Selective memory

[LexiaFira]

as one of the people you "mod-ed" I am quite grateful that you did. I asked for advice on what to do and you told me and again it was done. I feel that your actions as a mod were fair and that you put thought into it.

Please do stay, but if you do resign at least know that yes you did a good job and that weeks later I'm still not complaining about it. I may have been mad when it happened but tried to keep in mind that hey, Ree has alot more responsibility as a mod and had to take the best course of action and if that meant banning me so be it.

Alot of people don't think that this is just an internet forum, yes friends are made relationships of many varieties made and a place to go to but its non-tangible (cannot be held or grasped) and in the end as much as someone wanted to, no one can really physically hurt another here. Only verbally, and as much emotion and good feelings put into this when signing on, posting or what not a person can do, its still just a site.
Not that that fact should make this place sound paltry or unworthy only to help people realize hey, stuff happens in the heat of the moment and I can personally atest to the fact that I forgot its not a real place but reacted like it was.
So as hard as it is for people not to, many will still act as if a person was saying this (each post) to them in real life even though there is no actual face on the screen and that its real to them even though it isn't and as much as I want it to not be this is just an internet site that is a great place to debate or share stories with on the other site and that its vastly easier said than done to not react with such ferocity or shoot off one's mouth as one would to an actual person here than it is to refrain and keep calm....

IE I can think that I can remain calm in a heated debate but knowing myself and my human nature I'd probably mouth off some but would have like to think that I put some thought into it and gave an indirect insult (politely implying) instead of directly insulting via name calling. However not true.

Back to the point at hand, even though its just one person, your responsibilities and title as a Mod are respected Ree and appreciated and I am sorry people bad mouthed you. I regrettably had no idea. Please don't resign or at least know people do care...and I honestly don't recall specifics any more but I am sorry I threw more crap on the pile.
And honestly feel that come next year I will still say yep, Ree schooled my arse and I dislike to think what would have happened if she didn't...well Ree and PepperGirl

[guywithashovel]

Some people might get tetchy because the moderator attention catches them off guard. This site, as well as CS, is moderated a little more carefully than most of the other forums I've been to. Around here, I've seen people get moderated and even banned for things that I, personally, didn't think were too severe. But hey, I'm not a mod, so it really doesn't matter what I think about it.

Not trying to excuse any abusive PMs; just offering a potential explanation.

[Rapscallion]

It's worth noting that we don't discuss items outside of the people concerned and the moderating team. We don't reveal all the information we have. One of the things new mods often say when they start is that they had no idea how much went on behind the scenes, and they often realise just why things are as they are.

There's often a second side that's not seen. The team's taken a fair amount of flak because of that.

Banned on this forum? Maybe a half-dozen accounts (ignoring spammers), at least one person being two of those.

Rapscallion

[FArchivist]

Even people for whom I have stood up and defended or offered a word of support get all pissy and nasty and call for my head on a platter if I even dare to touch a thread or send a comment their way.

Talk about ungrateful!

I hate to be the one to advise you of such things, but just because you've defended someone or offered support doesn't mean you get a pass when you do something that someone believes you should be called out for. Giving a pass for that reason is generally called "favor trading" or "sucking up" and it's a deplorable practice.

[aurelemsrealm]

Ree, sorry to hear that you're going through such abuse. I never thought of you as abusing your powers. I think you've only sent me a corrective PM once because I quoted a post in its entirety. Then, you only pointed out that site rules exist warning us against excessive quoting of posts. I can't say that I agree with every decision that mods in general make, but I also realize that I'm just one of many visitors to CS and Fratching.

In fact, I will make a positive remark for you and a few other moderators that I hope helps you feel better about things. Since I first discovered CS and Fratching, I've gone through a couple of rough times which I've posted about. One of them was when my wife and I lost our first child. You were among the posters who said some very nice and comforting things, and just seemed to listen while I rambled since grief counseling gets expensive once the insurance quits paying. Another one was when I was feeling particularly annoyed with some customers at work hassling me, and some posters said they didn't think the customers antics were particularly sucky. I might have been overly sensitive since I was dealing with other things, but I think you were one of the moderators who pointed out that it wasn't for those particular posters to say whether the customers in question were sucky.

I can't speak for anyone else. All I can say is that I've always thought of you as being fair enough as a moderator. I may not always agree on every point with every moderator, but I generally figure it's not my place to say since I'm just one of many visitors. Whatever you decide to do, I hope this helps.

[telecom_goddess]

I've managed to not be "talked to" or "moderated" by anyone here or on cs thus far......so I really have no opinion on how anyone does their job on here, cause it's invisible to me. I know it's a tough job, probably more than I will ever know since I don't see the invisible side. I just hope some situations don't get out of hand because of tempers and lack of listening/communication, and assumptions that are made...know what I mean? Can anyone really be completely objective 100 percent of the time? I know I can't.

On that note how the hell do you all keep from stepping on each others' toes...do you have a rotating schedule or what?

[Peppergirl]

Can anyone really be completely objective 100 percent of the time? I know I can't.

On that note how the hell do you all keep from stepping on each others' toes...do you have a rotating schedule or what?

