Suspensions, Mods, and Other Fun Stuff

You may have noticed a bit of, let's say, "heated discussion" happening on the Goo lately. It happens from time to time on any popular forum-based site; disagreements turn into fights and then it becomes personal. It's not unusual and I'm not really here to blame anyone.

What we do need is a clear set of Community Guidelines, more transparency regarding account suspensions, and a more robust Moderator team. Because 2 of the current Mods (Jerome and I) are not on the site as frequently as necessary, we'll be getting replaced by 2 new admins. I'm going to remain available to be a tie-breaker in case of a split decision on the new Mod team.

We're going to create an ongoing thread here in this OG Network Talk section for suspensions to explain the reason and list the duration of the suspension.

If you have a Mod nomination that you would like to make, make it here in this thread. I'll take ALL the nominations and create a poll. The 2 new Mods will be selected by me from the top 5 results of the poll. I wish I could make everyone a Mod, but that's just crazy talk.

The Moderator terms for all 4 spots will be 1-year, and we will go through a similar process next year. This way everyone who wants to be a Mod, and is recognized by their peer group as worthy, will get a chance to try it out (and probably learn it ain't as easy as it looks) :-)

Mark Goo

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 28, 2010 at 5:14pm

This is incorrect Andrew. When you are suspended, you have the ability to send a note to the Mod team. Usually, the suspended member will not get a response as the Mod team has better things to do than sitting around listening to whining. The new thread we will start will list the reason short and sweet, and the suspended member should be able to see that thread while not logged in.

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 28, 2010 at 5:18pm

We're going to put an end to deleting threads except for egregious infractions. Either way, the reason will be noted in the new thread we're starting which will cover current suspensions.

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 28, 2010 at 5:19pm

I agree with this.

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 28, 2010 at 5:20pm

This is the official thread.

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 28, 2010 at 5:22pm

I agree. I hate to see good content lost.

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 28, 2010 at 5:23pm

He's not gone for good. We'll reinstate him after the new Mods are voted in and we decide how much longer, if any, the suspension should last.

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 28, 2010 at 5:25pm

OK, We've had several days to make nominations and there are actually less noms than I figured we would have. Here are the noms that I have seen in between the rest of the content in this thread:

Lamphead Jim
Weebotech
Richard
Jonas
George
Did I miss any, or are there any others that want to throw their hat in the ring?

Permalink Reply by Don Souliere on November 28, 2010 at 5:31pm

GEORGE! hope his middle name doent start with W

Permalink Reply by mandysbus on November 28, 2010 at 7:16pm

ok i gotta comment now...
both weebo and jonas said they didnt want to be mods...
i think both of them are actually the most qualified...
i really enjoy jonas's ramblings on lava and many other lamps..
and weebos been here forever...and has an awesome collection...and knows alot about lava lamps...

maybe they also need a super moderator that can step in and quash any misguided souls...
one of the forums i'm on has moderators but they can just "blackhole bad threads til the supermoderator can deal with it...

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 29, 2010 at 8:23am

Good explanation. Thanks for the nom.

Permalink Reply by Mark Goo on November 29, 2010 at 8:26am

Thanks mandysbus,
We don't have the capability to "blackhole" a thread unfortunately, but we do have some other good tools. Are you suggesting that Jonas or Weebs wouldn't have to be here every minute, but could come in when trouble starts?

Permalink Reply by WeeboTech on November 29, 2010 at 8:33am

Thanks Jim, but I have to consider I do not have the same time as others may. I contribute to many forums.
I am however, impartial to brand and I try to be fair in interpreting a scenario and diffusing it.
A moderator is there to moderate (mediate) and guide a situation that may be getting out of hand. brand impartiality is paramount. It's about guiding a situation. Not personal preference.
Had I been here during the lava lite debacle, I would have surely stepped in to try and diffuse it.
No one deserves to be treated the way I've heard people were treated during that time period.

In respect to the context, I think there were some flames going on behind the scene in direct email that inflamed the situation with Dr.What/Shawn. it really did get out of hand and bordered on personal attacks.

Frankly, a person of responsibility and power should be wearing a flame retardant suit and understand that these things happen, but no one deserves to be attacked.

In my personal experience, it's never happened, so I have to really consider that there are personality conflicts going on. People do get upset when threads are deleted, but if a person is directed to the rules and why the situation was moderated they will at least have an understanding to the situation. I think lack of communication and agreement in policy is part of the problem.

I would hope banning to be the absolute last resort for someone who is just so unruly that you cannot accept them for the lifetime of this place. In days of yesteryear, that only occurred in rare instances. Random spammers and some stalker of a member.

Mark has stated the policy will be adjusted accordingly and I'm sure everyone will appreciate the new steps.