"Not a mod hats"

[Ree]

This will probably sound like I'm on a power trip, but I don't care. I just have to vent.

I see it all the time on CS, where I am actually a mod, but I also see it on other sites where I'm simply a member, and it still ticks me off. (It even used to tick me off at CS before I became a mod.)

There will be a problematic post, or a thread will start going south, and a member will step in with a warning to the others saying, "I'm not a mod but..." or "*Dons not a mod hat"

If you're not a mod, then STFU!!! Use the tools available on that site to report it to an actual mod, then.

If you keep stepping in and pointing out crap and "moderating" threads, and the mods never see it, how are they supposed to know there's a problem?

If you're not a mod, then why should anyone listen to you, just because you're wearing your "not a mod hat" ?
It just looks like somebody sucking up and trying to earn brownie points, but instead, they just come across as a "wannabe mod" overstepping their limits as members.

To me, it's like coworkers who aren't actually supervisors, yet acting like they are.

Not only that, but sometimes...the totally wrong information is given by the person wearing the "not a mod hat".

Like I say, it probably sounds "power trippish" on my part, but it even bugs me when I'm in a situation where I have absolutely no power at all.

[Rageaholic]

There was this other forum I used to post on. There was this one member who would always feel the need to moderate others. Always jumping down newbs throats for not posting in the right forums, posting threads that were already posted, or even things such as spelling errors. She even had the audacity to try to tell others what they could and couldn't post and there were NO rules telling members otherwise. Some people tried to call her on her power tripping, but those threads would always errupt into huge flame wars and get deleted by the real mods.

[AdminAssistant]

There was this other forum I used to post on.

That sounds exactly like the NCIS forum on IMDB. One poster declared herself mod and started policing the entire forum. Blah. I mean, Tiva shippers (well, all shippers) get on my nerves, too, so I just didn't read their posts. I didn't tell them not to post there. *sheesh*

[blas87]

I don't see how it's a power trip, considering lots of threads on here involve pet peeves regarding posting behaviors at CS.

[jackfaire]

It's not power tripping. Your right it is like someone ignoring chain of command. There are official channels and established procedures to handle things efficiently.

People taking it upon themselves to ignore that and do things themselves is vigilantism and that is just wrong.

[Fryk]

I have tried to imagine what a "not a mod" hat would look like. I picture it as being very long, conical-shaped, with the word 'dunce' on it.

[Lace Neil Singer]

On one forum I admin at, one of my pet hates is either people begging me to make them a moderator or taking it upon themselves to tell a rule breaker they are breaking rules. This usually takes the form of posting on a spam thread to tell the spammer that they are spamming. -.- What it means to me and the rest of the forum staff is an increased workload as we have more to delete and two members to warn instead of one. What we tell people, constantly, to do instead is to REPORT THE SPAMMER.

[jackfaire]

My stance is I don't care. If someone is blatantly breaking the rules I click the report button and forget about it. After that it isn't my problem.

[Lace Neil Singer]

That is exactly the right attitude. It means that the staff can follow up the report, deal with the issue and that's it.

[jackfaire]

I only wear the Mod hat in my own home and that only until I remarry

[Greenday]

Grrr...I hate backseat modding. The other major forum I'm on (it's for a football text-based game) is run relatively loosely but they've been getting better. But it's just full of people acting as if they are mods when they aren't. There is also a general hatred for mods there but except for one mod saying that he hopes a certain player's family dies to prove a point, I haven't seen anything that'd make me mad at a mod. If they didn't excessively break rules, they wouldn't receive temp bans or have their threads closed.

[smileyeagle1021]

I'll admit that I've before stepped in on one of my own threads and said "hey, this is going the wrong direction, I really don't want the mods to have to get involved and close the thread, back on topic please" then follow up with something on topic. I don't really think that is what Ree is talking about though... I can't stand the people who will just randomly step in and start acting like a mod when they aren't.

[Rageaholic]

That sounds exactly like the NCIS forum on IMDB. One poster declared herself mod and started policing the entire forum. Blah. I mean, Tiva shippers (well, all shippers) get on my nerves, too, so I just didn't read their posts. I didn't tell them not to post there. *sheesh*

It's always the TV show forums with those people isn't it?

I'll admit that I've before stepped in on one of my own threads and said "hey, this is going the wrong direction, I really don't want the mods to have to get involved and close the thread, back on topic please" then follow up with something on topic. I don't really think that is what Ree is talking about though... I can't stand the people who will just randomly step in and start acting like a mod when they aren't.

Yeah, I think you should have the right to warn people not to get the thread too off track for fear of deletion. I haven't done that here, but I have seen threads on CS that I've feared would be going in a bad direction and hoping that someone, anyone would get the thread back on track. I think we should all have the right to politely tell people off if they are getting aggressive or going too far off topic, especially if it's your own thread. If people can get the thread back on track with a gentle reminder, then I see no problem.

It's the people who try to do better than the moderators, making a fuss over newbs mistakes, and even making their own rules who need to get the boot.

[powerboy]

Yeah I hate that too. I got accused of it. But the way I see it, if the mods don't do their job, then someone else has to do it. Their is one forum that I am on, that does not have a report button. So we have to PM the mod about a thread and hope to God, that they do something.

[Boozy]

Yeah, I think you should have the right to warn people not to get the thread too off track for fear of deletion.

I'm sympathetic to people whose thread is going off the rails and want to see it get back on topic. I've had to close one or two of my own threads in the past, and it sucks. We want people to read our stories and comment on them, so it's disheartening when your thread gets closed or deleted.

But I still prefer that people report the thread to a mod and let them handle it, even if it's your own thread. In my experience, once a CS thread starts to go Fratching, we have very little time to save it. It usually requires a very stern mod warning and constant monitoring afterwards. And only a moderator can straight up delete a post that is particularly controversial, therefore averting the tangent altogether.

I can't tell you the number of times when deleting a troublesome post would have been an easy fix, but it turns into a pain in the ass -- because half a dozen well-meaning people have quoted the damned thing to warn the poster about Fratching. So now we can't just delete one post; we have to delete or edit a whole bunch.