Selective memory

[Ginger Tea]

Some times it would be fair to the ones only getting the banned users side of the story to be shown a thread with all gory details purely out of spite.
or atleast out people comming back under an assumed name so you know who they are.

eg who was redpanda before, I know before my time, but its the only name that I can think of that was outed as being a prior trouble maker
but redpanda scoobydoo unmaksing is really old man winkle

[Ree]

but redpanda scoobydoo unmaksing is really old man winkle

*SNORT*
Coffee all over me.
Yep - I broke that rule about not drinking while reading, but I thought that was only for CS. (Thanks for making my morning.)

[Ginger Tea]

no problem

[Peppergirl]

T
When we make an edit on CS or warn a member that they have posted something close to the line, it goes one of three ways.[LIST=1][*]We get a polite apology with a thanks for letting them know, and a promise not to do it again. End of story.[*]We get a polite apology with a thanks, and a promise not to do it again, but they continue to do it again...repeatedly.

There's also a 4th way they respond. Occasionally, we don't get a response at all or we get a terse one in reply...and you know what? We can live with that, as long as it's not continual behavior.

We are realistic. Things don't HAVE to be all sunshine and puppy-dogs. However, the level of disrespect and outrage that we occasionally encounter over the SIMPLEST and politest of requests is just appalling.

It really is like kindergarten sometimes. What do we say about SC's? That the vast majority of them are awesome, but just that small percentage can make life hell, right? How ironic is it that it's the same way on a website designed for venting about SC's?

[HYHYBT]

I understand the reasons, or at least some of them, for the change, but I still preferred it when the material that got someone banned wasn't cleaned up, so everyone could see what had happened instead of either just never seeing the name again and not knowing they'd been banned, or finding them crossed out and having no idea what happened, as the posts you'd seen and the ones still visible don't indicate anything wrong.

[Ginger Tea]

I understand the reasons, or at least some of them, for the change, but I still preferred it when the material that got someone banned wasn't cleaned up, so everyone could see what had happened instead of either just never seeing the name again and not knowing they'd been banned, or finding them crossed out and having no idea what happened, as the posts you'd seen and the ones still visible don't indicate anything wrong.

Aye, I clicked on a [person I assumed to be popular] thread on CS and saw a line through her name, a search of her recent post history said nothing to indicate a ruckus.
It doesn't affect me as I'm not a member, just a semi frequent visitor, all it means to me is I won't be reading any more of her stories from her workplace.

[Ree]

Sometimes the reasons for the banning don't show on the board.

It can be something as simple as a small edit to a post where the member goes off the deep end behind the scenes, and the whole thing snowballs.
The level of abuse hurled at the mod(s) over the whole thing ends up being a PITA to deal with, and it's easier just to ban the person than to read any more insulting comments.

Sometimes, we mods are as shocked by what transpires as the members are at seeing the line through the name. (That's especially true when it all starts over something very simple, such as an edit or a temporary moderation or hiding of a post until the mods can discuss it.)

When it's someone we actually like and have had a good rapport with, that can be even worse and it leaves the mods feeling very sad over the whole thing.

In some cases, the member has written a "Farewell cruel mods" post, and on CS, that is an automatic banning.
It was decided long ago, if a member wants to do the whole "I'm never shopping here again" routine, we will gladly help them fulfil that request.
We don't allow the posts to stay on the board though, so it can look as if the mods just suddenly decided one day to ban somebody for no reason.

[Ginger Tea]

Lacking a layer of transparancy is probably what generates most of the unwanted flack.
In a real world environment, those around the incident will have seen and heard enough of a scene to be curious, they might not know the whole affair, but when security escorts them out and they are told never to return, you at least know they must have over stepped some mark.
On the internet with post editing and deletion's, it's like the exact same scene but all bystanders getting MIB nuralized.

I can see that you are trying to nip things in the bud if someone posts something and later it is to be seen thus

Mod edit: this is way too far into fratching teritory.

the poster had not even made a previous steer the direction towards fratch-town post, this was full on 90 miles an hour smashing through the toll booth and pulling up at the titty bar.
So you had no chance to say "Take it to fratching." and had to act on either leaving it there and hoping no one then commented on it, resulting in countless "Take it to fratching." posts, so best course of action is swift removal, the poster could start a thread here with the exact same text and a link from the CS.com source thread for context.

[Gravekeeper]

Lacking a layer of transparancy is probably what generates most of the unwanted flack.

