RealGM

Mass Dispatch 18.0

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

The Mass Matter discusses posting on Rival Teams' Forums, some comments on an incident that happened on the forum and important rules changes to prevent any incidents like this from happening again. We also have Week 8 of “Beat The Commish”.

Ask Howard let's Users know where they can find past editions of Mass Dispatch and If The King Of The GOTB be impeached?

We then have our Mass Dispatch User, Thread and Moderator of The Week along with who will be The “King of The GOTB” for the month of November.

Inside The Administrator's Office discusses the one living being besides myself that has truly ever been in my office and knows more than any Moderator does about what goes on behind the scenes.

Let's get right to The Mass Matter..........................


The Mass Matter: Posting On Other Teams Forums “Beat The Commish” Week 8


Posting On Other Teams Forums

In my decade plus as an Administrator, The issue with the most tension is when a fan of one team goes to post on another team's forum.

Most of our Users constructively going over to another team's forum and discuss things.

There are the obvious occasions when a User is just going to troll and those Users are dealt with accordingly.

Unfortunately, there are other times when a good User from one Team Forum goes to a rival teams forum and there is tension based on how the User is expressing their thoughts.

While all fans can post on another team's Forum unless they have been board banned, they must post constructively and should be aware of when they are toeing a line.

One thing a rival team must NEVER do on another team's Forum is attack the fanbase even in the heat of a moment.

Here is an example with the team and player edited out.

“This is why I love reading posts from hyped up (Team name) fans like yourself. You can trash our team all you want but I love the fact that you have to preface every post you make with "If Player is healthy this year". 

I get a little kick out of that. If Ifs where candy & nuts, oh what a party we'd have!”

The problem with this post is The User is attacking Users on our Chicago Bulls Forum. My feeling is this was a heat of the moment thing between a good user and a fanbase but no User can attack a fanbase.

This set things off between a good User and a rival fan base and the dominos just piled up.

I am currently finalizing the settlement in this dispute but it is one that is going good for all parties.

The key to posting on a rival team's forum is constructive criticism, not toeing the line and never attacingk the fanbase.

While I regret that this incident happened, it made me realize that I needed to set some new policies to avoid these situations in the future.

It is IMPORTANT that EVERY User read the following

Here are some Rules changes that I am making on the Forum effective immediately.

New Rules Changes

No Attacking Other Fanbases, Users or Moderators- No User is allowed to bash another Forum or any of it's Users or Moderators ANYWHERE on the Forums.

This means no Users from say The Magic Forum can attack any of our Miami Heat Users, their community as a whole or any of their Moderators even on The Orlando Magic Forum.

Feel free to constructively criticize the team or even mention a horrible shot a player or even discuss an incident the team had but never attack the fan base or it's Moderators.

Any threads dedicated to this will be locked, moved to restricted and The Users will face discipline.

If there is a problem, please send me a PM and I will deal with it.

It might seem like one rule but it covers multiple bases. This should solve most of the problems involved in this and in future incidents.

Here are some things that will also change

- Moderators will no longer do funny edits to posts, only standard ones with the violation. I was not more clear about this in the past but these edits will be no more.

- Individual Board Bans and Suspensions will be come more common instead of your standard 3 and 7 day suspensions so good Users only get in trouble on the Forum that they committed a violation on.

All I really ask here is that Users respect each other with common courtsey and with these adjustments, I think problems will be avoided in the future.

In closing, the incident that occurred this past weekend was not on any Moderators or Users. It was on ME and regret any tension between our Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards Forums.

Your both great User Fan bases with wonderful Moderators on both sides and hope we will all continue to move forward from the incident.

If any fanbase on RealGM feels a User is toeing the line on a Forum or they are beating unfairly on another forum, please let me know via PM.

I am here for all RealGM Users and look forward to a wonderful and hopefully low conflict season.


“Beat The Commish” Week 8

My good Week 7 seemed like a flash in the pan as I was back to 8-7 this past week. The good news is I beat TheKingofSting on the tiebreaker.

