Firstly, as this thread progresses, please withhold from referencing moderator names, this isn’t a thread to state that you personally feel X, Y or Z is crap. It’s a thread to attempt to finally work towards getting a clearer picture of the behaviour expected on the forum from both members AND moderators.
Over the past few months posters have been mentioning a change in the moderating of the forum. Some members of the moderation team are deemed to be doing things their way or quite frankly, you’re taking the highway. I was banned last Sunday for a week, this was my first ban for such a period and so it’s the first time I’ve experienced the behaviour which others have mentioned previously, behaviour I thought was exaggerated by posters in the wrong trying to sling some mud.
Firstly, I believe that moderators ought to moderate by the book, not by their personal opinion. I can only presume (will shortly lead onto my second point) I was banned due to what the moderator deemed as a pointless thread. Having read the CoC, at no point does it forbid the creation of ‘pointless’ threads, because quite frankly, what is a pointless thread? One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure. When I first joined the forum the feeling was very much of a pub. Posters would drop by to discuss serious topics and topics which make no sense what-so-ever. It’s what makes Bluemoon brilliant compared to other forums, as long as it’s not smut or filth, we used to be able to have a laugh.
Secondly, I know I’m not alone on this point, if you’re handed a ban or your thread is removed, you should be told why. If the thread is removed, you should receive a PM detailing why. If you’re banned, when you attempt to log in it should inform you as to why you were banned. I know the moderators sidestep this by stating they haven’t got the time however I’ve been on the admin team of a number of sites which attract a lot more active users than this, and we made sure that our moderation team kept the members informed. To the Bluemoon moderators, taking an extra two minutes out when deleting a thread to PM the user saves an extra 15 minutes moderating a ‘Where has my thread gone?’ / ’The mods sux!’ thread. We provided stock PM’s for our moderators so it was a simple copy and paste job and the member was kept happy because they were informed and didn’t feel as powerless.
Finally (for me anyway, you may have points you wish to state), I believe that a length of ban should be set across the board. As I mentioned, I’ve been on the admin team of much larger forums and we never banned users for such a time for creating spam topics – unless they’re repeat offenders. A length of ban should not be decided by a moderator in the heat of the moment as this can be open to manipulation.
That’s how I feel on some matters, over to you to post whether you agree or disagree and possibly to add your own views. As I stated, this is NOT a thread to sling mud so please don’t state that X, Y or Z do a crap job in your opinion. This is a topic to give feedback.
Ric, if you’re reading this, I hope you understand that this is a feedback thread and not an ‘I got banned, toys are out of the pram’ topic. I’ve previously made suggestions for the forum privately which you’ve looked at, this one however needs other members views.
Anyway, ta'ra I've got a hair appointment.
