What's going on at CS, lately?

[Pedersen]

I was met with immature rebuttals like the one from Pedersen.

Wow. My reply was immature? No, not really. My reply was meant to make you think about something, and that thought completely avoided you, judging by your reply.

Simply having a poll of any sort could have a severely negative impact on the mods. These are people, just like you and me. They've been doing this for a while. And now, suddenly, what you are proposing is that each and every mod be voted on to determine if that person is kept a mod.

The number of issues with an online poll is just staggering. First, the issue of ballot stuffing. And yes, this is real. Anybody with a small clue about the internet plus a modicum of scripting ability can set up a script that will send in 3 votes/hour, at varying intervals, from various IP addresses, and with various new usernames from all the free email services out there. Don't like a mod? How about 72 "no" votes a day for a week? All done in such a way as to be extremely difficult to prove that any falsification was done?

Second, what about the issue of trust between Raps and the mods? Raps would, basically, tell all the mods "Hey, some of the users don't like some of you, so now all of you are on trial. Hope the vote goes well, or you're off the mod team." Do you think that any of the mods would trust him after that?

Third, we have the issue of moderators being able to do their job as moderators. With polls open, they can't really step in and stop a derailed thread, or delete a post recommending vandalism to others. After all, the person(s) who feel slighted by their action will just go and vote the mod down right away. The mods become afraid to do their jobs, and not just now, but later, too, since Raps could easily put in another poll 6 months down the road. The mods have to watch out for that, and campaign for that.

My point in my post earlier was to make you think about what would happen if you were one of the people who was suddenly being put on trial. It's a shame you missed that point. Surprising, too, since I'm about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the big toe. While wearing open toe sandals.

[AFPheonix]

Have you considered just corresponding with this particular person one on one through PMs?
Seriously, what's the worst that could happen? Don't be afraid of confrontation or the search for understanding and the truth, no matter where it is, even if it's something as insignificant as modding on a little message board.

[blas87]

Honestly horror, I don't know what to futher tell you.

Many people, even moderators, have offered you advice and their unbiased POVs to you, and you still aren't satisfied.

You don't want to leave, but you hate the "power trip". I don't know what to tell you anymore.

I feel you owe Pederson an apology, as no hatred or offense was meant towards you. Others are speaking out because they are hurt that you are sort of "bashing" the site and the valued moderators.

[horror]

Many people, even moderators, have offered you advice and their unbiased POVs to you, and you still aren't satisfied.

You don't want to leave, but you hate the "power trip". I don't know what to tell you anymore.

I feel you owe Pederson an apology, as no hatred or offense was meant towards you. Others are speaking out because they are hurt that you are sort of "bashing" the site and the valued moderators.

For the sake of ease I'll just make one response for both you and Pederson, since essentially the two would be mostly the same anyway.

I think my stance is being taken far too seriously. I mean, this much is obvious enough to me by the sheer fact that it was even suggested that I was bashing the board.
No.
I expressed my issues about the board in a thread devoted to issues on CS, and offered what I felt could be a possible solution. I never once said that is should be the only way to go about things. That's what a suggestion is. An idea that is tossed out that can be considered and/or worked with.
When the notion was expressed that this suggestion could cause worry within the mod team, the simple fact that I disagreed and felt otherwise, based on how I would personally react to such a thing were I in the position, seemed to express some sort of... I don't know... foolishness? Bitterness? Unwillingness to empathise with others? I don't know specifically, but clearly the fact that I don't see why a poll would create paranoia is a bad thing.
This is also why I will not apologise to Pederson.
Not because I'm stubborn, not because I'm an asshole, but because in spite of the fact that yes, I got his very obvious point, I feel that the way he worded it was, in fact, immature.
It read to me as, "nananana see how you like it!" Well... I wouldn't care.
If it's assumed that I owe someone an apology for something like that -being the way their comment read to me and the fact that I disagree with them- then we all owe everyone an apology for every debate we've ever had. In the same vain would Pederson not also owe me one?
Not in my opinion, and I would never expect one since I'm not personally perturbed when someone disagrees with me in a discussion.
The fact that I felt his method of delivery for expressing his opinion was of a certain tone does not mean that I take offence to it. However it does seem that the possible solutions I suggested offended others.
Ah but what can ya do, right?
Can't please everyone.

[Ree]

I really don't feel that horror owes Pedersen an apology.

He disagreed with the suggestions offered, and the way he did it came across as immature to horror.

horror expressed that fact to Pedersen.

This is fratching, after all, and not CS, and members are given a freer rein here.

If Pedersen isn't prepared to be called on comments, with dissenting opinions offered, then he shouldn't be making those comments.

[blas87]

I understand, Ree, I'm just getting a little shaken up over all the CS bashing and I think it'd just be best if after this I stay away from this particular thread.

The thought of making a poll to eliminate a moderator is just ridiculous.

[Ree]

I understand where you're coming from on this, blas.

It was just a suggestion from horror, though.
Personally, I didn't like the private poll idea, or the idea of removing a mod, but as I already said, at least it wasn't just a slam against a mod with no suggestion for improvement.

I don't think the idea was meant to completely bring down the site, nor was it an attempt to bash CS.

horror has a problem with a moderator. I think there are a lot of members who could say the same thing.

Removing a mod doesn't seem like a productive option at the moment, because our current team works well together, and a large majority of the team were only recently appointed. They would not be mods if it was felt they were not capable of doing the job.

Now, this thread is starting to look a little like a poor dead horse that's being beaten into the ground.

I'm pretty sure we started out talking about members being overly sensitive and there being too many threads shut down as a result...

[Seshat]

When the notion was expressed that this suggestion could cause worry within the mod team, the simple fact that I disagreed and felt otherwise, based on how I would personally react to such a thing were I in the position, seemed to express some sort of... I don't know... foolishness? Bitterness? Unwillingness to empathise with others? I don't know specifically, but clearly the fact that I don't see why a poll would create paranoia is a bad thing.

Eh, everyone has different reactions to things. There are all sorts of common human reactions that I don't understand either - all I can do is mentally shrug my shoulders and accept that some people react that way. Take their word for it.

Some of the mod team probably would feel bad if such a poll were made: simply because such a large percentage of the human population hates that type of criticism, and we have a large enough mod team that we can assume some of them are part of that percentage.

My main objection to the poll is the one I expressed earlier: that everyone who responded would have to trust the poll counter/comment compiler. Whichever person - mod or not - we pick to run the poll, there're going to be some people abstaining simply because they don't like/trust the person running the poll.