Still, it was not a good week for The Commish.

Here are all of The Users and Moderators who “Beat The Commish” this week.

Users

DEEP3CL: 11-4
Greatness: 11-4
NyceEvO: 11-4
DK-All Day: 10-5
EArl: 10-5
ElectricMayhem: 10-5
bish: 9-6
RIPskaterdude: 9-6
Slot Machine: 9-6

Moderators

bondom34: 13-2
Geddy: 12-3
dream34: 11-4
Geoffrey P.: 11-4
Chuck Texas: 10-5
kdawg32086: 10-5
studcrackers: 9-6

I still need to tabulate the percentages to see which group won the week and get their wins and losses into the overall standings.

Congratulations to everyone who “Beat The Commish” this week.

Now, it is time to make your Week 9 Picks including The Thursday one by kickoff.

viewtopic.php?f=437&t=1351885



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.

Humanrefutation Asks: Hey Howard, is there an archive of these Mass Dispatches elsewhere? I've missed a couple and I don't want to ask questions that might have already been answered.

Howard's Response: All past editions of Mass Dispatch can be found on our Mass Dispatch Forum located towards the bottom of the boards.

viewforum.php?f=437

An Anonymous General Off-Topic Board User Asks: Howard, is it possible for The King of The GOTB to be impeached?

Howard's Response: The only way a “King of The GOTB” can be removed from the position is for misconduct, a new User wins User of The Month or The King is promoted to Moderator.

Hermes has not even come close to committing misconduct but did he retain his Crown this month? We shall see below unless you have already scrolled down to that part.


Mass Dispatch User, Thread and Moderator of The Week

It is time for our Weekly Awards. If you would like to nominate a User, Thread or Moderator for an Award, just make a post on The Mass Dispatch Forum or send me a PM.

Mass Dispatch User of The Week

god Shammgod

This User who has the Username of an actual former NBA Player is one of the best posters on our New York Knicks Forum.

He always is part of the discussion and giving his insight into things especialy in game threads.

Shammgod is a huge asset to our Knicks Community and one myself and The Knicks Moderators really like having around.

Congratulations to our User of The Week god Shammgod!


Mass Dispatch Thread of The Week

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1351806

The Orlando Magic Forum's “Should the Magic fire JV or wait abit” Thread

My favorite team is only game into their season and some fans already want to see head coach Jacque Vaughn get the hook. The thread is a pretty good debate between the two sides.

The Magic have been pretty obvious about being in the slow rebuild but want to see some progress this season.

I do not favor firing Jacque Vaughn in the middle of the season though. Coaches are meant to be fired and when Vaughn started, we all new he would be here for the rebuild with a chance to stay when things got good.

While I am in the keep Vaughn now camp, I do question why Maurice Harkless got a DNP last game.

It is not a long thread but it wins because it reminds us all that the season has started.

Congratulations to our Orlando Magic Forum!


Mass Dispatch Moderator of The Week

bondom34

Many of you know bondom34 as The Moderator on our Oklahoma City Thunder Forum but he also makes big contributions on our General NBA and Trade and Transactions Forums.

Some Moderators want him to take on more duties although for now, he seems content with just leading our Oklahoma City Thunder Forum.

Behind the scenes, bondom34 also nails spammers and is good at pointing out troublemakers.

It also does not hurt that bondom34 had the best record this week in “Beat The Commish” at an impressive 13-2.

One thing I really need to do is spell his real first name correctly but that will stay behind the scenes.

Congratulations to our Moderator of The Week bondom34!


General Off-Topic Board User of The Month

This was the most competitive month yet on our General Off-Topic Board.

Many users strived to win that “King Of The GOTB” title for the next month. It was close between 5 users including the former King El Turco and the current one hermes.

I expect these monthly competitions to continue from here on out.

Usually, I have a decision made a few days in advance but it was not until Monday that I decided on this month's King.

Hermes continued leadership and his pardoning of greenbeans put him over the top again this month.

