Regarding administration on MSB

[Templari]

@auspice said in Regarding administration on MSB:

@misadventure said in Regarding administration on MSB:

Kick death squads in the night.

I want kitten squads in the night.

Nooooooooooooooooo! Kitteh!

Edit: Didn't quote properly the first time.

[Ghost]

I think the mistake was announcing who the moderators were, rather than simply rolling out two moderators with sanitized logins, then announcing that they are moderators.

I'm not going to soapbox again on my opinion that it doesn't matter who moderates this forum, but so long as said moderators are personalities who regularly partake in the discussions on the forum, their viability as moderators will be a constant uphill battle with the elements of this forum that love to break out the pitchforks and partake in character assassination. Face it, some people just love to tear others down. /soapbox

Another suggestion: Stage an elaborate argument between moderation on the Hog Pit. @Arkandel fires @Ganymede and @Auspice from staff as part of the argument, then states that he's creating the accounts @ModeratorUno and @ModeratorDos. Open a thread on the forum seeking PM requests for more moderators while you deal with the stress of having to fire the other two.

Announce that you're hiring myself and @surreality , but then we'll have a really big argument on the forum while you're taking PMs from people seeking to moderate, and ultimately you'll announce that neither myself or surreal are going to be moderators because we don't get along.

Then, announce that you've hired two moderators for the job, who will then login as @ModeratorUno and @ModeratorDos, but to avoid issues with the general populace you will not be announcing who they are...

...but they're actually @Ganymede and @Auspice

And while people start to consider whether or not Uno and Dos are Gany and Auspice, the three of you will have to hold this secret in trust for years to come, remembering to throw minor hostilities at each other in the Hog Pit, and then log in as your Moderator logins to write messages to your other logins to show the rest of the forum that you're using the ModStick to legislate peace between three former moderators who have fallen out of love.

Then, all you have to do is take your secret to the grave and never, ever, ever speak on behalf of VASpider using a Moderator login.

[Auspice]

@ghost

How many headaches do you give yourself on a daily basis?

[Ghost]

@auspice I gave myself a migraine trying to guess your password and login as you to make that MOD VOICE post, but I feel better now that you're suffering for it.

...or did I?

[deadculture]

@tempest You generally are pretty fun in games, yeah. And nice. And you don't abuse staff, which is also appreciated.

[Ghost]

I know I'm being flippant and I'm not trying to be a troll or make fun of anyone, but I think this is being taken far too seriously. I keep thinking about what it would actually take to create a moderator situation on this forum that doesn't result in the moderator becoming an instant target whenever they step in to actually moderate, and all I'm coming up with are things that step so far outside of the boundaries of honest, adult-like behavior that it's exhausting to consider.

People use this board for a lot of good things, but also as a demilitarized zone for attacking others. Some do it for good reasons, and others for sport, so you have to take this into account because when @Auspice and @Ganymede stick their necks out to moderate, it's only going to repeatedly create a target, and their moderation will only be accepted so long as their upvote/downvote social-media clout score remains somewhat universally accepted. Which, truly, will wax and wane based on their involvement in discussions and where they're playing which has nothing to do with moderating these forums.

WHO the moderator is, WHERE they're playing, WHAT people think about them and WHY they're moderating will always be held against a filter of people's opinion of the name following the @ symbol, but none of that has really much bearing on the actual moderation of a forum unless there are rules and guidelines for behavior to enforce.

So, what you have here, is a situation where a moderator has thrown a flag on the play, and people are arguing the validity of the moderator, the flag, the play, the reasoning behind it, any existing conflicts of interest, past history, assumed integrity, and timing of said flag.

This is your reality unless there are defined rules upon signing into the forum that are expected to be followed.

Otherwise, it's the Wild West, and sometimes John Ringo and the Cowboys roll into Tombstone, murder the Sheriff, and life goes on until the mayor finds someone brave enough to wear the badge.

[Arkandel]

@deadculture I've zero issues with @Tempest, with whom I've played before.

I just don't want to spend all this time nitpicking minor stuff. I got dank memes to post.

[ThatGuyThere]

Ok I have not read the stranger than fiction thread yet, though I will soon but how is a Mod tell people not to plot against a game even a debatable thing?
Even me who favors a total shit flinging environment to moderation thinks that is the sort of thing that should be stopped. I am all for this place being a spot to discuss games however the discussion goes but using it as a base to actually attack a game rather than just talk bad about it is definitely beyond the pale and should not be done.

[Ganymede]

@thatguythere said in Regarding administration on MSB:

Ok I have not read the stranger than fiction thread yet, though I will soon but how is a Mod tell people not to plot against a game even a debatable thing?

It's not, but, as I've been told by many, it's often not what is said but how it is said.

