Mass Dispatch 3.0.: The Art of The General NBA Board Appeal

[Howard Mass]

In this week's addition of Mass Dispatch........

The Mass Matter will focus on the art of The General NBA Board Appeal and what users need to show in their appeals to have their Read-Only Access status overturned by The General NBA Board Moderator Appeals Committee.

The Summer General NBA Board Strike Amnesty Period is Announced.

In Ask Howard, the Questions include Users reviewing their records, How long a user can have General NBA Board Read-Only Access, How I choose the Weekly Awards., Another Awards suggestion and Our MLB, NFL and NHL Forums.

We then have our Weekly User Awards and at the end of the Awards, The General off-Topic Board gets what is coming to them for their recent actions.

After that, “Inside the Administrator's Office” is dedicated to the Summer Strike Amnesty Period and I will discuss two users with one strike who were contacted about becoming Moderators after our Winter Period and a cliffhanger that could have many users buzzing.


Let's get to The Mass Matter.


The Mass Matter: The Art of The General NBA Board Appeal and The Summer Strike Amnesty Period

I've said it once and I'll say it again, most of the PM's I get are about The General NBA Board Policy.

The majority of those are users appealing their Read-Only Access Status.

Unfortunately, most of the appeals that are sent to my inbox are not ones that The General NBA Board Moderator Appeals Committee are going to approve.

In fact, some users even ask how to appeal where it is clearly stated in our General NBA Board Policy.

This leads The Committee to believe the user did not read the General NBA Board Policy which is stuck atop The General NBA Board and it hurts the user's chances with their Appeal.

Enough of this though, here is what The Committee wants to see in an appeal from each user.

- User has Re-Read The General NBA Board Policy
- Takes responsibility for their own actions and does not blame others
- Explains how they will improve as a User
- Has been a good poster on other RealGM Forums.
- Is sincere and respectful.
- Can convince The Committee that they will not re-offend and get Strike three with no General NBA Board Access.

Those are all things a user has to do to have a chance at getting their appeal approved.

However, even if the user has all of these things in their appeal, That last part can be very difficult to sell The Committee on.

If a user has a long rap sheet on file with many violations, The Committee is usually going to swiftly vote the appeal down no matter what and it could very well take multiple appeals to convince them.

They also do not like users who make threads on their favorite team forums bashing a Moderator or The General Board.

The Committee will only approve users who follow the above points and can convince the forum that they will not re-offend and thus get a third strike with NO ACCESS to our General NBA Board.

It could take multiple appeals and there is no limit for how long a user will be on Read-Only Access Status.

I hope everyone takes my advice on the appeals and for users with only...

One General NBA Board strike or those who have SUCCESSFULLY appealed their Read-Only Access Status but maintain two trikes, our Summer Strike Amnesty Period will be taking place from July 20 to August 20.

USERS MAY NOT APPLY UNTIL JULY 20 AND MUST READ THE THREAD WHEN IT IS POSTED ON OUR GENERAL NBA BOARD.

Your appeal should have all of the stuff a Read-Only Access Appeal has in the points listed above.

Please note that if I am sent a message asking me how to appeal or with just “I want to apply for strike amnesty”, that it will be dead on arrival as The Committee will assume you did not read the thread or this post.

I will be posting information on The General NBA Board this coming Sunday morning about our Strike Amnesty period. Please do not send in your appeals before then.

To close, I want to give everyone an example of what not to say in an appeal as it will not get you any sympathy. This user also then made a thread on a team forum bashing a Moderator thinking the Committee would actually approve their appeal.

This was part of a user's appeal from the last amnesty period.

“Dear Howard Mass and realgm Mod Crew, my name is ******Im a 22 year old male from New York City with no life living in my parents basement, i have no job, wife, family or children and if you havent notice im fat and love to eat. I am currently writing a letter because i have a strike and would like it removed.


LOL!

While that is a sad story, The Committee did not believe it was true and if it was, I feel sorry for the user.

Point is, The Committee only wants serious appeals and ones that are not are dead on arrival.



ASK HOWARD

Have a question about RealGM, The Forums, An Issue you would like me to address publicly or something in general, just post it in the Ask Howard Thread of The Mass Dispatch Forum or you could send me a PM and I just might answer it in my next column

Here are this week's questions

Taco_daddy Asks: Is there a way a user can review his record for infractions or comments, good or bad?

