Sorry, but I'm going to have to pull a trick out of Ross/Aggy's bag here. Don't mind me, I'm just bitching about problems that effect everyone.
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Wow, I love how people read "serving detention" under a person's name and immediately assume they're permanently banned. Whatever happened to knowing a person is banned when their title reads: "BANNED"?
I, like most of the staff, am a full time college student going through finals. We dont come around the boards much at this time except for things that require immediate attention. Aggy broke some rules and is being taken away for a while. Even if you ignore that, he posted Ross's hate list which last I recall goes on about a hundred or so members. Emmzee was put into detention for failure to do something he was told to do in a prior detention. A permission bug from the updates actually banned him, but the effect is still the same. He's gone for the public boards for the time alloted.
Several problems with that. If there is no one here willing to spend time moderating then what is the point of having moderators in the first place? If you are not going to spend time actually doing your job here then why do you keep the green letters above your name? For status? Obviously something has been very wrong here for a long time, for the love of god Ross pointed this out months ago with the whole Berkut thing yet all that came out of that was "lul Ross has an alt lolol". Nothing changed as a result of that even though there was proof that there was a problem.
If posting a hate list is grounds for being thrown in jail, well, remind me to never post a screenshot of my ignore list here because that just goes on for pages.
I'm not sure why Emmzee was "thrown in jail" but the fact that he has been banned for 2 weeks without the moderators questioning it even though it was supposed to be just jail time makes me question whether any of you guys are aware of what each other are doing. It also makes me question, once again, if you really are trying to be mods so that you can help build a community or whether you just want the shiny badge on your chest without doing any of the work that it entails. Permission bug or not you guys obviously didn't notice the fact that his User name subtitle said "BANNED" as opposed to "In Detention", which screams negligence on the entire mod team's part.
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I'm for banning people outright. It keeps this sort of bitching from happening. Dont go off saying that'll just drive people away, because there are plenty of boards out there that do so and they flourish regardless. Ghost is a softie and is adamant about giving people more than one chance. You guys are getting your chances, you still bitch anyways. You dont have to be here, so if you dont like what's going on you should leave.
I'm pretty sure I heard Ennui from Gearbox say something to that effect during the crackdown on the HCE section, which also was around the time people stopped going to Gearbox. I've never had much of a problem with outright bannings because while for the most part I generally seem like an asshole/goof off I know when to shut the fuck up when the time suits it. However, I think one of the biggest things that draws people to this forum is the fact that we are so open about our rules -- Try posting one of our "LOL PENIS" topics on Gearbox and I can already predict an instaban/warning spree.
However, this openness is being directly threatened by the fact that the mods aren't protecting new members -- I've gotten away with things on this forum that are terrible, look at the thread that kicked this whole mess off. I think it's safe to say a rant like that would guarantee me a nice cold cell in the ban bin anywhere else. That particular topic touched a nerve on me because I can't stand it when people do things that are obviously destructive of expensive and hard to find equipment that could have been purchased by someone who would value it instead of destroying it. Regardless, my flame was uncalled for and out of hand. I should have been given a warning in that case, but instead the thread was actually unlocked so I could go back in and cause more trouble. This time it was for an experienced member, but if a noob came in here with that attitude and blatant disregard for the condition of his hardware, I would have done exactly the same thing and would probably have scared the guy off.
The fact that I honestly haven't seen Jcap or Ghost post on this site in months doesn't help either. Yes, now we have Polar Bear as a [strike]mod[strike] admin. Thats 1 administrator watching an entire site with thousands of members.
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It's quite simple. We're not here to arbitrate your personal grievances against other people. We're here to ensure the forum has no major problems and continues to function. Anything more than that is a bonus, really. It's getting ridiculous. You bitch when I'm not around to do things, then on the free weekends when I'm able to actually read the boards and moderate I get bitched at for enforcing violations I come across.
Obviously that is going well considering there are about 10,000 of these threads floating around in off-topic. You've been though high school history, you know how well brushing issues off did for King Louis XVI of France right before his government was overthrown? Ignoring the crowds of pissed off people does not fix problems, it lets them fester and grow until something like this happens.
As for the second thing, what exactly is keeping you stuck as a moderator here? Last I checked there wasn't any rule anywhere that said a mod could not step down. If you don't like hearing people telling the mods, the ones with power in this quasi-democratic system about their problems then I don't think that you should be a mod. Hell, this applies to every mod. If you can't put the time and effort into keeping the community a safe and productive place then step down and let someone more worthy take your place. Modship should not be simply a tool to exert your power over others. Modship should not be used as a tool to show yourself how cool you think you are. Modship should be a symbol of your devotion to keeping the community healthy. And to be honest the only ones I have seen here all day actively showing this spirit are the ones you are saying are bitching unjustly. The ones who had enough balls to say that there is a problem and to try and bring it to everyone's attention. The ones who have tried and tried again to bring these problems to your attention. The ones who have spent their time and energy on a god damn forum for 2 half dead games that somehow manages to thrive even with these limitations. What we have here is a community, a family. This family is being slowly destroyed by this.