[surreality]

@thatguythere The concern raised was basically this: the claim that anybody was or is doing this is really, really suspect at best.

That said, I really don't object to people being reminded to not do this and don't take it as an affront. The vocal posters here (barring the old 4chan crew, so far as I know) are not people I would ever suspect of doing anything of the kind, even if some folks post about being tempted to do so once in a while.

There are, however, lurkers. Lots of them. And they're all unknowns. Some could be just too shy, some could be too scared to voice an opinion lest the hounds be loosed, but it's entirely possible there are complete shitlords in the bunch, too, who will never pipe up precisely because they know if they admitted to doing this kind of crap, they'd get roasted harder than any game they did it to and then some.

[Kanye Qwest]

@surreality said in Regarding administration on MSB:

@saosmash Honestly? Some of the names in that thread were braying for Auspice's head in this one not so long ago. I've personally observed how long they wank on a grudge and go nit-picking and twisting anything and everything into a federal case for shit to attack when they single somebody out with the intent of causing harm or humiliation or driving someone out. It's childish bully behavior, it's bullshit, and there's no excuse for it, or turning a blind eye to it and pretending it isn't happening, amongst people who claim to be adults.

And I JUST took you off ignore. That'll learn me.

[ThatGuyThere]

For me the line on what is not cool is pretty distinct, calling a game, its staff, its players, or its code base any nasty thing under the sun is one thing, saying Lets do X regardless of how minor X may be is beyond the pale.
I thought it was asinine (even if reading the post was amusing) when the WORA of old would do the prairie MU* invasions, and I feel is is just as bad the thankfully few times similar comments have popped up here.

[Seraphim73]

@kanye-qwest said in Regarding administration on MSB:

I agree with @Apos. After Auspice's turn in this thread calling people who didn't realize she wasn't using "mod voice" stupid, any subsequent MOD VOICE is just going to come off flip at best, and snarky at worst. Find a more mature way to do it.

So... people were upset that she wasn't being clear when she was being a moderator and when she was being a poster, and when she makes it clear, it's "flip at best, and snarky at worst?" And immature?

If you disagree with the statement, that's one thing, but Apos found a way to state it that wasn't a blatant personal attack:

I think it would read a thousand times more helpful if a mod just said, 'Speaking as a moderator, this thread is way off track and we need to split it."

[Meg]

@seraphim73 That's being slightly reductive to the point that @Kanye-Qwest was making. The point she was making is that @Auspice /did/ use it in a very flippant, sarcastic manner in another thread immediately after telling one thread that it was stupid not to have realized another post she made wasn't made as a moderator.

Her point wasn't about the use of MOD VOICE in and of itself.

[saosmash]

Right, but if you're GOING to use it in an obviously sarcastic way in one thread, it poisons future uses of it and makes them less clear by its very nature. Like, we're just talking about the factual history of what has happened here, not hyperbole.

[Ganymede]

@saosmash said in Regarding administration on MSB:

Right, but if you're GOING to use it in an obviously sarcastic way in one thread, it poisons future uses of it and makes them less clear by its very nature.

Counselor, would you agree with me if I were to say that, if past messages have been unclear, it would behoove the communicator to make it clearer?

And, if this is the case, would you agree with me that sticking up "MOD VOICE" at the beginning of a message would make its intent clearer?

[Kanye Qwest]

@seraphim73 said in Regarding administration on MSB:

So... people were upset that she wasn't being clear when she was being a moderator and when she was being a poster, and when she makes it clear, it's "flip at best, and snarky at worst?" And immature?

No, people had questions about her suggestion to leave something out of a thread, and her response to those questions was to heavily imply anyone who could not tell the difference between her saying something as a mod and as a poster was stupid. When there were questions about that, she sarcastically labeled something MOD VOICE in another thread. This was discussed, in this very thread. So, when someone uses all caps MOD VOICE in an attempt to seriously mod after using it in a snarky manner, that's just going to muddy the water. I'm saying once you do that with a label, you can't use that label again in the future and expect people to realize you are using it seriously.

[Thenomain]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Court of Popular Opinion. It's not always right but by god it's always loud.

We should be so lucky that the mods on a forum allow us to even have this discussion. This is not only what makes us popular, but it's what makes us Wora.

That is all.

[Apos]

@ganymede Yeah but so would, "LISTEN UP PLEBEIANS, MODERATOR HERE". And I mean that could be used as a joke and go over well but then quickly become not if someone used it pissily.

[Auspice]

@kanye-qwest said in Regarding administration on MSB:

she sarcastically labeled something MOD VOICE in another thread.

Factually incorrect.
I labeled something 'NOT MOD VOICE.'

This is also MSB. People are sarcastic at every turn.

I understand you have a vested interest in seeing me hurt in some way, shape, or form, but please at least be correct in your attacks upon me.