Objectivity: I'll freely and openly admit that there are times I've had to step back from a situation when it's a topic or a poster that I can't be objective about. There are always other mods that can pick up the cause when this happens.

We're human - of course we can't be objective 100 percent of the time, and during that time - we rely on each other to 'take up the slack', as it were.


Schedules: We don't have a schedule. We just go in when it's prudent to do so. The mod team is based all over the world and work a variety of odd schedules, so it works out pretty well without needing to assign times or threads or anything like that.

Not to say it hasn't happened. There have been times we've moderated a post, or stepped in, only to come back a minute later and find out another mod was doing the same thing.

[Peppergirl]

I hate to be the one to advise you of such things, but just because you've defended someone or offered support doesn't mean you get a pass when you do something that someone believes you should be called out for. Giving a pass for that reason is generally called "favor trading" or "sucking up" and it's a deplorable practice.

This is certainly NOT what she is doing. If you were fully aware of the incident, you'd understand that. There are certain details we can't get into, but we do indeed have the right to vent about them in the 'things I hate' section, just like everyone else. Also, you have the right to respond as you see fit, but I'm letting you know you're dead wrong in this case. Unfortunately, I can't provide details or reasons to back up my assertions.

I've known Ree a very long time, and she would never feel she should be given a 'pass' simply based upon past favors. She was simply pointing out the irony of someone railing at her (and worse) for doing her job as a mod when the very same mod had previously done some really nice things for her (when also doing her job).

Where do we draw the line? Are we only allowed to moderate when it's to help?

[blas87]

Exactly, and that was not a very good comment or I guess, comparison to make, because it's quite different than when someone gives you a ride home from work when your car was dead, then a few days later has to turn you in for smoking pot on your break.

That was not the best of examples, and I apologize, but moderators do have a job to do.

Just like someone at work who is in charge of organizing/scheduling, someone who has the power to fire you (or here, moderated poster or ban you). They will help and are always there for it, but just because a mod may have been nice to you or offered you advice doesn't mean that you are suddenly immune from having your posts edited or getting in trouble.

[Lace Neil Singer]

It's like the forum where I admin; a lot of people feel that if they are friends of mods, they're suddenly excused from bad behaviour or from having their posts edited, deleted or locked. I've had to disabuse a lot of people from that notion and gotten varying responses back.

[Eisa]

^I'm still technically on a forum where that DOES happen. And how to be one of the chosen few? Never, ever, ever question the mods or the musical artist the forum is based on. It doesn't help that the head admin is the musical artist's BFF. Sorry, but she shouldn't be head admin--she has NO objectivity when it comes to ANYONE criticizing this artist. And I don't mean like actually insulting her because that would be wrong and should be against the rules...I mean even questioning her decisions or saying that you're not sure you like her as a person anymore because she's gone against her belief system. Banhammer. To the point that if you said ANYTHING bad about either the mods or the artist, you were banned. OR you had your PM-ability blocked and every post moderated. They wouldn't tell you why. If you managed to send an email or something asking why, they'd be like, "Oh you KNOW why." Er...

So yeah. I love the mods on CS! and Fratching because it's not like that at all.

[taxguykarl]

Ree,
Please stay on. While I don't agree with all mod's decisions regarding my posts, I concede that the decisions were overall fair. Stick to your guns.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once had to tell a friend of mine (also a moderator) off for being too sharp with a noob; she was snapping at said noob and being quite rude. My friend is still my friend due to the fact that she took my warning to heart and made an effort to post more civily in future. That was one of the good responses.

One person got sand in their pussy and posted a thread on the forum, bitching about the "nazi mods" and how we were strangling her creativity by not letting her post what she wanted. When the thread got deleted, she then posted a whiny leaving thread... which also got deleted. XD

[Rapscallion]

Just had someone flounce off 'never to return' because I backed Ree's actions in her capacity as moderator. Considering this is someone we noted some years ago linking to posts on CS.com elsewhere and encouraging others to poke fun at 'the entitlement moo', then we're not exactly sad to see her going. Said action was not part of any disciplinary action, so I feel quite able to share that part.

Why wasn't it disciplinary? Can't stop it - just make the person aware that we know about it and if it makes it way here we'll take action.

Rapscallion

[Racket_Man]

In the almost 10 years I have been around CS I have observed much. the coming and goings of members, the long time "residences" of CS, (sorry I missed the "e-mail in a story" era), the return of long lost members, the early flame wars, the many many trolls, two distinct board owners, more hacks than I care to remember, some fun chat when I occasionally drop into chat, etc. but the one thing that I always know will be there are the Mods. most have been with the board as long (or longer) as I can remember ie. MadMike, Ree, (Eric)TheMadBassist, etc.

most of my experience with the Mod team has been just the run of the mill passing stuff (without me being involved) like threads getting shut down, public warning on various off limit thing, etc. I personally have been somewhat of the quiet type poster and it was only just recently that I had my fingers slapped and YES I took my lumps (but I will STILL defend what I posted and in the tone I posted in) because YES I understand there are rules to this board.

most of us rarely see the side of things Ree described in their OP and that is how it should be. the behind the scenes stuff SHOULD stay there. BUT when a user comes off acting like the EW or a SC like we rail and complain about over as CS that is crossing the line and the complainer should be ashamed of themselves.