The Issue Of Religiously Inspired Topics on ATS and BTS, page 5

As many off you know, I'm one of the newer mods, so my perspective has remained more one of a member than anything else, and I intend to keep it that way. So while I'm seeing the problems and disputes from the position of a moderator, I want you to understand that I'm speaking as one member to another.

Everyone thinks their own "problems" here are all staff have to worry about. Because you sit alone at that keyboard and interact with only a limited set of other posters, it seems like any problem you see should be obvious.

But we had between 5000 and 6000 posts in 24 hours. Figure that math out. I'm not sure how many mods are here at any given time. But trust me, sometimes staff is busier than a one legged man in the middle of a square dance.

We tryhard to give each decision our full attention. To discuss it and reach the right action, or non action, that we can. You may not agree with what the results are, but these actions are taken to keep things moving as smoothly as possible.

The perception of gangs can form in every forum, not just the CiR or SS forums. When a poster comes in and makes some hardcore definative statement and eleven more agree, like nodding bobble heads, and the statement gets 22 stars in a half an hour, people tend to see gangs.

When the positions, and even the speech patterns and idioms, reflect more in common than is thought normal for individuals from diverse areas and backgrounds Then people see gangs.

Now what we percieve may not always be true. But mods are people too. They see it much like it appears to the average person.

There's a cure for this though. If you agree with someone else, fine. But you don't have to say so unless you have another point of reasoning to bring up. It looks like piling on when seven people point out that the video of a UFO seems to have bird wings.

Don't use stars just to say "You Rock". To me these are for posts of exceptional quality and depth, showing good reasoning or research. I don't cheapen them, or myself, by handing them out like party favors. And look for a post every day from someone you don't agree with that's worth a star. (You'll be surprised.)

But most of all, moderate yourselves. The less we have to do, the better you'll like us. Half of our tasks are to keep people On Topic, and not on each other. And another fourth is to make people stop/slow down when posting in anger. If there was a 30 second delay, where you had to hold down a button to post, I think a lot of the anger here would abate. Don't force us into the role of keepers; be keepers of yourself.

Why do I say all these things as if I knew them to be true? I've been as guilty as any of you. I'm speaking from experience. We can all learn by experience, or we can remain as we are, basking in a false sense of perfection.

But in the words of Dr. Phil, "Hows that working for you?"