Growing concerns in regards to the Jedi Council Forums

What is also concerning is the Senate. This forum seems to be the forum most affected by the thought police. I am not sure if other people agree with me or not, but this is my feeling at the moment.

With respect TG you have created many threads in The Senate that have deserved to be locked. Many of them are inappropriate threads for The Senate while others could be discussed in existing threads. Further to this you seem (from my observation anyway) to be uninterested in contributing to threads started by others. Imagine if everyone on the JC took this kind stance, imagine how little discussion would actually take place.

I respect the commitment that you showed to the JC as a Moderator/Manager and I commend you for your work on Timetales which is probably the most impressive and thorough chronology that I have ever seen. In the last few months though you have come across (again my perspective) as someone who cannot accept that he now just a normal user of the JC. You start a vast number of threads in many forums and rarely contribute to anyone else's. You look like someone who is desperate for attention. Frankly I would say that the Administration have been more than patient with you as I suspect that any other user who had acted the same would have been banned. I'm sorry if this seems harsh but it is the honest impression that I have formed.

 

Gatherer, if anyone should know the rules of spam and too many threads, it should be you as you served as a manager for quite some time. Spam is subjective, but we can almost all agree that creating thread after thread during the same day, while upping all your own and not posting in any others, constitues spam.

And the thought police argument is a little unfair without specifics. We do the best we can, just as you did. Folks may disagree with an action a moderator takes, get upset, and claim thought police. But none of us intend that and want the very best for the forums.

 

Gatherer, it seems explanations don't really stick with you. Time and time again, I know I have personally explained to you why repeated upping of and posting in your own threads in a short period of time causes problems.

True, the threads 'already existed', but the point is it is counter-productive to the dynamics of a real-time, extremely busy message board. Threads on the first page are the ones that are 'currently being discussed'. That's where most of the posters will post in, on any given day. This is a simple, net-wide concept.

Just go to a board where they don't organize posts by latest addition - you'll see the havoc that can cause. People want to post where other people are posting. If you suddenly fill an entire first page with threads of your own, be they new or old, you're defeating the purpose of the entire sort method. The first page is no longer a good cross-section of what the general JC public is discussing, or wanting to discuss, but rather it becomes "posts that the Gatherer has made, and wants others to respond to". It is an entirely selfish act that forces the focus of the first page onto YOU. That is not what these forums are about. They're not about any one person, they're about a community. Constantly pushing your threads to the 'front page' in order to fish for responses is just not the proper etiquette. Most people know this, and most times a rule isn't necessary to cover this net-goof. But in your case, you don't seem to understand that concept, so the mods are forced to act on it.

You are not moderating your own posting habits. On a message board that is as busy as this one is, each and every poster must post in moderation! That's the simple concept that you're missing. If you've got a billion good ideas, that's great, but that does not give you free license to just fill the forum with your posts. No one wants to read post after post after post from the same person. Let some other people start some threads, share the limited front page space! That's the point - if you don't moderate your own posting habits, you're forcing the mods to do it for you.

Everyone else, generally, seems to be able to understand the simple concept of moderation in posting... except you. It has baffled me for quite some time that you either can't or won't accept this fact.

Now...

As for examples of anal, over-moderation and thought police? How about warning, threatening, and antagonising a regular member for using the term "deviant", while simply glossing over it when a moderator uses the term?

Yes, the mods can be overly anal, overly obsessive, and somewhat out-of-touch. But that's the nature of the beast. It's not a perfect system, but on the whole, I think they do a great job. So long as they're receptive to constructive criticism, there's really no problem that can't at least be addressed.

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