Can moderators take months off from ATS?

Hello all. I was wondering if moderators were allowed to take time off from ATS? I mean, what if the person is ill or even worse, passes away and we never know?

I hope this is okay to ask because Mirthful Me has been gone since January? Is he/she okay?

Anyway.

reply to post by Unlimitedpossibilities


He probably reached his "ban" quota.

Nah, a lot of mods (just like other members) have serious RL commitments and they often step away to attend to them.

reply to post by Unlimitedpossibilities


Real life interferes sometimes I suppose.

Then again, people need a break sometimes as well - I suspect that modding is pretty intense.

That said, we'll only know for sure if MM lets us know.

When the monkey returns.

I just hope "he" hasn't succumbed to the lure of Hollywood and decided to accept the part in the remake of "Any Which Way But Loose"

You may just as well ask "Can computers take a break"? The Artificial Intelligence chip is designed to keep Mods on ATS as much as possible. However people would become suspicious if all mods were on 24/7 - as it would seem "unnatural", that's why they're switched off certain times during the day.

Mirthful Me is in for an upgrade. I suspect NASA will have him back to us any time soon.

(But between you and me, there are no “rules” that state that a staff member are not allowed to take a break or "time off". A general rule of thumb is “a staff member’s real life circumstances and situation always comes first". If real life requires a staff member to be away for a while, then everyone is understanding about it.)


[edit on 16-5-2009 by Gemwolf]

reply to post by Gemwolf


I misread things, it seems.

I thought it was NSA rather than NASA.

I really must get some new glasses...

reply to post by Gemwolf



I'm not buying it.

We all know that mods/SuperMods don't really exist. They are nothing more than fictional characters swapped in and out of the forums as desired. It depends on what mood the PTB want to achieve at any given time.

Originally posted by jsobecky
reply to post by Gemwolf

 

I'm not buying it.

We all know that mods/SuperMods don't really exist. They are nothing more than fictional characters swapped in and out of the forums as desired. It depends on what mood the PTB want to achieve at any given time.

That is right we don't actually exsist. We are all just figments of your imagination, or robots or something. I am not really sure yet, my chip is still getting programed.

I kid of course, No sometimes we just have to attend to our real lives. Although alot of people are convinced that the mods are evil NWO sellouts or something else, we are just human and we all have families and priorities and sometimes real life prevents us from doing our mod duties.

By the way, thank you unlimitedpossibilities for your concern about one of our staff.It is always ok to ask. Asking a question no matter what it is about can never hurt. Unless the question is "Could you please hurt me?" that might hurt a little....

Originally posted by Unlimitedpossibilities
Hello all. I was wondering if moderators were allowed to take time off from ATS?

Despite what some people might think, we do all this voluntarily.

Theres no set rules for attendance, and personal lives take priority over everything else.

MM will be back all in good time I'm sure

Mods can take years off, if they need it. I was a mod for a year, stepped down for two and then came back. Those were just personal decisions that needed to be made.

Mods are just your fellow members who have real lives and sometimes have to go deal with them.

reply to post by mrwupy


Pfff, ATS ain't sea world, this is as real as it gets!

www.belowtopsecret.com...

...we're allowed to take time off?





Kidding aside, staff log-off and take time away from the board just as our members do. When real life knocks on our door or maybe even a vacation here and there, we're free to go as we wish. ...go figure!

We contribute as much as we can, as often as we can.

To all: Thank you for your responses. I think I see the picture now but am left with one other question:

How would anyone on ATS know if a moderator (or a frequent member for that matter), that takes off for a while, know that he/she has passed away? I hate even thinking about that but it is quite scary to me and mysterious.


reply to post by mrwupy


In regards to your post mrwupy, if a Moderator takes off for a year or two, should he/she at least give a heads up to the owners via email or phone call or U2U?

Originally posted by chissler
We contribute as much as we can, as often as we can.

Then there's those of us that have no life so.....

reply to post by Unlimitedpossibilities


We have our ways of looking out for one another and staying in touch. It's a thoughtful gesture that you do concern yourself with it, but I wouldn't worry too much. If the staff were aware of the passing of one of our own, I'm sure we'd inform the membership as well.

ATS is a community of like-minded people that have developed some strong relationships. I can not see a situation where we would keep online friends in the dark on such a situation.

Originally posted by Unlimitedpossibilities
reply to post by mrwupy

 

In regards to your post mrwupy, if a Moderator takes off for a year or two, should he/she at least give a heads up to the owners via email or phone call or U2U?

That is just common decency, so yes.

Mirthful Me has been very busy with RL issues, mainly a lot of work which requires extensive travel.

That said, if you should happen to see news reports about mysterious, unexplained poo-flinging incidents in various parts of the country, you can safely assume he's doing alright.

All staff members are free to come and go...unfortunately the same can't be said for S.O. or Springer...it's tough for them to get away even for a few days.

When we had several bouts of illness among my parents I took several months off and came back as member for a while before becomming a mod again.

reply to post by mrwupy AND reply to post by chissler AND reply to post by Majic



Well, yeah I get kind of freaked out when people that I met here on ATS leave for a while. If they never come back, the thought of never knowing what happened to that person is quite scary. I would loved to at least wished them a happy life.

It is good they have to let the owners know. Perhaps the ones that take leave should tell a family member to inform us here when something BIG comes up in a member/moderators life.

I do not post a lot on ATS, but we are all still humans (hopefully) .

reply to post by kinglizard


I could see that. Definitely. The owners must love/hate their job at the same time. Love it because its basically their creation and hate it when something goes awry.


reply to post by FredT


Wow. That's interesting. I guess you felt like you should get your "swing" back?