturber par excellence. Please stop doing it. There, that clear enough? Papa Smurf, just stop it. Just go away, please. I’d love that. Just for you guys to just throw up your hands and say “fine, you want the game to be left alone by us? Great, we’re going”. That’d make me, personally happy. And Wutt Evah. Give me a break. #1 Primo A shit disturber par excellence. And BAD with your holier than thou attitude, and patronizing act of saying sorry to DarK. There’s one reason why he’s a good friend of mine and will stay that way. Because he’s a lovely human being. I really like him. The friendship will endure the years, and the trials of life.
There, that clear enough for you, from the weeds of the forums etc.? But I doubt ivory towers of holier than thou attitudes will allow this stuff to be heard, like it should be. *shrug, c’est la vie*
February 18th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Ahhh…..
Finally some real talk and emotion.
My apology to Dark was sincere. If you don’t want to believe me, that is fine.
Holier than thou? Heh, yeah I guess I can come off that way. It doesn’t define who I am. Not even close.
Perhaps if you stopped hiding in your corner and spoke your mind like this more often, we would have a chance to actually get to know each other. Maybe you would find some good qualities in my friends and I. Maybe you wouldn’t mind if we hung around.
Just for clarity on my stance. I am never ever leaving. I have tried. I can’t let this game go just as much as any of the people who hate us here can.
You have a choice. Deal with me, leave, or continue to hide in your corner scarred of the big BAD bogeyman.
Think I hold grudges? Nah, to much emotion and time wasted. The balls in your court, after this I won’t even give your post another thought.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Maybe you can help me out here Deb…
So you say that I am a “shit-disturber par excellence”, meaning that in your view I disturb shit. And you seem to make it clear that you are one of the disturbed.
So what are you saying exactly?
I think this just goes to show that people don’t even know what they are even writing half the time…
February 19th, 2008 at 1:34 am
All I know is from what I have read here, being directed via a link so I cannot take either side, but I have talked to you Alahmnat for a long time before UrU, all the way back to realCyanChat.
I have lost touch with so many friends over the years… Salar, Moleculo, lonelyto25, Swordsman, and many others. I hope that one day something will bring us all back together and stop all the fighting between the community.
Even though UrU and the last chapter is closing, something greater may rise out of the ashes… and if not, there is and always will be CyanChat, the place where all the fun began. =)
Shorah.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Okay, in basic terms here’s what I’ve seen over the last 2 years to fling the term “shit disturber” onto you Tomala. I’ve seen a nice person become a negative, nasty poster who doesn’t try to be nice, or to help the community in very many ways. In the normal ways of a person who would try to do that by posting cheerful, friendly, helpful posts. There, does that help clarify what I meant? The Steam Room is a disgrace. Any place that allows the bashing of MOUL moderators is unjust, unacceptable, and just plain rude in my opinion. You, and everyone who posts in there, and reads that garbage should be ashamed of yourselves. “Speak no evil, hear no evil” is a good thing to live by. It is something I try to live daily.
No, I’m not flinging mud for the fun of it. It takes a lot to get me really steaming fucking angry. A lot. But to see Alahmnat this angry, not to mention many others who choose not to post due to their unwillness to be dragged into this mess, makes me angry. I can say that I, Toria on the forums, speak for many. Oh yes, many. No, I’m not making that up.
You speak so ill of Eleri, whom I consider a friend. Yet, when many of us tell you your behavior is unacceptable, you can’t see it. Take off the blinders. See the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes it comes up and smacks you in the face like a snowball, hard and crunchy. Consider this a snowball in your face, giving you a bloody nose. We don’t appreciate the behavior we’re seeing. Finally, we’re doing something about it. To hell with the consequences.
