Moderators Are People Too. (and they have opinions), page 1


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ATS Members have flagged this thread 9 times
Topic started on 30-10-2004 @ 08:46 AM by SkepticOverlord

Above Top Secret Moderators Are People Too!

Our community has evolved from a friendly village of buddies, to a small town of congenial locals who all know each other, to a thriving city of more and more strangers. As this continues to happen, the 100's of newcomers who arrive every day have no sense of the complex history that has made the ATS discussion board what it is today. A critically important part of that history are the long-term members and staff who have played a vitally important role in helping to guide how this community evolves. Our history is important. Among the most important attributes of our history is our diverse and often opinionated staff. However, it appears as though a growing majority of newer community members prefer to see our staff express a neutral opinion, or no opinion at all. There seems to be an inability to consider that the carefully selected staff of this board are able to separate involvement in discussion from performance of moderation duties. The very nature of our topics attracts people with strong opinions who desire to engage in discussion about their position on these topics. Our staff is included in this category! It is inevitable that those who care most about the proper day-to-day operation of this community will have passionate positions on many of our core topics. Some express those opinions with more tact than others, but the fact remains, those opinions of long-term staff and long-term members have shaped what we have become. Moderators have opinions too. Time and time again, I see heated discussion where staff members are involved, and community members are presenting controversial or even confrontational positions. Sooner or later, the staff member will respond in-kind, and like clockwork, a complaint shows up through the suggestion form of "staff abuse". In about 90% of these situations, the only apparent issue is that a staff-member is "mixing it up" in a complex discussion like any other member would. The complaints always appear to simply take offense that a staff member would dare to have a strong opinion. Well, we have 'em. We're often passionate about them. It's why we're here. And making sure ATS is the place to discuss these opinions freely is why we're staff. No one will ever be banned for a given position on any topic, so there should never be any concern that your disagreement of opinion with a staff member will endanger your community status. (Unless, however, you engage in activity against the Terms & Conditions.)


reply posted on 30-10-2004 @ 09:56 AM by mrmonsoon
I can only speak for myself, but I suspect my opinion echoes many other members.

Moderators are people too-no doubt.

I will admit to all-I have a serious issue with authority-not just ATS-authority in general-my personal demon

With that said-they (mods) are expected to keep things relatively calm and in control. They MUST start with themselves first. How can you respect a mod that tells you to calm down or gives you a warning-and then turns around and does the very thing they chastised you for?

I respect mods having opinions-even being passionate about their beliefs-heaven knows I am guilty of that. The difference is many members feel they can not "open up" on mods as they feel they "open up" on them-because they are mods.

Let me give you a personal example:

I was in chat with many people and we were joking and having fun. A super mod joined in with the joking. He started after me with some harsh joking. I warned him "not to go there" but he did and more. I then replied with some harsh joking of my own-no cursing or anything-, just I was better at it than him. The whole chat boarded was laughing at him-it was a real good joke- and he could not handle it. He tried to get me banned due to it. I was VERY lucky that a more reasonable super mod was present and smoothed things over-though it still went all the way to the top-to Skeptic Overlord.
I explained the situation to SO, who was in a truly tough position-he must support his members and he must support his mods-sorry for putting you in such a tough postion-truely!
The end result was I was told to not joke so with that super mod.

Well, end of long story. My point is just this-ok either mods are people and need to take as well as give-or they need to be above all that and then we must not "give it to them", but they can’t have it both ways.

Thank you all for listening to my ranting on this issue of which I am so passionate on.
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