Passive-Aggressive Modding

[FArchivist]

There is a certain amount of professionalism that a mod of any forum, LJ community, or whatnot should practice in order to be considered a 'good mod'. But some, some fucking mods in various places engage in a whole lotta passive-aggression, which to me shows that perhaps they can't handle the gravity and responsibility of their particular duties. This is not really new; you see such fuckwittery in the politics of fandom conventions and in petty disputes at the office. But it becomes really galling when you see it on the internet, a place where rational behaviour and netiquette should be paramount.

For instance, take a look at this profile over on CS, for former member Hobbs:

About Hobbs

Biography
I am an a sad, pathetic little man who gets his jollies off by trolling web forums and harassing mod
Location
The road to hell
Interests
The earnest belief that rules do not apply to me and that anyone who dares challenge that notion is obviously abusing their power.
Occupation
Troll

Now, I know this wasn't the information put into this profile when he was active over a year ago, it becomes obvious that a mod went in and dicked around with this information. I mean, that's passive-aggressive; picking on a dude that isn't even able to defend himself, simply because somebody in charge has got a gripe and wishes to keep on pushing it no matter how dead the issue is. I'm rather glad that none of the mods HERE would even think of performing such an anti-social action of major douchery.

[HYHYBT]

the internet, a place where rational behaviour

Well, first of course, the internet is a place where rational behavior is, if anything, scarcer than in real life

I'm not going to say anything (at least for now) directly on your particular example... but if you think that's bad, you'd have *loved* CS under the old owner. Hardly anybody checks old profiles, but (if I remember rightly) it used to be that, when someone was banned, their final offending posts were left up, the banning was announced, and then whoever wanted to would say whatever they liked about the departed. There was one who *wasn't* banned, at least at first, but who, instead, got his name changed to "Richard Cranium." Again, if my memory is any good.

[Ree]

I did not change the profile, but I suspect it was done in my defense.

While I was still grieving the loss of my mother, I received a message of condolence from Hobbs that actually turned out to be a chance to dig a knife at me personally. Classy move!!

I was touched when I got the message, considering that Hobbs seemed to have always been of the mistaken impression that I was single-handedly responsible for his demise on the message boards here.

In his note, he stated that he knew I actually didn't like him.

Hello. I know you may not like me, but I heard what happened. Despite our differences, you have my sympathies.

I don't know why you would think I don't like you.
I apologize if I ever gave you that idea.

I do appreciate your message of condolence.
Thank you.

Ree

Probably because of you trashing me here: http://fratching.com/showpost.php?p=75170&postcount=120 and also accusing me of setting up a false account. I've found a much better website than CS.com, and so have a lot of members you and the other mods have alienated. Have fun w/ CS while it lasts.

I sent my condolences, but don't mistake that as a token of friendship. It was merely my way of trying to reconcile and rid myself of the bad feelings that those of you at CS and Fratching have given me.

*sigh*
Whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess.

There was never any mistaken perception of friendship on my part, believe me.
I simply offered thanks for your attempt at a message of condolence, and tried to yet again reassure you that I do not hate you.
I don't even know you.

Good luck with your new forum. I'm happy you have found a outlet and community where you feel comfortable.
The internet is a big place. Life goes on.

Ree

I blocked him immediately after, so I have no idea if he ever responded.

When I shared the exchange with the rest of the team, they were understandably outraged and upset on my behalf that someone would be so socially stunted as to kick someone when they were down.

The mod team was aware that I had just watched my Mom struggling to live, but missed being with her when she passed, which had caused guilt and remorse on my part. I had just gone through the services for my Mom, and there were so many similarities to what I had gone through with my husband that I was dealing with some very raw emotions and flashbacks of grief, coupled with the guilt that I have a wonderful man in my life now, but I was once again missing my husband so badly.

Now, to be fair, because I had shared this in private conversation with the mods, Hobbs wouldn't have known all of that. In fact, outside of the mods, nobody knew.

The thing is, in decent society, when a person sends a message of condolence, they don't usually turn it around to a personal attack on the grieving person.

[guywithashovel]

I remember something like this happening when the old owner was in charge. It was a long time ago, though, shortly after I first found CS (early 2000s). Some girl on the forum got into it with a few other members and the site owner and got banned. After she got banned, the owner edited all of her posts to say something like "I am a little whine bag who acts like a baby whenever people don't like what I have to say." That is almost definitely not the exact wording, but it was something to that effect. It did contain the term "whine bag," though. That much I remember. The owner actually took some heat from some of the other members over that.

As for this situation with Hobbs, that may not have been a good move on the part of whatever mod did it. However, Hobbs was a pretty abrasive poster during his time here. Now, it probably is fallacious for me to use his behavior to justify someone else's, but still, I tend to look at this as someone giving him some of his own medicine.

[Ree]

Silly profile edits for banned members are nothing new. Many sites do make those kinds of edits, and some even go so far as to change avatars.

Just because we have never done it, does it really make us wrong or "fuckwits" for choosing to do so now?

The difficult thing is that Hobbs really can't defend himself, so, even though this is fratching, I am going to ask that people don't start a "Hobbs roasting" in this thread.

I posted what I did because I wanted to explain what was happening behind the scenes to cause the profile edit.

I am not saying the edit was right, nor was it "professional", but there are some very strong feelings at play here, and as always, more than one version to a story.