Yeah, could you imagine the drama if it was all transparent? <wince> it'd turn into a side show pretty quick. If not become the focal point of the site at times. I like it being all nice and not there. ;p

As someone who has had some rather spectacular run ins with Ree ( Yes, believe it or not. >.> ). While I may not have agreed with this or that, I would never consider crazed hate mail or any such silliness. She's just doing her job as a mod.

Hell, I barely have the attention span to handle one account on CS. <cough>

[Ree]

Was doing a search for something yesterday.
I came across this one from a couple of years back.
It's been deleted, but this is a prime example of why we remove these things, and another example of how a person's posting history may not reflect any problems.
The day this post was made, the person had another perfectly normal post.

I had posted a reminder to people to PM nominations for war stories in a thread where there were about 5 posts publicly nominating it.
We ask people not to do that for very good reasons.
One reason is that, if a member sees all these nominations, and then their story doesn't make that forum, there can be hard feelings.

That was all I was asking.
I got this as a response from the member:

OH GOOD FUCKING GOD..........

How bankrupt must your life be to whine and piss all over the place if even the teensiest bit of protocol was broken? I've been a long time lurker on this board, and Jesus Tap Dancing Mother Fucking CHRIST, you are the absolute worst mod I've ever seen - ever - were people clamoring for a War Story nomination in the thread and then screaming "why isn't it one yet?"

What.............NO, they WEREN'T? Then why jump in and piss all over the place saying how they aren't doing this right?

I have to call into question big time how useless you must be in real life to attach such a priority to rules on this board that you perceive a violation of pwecious-wecious protocol when there really isn't one.

Not to mention...I'm pretty certain this jerkwad didn't have access to my PM box, so how the hell would they know whether there had been cries of "Why isn't this a war story?"
It was a pretty unnecessary insult based on conjecture.
That happens a lot, as I said. People just assume a mod is acting on their own capacity instead of even entertaining the thought that maybe, just maybe, the mod really has received complaints or comments from another member regarding a situation.

[Rapscallion]

We'd also have people competing to go out in blazes of glory. Saw that a few times, even before I took over.

Rapscallion

[Lace Neil Singer]

S

It can be something as simple as a small edit to a post where the member goes off the deep end behind the scenes, and the whole thing snowballs.
The level of abuse hurled at the mod(s) over the whole thing ends up being a PITA to deal with, and it's easier just to ban the person than to read any more insulting comments.

This. Oh, so much this. The forum where I admin, there are a few names in our "Hall Of Shame"; ie, the repeat offenders, the determined trollers, the insubordinate rulebreakers who broke rules with impunity so much, that we were forced eventually to permaban them. However, in that same "Hall Of Shame" list, there are people who started off with just one or two minor crimes; spamming, signature/avatar rule breaking; screen stretching... nothing really bad, just needing a gentle ticking off by a member of staff.

The problem begins when the user reads their ticking off and takes it as a personal insult, as tho the staff member kicked their puppy, kicked their kitten, kicked their baby and told them that their mother was a hamster and their father smelled of elderberries. In other words, a total overreaction, resulting in their eventual ban just to stop the constant abuse hurled at members of the forum staff. Often, we're just standing there with faces cuz we never expected this person to turn into a psychopath with raging PMS just over being told that the picture in their signature is too big.

[Rapscallion]

I've had a few people try to tell me how to do things. One particularly infamous example ended up complaining about us on PFB a while back.

I've offered people server time before to show us how it should be done. They never took us up on it. Nothing causes entitlement as much as something free.

Way back in Mr Slugger's day, someone tried to form a splinter board. They cheaped out and used a free board site (ezboard?), and then waited for the hordes of people to come to what was where things would be done right and without vindictiveness. Things would be done properly, and not like the cruel regime on CS.com. Didn't work. Not even remotely.

Takes a huge amount of effort and time to get a board to successful levels, depending on your criteria for success.

Rapscallion

[Ree]

Often, we're just standing there with faces cuz we never expected this person to turn into a psychopath with raging PMS just over being told that the picture in their signature is too big.

This times 100, Lace!!!

[Andara Bledin]

That happens a lot, as I said. People just assume a mod is acting on their own capacity instead of even entertaining the thought that maybe, just maybe, the mod really has received complaints or comments from another member regarding a situation.

Fun fact: I'd have reported the WS nomination posts myself if the Rules post hadn't already been posted.

The person who sent you that message needs to figure out who shit in their Wheeties and go off on them instead of random netizens.

^-.-^