FaaipDeOiad said:
Anyone who seriously thinks that the bannings in the last couple of days are consistent with the usual moderation policies on this site is deluded or simply doesn't read many threads.
The 'usual moderation' wasn't up to the standard that it is now. Just because people didn't get warned for breaking rules in the past doesn't mean they can't be warned for breaking rules in the future. The rules are there, if you break them, that's your problem.
In response to PY, I don't have a "beef" with Dan, but I certainly noticed, as I'm sure everyone else did, that as soon as he became a mod things which would have passed without notice suddenly became the subject of warnings. You can call that a power trip or just "enforcing the rules" or whatever, but I find it far more detrimental to the atmosphere on the site to have people getting banned for saying *** and warned for writing a few asterisks than if they went unchecked.
There are mods on this site that manage to find a happy balance between enforcing the rules and letting things which simply aren't important go, so I don't see why he can't be expected to do the same.
I asked the other guys if I was going too far. They said keep going. I've even had emails and IM's from members saying I'm doing a good job. Can't please everyone, mind you - that's something I learned very quick a long time ago.
Things are changing, and I respect that some of you will find it hard to adjust to immediately and some of you might find it hard to adjust to at all, but I think (based on those that have been actively involved in discussions) the majority of the guys who run the forums feel that in the long run things will improve if the rules are actually upheld. There will, of course, always be people who disagree - particularly those that have been around for a long time and enjoyed breaking the rules, be it because they are breaking rules or because they simply like to do things that just happen to be against the rules.
It's also worth noting that if you get a light warning, it's not the end of the world. Just go "okay" in your head and carry on. If you get a heavy warning, you might want to start thinking about how well you follow the rules. But as far as I'm concerned, a light warning is nothing to cry over, let alone react to in an abusive or absurd way. There are more mature ways of dealing with things, as you and others are showing quite well, than to go out all guns blazing just because a mod pointed out that you'd broken a rule and told you not to do it. I've honestly never seen people react so badly to such a simple thing, particularly when it's not even their warning.
I don't directly deal with bans at the moment so I'll not comment far on that end of things, but obviously if you keep breaking rules after receiving one or two warnings you will get banned, and if the boss feels that a single offence is bad enough to warrant a ban then that's his decision. Since these are his forums, I can hardly tell him that his opinion of what should and shouldn't happen here is all horribly wrong.
I help run forums that are far more strict than this place (although only in some ways) and I also own/run forums where a large amount of the posts would probably get you warned/banned here... so don't think this is all about my own ideals.
Fuller said:
Incidentally, I should add that I don't even necessarily disagree with all the bans. What bugs me is the massive overreaction, where a single justified warning results in the same post in 10 different threads from a single mod
Bit confused on that one. One justified warning results in ten posts from the same mod? If a mod gives a warning, surely that's that, and they don't go around posting about it in ten other threads. If you can clarify that would be great.
someone getting banned results in half a dozen normal words being censored
As stated in another thread, this is being discussed by the team so we can hopefully settle things.
and people who do nothing wrong get banned just because a few other people have already been banned that day.
Not sure on that one either.
It's every bit as disruptive to the forum as anything that any single poster might do, if not moreso.
As much as it might be an easy way out, I don't think that allowing a member to return and break rules in a 'we surrender' fashion will be taken route. I'm sure anyone with a bit of maturity can learn the rules and abide by them.