I admit that I have been guilty of it in the recent past when a member had caused so many headaches for the mod team in one day that it resulted in a banning.
It was pointed out to me that it was not only unprofessional, but was not really in keeping with my character, and actually brought me down to the mud with the person who was banned.

I removed my edits.

I still am not saying I was wrong to edit in the first place, but I just felt better taking the high road.

[Gravekeeper]

But it becomes really galling when you see it on the internet, a place where rational behaviour and netiquette should be paramount.

Much as I hate to borrow a meme, but: Not sure if serious.....

But yes, it is unprofessional. The issue however in these scenarios, me thinks, is that Mod A wants the world to know how much of a jackass User A is by creating said permanent reflection of said jackassery. However, it is only immediately relevant to those who know that User A is a jackass and thus may agree. For everyone else, it just looks unprofessional and/or unfair as they do not know the story behind it and have no emotional investment.

[Peppergirl]

In my opinion, when someone attacks a person who is grieving and does so under the guise of offering condolences, all pretense of professionalism and 'netiquette' go out the window, at least for me.

If that makes me unprofessional and a bad mod...guess what? I can live with that.

And so can my conscience.

[Gravekeeper]

In my opinion, when someone attacks a person who is grieving and does so under the guise of offering condolences, all pretense of professionalism and 'netiquette' go out the window, at least for me.

But again, only those in the know would understand the story behind it. For everyone else, well, the existence of this thread speaks for itself.

[iradney]

This particular user was particularly manipulative when it came to CS.com. The Mods and Site Owner gave him many chances (and months) to follow the relatively simple rules. When that user was on moderation, he behaved. He would get taken off moderation, and promptly go back into the pattern that caused him to get modd'd in the first place.

No amount of gentle PM's, stern infractions, or warnings that he's getting himself so close to being banned made a single difference. This user had more chances than they deserved, and to use the DEATH OF A PARENT as an excuse to get a few digs in makes that person less than human as far as I'm concerned. I can be pretty vindictive, and not even I would do that to anyone I disliked.

One can only be professional under that kind of EW/SC abuse for so long.

[Boozy]

...Mod A wants the world to know how much of a jackass User A is by creating said permanent reflection of said jackassery. However, it is only immediately relevant to those who know that User A is a jackass and thus may agree. For everyone else, it just looks unprofessional and/or unfair as they do not know the story behind it and have no emotional investment.

I think that's an accurate assessment of what's happened here.

[Gravekeeper]

One can only be professional under that kind of EW/SC abuse for so long.

I understand the reasoning behind it, but again, in order to understand the reasoning the whole story had to be explained. Thus is the problem. It's obviously reflected badly on the CS mods from the perspective of someone that did not know the story behind it. But we only got the story after FA was bold enough to take issue with it publically. How many people would just come, see it, and go walking away with a bad impression? Never inquiring as to the real story behind it?

That is the problem me thinks.

[Ree]

How many people would just come, see it, and go walking away with a bad impression? Never inquiring as to the real story behind it?

Seriously, though, unless it gets pointed out, how often does one check a banned member's profile, especially months or even a year or more after the banning?

In fact, how often does anyone ever really check an established member's profile?

I'm pretty sure one has to be a registered member to even view a profile. Would a visitor to the site really take the time?

I can't speak for the mod who edited, but I really think this was a case of an edit done to make a point and it was entirely directed at one person - the banned member.

If anyone has taken the time to follow links, they will see that we did suspect him of sneaking back under a new account.

As a banned member, he should not have been able to see the edit, so it's possible that the mod figured, if he contacted us with an objection to the edit, it could be taken as a sign that our suspicions were correct.

Of course, there is always the probability that a friend could be checking the old profile for some reason and therefore, would come across the edit, and point it out to him.

Again, though, I can't speak for the person who edited.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That's certainly fair, GK. You're right. It does look bad, and personally don't like the whole "playing around with someone's profile" thing. I guess it's a way for mods, who generally have to keep their mouths shut and really can't really defend themselves when things get ugly like this, to blow off a little steam. Mods are human, too.

I do try to keep my personal feelings about posters irrelevant when modding over at CS (I'm not a mod here). Hobbs made that very difficult. VERY difficult. My head about exploded when I saw that shit he pulled with Ree. He was well over the top with his before that even happened, but but that new depth he has reached of late is hard to even believe.

I would normally frown upon things like editing someone's profile like that. However, I admit that with Hobbs, I just pretended I didn't see it. I don't know who did it and I don't care. I'm not defending that guy after he attacked Ree like that. Was it wrong? Yeah. Did he deserve it? Yeah. He can suffer whatever people want to dish out on him at this point. I can only suppress my own outrage so much before I reach a limit. It will not be me defending him here. He's on his own.

[Ree]

I am happy to say that it looks like the mod who made the edit has removed the comments now.

I just want to say that I am very proud to serve as a mod on a team with someone who can be the bigger person and take the high road.

*EDIT - Can I also say, I think the parting shot in this post is one of the finest examples of irony I have seen in a while?

I'm rather glad that none of the mods HERE would even think of performing such an anti-social action of major douchery.

In a thread accusing the mods of being passive aggressive?

[Gravekeeper]

In fact, how often does anyone ever really check an established member's profile?

Fairly often, actually, heh >.> FA obviously did.

But I am merely presenting an objective viewpoint.

As for Hobbs, I'm not particularly familiar with him/her/it. The handle is vaguely familiar as I think I recall seeing it with the Line of Doom through it. Which I suppose could actually lead to someone curiously looking at his profile perhaps?