Mod Squad Update for the week ending May 12th

Mod Squad Update for the week ending May 12th

Props go to Darth Dark Helmet, Liz Skywalker, and farraday for helping to write this thing.

• Discussed the impending merging of NSA and PSA. It was predicted that chaos would ensue. Not that there's anything wrong with that.



• Decided that cuss words in user names wouldn?t be allowed. We may allow words like ?damn? to sneak into ordinary posts, but putting that sort of word into a user name is too much. Users with such words in their names will be asked to register new names.



• Still discussing PreacherBoy. We?re getting pretty close to some firm resolutions.



• Some previously non spoiler mods forced into PSA service. Note: farraday cries like a girl



• Discussed the state of the Games forum, with particular regards to relations between various users recently banned and un-banned.



• The Mod Squad became a bastion of jealousy and hate after a number of people saw AOTC early. There have been many threats of violence, beginning with the lynching of jp-30.



• The ?Dude, where?s my icon?? saga continued. DL now has a new icon.



• Discussion of various icon related issues. The number of admin icons will be trimmed. Also, Darth Ludicrous wondered why the heck that so many people were using a certain icon. Literature forum regulars know which icon is meant.



• Discussed formalizing a ?Good Samaritan? rule. If this rule is instigated, users will have three options whenever they see objectionable material:
  1. Report the thread to a Moderator
  2. Ignore the thread, and not post anything into it
  3. Post in the thread without informing a Mod, and get banned.
  This discussion was precipitated by an instance of a thread filled with profanity and explicit sexual content existing for over a day before a Mod happened to click on it. This sort of thing should be immediately reported.



• A bunch of notes from FanForce. We realized just how sneaky FanForce can be about announcing things (They?re really good at hiding important announcements). There was a bit of confusion and let's leave it at that.



• The_Modfather called for the immediate banning of The_ModfatherII, who didn?t show the proper respect.



• Discussion as to whether VIP?s could create polls in Census. It was pointed out that the problem isn?t whether or not they can create polls in Census, but that they are creating polls in Census. The current policy is now that Mods and ex-Mods only are allowed to create them.



• ?Arm the thread-locks, prepare a full spread of IP-Bans. Set course: 16 point 5 mark 02. ?
  ?Course laid in, sir.?
  ?Engage, and may the Force be with us??

 

oh yea, gotta watch them FanForce types...

I bet one of you all of the sudden went "WTF! Hama's an ADMIN!"

¤Night

 

ahh... i see...

it all looks reasonable from my point of view.
so, i should keep an eye on my peers, and watch for any thing that may be seen as short-sighted, glaring attempts at eye-sore threads...

 

Awesome. Thanks guys.

 

Just so you know, this update doesn't fully convey how much hate there has been in the Mod Squad lately.

 

1. Report the thread to a Moderator

remember what Mr. Brady told Cindy about what people think of a tattletale....

2. Ignore the thread, and not post anything into it

um. ok...I can do that...


3. Post in the thread without informing a Mod, and get banned.

you know, sometimes people read the first few posts, and skim the rest. Users should not be banned for posting in a thread containing such language. We may honestly have not seen it. I understand that we're about to be innundated with new users, and all sorts of shenanigans, but I hardly see why you'd want to ban people for not informing a mod. After all, it's not our responsibility. Please don't think I am trying to be confrontational; as many mods can vouch, if I see something inappropriate, I send PM's to any mod I happen to find as online, but we're not here to catch this stuff, that is why we have you, our trusted leadership....

whenever they see objectionable material

ah, but what is objectionable to one user might not be to another. That's why we have Mods, to enforce the rules of the JC, not eveyday users, interpreting them to their own ends..

just my $.02 i don't think that formailizing that rule is a good idea...

 

Far too many people hop onto a spam bandwagon and post in inappropriate threads (or clearly spam-oriented threads). If it isn't appropriate, don't post in it.

Look and think before you post.

 

Believe us the thread in question, none of that could apply. The posts were inbetween the offensive stuff, commenting on how offensive it all was. And it was stuff that would make Andrew Dice Clay blush.

 

somehow those last couple lines seemed, dare I say it?, Star Trekish in nature [face_shocked]

 

Demotions imminent, then...

 

The current policy is now that Mods and ex-Mods only are allowed to create them.

First of all, why was this decision reached? Cannot I and my other VIP brethren be allowed to handle the responsibility of creating a poll?

And how will this be enforced?

 

Like DDH said, the thread had to be seen to be believed. In all my time here on the JC, I?ve never seen anything worse. I?ve seen some individual posts that were worse, but this thread had over 50 posts that were not for the weak of stomach.


On a side note, there is now an official thread in the Mod Squad for the plotting of Kadue?s demise.

 

And throwing mangos is now an offical mode of combat.

 

Cigam, unfortunately as is the case so often, some people abusing that little SB loophole has ruined it for others. It's not a slight against you, but these things happen.


Yes, there is plotting, but all you are pretty pathetic at it. I'm feeling nice and safe at the moment.

Edit: Speeling.

 

• * Discussion as to whether VIP?s could create polls in Census. It was pointed out that the problem isn?t whether or not they can create polls in Census, but that they are creating polls in Census. The current policy is now that Mods and ex-Mods only are allowed to create them.

What's the reasoning behind this new rule?


EDIT: This was written before Kadue's post hit, didn't see it there.