Congratulations to our General Off-Topic Board User of The Month and STILL your “King Of The GOTB” hermes!



“Inside The Administrator's Office”

I had originally planned to reveal who The Mystery Moderator Candidate was this week but have decided to put that off until next week to address another matter.

I'm a very outgoing but also a very private person. This past week has had a few ups and downs for me. .
It started off last Wednesday when my sister had mysecond Niece Penelope up in Philadelphia. It was wonderful that everything well and nothing was cuter than seeing my other Niece Bella kissing her new sister.

Then, I had to mediate a dispute between two forums over a User who got suspended and I am close to resolving everything and hope The Mass Matter helped lay things out well. A lot of stuff happens behind the scenes here and it's always nice when things seem to be working out.

Unfortunately, the next event of the roller coaster week was not a good one.

My cat and my best buddy Poopsie passed away Wednesday morning.

Back in 1999 during my Senior Year of High School, my folks wanted to get my sister a cat. So, on Thanksgiving weekend, they found a little kitty and we went to go pick it up.

This little kitty was part of a litter that had been abused although she was very happy and full of energy. She ran around the house like a maniac for so many years and was lightning fast.

One year later, I joined up with RealGM.com a few weeks after they had launched and while it was not as time consuming like it is now, it did take some work to help get things started around here. There were definitely things that needed my attention.

Poopsie also almost always wanted my attention though. Whenever I was busy doing work on the computer and felt I was not giving here my attention, Poopsie would jump behind the Computer Cabinet and turn off the power.. No joke! She did this very often no matter how hard we tried to block things off and every time she did it, I would scream POOPSIE!

When I wanted to go in my room and do some work without Poopsie bugging me, I'd put Poopsie in the living room and run to my room. That Cat would always chase me and when I closed my door, she would be on my side of the door.

Eventually, my family got a new Calico cat and my sister migrated towards that one and Poopsie officially became my Cat. Many nights Poopsie would stay with me and still hung around me after being at college during the weekdays.

Poopsie was a loyal Cat and maybe the only living being that was ever truly Inside my office.

She knew secrets that the Moderator Staff never knew as she always saw my computer screen and I would actually tell her what was going on as she did not know how to speak or read and thus could never tell a soul.

I dedicate this edition of Mass Dispatch to the one living being who ever was “Inside The Administrator's Office” Poopsie Mass.

Thank you for 15 wonderful years and may we meet again one day.

R.I.P. Poopsie


Contact Mass Dispatch

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

Congrats bondom! Great dude all around and very helpful!

Sorry on the passing of your beloved pet, Howard. I know how tough it is to lose a pet.

Thanks Howard and Smitty, and sorry to hear about Poopsie Howard, its always tough.

Sorry bout the Cat.

Glad peace is coming between the Wiz forum and Bulls Mods.

I just want it out there that I was the first one on the bondom bandwagon

sorry to hear about your cat, howie.

maybe finally confessing your everlasting love for me will make you feel better, lets give it a try

Well this is sad...

Bondom is a good selection. Very good mod, and an even better poster on the GB, which that board deseprately needs more of.

Loud and clear, I will post more on general board just for you

Congratulations to god Shammgod and bondom34.

As a Magic fan, I often question JV's rotation moves.

We are not tanking. Please change your mindset, JV.

Great job Bondoom!

Congrats, hermes!

Yeah bondom is a fine fella. Sorry to hear about your cat pal.

Awww yeah, bondom...

Sorry to hear about the cat, Howard

This thread took a real "Fry's Dog" turn. Sorry to hear about your cat. 15 years is a good life.

First, condolences on losing a companion. Never easy, and tough to explain that it matters as much as it does.
====


On the new rules of moderating:

Eh, in my opinion this is well-meaning but misguided. The point of a message board is not simply a rah-rah circle jerk where orthodox opinions get shouted into the echochamber and everyone stands around nodding in agreement, but instead to serve in part as a place to hash out and incite debate. Leastways this is why I come here: to hear informed and articulate proponents run their ideas through the demolition derby of each others' analysis and critique. And that includes scorn, good natured jests, even stinging jabs if they are funny.