Howard's Response: At the moment, NO. However, I do plan to start reviewing records with users who request it after The Strike Amnesty Period. There will be more details in a future edition of Mass Dispatch.


Damas Asks: So how long a user is on read only access is on the discretion of the committee correct? Is there a general estimated time the user has to wait or do they view his/her posts and then decide if they are ready for the General Board?

Howard's Response: That is correct but there really is no set timetable for how long a user could be on Read-Only Access.

My hope is the tips I provided above in The Mass Matter will lead to more users successfully appealing their Read-Only Access Status.


Maroko Asks: Well are you judging only by the quality of the text for RealGM User of the Week ? 
Not every member has the skill to write something great like Defensewins did to get that award. 
It requires a lot of time and creativity to make a gif, it's a lot of work and it shouldnt be only considered as a trolling or baiting tool. Can we have a category for the Gif of the week ? A picture is worth a thousand words

Howard's Response: I judge by a lot of things when selecting User of The Week. I do prefer users who make good posts but I do look at other user qualities too and will make exceptions like I did this week.

As for a GIF of the Week, I'll consider it in the future and you never know, a good GIF could net you a Mass Dispatch User of the Week Award.

ReturnofMVP3 Asks: Q1: Why do some boards not have mods at all (example the Winnipeg Jets board). 

Q2: Other Sport boards are quiet inactive compared to the Basketball section, will there ever be a focus to increase attention on those other boards, maybe the hockey board?

Howard's Response: We do have some vacant positions and I do hope to fill them.

One of the reasons why I started up Mass Dispatch was to use this as a platform to get more traffic for the MLB, NFL and NHL Forums.

I do have plans to do this starting with The NFL Forums in the next edition of Mass Dispatch.

As for filling Moderator positions, I hope to do this as well starting with The NFL Forums and there will be a twist next week that will have the forums buzzing.


The Weekly Mass Dispatch Awards

It's time for the Weekly Mass Dispatch Forum Awards. 

If you know of a User, Post, or Thread that deserves to be recognized, please either send me a PM or make a post on The Mass Dispatch Forum.

Your nominee might just receive an Award.

RealGM Users Of The Week

The Users On The Miami Heat Forum

This past Friday was a very difficult day for Miami Heat Fans.

No matter how you feel about how they landed LeBron James in the first place or hated the team at times like myself, for four years they have been getting the heat that comes with what happened.

When LeBron James announced he was leaving, 28 users decided to troll their forum and it was rough.

However, instead of lowering themselves and getting angry, our Miami Heat Fans simply hit the report button and all was taken care of.

They were an example of how every forum should handle a situation like that. Your all a class act.

Normally, I like to give this to only one user but The Miami Heat Fans all earned this as a group.

I am so honored to have all of you posting here and those 28 users all received the 7 day suspension with a Board Ban from our Miami Heat Forum as promised in the last edition of Mass Dispatch. They will never troll the forum again under those usernames.

Congratulations to our Miami Heat Forum!



RealGM Thread of The Week

The Official: “LeBron James returns to Cleveland” Thread on our General NBA Board.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1334059

Last Friday, I went out quickly to pick up my Sister and Niece and when I returned, the big news broke.

LeBron James announced he was going back to Cleveland.

It is a move that has shaken up The NBA and especially The Eastern Conference.

Since it was a big announcement, what better thread to read everyone's reaction than our thread on our General NBA Board.

Congratulations to our General NBA Board.


RealGM Moderator of the Week

dflash3

dflash3 was huge in stopping all of the trolls last week on our Miami Heat Forum.

It was hard to give all of those users 12 hour suspensions like I requested but he not only came through but took the time to list all of the profile links for me so I could take action.

His effort was huge and one that deserves to be recognized.

Congratulations to RealGM Miami Heat Moderator dflash3!


To Our General Off-Topic Board

It's time that you all got what you deserved.

As everyone knows, our General Off-Topic Board can be like an asylum at times. Sometimes they need a little strong arming to get in line.

This past week you made some posts to nominate candidates for the weekly awards and I really appreciate your enthusiasm but you also derailed some threads which I warned you not to do.