It begs the question though, why can't you just moderate that forum and ensure no VIP's abuse the feature? Isn't The Gatherer the official guru of that forum?

 

oh yeah, i forgot we're supposed to give constructive critism

Discussed formalizing a ?Good Samaritan? rule. If this rule is instigated, users will have three options whenever they see objectionable material:
1. Report the thread to a Moderator
2. Ignore the thread, and not post anything into it
3. Post in the thread without informing a Mod, and get banned.
This discussion was precipitated by an instance of a thread filled with profanity and explicit sexual content existing for over a day before a Mod happened to click on it. This sort of thing should be immediately reported.

Ok, not many respect you guys more than I, but honestly, it is your job to moderate the forum. If you guys slip up, i don't see how you can punish people for taking advantage of your lapse. Now, if their indivigual post is the container for "objectionable material" then yes, by all rights and responsibilities you are to punish them, but to ban a guy who posts in the thread saying "this isn't allowed you should all edit" and not telling a mod is cruel. Appealing to the people for help may indeed garner support, and I'm sure faraday can contest to that in his appeal. But in the meantime, such a rule would become routinely ignored and would do nothing more than garner animosity.

At least that's what the leprocaun tells me. (It's so hard to make a post so serious! )

¤Night

 

but to ban a guy who posts in the thread saying "this isn't allowed you should all edit"

which he didn't say.

 

Cigam, unfortunately as is the case so often, some people abusing that little SB loophole has ruined it for others. It's not a slight against you, but these things happen.

It is a slight. That forum was created as a haven of elitism, and once again, the elitiest don't like the fact that 'normal' people can have a little fun as well.

By the way, I know we're hardly a democracy, but here are the results of the only poll I made, one on the issue if VIPs should be allowed to make polls in the Census forum:

33%
Yes (9 votes)
14%
No (4 votes)
18%
I guess so (5 votes)
33%
This is weird. (9 votes)

Besides, the precedent was already set by Jedi Greg Maddux many months ago, by giving him, another City Rep, permission. This wasn't an issue until you decided to slight me and the other VIPs. I highly doubt you'd tell R.A. Salvatore that he's spamming if he posted in there.

 

i think i read ya, banning anyone who partakes in the crude language and whatnot is perfectly all right, obligatory; but if a thread is sidetracked from it's original topic and someone replies to the original topic, or in another way, does not break one of the rules reagrding post content; then banning is mean.

¤Night

 

let's say i see a bad thread, tell mod A, and then post in it, but mod A just went offline to go to their cousin's friend's wedding and won't be around for a week, and mod B closes it, and bans me because i didn't tell him. i've PMed mods many times and they don't read it until a day or so later because they just went offline.

if the post made is objectionable in itself, then i can understand the reasoning. but if someone posts in a thread that has objectionable content, but their post doesn't then it doesn't really seem fair to ban them for simply making a post. in my opinon, it's too much gray area.

 

but if a thread is sidetracked from it's original topic and someone replies to the original topic, or in another way, does not break one of the rules reagrding post content; then banning is mean.

And yes, that's a totally different case. What happened was this:

-Thread started, it was about which is faster, an X-Wing and something else.
-normal post
-normal post
-NP
-Horrible evil stuff
-horrible evil stuff
-stuff that makes Satan sit back and say, "Wow."
-Evilness
-evilness
-Poster saying, "This is a bad thread."
-Despicable trash
-another poster pointing how bad the thread is.

To the outside observer, it just loked like a normal thread. I never clicked on it, because I wasn't interested in which vehicle was faster. To me, it just looked a good, 2 page discussion. The title wasn't anything offensive, it was just hijacked after about the third or fourth post. What we're saying is that the people who posted how bad that thread was, should take some responsibilty for doing nothing to stop it.

tell mod A, and then post in it, but mod A just went offline to go to their cousin's friend's wedding and won't be around for a week, and mod B closes it, and bans me because i didn't tell him.

You have a couple different options. If you see that mod AQ hasn't read your PM after a while, just let another one know. If things go down before you can, just let them know, and have one of the admins check either yours or our PMs. I have no problem with them going into my account to check, and I don't think any other mods would.

 

First off I'll say that the whole going into account thing (of a mod) seems like a bad idea, because i assume they have to change your password which could create problems when you try log back in; besides all random security things.

secondly, i created a whole new part of my profile just cause of what you said DDH

and anyway, seriously, users should take some responsibility for the boards, we use them after all, but expecting someone to do that, is a little over the top. Esspecialy if they're a newbie. Most of them don't know any better or even where Users Online is! In the case of an older member who should know better, perhaps you could shoot off a pm asking them to be more community-minded in the future, but a banning? that just doesn't sit well with me.

¤Night

 

If things go down before you can

that sounds like a "ban, first, ask later" way to approach things... and while i understand it's necessary in some cases, i don't think this should be one of those cases.

i agree with night that you might want to PM them saying "next time could you PM a mod, you can do that like by..." i know it's probably eaiser to click the ban button than to write a bunch of PMs PM (and i'm not trying to be fecitious, just honest) but in this case it just doesn't seem like it's worth banning people over. some of them seriously may just not know better.

 

a ban first policy is pretty cruel and unusual punishment for an internet message board, in non security matters anyway, although not entirely unjustified perhaps, it has precedents...not all crimes require guilt to be proven, just the physical act