Admins currently online

Bodhisopha

...is a feature i'd like to see for those rare occasions when you urgently need a mod and there are none online, or they are just ignoring your pm's.

What say you?

Tallon

Little green dot beside the username means they're online

Also, if you go to their profile it will say

Unless of course, they have it off, which imo, Mods shouldn't be allowed use

TheZohanS

A lot of mods go invisible when online. It should be mandatory for them to be visible so that users have an idea who to contact, happens a lot late at night in AH when threads get mysteriously closed and no mod note is left.

Example: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056207357&page=2 closed over two hours ago and no reason given.

Shield

Admins or mods? Mods can only help you with something that is specific to the forums they mod.

Bodhisopha wrote: »

...is a feature i'd like to see for those rare occasions when you urgently need a mod and there are none online, or they are just ignoring your pm's.

What say you?

Bodhisopha

Tallon wrote: »

Little green dot beside the username means they're online

Also, if you go to their profile it will say

Unless of course, they have it off, which imo, Mods shouldn't be allowed use

I'm not a complete idiot!

The problem is, where do i find out who the admins are? Where do i find out what mods and category mods are currently online without having to, go onto the forum, click on their name, see they're not online and move onto the next one. I could be all night doing that.

I'd like a feature that shows all mods and admins across the site that are currently online.

I agree with you two that all mods should be visable and mod notes left on closed threads.

Bodhisopha

psni wrote: »

Admins or mods? Mods can only help you with something that is specific to the forums they mod.

Well, when a mod isn't available, or in my case just not replying to me, it would be good to be able to contact an admin imho.

RolandIRL

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showgroups.php

Shows a list of all the admins/CMods, but i'm not sure they should always have to answer the PMs straight away. they do have their own lives, and may just want to browse boards without being bothered.

Gordon

I reckon all Mods should be invisible, stealth mode lets you sneak up on troublemakers

Toto Wolfcastle

As someone who spends an awful lot of time with an admin, I would hate to see this. If such a list existed then they'd constantly be getting 'urgent' PMs. As it is I'm sure they get an awful lot of PMs but they are volunteers and should be able to decide whether or not to reply immediately. If they were seen to be online they'd be replying to PMs all day. It would take away any bit of enjoyment they get from the site. Plus I'd be ignored.

The Hill Billy

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Well, when a mod isn't available, or in my case just not replying to me, it would be good to be able to contact an admin imho.

How do you know that they are just not replying to you? If you've reported a problem they may be working on it in the the background.

You need to remember that this is a BIG site that Mods, CMods & Admins help run on a volunteer basis. It is unreasonable to expect that you'd be able to contact someone directly about an issue & receive an immediate reponse. That's why there's the report post function, plus the Help Desk & Feedback fora.

Darragh

You can always ping me at darragh@boards.ie.

I check my email regularly.

If I don't respond, it's either that I'm working on something else or I've contacted the appropriate person to make what you want to happen, happen. I'll do my best to respond to everyone as soon as I can.

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Well, when a mod isn't available, or in my case just not replying to me, it would be good to be able to contact an admin imho.

As others have said, Moderators and Admins are both always busy and are volunteers. They always do get to things though. Realistically, if you contact me about a moderation issue, quite likely I'll just ping it to the appropriate moderators. They should always be your first port of call, please and thanks.

You should also make use of Helpdesk and Feedback - both are monitored regularly.

Cheers

Darragh

muffler

Bodhisopha wrote: »

I'd like a feature that shows all mods and admins across the site that are currently online.

National security and all that jazz. We couldnt make that info available to the public

Would you expect the Garda Commissioner to announce how many Sergeants, Inspectors and Superintendents that are on duty at any given time?

Bodhisopha

Hill Billy wrote: »

How do you know that they are just not replying to you? If you've reported a problem they may be working on it in the the background.

You need to remember that this is a BIG site that Mods, CMods & Admins help run on a volunteer basis. It is unreasonable to expect that you'd be able to contact someone directly about an issue & receive an immediate reponse. That's why there's the report post function, plus the Help Desk & Feedback fora.

"Okay, your message has been received, we're looking into it and we'll get back to you."

Very simple.

Dudess

Bodhisopha wrote: »

or they are just ignoring your pm's.

I find that bizarre - why be a mod/admin if you're not going to reply to PM's?

Bodhisopha

Dudess wrote: »

I find that bizarre - why be a mod/admin if you're not going to reply to PM's?

Because they are only doing it on a voluntary basis and sometimes they just want to browse boards without being bothered, apparently.

Can an admin pm me please?

muffler

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Can an admin pm me please?

Probably be easier to get next Wednesday's night winning lotto numbers in advance

Darragh

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Can an admin pm me please?

PM sent.

Probably be easier to get next Wednesday's night winning lotto numbers in advance

1, 4, 11, 17, 24, 33 and bonus of 16.

muffler

Darragh wrote: »

1, 4, 11, 17, 24, 33 and bonus of 16.

I wouldn't worry too much about the bonus number so long as the others are right. :cool:

All you have to do now is reply to my PM from last Monday

4zn76tysfajdxp

Tallon wrote: »

Unless of course, they have it off, which imo, Mods shouldn't be allowed use

TheZohan wrote: »

A lot of mods go invisible when online. It should be mandatory for them to be visible so that users have an idea who to contact

Dunno if I would agree with this tbh. What if you're on your mobile? The mod who closed the thread TheZohan linked to was obviously incorrect in closing it without a note but that's an exception, not the norm.* Sometimes when I'm online I wouldn't have the time or energy to reply to stuff right away, unless it was a seriously pressing matter. Then again, it hasn't really been an issue for me as of yet so what do I know?