Yes, BAD, fine, okay, whatever. I’m not going to let you drag me out into a “baffle me with bullshit” argument. Just accept that I don’t particularly like you, for whatever reason. End of story.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
How you holding up, Alahmnat? I’d say all this venting might do some good, but I doubt it. I’ve harbored ill thoughts in my head about many people over my many years, but I always challenge myself to meet them in person, if I get the chance, and then see if we can’t find some common ground. I once was deep into the environmental wars that racked this country back in the 1990s, and despised someone who worked for the “other side” (and if you guessed which “side” I was on, you were probably wrong). By happenstance, I ran into this person in Washington, D.C., and we took a long walk from Capitol Hill to our hotels. Can’t say we came to agreement, but we did come to respect each other’s point of view, and we agreed to disagree.
This is why, IMHO, online arguments are so nasty and shallow at the same time. It’s so easy to speak and think ill of other people because you never confront them, you never have to take responsibility for the effects of your expressions on those other people, you are never challenged to evaluate your own opinions in light of the fact that you are standing in front of a real human being. I respect you, Alahmnat, for taking responsibility for your opinions here. Indeed, I think that’s a very mature thing to do. Hang tight, and take care.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Yeah, Zardoz, we don’t know the person. You’re right. The only way you have in this game of forum writing is to present yourself, in writing. Emoticons do help, but they don’t spell out the whole story. But you can tell a fair deal about a person over a period of time, based on the tone, the aggressiveness, the responding to challenges etc.
I can recall meeting, for the first time, in Montreal some fellow Myst fans. Finally, my chance to show them “Toria” in the flesh. My chance to see Kh”atie and give her a hug in person. How lovely that was to meet all of those people. None of which seem particularly active in any forum at the present time. No, they’ve all left essentially for greener pastures. Although RRCaz may be around, still.
I recall an email sent to me by Maztec. I didn’t particularly like some of what he said, but yes, he got it pretty well correctly. It was due to him, in a small way, that I went and saw somebody for help. Thanks Maz.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Deb,
You can hate us all you want. Hate is a strong emotion to have towards strangers, but then again fear of the unknown can bring about hate and anger.
Your here to defend MOUL moderators? The moderators that have censored my friends and I for little reason for 6 months or so? The people who even conflicted their own selves on many occasions. Please. They are doing a job, and a very unpleasant and difficult one.
If they can’t take criticism, then perhaps they were wrong for the job.
I actually had plans to send Cyan a formal letter to have some of the mods removed because of their blatant favoritism and censoring. That wasn’t a joke. I had evidence and I was ready to write the letter.
You know why I didn’t write it? I realized MOUL wasn’t going to last. I realized that I would be wasting an effort, and any light I brought to the situation would only cause more strife to the board. Strife best saved for now, when MOUL was ending.
What YOUR problem is your willing to stay ignorant. You simply believe what your friends tell you and never bother to find out any of the other angles of the story.
Your blind rage against us is also the antithesis to what you believe is proper posting etiquette. You are lashing out at us in the same way we lash out in the Steam Room.
What’s the difference? We are doing it in a controlled and designated place where everyone knows not to take our words personally. Perhaps you missed that part of what the Steam Room is about? Disgrace? It is the savior of the Slackers Forum. We would be just as bad as everyone else if we didn’t have it, we would repress our anger and frustration and end up taking it out on each other.
What’s funny is that you obviously could use the Steam Room. YOU have been repressing your anger towards us for YEARS?! That’s insane. Truly sick, in my opinion. People need to express their emotions in order to be healthy. It is documented in many studies that repressed emotions can have physical consequences.
You can holler and rant all day about how immoral you find our little venting area, but to me what you are doing here is far far worse.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Yes, we hate you. We never met anybody that didn’t hate you. WE HATE YOU!!! The ones that know you hate you. The ones that don’t know you hate you. Everybody who is sane hates you. In short, everybody hates you except the Slackers, where you belong. And we hate them too.
Go back to that horrible hole you crawled out of, you and the rest of all those horrible Slackers. My advice? Go see a doctor and see if you can improve your personality. Maybe some day we will love you. But in the meantime, WE HATE YOU!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Nice. Very mature.
It is obvious to me now that Slackers is the problem. Look at all these cool headed, even keeled responses.
