Answering a question that a few have asked...

I just want to say that this thread went better than I ever hoped it would have. I actually posted this right before I was wanting to head off to bed - figuring I'd wake to find it 404'ed - and then would open the trash to find that it had disintegrated into chaos.

Kudos ATS for making me a fool in this regard... for, yet again, reinforcing my attachment to and trust in this community.

Thank you

~Heff

Loose some good posts, get a few stellar mods. Muzzle a mad-dog here or there. Always a toss up--life--eh?

reply to post by Hefficide


Interesting insight Heff on the life of a Mod......lol....although someone here is making a few bucks...so I hope they at least give you guys a nice Holiday dinner..

Have learned more on ATS then maybe I have learned in my whole life,,,,lol...and I went to a good college.....I think I might have lost my mind without such great support this last year...I think your posts are very "human"..♥

I see mods often offering very insightful posts within threads, and I watch those posts carefully, because I consider them to be the example that we all must follow.

I had a most unpleasant exchange with a mod yesterday on a political topic, and I actually felt that he was so rude and snarky that I let fly right back at him. I did say "I expected better from a mod, but since you say you're just another poster, then....FAIL!"

Really, I felt the guy was rude, and a very poor example for a moderator. All people with power should be a good example. That doesn't mean you can't post, but the bar is set higher for you.

Let's face it: When you have "Moderator" attached to your avatar, you are no longer really "one of us"....you've gone up in to upper management, and you can come down and post with us, but you will not be treated the same. Either a bunch of kiss-ups with make it a point to agree with you and shower you with stars, or they will avoid you so as to not be on your radar.

It's lonely at the top, no?

I do like your posts, Hefficide, and I have never found your posts to be anything but professional. It's when mods go on the attack in pissy little ways that I am turned off, and can't help but wonder why they are acting that way....because they can and nobody will censor them? Again, super rare that it happens, but it did happen to me last night, and I was damned mad over it because he was a mod. We cannot forget your position just because you tell us to.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


I respect that. If a mod did attack you, do what you are supposed to do when anyone attacks you. Alert the post. Seriously. It does work.

As far as "higher standards" go? I don't have the internal wiring to process that really. From my first day here on ATS, right up until this second, I am "me" and have always held myself to what I consider ( and hope ) to be a high standard. I'll break with a bit of policy, as I know the member I am about to discuss doesn't mind at all if I refer to him here, so that I can make a point.

If you were to read the political forums regularly ( or dig up some from 2008 onward ) you might come across some extremely heated arguments and debates between a member named "neo96" and myself. To read them you'd get the impression that we hate each other.

The truth is we do not. We banter back and forth, we are paradigm based opposites, but we respect one another greatly.

If I had, at any point, "held back" because of a tag on my avatar - ATS would be bereft of some of the better left/right battles to be found on the forums.

The same rules really do apply to us as staff. The same ATS Terms & Conditions. And if you think it's no fun to get some automated message from a moderator saying that a post or thread was deleted... let me tell you that it is much more serious and stressful to get a hand typed wrist slapping from a site owner! As a mod I've had a thread closed, a couple of posts removed, and have had to eat humble pie a few times.

We are not exempt at all. But, as with anything... At work you might not see your boss getting chewed out. But, believe me, HIS boss sees it. It just happens where you cannot see it.

~Heff

reply to post by Hefficide


Well, thanks for clearing that up, Heff. From now on, I will ignore the "FORUM MODERATOR" designation and just treat the poster like any other. For the most part, as I said, most mod's posts have been insightful and respectful.

But last night.....oooh, I was steamed by it. So the gloves came off, and then I thought that perhaps I had done something wrong by doing so. Thanks for pointing out that I didn't. That makes me feel better.

As far as your posts, they are always top-notch (at least the ones that I have read). That's not arse-kissing, BTW, but my honest opinion. Life is too short to lie.

reply to post by FissionSurplus

Yes, when it comes to mods posting as members -- like Heff and others have been doing here -- then whatever designation we might have as "staff" no longer matters. Whatever we have to say on a given subject is to be taken the same as anyone else's contributions: agree with us, disagree -- it's all good. In fact, that's the way we want it. And if any member feels we've gone off topic or been abusive or committed some breach of the T&Cs, then that's what the "alert" button is for.

To be honest, one of the reasons I accepted the offer to be a mod was because I'd seen that they are held to the same standards as every other member. During my time here over the past 5 years or so, I've seen moderator posts removed as off-topic, ill-mannered and so on. I've seen mods "de-modded" for behaviour that was simply not appropriate on this site. And yes, I've seen them get banned.

If I felt that I'd suddenly get some holier-than-thou kind of status by becoming a mod, then I'd have wanted no part of it and would've declined the invitation.

Do we make mistakes sometimes? Sure we do. We're human. For example, I messed up on a fairly common mod action a few days ago. After informing other staff right away so a senior mod could re-credit the lost "penalty" points, I also sent a U2U to the member to apologise and explained that it was solely my mistake and no reflection on him/her. We don't want to cause needless upset for anyone.

About posting: during the past month-and-a-half or so that I've been on staff, I've made something like 130-odd posts on the various public (non-staff) forums. Perhaps ten percent at most were "official" posts, asking people to cool it, stay on topic and the like. The rest were just me posting like any other member -- and I'm glad to say that other members responded like they always have: sometimes they agreed, sometimes they didn't, and sometimes it seems my posts got ignored completely.

And that's fine by me.

Mike

Well Heff it is called professionalism! Even Volunteers who are asked to take on a position of authority are still that "volunteers". Their position as a "moderator" is superior than just being a poster. When you volunteer to become the "police" in any form it is hard to stand with the protesters and lob philosophical and rhetorical bombs are your opponents in a debate.

I suppose this is a tangent from the backlash of your, "I am manipulating you" thread which I found very unprofessional for a moderator. You have to understand that a moderator reflects on the forum just like a judge who can't or shouldn't go around saying he is going to lock up every person who comes in front of him for XXX offense staining the public appearance of impartially.

I will pose that many moderators have grown out of posting and become an integral part of the "community" and realize that the position of authority they hold has a public perception which effect the quality of the forum. I see them as posters who have risen above the rhetorical debate to become community problem solvers that have a higher responsibility to the forum rather than an active debater.

The answer is simple.... All any of the mods have to do is un-volunteer and join the protest again.

Peace out, Mitch