Because of your great participation in making Mass Dispatch a success and to keep all of you in line, I have decided that there will now be a monthly Mass Dispatch General Off-Topic Forum User of the Month Award.

The winner will be announced in The Mass Dispatch Edition that falls on the week of the last day of the month. I will be selecting the winner myself.

This means the first Mass Dispatch User of the Month Award will be awarded in two weeks.

The winner will get a special title (this will be unveiled when the first winner is selected) for the month and as an added bonus, if I determine a Roulette of Wrath is ever needed to straighten you all out, whoever is the User of the Month at the time will pick one of the two participants to start the contest and have immunity for the whole event.

This should really make things up on The General Off-Topic Board as everyone seeks this new coveted title.

Congratulations! You all got what you deserved and I totally stumped all of you.


Inside The Administrator's Office

Some users view a warning or even a General NBA Board Strike as a death sentence for ever becoming a Moderator.

This is not true.

Oklahoma City Thunder Moderator bondom34 had one General NBA Board Strike when he was contacted about becoming a Moderator on our Oklahoma City Thunder forum.

The violation he had was minor but I had my eye on him ever since The NBA Trades and Transactions Forum Moderator gave me some good reviews.

His Strike Amnesty Appeal was even turned down by The Appeals Committee.

I disagreed with The Committee's decision but did get their blessing to take bondom34 through the Moderator process. He made it through with flying colors and upon his selection as our new Oklahoma City thunder Moderator, his strike was removed.

In addition to bondom34, I contacted another user with one General NBA Board Strike about moderating another team forum. They were not interested due to time constraints and while I did fill the spot, I do plan on adding yet another to that particular forum before the NBA season starts.

So, let it be known there will be at least one new Forum Moderator on 1 of the 30 Nba Team forums before the season starts in October.

However, the next new RealGM Moderator will not be who fills that new position.

In the next edition of Mass Dispatch, I will be holding a contest which one user will emerge from as the newest member of The RealGM Moderator Team.

More details to come in next week's edition of Mass Dispatch....


Contact me

If anyone has a question, feedback, feel a user, thread or Moderator should be recognized or something they would like to see in Mass Dispatch, please post it on The Mass Dispatch Forum or send me a PM. You could even send me a note on Twitter @homassrealgm

Thanks to everyone for continuing to make the RealGM Forums the best forums on the internet.

[Maroko]

Wow congrats to my teammates heat fans indeed we deserved it and our mods crew were very efficient

I had a lot of influence in that Mass Dispatch :

- One question and the art of the general NBA Board Appeal as i requested a procedure how to do so


As for the OTB : Bird Krew

My redemption is on his way

[Gremz]

I had a lot of influence in that Mass Dispatch

Wasting Howard's time is not a good thing. For shame.

[kyphi]

You should be proud of that post, Howard. It was well written and concise. You put time and effort into it, I can tell. And, no, I'm not buttering him up.

Thanks to all the mods who had our backs during last week's reign of trolls. The trolls are dead, long live the Heat. I now somewhat understand the GB mods and how it can get to some.

[RIPskaterdude]

G-Man was robbed

[ReturnofMVP3]

1. I am co-user of the week.
2. Nice appeal layout Howard would have expected most of that to be common sense but your example proves wrong lol.
3. Good job DFlash for representing the heat board
4. More mods to the Cavs board I'd imagine.
5. I was hoping for the OTB being placed in the top forum section (since we are the best ) but I like your idea maybe it will keep some users on their best behavior.


P.s up until now only OTB posters have posted .

[MalikJoakim24]

G-Man was robbed

geddy will get it next week inshallah

[Ado05]

Good work.

[RaisingArizona]

Why you got to post my appeal statement for everyone to see? SMH

[Throwback24]

Geddy should get the award every week, congrats to Flash.

[Howard Mass]

The Strike Amnesty Period has started

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1336848

[Gremz]

Who is Geddy?

[OleSchool]

Wow congrats to my teammates heat fans indeed we deserved it and our mods crew were very efficient

I agree about the Heat board. I was lurking on the board for close to 4 days and the fans really didn't get into a flame war. Even after the announcement the majority seemed to handle the news with class and dignity.

It couldn't have been easy on the mods and they did a great job

[BossHoggin]

Good choice on bondom34, we need more of him.