BTW, that horrible hole is here. http://slackerslive.servegame.com/SlackersLive/index.php
Feel free to come on over and berate us in person.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
It is obvious to me too that Slackers is the problem. They always have been. So for once we agree.
February 20th, 2008 at 12:07 am
oooohhhhh…….. Burn.
Are you having as much fun as I am?:)
February 20th, 2008 at 12:21 am
Actually Bad, I am kind of glad that this is bringing the crazies out of the woodwork for all to see and read. You compare what we write to what they do and any sane person can draw their own conclusions.
Remember, I said sane.
Anyone else got a gripe?
February 20th, 2008 at 12:37 am
The Steam Room is a disgrace eh…
Well… We happen to have some information on record of the Slackanese Bureau of Investigation (SBI, a secretive organization with the primary goal of destroying the community we have to keep records on what people say), our records indicate that at one point in time, a certain “Toria” used the steam room to vent about a certain person named “Starfyre” in the community, many times in the same thread I might add. You had no problem about it then… Is it because it isn’t someone you wouldn’t consider a friend? Is it ok for you to talk about someone, but taboo for anyone with the word slacker hanging over their head to say anything else about other people that get their goat?
Now, when you say “You, and everyone who posts in there, and reads that garbage should be ashamed of yourselves.” does that include you too? You don’t seem very shameful…
Don’t believe me? Look here:
http://slackerslive.servegame.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=48319&highlight=&sid=16f5c1e61db2e72a6366c195caaee353#48319
February 20th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Bad - don’t put words in my mouth. I never say I hate you. I despise your actions. Change them and yeah, I’ll be fine with you, the person. Stop stooping to the level of school yard bullies who, when they don’t get their way, cry and stomp their feet. That’s what I see.
Yeah, Tomala I was angry about being taken in by Starfyre. Tell me one person in this community who didn’t feel betrayed. Yes, I made a terrible mistake in posting in the Steam Room. Shame on me. But I’ve not continued to make that mistake. I’ve not continued to help feed anger, frustration, hatred, and frenzied stomping on anyone who’s done wrong. Fine, I know you’ll trash me to pieces in your little Steam Room. Go ahead. Doesn’t bother me a bit. I’m not hating anyone. I feel pity, and sadness. I see many people on my MSN list who no longer bother to have anything to do with Uru. Why? Far too much pissy drama. I see my friend Louly driven away by Papa Smurf who humiliated her. Others who left before he could do that. I’m just tired of the drama, the bullshit you bring to this game and its forums. Stop with the bashing of moderators. Accept that they were chosen to be moderators because of their known track records. Accept their decisions like a mature adult would. Then I’ll have some respect.
Most of all, learn to say “I’m sorry, I made a mistake, please forgive me”. And learn to Forgive. Forgiveness is the path to serenity in life. Try it, you may like it.
I don’t hate. I forgive. I forgive each of you for all the mistakes. Just try to practice compassion. Practice forgiveness.
Forgive GreyDragon for the error he made. Don’t crucify him. That is not the right way to go. I’m not going to be continuing on this path of tit for tat. This is my last post, period.
Here’s a link to the daily XKCD comic. Never have truer words been written than this. We can’t change each other’s minds. I’ve given you my point of view.
http://xkcd.com/386/
February 20th, 2008 at 8:36 am
zomg u guyz r feedin teh trollz noooooes!!!
I learned long ago that trying to make sense of arguments on the Internet was like watching paint dry; it passes the time but ultimately, nothing changes.
The good news is, I know who is good here. So do you. Hold on to that. Keep that. I learned the hard way, but it’s a lesson I’m living and life online is great. Peace.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Isn’t it wonderful that the sane people can draw their own conclusions? Brick walls are not worth beating heads against, it wastes time and energy that can be better applied to things that are enjoyable.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:07 am
What is really interesting to me is that from what I can figure out, Alahmnat’s decision to speak up against ‘Slackers’ was based on incorrect information, and this same incorrect information led to his wrong decision to quit as a moderator at the MO:UL forum. Now the following is only based on the limited information that I have put together, but it makes sense to me. As I have said, I have been out of the community for over a year so I am still catching up on reading, but here is my take on this. Please feel free to speak up if you disagree with my assessment Alahmnat.