This is especially key in the case of a sports message board where diehard partisans (who have no control over their team's fate) at least get to mix it up a bit with fellow fans or yes even rivals. We watch the games BECAUSE they are contests, because it is an 'us against them' surrogate for aggression. And so similarly the best and most interesting debates are in the crossfire between rival teams, when well argued. Conflict is the heart of drama, without that who cares?

In the case cited in the initial post, this was a poster who dropped in to a thread discussing the team of which he was a fan. The title of which was "[x-team] is going to [rhymes with duck]" the thread. And in that context fans of the local team attacked the team of the title, and the poster dropped in to posit a rebuttal. And in that context he was bombed for supporting his team, and gave back a little of what he got by yes occasionally getting his digs in on the oft-injured Chicago Bulls point guard. A little funny, a little mean spirited, but intelligent and witty. Mostly. But as fans in large part that's the only input we get: to give a nudge to the ribs of each other in support of our own squad. The incident quoted was not attacking posters, it was pointing out the uncomfortable truth that fans of that team have had to deal with for so long: if Derrick Rose is healthy, then ...the world! If not, not. But that's not trolling to my way of thinking, leastways not in a thread that is discussing the topic. Trolling is the intent to derail conversation into pointless arguments, whereas that is a very pointed argument: your team may be better than ours if all are healthy, and we could say the same if positions are reversed. Now discuss.

But now here's the real thing: We have lost a few good posters in years past to suspensions and outright banning. Most often in cases where they were in a debate with supporters of another team, and local moderators became defensive. Most often when they get in a real good dig for which there's no good rebuttal. Suspensions occur, then banning.

But here's the real loss, when you ban a poster and give these people a few days to think about it, they most commonly end up re-evaluating why they invest so much emotional capital in bashing around with (fellow) idiots only to suffer a spasm of helplessness when they bump up against the overweening pride of a partisan moderator. And they lose out not because of the strength of the opposing argument but because someone who has been promoted to a position of minor power does not like what they say. There is a principle in bureaucracy that the less power a person has the more likely they are to use it, and in this case that seems the real risk: giving moderators even more excuses to stifle conversation is a really bad idea. Really bad.

Because ultimately the people you lose when they are banned are people who honestly _do_ have lives outside of supporting their team, so you lose the free content provided by some very bright very successful people who move on to entertain themselves in perhaps more productive ways.

And it doesn't have to be that way. I love my personal section of RealGM in large part because the moderators there are tolerant and understand that inciting conversation and providing free content is the entire point of the site. Fans of rival teams who can get their digs in and be witty about it are welcomed. Okay and 'joned' on, but if you win you win. Hell we'll even occasionally post a trolls thread to welcome that sort of give and take when we develop a good rivalry with an opposing team. Because thats the fun of it!

And the reverse is also true, without free(-er) debate the game is less fun. The one service provided by the boards is the opportunity for free speech so long as it does not impinge on the speech of others and derail the debate. A notable civil rights leader once said "Violence is the language of the inarticulate" and my maxim has been similar "if not for the internet, you get the unibomber", because here we can blather and blow off steam and have a good time doing so. So while posters might not be sending letter bombs if people can't have a little give and take, well I'd worry instead that we'd lose out as the best and the brightest take their pixelated opinions elsewhere. I know I'd be less likely to read, much less post, if we keep losing smart savvy posters who have gotten used to a free debate to the heavy finger on the ban button of huffy moderators who are over protective. Yep, there'd be no point, and plenty of alternatives if I just want to hear the opinions of fellow fans of my team.

Plus come on, mods re-writing a posters original message is kinda funny. Why take away one of the few dubious perks of an unpaid volunteer position.

My inflation adjusted .12 cents (from 1970 dollars).

