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Hi all:
Good morning. I hope this day finds you well.
In the last few weeks, I've received numerous PMs from several users as well as my fellow admin asking me to do something about the moderator situation and deleted posts and whatnot.
I've been holding off on directly addressing the situation because these things have a way of sorting themselves out without the heavy hand of admins stepping in.
But this obviously a problem now and so I feel we need to try out some organizational changes.
Just so you guys and gals know this isn't a rash decision on my part, I want to explain what I have been reading and observing for the last month or so.
1 - A topic is started, people respond.
2 - There is a internet fight between a poster (typically Common, Jeerleader, or The Man) and Goose.
3 - Goose feels that a personal attack has been levied against him and deletes some posts.
4 - I get a nastygram from the poster who had a post deleted
Some other observations that I have seen:
1 - As far as I know, the only posts that have been deleted were posts in which Goose was directly involved. In other words, none of the posts that were deleted were on the behalf of other posters who may have been "attacked" or personally insulted. For example, I don't believe anything has been deleted on my behalf, Tennyson's behalf, Flowergirl's behalf, etc.
2 - Granted, 98% of the deleted posts I have never seen, but what I have been told from others and the few that I have seen I believe didn't qualify as crossing the line as something that should have been deleted. But as I have said, I do but a lot of trust in the mods to keep things tidy.
So all that said, here's what it going to happen....
Goose will be temporarily removed as a moderator of the board. I do not make this decision lightly and frankly it sucks for me because I like Goose and he's been a overwhelmingly positive contributor for this board on the whole.
But I believe a cooling off period is in order. We'll gauge board activity, see how things go, and if it makes sense, we'll reinstate Goose or offer a mod post to another contributor.
Final thought --
I created this board when the YDR shuttered the old place because I like all you guys and gals. I like the banter. I learn stuff from time to time. I like to write and I like to debate. I did not create this board to referee a bunch of arguments. If you want to fight and hurl insults at internet commenters, please head on over to Fox Nation. I hear they like to do that over there.
Peace and Love to you all......
The Lager Lad
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I concur and support your evaluation and actions.
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I also concur and support your evaluations and actions.
That being said, I think all involved in these personal battles need to take a step back and evaluate if what they are doing is contributing to the petty behavior and what actions they can take to "de-escalate" a situation instead of taking actions to escalate it.
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Lager, please delete my account.
Thanks.
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Goose wrote:
Lager, please delete my account.
Thanks.
Come on goose, stick around. Now we can actually debate without half of our posts being deleted when we disagree. It'll be fun.
Thank you LagerLad. The future is bright.
Last edited by The Man (3/04/2016 10:04 am)
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Lager,
I know this was a hard decision for you to make but it is a good decision for the Exchange.
Things could not continue the way they were. I am sure if needed CT can take care of moderator duties. I hope that Jeerleader gets the word and will return.
Thanks
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Got it, Lager.
If I could ask. If there are any issues that anyone feel might require attention, please either use the abuse reports or PM me directly.
I prefer not to hover over a topic. I understand there will be off-topic posts, that's no big deal.
Completely derailing a thread is a different story...as are personal attacks.
Please, please, please make sure I don't have to do my job.
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Thank you all for your support.
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I support my brother Administrator completely.
I was going to propose a suspension of Moderator privileges later this evening, fait accompli
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In case nobody else has noticed, it appears one of the posters is upset with the recent "organizational changes" and over the past several days has been going back into recent posts and either deleting them (while he still had moderator capabilities) or editing them to remove/alter what they said so that it makes the post and thread meaningless.
There is no other way to describe this except as childish, petulant behavior by someone who didn't get his way. If I remember correctly, this also happened on the old Exchange as well by the same poster at one point.
Is there anything that can be done to stop this? Otherwise numerous threads will be rendered a complicated mess and lose meaning as posts are being or deleted.