From what I have read over at our forum, there has been a minor ‘battle’ being waged over at the MO:UL forums for some time now. It seems that some moderators have been altering posts and doing other stuff to some people and yet letting others get away with the same thing. I guess it boils down to who you know and who you do not as to whether or not you are right or wrong. I have no idea if this is true or not, I am only going off of what others have posted about it. But I think I have it figured out pretty well.
It seems that a Slacker (not a Slacker member) had a signature that was not acceptable at the MO:UL forum, so a moderator changed it but failed to notify this Slacker that their signature was not acceptable. The Slacker noticed that their signature had been changed but no notice or warning was given. The Slacker figured that someone was screwing with them, and put the signature back. After all, nobody bothered to tell the Slacker that it was wrong, so what would you expect them to do? Well, exactly a week later the signature was changed by someone again, and again no warning or any kind of message is issued. So the Slacker changed the signature back. A few days later, the signature is mysteriously changed yet again, and again there is no message or warning issued. By this time, the Slacker is sure that someone is deliberately trying to provoke them into an outburst, but rather than bite they change the signature once again. The next time the Slacker goes to MO:UL to login, they find that they have been banned. The Slacker then checks their email and finds that nothing was sent to them to explain the banning.
When GreyDragon had it brought to his attention that the Slacker is posting on a different forum that they were banned from MO:UL forum for no reason, he checks in to it and oops!, guess what? They had improperly banned someone! But rather than apologize for the mistake, he lightheartedly ‘explains’ it away, arguing that by virtue of the moderator signature changes alone, the Slacker should have figured out that the signature was not acceptable and not changed it back. Never mind the rules they expect everyone else to live by, which clearly states that you are given warnings when you make a mistake. To this day, not one warning has been given about this. I guess telepathy is required.
So, the truth of the matter is that what set Alahmnat off on his rant was a mistake on the part of whoever was moderating this Slacker, and their failure to follow up a rule infraction with a simple message. It was automatically assumed that the moderator in question had sent messages about the signature problem to the Slacker, so when the signature changes did not stop the Slacker was naturally banned.
The end result? One person did not do their job as a moderator and failed to communicate not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times in a row. One person was wrongly banned as a result of it. One person blew their top and let off a rant about troublesome Slackers. The crazies come out of the woodwork to cheer and jeer, and the rest is history.
So GreyDragon changes his name to something that is supposed to be ‘evil’, same as the other mods at MO:UL, then he comes out with his statement about the ‘mistake’ (only one mind you!), and his explanation for it. Group hug and it is over. Over? The problem is that someone was wronged, yet no apology is forthcoming. So it is not over. To this minute, the Slacker involved has not heard a word from a mod or GreyDragon about this. They were just unbanned and I guess that is supposed to be enough for them.
I hope you people are proud of the way you have acted. You thought one thing and jumped on it, but the truth comes out and yet again you are wrong. I hope you are happy with what you have done.
It was a screw up from start to finish, and though it involved a Slacker, it was not the fault of that Slacker. It is sad really, that all it took was one individual failing to communicate with another that led to this disastrous eruption in the community.
Alahmnat, I have never had a problem with you and I have no opinion of you as I really do not know you. I do know that you are proud of your part in the community, as you should be, and for that reason I have to say that I expected better from you than this. This whole mess never should have happened.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Well, I am done here.
Deb, your talking like a broken record, so see ya later.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:28 am
This will be the last thing I say in the comments here, after which they will be closed, as will the comments in my initial post. I have one final actual blog entry to make which essentially sums this up, but I don’t want it to get lost in the comments to these two entries. I’ll leave the comments open there, but I ask that this argument not continue. What’s been said is all that will be said; that much is quite clear. I doubt any minds will be changed through continuing this conversation, and it’s time to move on.