Oh and for what its worth I enjoy the heck outta the Chicago Bulls boards. The posters are all smart savvy fans of the game willing to admit when they are wrong and give as well as they get. The fanbase has grown stronger from the lean years following the Jordan era of me-too bandwagoners and the posters who are left are canny funny insightful and welcome in any debate as far as I'm concerned.

(EDIT: Just a quick note to say that I'm not trying to put words into the mouths of the Chicago board mods, of which I'm obviously not one... but doc's comments do have implications on other boards as well, on some of which I do serve as a moderator; Duck or Ben or fleet or someone will choose to respond from the Chi-board POV if they so desire)

An erudite and interesting opinion from doclinkin; a good read.

Obviously, opinions on what type of environment to foster is going to differ from one group of mods to the next... and that's fine. There shouldn't necessarily be an exact consensus, because each group of fans is a little different across a variety of variables: size of group, age, level of interest, basketball, knowledge, etc, etc. You get the point.

The Chicago forum has labored for a long time to produce a certain kind of environment on their board, cleaning it up remarkably compared to previous years. They set a certain tone, have certain rules and expectations... and it's up to other posters to fit into that environment when they visit as irregular visitors from other team board environments. It is not always desired or encouraged for posters to "get into it" the way you're describing with your 'substitute for aggression' comment, because a lot of the posters who do so are simply unable to understand the boundaries for such interactions. In some places on these boards, that flies; the Wizards board is generally a pretty together place, with mods who understand their posters and who have some flex in what they will and will not tolerate. That's great, and the product of that interaction is generally some very engaging discussion. This is not the case on every other board, however, and is the reason that some places are moderated more harshly than others, with a view towards those differing poster demographics and traits.

Not everyone is looking for the same experience on these boards, you know? Not everyone treats RealGM like a couch-surfing session with some buddies and a few brews, wherein the discussion can be a little looser in terms of propriety, a little more geared towards mostly good-natured ribbing and the like. That can be fine if everyone involved buys in and knows when to shut up, but that's very often not the case with these inter-board interactions. In his case, though,

So while it's well and good to recognize that the sort of environment you're discussing works on the Wizards board (and seems to work very well), it doesn't necessarily work in every other instance... and that means there can be a clash when people from Group A and Group B interact away from their home settings, you know?

Howard's move towards individual board bans is a specific action taken to prevent precisely the consequence you're discussing, losing good posters who've been acting out away from their home turf. This way, a guy like the poster in question in this incident would be board-banned from posting on a certain board where his brand of posting isn't appreciated or welcomed, but wouldn't be lost from the home community to which he makes his most significant contributions.

Howard's move towards individual board bans is a specific action taken to prevent precisely the consequence you're discussing, losing good posters who've been acting out away from their home turf. This way, a guy like the poster in question in this incident would be board-banned from posting on a certain board where his brand of posting isn't appreciated or welcomed, but wouldn't be lost from the home community to which he makes his most significant contributions.

Right, that's a good move, and I missed that on first pass. What I react to is the idea that you can't express an opinion on a rival fanbase or moderator or the like:

No Attacking Other Fanbases, Users or Moderators- No User is allowed to bash another Forum or any of it's Users or Moderators ANYWHERE on the Forums.

Does it get me suspended to suggest that I think that's idiotic? If so, so be it, suspend me and I'll take my opinions elsewhere and make a quiet exodus to other boards I guess.

But look: Occasionally our own fanbase gets stupid on a particular topic, and freaks out or goes chicken little, like our obsession with the Wizards bringing KD home, or our occasionally hilarious decade long trolling of LeBron James no matter where he is. And we mock ourselves for the hyperbolic reaction. Those things are all in good fun, but this sentence [quoted above] suggests no one can any longer mock Cleveland for having flammable rivers, or DC for having more rats than residents, or Oklahoma for being, well, Oklahoma.

Hell you can't even question your own mod when they get chesty. We kid our dude Miller31time all the time about basically snitching to earn his position as a mod, and he bears it well, by which I mean he trolls right back. That flies fine on our board sure, but elsewhere? Essentially you're saying its a digital death sentence to disagree with a mod's decision or mock them even when they're as wrong as any of us on any particular topic.

