Moderators Are People Too. (and they have opinions)

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.)

Originally posted by AceOfBase
There's no justification for that response somewhereinchina.

Yeah well I had originally posted something that got censored...to put it more mildly....Yeah Don't be a Stupid Cat.....and then I asked SO to make a new forum with an Asian focus and then yes, UK...make me a MOD! Wouldn't it be a great addition to the community to have a Mod from China?

[edit on 30-10-2004 by SomewhereInChina]

[edit on 30-10-2004 by SomewhereInChina]

Mod's are people too

Without Mod's the members will decend into chaos

Without members the Mod's will get bored

Yeah...don't be a ....ok....yo SO can you make a forum about Asian 'whatever' and make me a mod?

never ask to be a mod -
anyway i hear being a mod means you have to under go a painful initiation ritual



[Edited on 30-10-2004 by UK Wizard]

Bravo. This has been needed to be said for quite a while now.. funny part is, the people complaining about the mod's posting.. are the ones that add near no content to a thread to begin with.

There's no justification for that response somewhereinchina.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Above Top Secret Moderators Are People Too!

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.)

Give me a breakthey are all politicians and you are Huey Long. They are all under your Overlord thumb and you revel in it. ATS is merely a microcosm of the macrocosm that is America now. A manipulated and controlled environment. And you are the Dictator, The King Bush.

OMG,

TUT

I totally agree with what Skeptic said, Since I started here I've seen posts by the staff go down, more and more, unless its to help someone, or a contest was running, or something like that.
Skeptic for saying this, I think that it has needed to be said for a long time!

Edit:

Originally posted by tututkamen
Give me a breakthey are all politicians and you are Huey Long. They are all under your Overlord thumb and you revel in it. ATS is merely a microcosm of the macrocosm that is America now. A manipulated and controlled environment. And you are the Dictator, The King Bush.

tututkamen, that was an inappropriate comment. Why do you think the motto of the site is Deny Ignorance ...... You just think ATS is like that, because that is all you can see. Open your eyes man, and WAKE UP!!! You may find ATS to be a very interesting place.

[edit on 10/30/2004 by smilingsarah82]

I'll say it again; the mods in ATS are the better than I've seen in any other site. The majority of the controversial posts that seem to prompt this thread come from anyone but Mods.
I find them (the mods) helpful and responsive to my needs, and a Luddite needs help online, believe me.
With such a large and vibrant community as ATS, it is only to be expected that flaming will occur...I only hope I never get down to that.

The administration has done good work in choosing moderators.

The only real mod related problem I have run into so far is you out-debate somebody, they get mad then next thing you know a moderator (friend of theirs) is burning you a new one cause they disagree with you. I know mods are people, but people are people too. The only thing I can really add to this is Mod's sometimes need to learn to sit back and relax, debates get heated, yes, but until a rule or TOS is violated, keep that gavel out of it.
I'm still pretty new to ATS but am enjoying it so far, thought I'd throw that one out there too

I think it's great! Most boards that I have frequented...the Mods had to stay neutral, which I never understood, and is very hard to do sometimes.....but that was the rule. I find it refreshing!

Originally posted by twitchy Mod's sometimes need to learn to sit back and relax,

You've missed the whole point. The point is that the staff of this board also get heated on some of our topics, and desire to engage in debate just as much (or more so) than our members. Members sometimes need to learn to sit back and relax when moderators have opinions too.

Originally posted by tututkamen Give me a break

they are all politicians and you are Huey Long. They are all under your Overlord thumb and you revel in it.

You've been an irritant here for a long-long time, and revel in it. (DISCLAIMER: That was a comment from a staff-member with an opinion.)

I think many here often forget that before being moderators or staff members we were just members... The truth is in most cases the moderators and staff here came to this site just like everyone else.

How can one deny ignorance if one is forced to deny themselves the right to post as they wish?

I have often been afraid that staff here will feel forced to self-censor what they post because of any staff title they may have here. That is just wrong on so many levels.

There are times when we can and should post what we think, feel or observe on any given topic here.

To do otherwise goes against everything this site is about.

Sharing communications in this community in threads where you moderate or not should not be restricted because of having a title.

I would not want to be a part of this site if things were that way.

What is , was and always should be the best of ATS is inside each and every PERSON who posts here.. Remember mods are people too!

I dont think its the fact that mods debate and post their opinions he's trying to get across. I think hes stating, and a few others have as well, that mods tend to "come down" on members they disagree with.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Originally posted by tututkamen
Give me a break

they are all politicians and you are Huey Long. They are all under your Overlord thumb and you revel in it.

You've been an irritant here for a long-long time, and revel in it.

(DISCLAIMER: That was a comment from a staff-member with an opinion.)

tou�ch� (t-sh)
(Sports, Military)
and I love it here

TUT

Iv gotten in my fair share of fights with Moderators before, and never really noticed that they were Mods. Like LadyV, Mods on a few other boards that I frequent are just like "Im a Moderator, show the highest respect for me or get banned." The Moderators here are almost never like that, unless joking around, and they always voice there opinions on topics.

BTW...Im lovin the new side banner: Americans, VOTE DAMNIT!!

im new so i dont know but fredT and that lizard guy are quite nice....they take the time to u2u me when i make mistakes which i do, becoming so active so quick...they could just use the forum and make me look bad, but they tell me privately and i can go and correct myself ... very nicely done... when you have the power, it's tempting to show it....but to not show it, and for people to know you have it, is the ultimate power.... which with it comes respect

Btw, I just want to add one more tidbit to this thread..

I do beleive the mods have every right to have an opinion and actively debate in all open threads. BUT, the mods recently have been having a hissy fit over people calling them out for "being mods with opinions".

Being a leader, or moderator, or what have you, on a large message board such as ATS requires a bit of self-discipline. The ability to ignore the idiotic "moderator conspiracy" threads, and move along. Ignore them, and the VERY FEW people that make the claims.

But recently, the mods have been putting up a drama-award act about not being treated fairly. And in my opinion, the posts from the mods regarding this, and even this very thread, is unwarranted and in return adds more unneeded drama.

/me votes to raise the ATS board drama color to Orange for the day.

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.

In my experience, the mods have usually been cool and helpful. However, there are a few who have no business holding that title. Those few are biased beyond belief and incapable of any reasonable and needed neutrality. The very essence of moderating is to help steer the debate fairly.

Being a moderator oughtta mean something. As it is now, it really doesn't.