Suspensions, Mods, and Other Fun Stuff

[Mark Goo]

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

[mandysbus]

they could lock threads til the head modrator can make an executive decision....

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

/\ Totally agreed with Weebs on all of this. And that he'd be a good mod.

What I meant after I thought about my original comment, is that I'd certainly like to be a mod, but not a Supermod. I'd like to think I'm level-headed, and I have no brand affiliation - I love liquid motion wherever it comes from. I'd think I could calm down arguments, and (only if a thread gets completely out-of-hand) lock a thread until the big mods check it out. I'd only want to lock threads when it became clear that no one there is going to stop arguing.

Whether or not I could do it depends on how much time I need to be here, and how much I need to read all threads... I do check OG twice a day, at least. (And do mods get some sort of ticker of new posts, giving them a bit of a heads-up on when an inflammatory comment has appeared if they're keeping a close eye on said ticker?)

[Keith]

In all seriousness, I would like to propose that Dr What would make a very good moderator. He is obviously passionate about lava, he has made many very fine contributions to this site, he treats everyone fairly (at least from what we know in public, any disagreements that I have seen he has handled himself at least a well as those he has disagreed with).
I think we have all learned from the recent problem that even though this is our site because we share a love for lava, it is not really ours to use with no discretion. It belongs to and remains the property of Mark Goo. He allows moderators to review content and make decisions based on decency and relevance. I think we can go forward from here and maintain proper etiquette, and I think that Dr What would be only an asset in that pursuit.

[WeeboTech]

With all due respect, to you and Dr. What, the conflict that occurred revealed he would inappropriate as a moderator right now.

The reason for the ban was not a 100% mistake, There was a definite path and line crossed leading to the end result.
The issue is, did the behavior fit the punishment? I think not in totality, but it did reveal that there was just too much passion in a heated debate which lead to statements that triggered someone's buttons.

It's hard, sometimes, I get heated up and want to lash out in my fonts too.
I do step away a while to see how I feel later to insure I'm making an appropriate response.

Being very even, balanced and impartial is important.

Maybe at a later date, in the meantime I think the candidacy should wait.

[Keith]

That is a fair assessment, but when and where in the public forum was the line crossed? All we had was a post in chat from his accuser, who was not acting properly himself

[Mark Goo]

Unfortunately it was all deleted, but I've seen transcripts. The good news is we are going to be much more transparent from now on. We've started a suspensions thread which will cover the reasons. Thanks Keith.

[WeeboTech]

>> However unless that member is a friend of mine I cannot tell him in a PM to cool it or you may be suspended. There are times when I will address the forum with a enought is enought and deleat that area .
In the past, I would address the member, friend or not, directly and say cool it. sometimes I would do it right in the thread. There used to be a member who would rank on vendors, then somehow the vendor would find the thread and a flame war would start.
I've never had to suspend anyone. I'm fortunate in that area.
Addressing the forum with enough is enough is adequate and something I used to do.
I've done it on other forums and when I see the situation bleed into other threads continually I would raise the awareness to other moderators and/or the board owner.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Is there a way to make this thread viewable to non-members, so that someone who has been banned can visit it, in case OG can't email them?

[Mark Goo]

For a time, I made the entire site viewable to the public. This is good to do from time to time because it also allows the search spiders of Google and Yahoo see what is here and index it as well. Sorry not to run it by you and Astro first, I just realized that it was all set private late one night - and could not remember a good reason other than the bad stuff happening with the cave years ago.

[Mark Goo]

So things have worked out wonderfully. We only had a handful of nominations so there was no voting period necessary to determine the top 5. So, taking everything into consideration, we have two new - and amazing I might add - Mods to add to the team. I'll post the announcement shortly.

MG

... and close this thread.