Really, I've called out tsherkin a couple times on saying 'we' about teams on three different boards (years ago) and gave him the business about that (before being drowned in a tsunami of words, dude can type so fast he's a cyborg, daunting to face until you realize the fun is to see how many pages you can get him to fill). But he can take it. That's not the case with every mod on every board. Thin skinned mods are often the problem, more so than a little dust-up between fans. I have enjoyed every playoff series with the Bulls and even looked forward to certain match-ups because of their fans. A strange thing to be hoping for Chi town as a post season opponent --who figured to kick our butt, when looked at in advance -- simply because I knew I'd like the conversation. Even if they kicked our butt we'd have a good running battle in the wordplay. Even in the cross board mockery.

(The only ones I'd tend to dread would be Toronto, because all of Canada has nothing to do in the winter but play hockey or sit around and BS about sports, so there's bound to be a flood of 'em any time we get in a crossfire on a topic. And worse, in general they are so darned good natured and polite about it, and have no real bandwagoner fans, that you can't work up a good healthy detestation and contempt for them.)

But moderators can't be above approbation. There have been a wide spectrum of mods over the years, some good some less so. The one thing that holds them truly in line is a the judgement of the mob. Yes global mods and administrators can demote or appoint, but if mods hove the power to peek onto another's board and note a word of disdain or critique or --WORSE-- a fan blowing off steam about an opposing teams fans, or your own fans even, and then reflexively ban them, well it seems, frankly sphinctercephalic in my opinion. Again, as worded, that sort of thing would not be prevented by a single board ban, but would require a global suspension or ban. And a voice would be choked out or executed for offering a dissenting voice simply for disagreeing with a bassackwards decision or policy or even laughing at a mob of fans who for a moment have lost their head for one reason or another.

It's an overreaction to a 'problem' that is not actually a problem but is actually one of the _strengths_ of a message board, and is a reason why I for one am, on this board in particular. But enforcement of it would lead to a circular firing squad, or witch hunt wherein posters could skulk each others boards looking for an errant word then PMing their own mods to focus their crosshairs on another board and snuff a poster for a perceived slight. Or a joke. Or whatever. The potential for abuse is heavy.

ANYTHING that prevents dialogue, even occasionally contentious or cantankerous dialogue, works against the purpose of a message board. Especially one built to discuss the sometimes tense relationships between rival cities, fanbases etc developed in the context of a game. We're supposed to choose sides and try to win, that's what it is all about. And anything that empowers a mod to asphyxiate a poster on another's board for expressing an opinion, is a really really bad idea as far as I'm concerned. Ought to be reconsidered.

I guess I'm saying by the Terms of Service at least we're all grown-ups here and it seems to me smarter to give a little bit of slack in this sort of thing instead of getting draconian and trying to squelch dissent as a means to foster artificial good will. That sort of thing just doesn't work all that well.

doclinkin wrote:
Right, that's a good move, and I missed that on first pass. What I react to is the idea that you can't express an opinion on a rival fanbase or moderator or the like:

I still believe it's important to respect the differing environments of other team boards, you know? That's the way we've run things for a long time, and it generally works out well. If the mods want to foster that sort of environment, then they are freely able to create a "no-holds barred" thread as an alternative, and moderate it differently than their usual gamethread, for example. There are alternatives. This is something which could be hashed out between team board mod teams that have meaningful rivalries, for example.

Does it get me suspended to suggest that I think that's idiotic? If so, so be it, suspend me and I'll take my opinions elsewhere and make a quiet exodus to other boards I guess.

'Bashing' and 'appropriately expressing in the correct forum' are separate things. The Feedback forum exists for a reason; so too does this thread. If you show some basic respect for the people involved and the channels of discussion, then there are no problems.