First, I want to again address why I wrote what I did in the first place. This post had been a very long time coming, but I sat on it, ignoring the problem - as many here have since suggested I do - in the hopes that it would go away, either through lessons learned or through someone leaving. The whole issue with Tomala’s signature was not the single thing that caused me to write this post, and in regards to the way in which that situation was handled, I will readily admit that mistakes were made in communicating the problem to her. Such is the case when any group of people work together from time to time; we assume that someone has handled one part of the situation before bringing it to someone else’s attention. That was not the case here, and assumptions on everyone’s behalf is what led to her not being notified that her sig was a problem, and if nobody else has apologized for it, then I will. However, this was not the first time, nor did I suspect it would be the last time that members of the slackers forum and the MOUL mods would lock horns, and at that point, prior to it coming to our attention that procedure had not been properly followed, I did get exasperated enough that I felt I needed to say something. But claiming that I blew up solely because of this issue is making me out to be over-reactionary, with little to no sense of decorum or self-control, and I don’t appreciate that. No, this post was the cumulative result of watching problems fester in this community for several years now; watching, waiting, and hoping that things would work themselves out. But they seem not to be doing so, and so finally I decided that I had had enough of it, and opted to speak my mind. It would seem that my timing simply sucks.
In that regard, it may be that the maxim “don’t drive angry” should very well apply to blogging as well, as my initial post was written in frustration over what I’ve seen happen to this community since I joined it almost 10 years ago. Maybe it was the innocence of my youth, or maybe it was the size of the community back then, I don’t know, but this community is not the one I joined. This is no longer the place that I grew up. And maybe it’s the shedding of innocence that comes with me getting older, or that the community has gotten big enough that commonality isn’t as important as differences, or that we’ve been kicked when we’re down so many times now that I have started to lose count, but the fun and the joy and the cooperation that I once saw here has started to dissapear. To those who would say “so what, it’s just an internet community,” I would say that you’re wrong. As I mentioned, I’ve literally grown up within this community since I was 13, and it means more to me than is probably healthy. I really do hate to see people be so dead-set against one another, and my frustration stems from what seems to me to be a consistent effort on the part of a small number of people, many of whom have openly identified themselves as slackers, to say and do whatever they damn well please, often knowing that what they are saying or doing is either against the rules or is going to hurt or offend, then hiding behind the “free speech” and “sarcasm” excuses when someone actually does get upset about it. And to Tomala, since you brought up the sarcasm thing to begin with (and thank you for the definition, that was very helpful…) I’m often quite sarcastic and cynical myself, and quite enjoy such humor. However, I’m also aware that sarcasm does not come across well on the internet - especially when people are already sensitive about the subject at hand - and in knowing that, I try to avoid using it, lest my comments be misinterpreted to reflect poorly on my attitude towards a given situation. Whether through not realizing this or simply not caring, you project an attitude that you may not actually have, but which a great many people will see. It is, after all, not what you say, but how you say it, and on the internet, truth is so very often in the eye of the beholder.
I find it odd that the Steam Room is upheld as some sort of shining beacon of civility and intelligence in a community seemingly gone wrong with over-moderation and repressive behavior. From everything that has been said about that forum by both sides here, it strikes me as the most destructive place imaginable. Frankly, it’s been my observation through years of dealing with forum communities that letting people air their dirty laundry in public is the least productive way to settle personal grievances, and as a moderator, I have routinely encouraged people involved in a public shouting match to deal with their personal problems through private communications. Never have I attempted to sweep someone’s fight under the rug simply to pretend it doesn’t exist (though I will also readilly concede Marten’s point about moderation removing public record of those problems for future reference in situations such as this one). Those advocating the Steam Room’s existence insist that it’s a place where people can healthily express their frustration and play “let’s find the bullshit” with the community at large. A place where anything goes, and anything can be said, with true freedom of speech and freedom from the repressive behavior of the rest of the community. Yet by Yurtram’s admission, it’s also a place to openly mock people for what they say if it’s perceived to be bullshit (which may explain why it’s no longer visible to guests, or am I entirely incorrect on that note?). I wonder, though, how many of the people being mocked there even know of the forum’s existence to be able to defend themselves. That doesn’t sound at all to me like a place to have frank, unmoderated discussion with the intent to work out problems in the open. It sounds like a troll farm; a place where members can retreat to and have their fun and laughs, venting their anger at people who probably have no business being involved in the problem, safe and secure in the knowledge that the target of their ridicule is never going to see it. As to seeing what’s going on for myself, I would like to politely decline Papa Smurf’s invitation to join, as it’s been rather clearly indicated by others that doing so would constitute spying. And while I wonder how exactly I could be accused of spying on a public forum, I have no intention of fanning that potential flame by sticking my name in the active users list. Call it staying willfully ignorant if you like, but it’s been made quite plain that I’m not welcome there.