Hell you can't even question your own mod when they get chesty. We kid our dude Miller31time all the time about basically snitching to earn his position as a mod, and he bears it well, by which I mean he trolls right back. That flies fine on our board sure, but elsewhere? Essentially you're saying its a digital death sentence to disagree with a mod's decision or mock them even when they're as wrong as any of us on any particular topic.

Yep, if you haven't established that certain mod on a certain forum is cool with that, don't. Some mods will be happy to oblige, some will not. On a given board, we will try to maintain consistency, but across boards is a different story. The GB? Don't bother, it's a waste of your time. Mods don't typically form personal connections there because the user base is too large and too frustrating.

Really, I've called out tsherkin a couple times on saying 'we' about teams on three different boards (years ago) and gave him the business about that (before being drowned in a tsunami of words, dude can type so fast he's a cyborg, daunting to face until you realize the fun is to see how many pages you can get him to fill).

Yeah, those were mildly frustrating, but also amusing times. I don't follow basketball the way lots of people would prefer, I connect to multiple teams... and 'we' is a habitual use for me... more of a 'fit into the moment' kind of comment, so at the time, I could see how you and Dat and some of the others who were long-suffering Bullets/Zards fans wouldn't necessarily appreciate it.

Anyway, quick-trigger reactions away from the CA or GB forums are usually not for the best; team boards are explicitly supposed to be looser environments so fans can let off some steam, and the mods usually get this. It's more the cross-board posting that causes some troubles.

(The only ones I'd tend to dread would be Toronto, because all of Canada has nothing to do in the winter but play hockey or sit around and BS about sports, so there's bound to be a flood of 'em any time we get in a crossfire on a topic. And worse, in general they are so darned good natured and polite about it, and have no real bandwagoner fans, that you can't work up a good healthy detestation and contempt for them.)

This is perhaps the most amusing troll job I've read in a while, doc; I'd forgotten your deftness.

But moderators can't be above approbation. There have been a wide spectrum of mods over the years, some good some less so. The one thing that holds them truly in line is a the judgement of the mob. Yes global mods and administrators can demote or appoint, but if mods hove the power to peek onto another's board and note a word of disdain or critique or --WORSE-- a fan blowing off steam about an opposing teams fans, or your own fans even, and then reflexively ban them, well it seems, frankly sphinctercephalic in my opinion.

There are actually mod policies in place where we're generally supposed to only mod on the boards with our names. There has been some unpleasantness over this in the past, which was the genesis of that policy from Howard. And I agree, really; team board mods should not be pulling moderator action off of their own boards. Any time they see something they don't feel appropriate, the first move should be to contact a local team mod and try to hash it out that way, and if that doesn't work, there's Howard as an intermediary for dialog.

It's an overreaction to a 'problem' that is not actually a problem but is actually one of the _strengths_ of a message board, and is a reason why I for one am, on this board in particular. But enforcement of it would lead to a circular firing squad, or witch hunt wherein posters could skulk each others boards looking for an errant word then PMing their own mods to focus their crosshairs on another board and snuff a poster for a perceived slight. Or a joke. Or whatever. The potential for abuse is heavy.

Keep in mind that we don't ban posters as mods (even globals). We can 12-hour, and then we can submit for review to Howard for any kind of longer suspension or ban option. He then reviews the situation. He can also see posts as they were prior to any edits, so even a mod trying to edit things out of the way can't cover up the original statements to screw over a given user. And he's always been careful to, as was the case in this situation, about assessing possible poster value to his local board before outright banning posters.

I guess I'm saying by the Terms of Service at least we're all grown-ups here

The problem with this statement is that it is eminently untrue; all too often, we see that posters don't even READ the TOS, or the GB policy, nor bother to respect it, which is why we have such frequent moderator action in the first place.



All that said, your feedback is valued for the way you've chosen to present it, and as a useful counterpoint to the thought process which led us here, so thank you for your input and the continuing dialog. Howard and the mod team are always looking for ways to improve the user experience, for sure, which is why we've seen the elastic, adaptable policies which have been implemented over the years.