For the record, I have not called for anyone to leave this community, and I would very much like to see someone point out where I have. All I have done is point out that their manipulative behavior is not appropriate, nor do I intend to tolerate it, and I want it to stop. If the solution is that they leave, then fine, that’s a solution, and in that case, I don’t think they’ll be much missed. The other solution, of course, is for people to stop playing these stupid baiting games with each other (and especially the moderators) for their own enjoyment and actually try to get along with each other, and work out problems face-to-face instead of running off to a “public” forum and mouthing off about it to people who aren’t even involved. It’s this behavior, which stems primarily from the slackers forum simply because it’s the only place such a mechanism exists, that creates the perception in many people’s eyes that the slackers are a single group, who work and act with a single intent, because as soon as one slacker gets involved, a lot of them appear out of nowhere to throw in their two cents in rapid succession. Speaking directly to cases involving the MOUL forum, this has led to threads being dragged entirely off-topic (often beligerently), which eventually triggers moderator involvement in the form of posted warnings, then removed posts, which then leads to slackers (and I will point out that 99% of the people who do this are members of the slackers forum, which is why I make this association) posting comments like “I’ll bet this gets deleted” above further OT posts, which then - unsurprisingly - are summarily deleted, which results in whole new threads being created demanding to know why their posts were removed, rather than directly contacting (or responding privately to the PM from) the moderator who performed the actions, and those topics are again removed as being against the rule about not discussing moderator actions in public. And then those people complain about being held to some higher standard, when in fact all they’re doing is breaking the publicly-posted forum rules.
Now, as was noted in one of BAD’s comments, moderating MOUL is a difficult and often unpleasant one, and he’s right. I’m not asking for pity or support, nor are any of the other mods. We are, however, human, and we make mistakes, and we miss things that ought to be dealt with. It may sound like an empty PSA for me to say this, but if you have a problem with something that was moderated, the most effective solution is to PM the mod that did it (or even a different mod, if you don’t think you can discuss it with the mod that performed the action). Complaining in public about it is not a good way to get a resolution. Further, if you think something needs to be handled by a mod, that’s what the report post button is for. We do read those, believe it or not. If there’s a tiff between the mods and members of the slackers forum, it comes down to nothing but a failure to communicate. That failure may be ours or yours depending on the specific situation, but it’s still a failure, and it’s one that isn’t going to get any better if the mods keep getting made out to be spiteful, two-faced slacker-haters who do little but pick on slacker forum members for no good reason (here again, our moderating style may be working against us, since there’s no visible indication that we have, in fact, removed a whole lot of stuff from non-slackers as well). If you want an explanation for why a post was edited or removed and you haven’t gotten one (or the one you received doesn’t satisfy you), ask. If you think someone else’s post needs to go, tell us. Don’t retreat to your Steam Room and complain about it amongst yourselves, because that doesn’t fix the problem, it feeds it. That, I think, is the root of a lot of this crap. K’laamas is right, this community has gotten a lot bigger, and in so doing, communication has faltered. Well, I aim to try and fix that. I probably won’t be able to do much of anything on my own, but I’m at least willing to try. And with that, I segue into my next blog entry.