*Whistles*







*Unless we're talking about a specific mod here.

Eliot Rosewater

I sometimes turn on invisible because I can't deal with all the PMs I get at once, and don't want to appear like I'm ignoring people. Yup, I'm that popular.

Some times I just come on Boards just to deal with mod stuff (Reported Post; PM about ban etc.) and won't deal with personal PMs. So, say, I didn't get around to responding to two personal PMs 'til an hour ago, but have been online twice today doing mod stuff. My concern would be that those people I'm PMing personally would think I'm being short with them, or that I don't care that much about their PM (but I really do, posters concerned!)

And it's worse if it's a non-personal PM I haven't time to reply to. I just put 15 minutes into a reply to a ban PM there that I got this afternoon. I'd been on since, but obviously the user hadn't heard from me, so they might have sent another PM or gone to DRP claiming I'm ignoring them.

Wibbs

Yea real clever showing how many admins(or mods) are online. Instant invitation for the fcukwits/spammers/trolls to charge in.

K-9

I've pm'ed a few mods and a couple have repsonded remarkably quickly. One in particular took time and a few PM's to see my point and rescinded a ban on a weekend night.

I know some just don't have the time and it takes a few days. A couple of mods never responded at all, ever, which I think is bad form. After all how often have we seen mods moan about posters not reporting posts enough! Posters don't report enough so it would be nice to get a response at some stage when we do.

Wibbs

K-9 wrote:

I've pm'ed a few mods and a couple have repsonded remarkably quickly. One in particular took time and a few PM's to see my point and rescinded a ban on a weekend night.

Fair play and kudos to the chap or chappess involved.

A couple of mods never responded at all, ever, which I think is bad form.

+1 My take? If a mod/admin consistently doesnt responds to PM's they shouldnt continue in the role. A couple of days delay? Hell yea, weve all got RL fish to fry.The odd "shíte! I forgot! :eek: " Coo. Never or tending towards it? Eh no. Bad manners if nothing else.

OldGoat

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Some times I just come on Boards just to deal with mod stuff (Reported Post; PM about ban etc.) and won't deal with personal PMs.

A duel PM system, one for Mod stuff and one for personal stuff would be a nice solution but sadly it's unfeasable according to those in the know.:(

Those of us who mod quieter forums have more time to be civil and respond to each and every PM within a reasonable timeframe but that same level of response can't be expected from every mod of the frantic few forums - desirable as that feature might be.

The Recliner

K-9 wrote: »

Posters don't report enough so it would be nice to get a response at some stage when we do.

Again it depends on the forums modded but some forums get a serious amount of reported posts

and with the best will in the world it isn't possible to reply to them, taking Mod action and the possible PM barrage that can follow takes up an awful lot of time, replying to each report would turn it into more of a full time job than it is already

Ideally there would be some automated way of replying when a Mod has read the report and decided whether to action it or not but I imagine there are more improtant things for the lads to work on

K-9

The Recliner wrote: »

Again it depends on the forums modded but some forums get a serious amount of reported posts

and with the best will in the world it isn't possible to reply to them, taking Mod action and the possible PM barrage that can follow takes up an awful lot of time, replying to each report would turn it into more of a full time job than it is already

Ideally there would be some automated way of replying when a Mod has read the report and decided whether to action it or not but I imagine there are more improtant things for the lads to work on

True. Wonder how many pm's an AH or soccer mod gets in a day, barring the ones offering sex because of the powah!

muffler

K-9 wrote: »

True. Wonder how many pm's an AH or soccer mod gets in a day, barring the ones offering sex because of the powah!

I must be modding the wrong forums

AckwelFoley

I dont think its the Admins job to deal with day to day housekeeping duties as such as there are plenty of other staffers on the non existant payroll for that.

_blank_

TheZohan wrote: »

A lot of mods go invisible when online. It should be mandatory for them to be visible so that users have an idea who to contact, happens a lot late at night in AH when threads get mysteriously closed and no mod note is left.

Example: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056207357&page=2 closed over two hours ago and no reason given.

No thanks, no way, no how.

I'm entitled to use this site as any normal user does.

I don't work for Boards.ie, my time is given voluntarily to the forums which I moderate, and nobody is going to tell me when and where I have to reply to people.

If I pop on for five minutes at lunch time to read the Soccer Forum, you can be damn sure I'm ont going to reply to PMs, of any form.

LoLth

hmmm, i sometimes forget to log out and leave the PC on at home while I'm away. I'd hate to think of a user seeing me "online" and PMing me for help and then getting all pissed off because I didnt answer for a few days.

Better option as already mentioned would be to have an admin/cmod/mod inbox that can be picked up by the pool of cmods/admins/mods perhaps a version of the admin clinic (that we use for mods) for each category? User posts and no-one can see it except the user and the mods/cmods of the category. they reply to the post and can take it to PM or have the discussion on thread if the user prefers.

not sure how much work that would be to set up though.

pickarooney

Maybe something as simple as a button in the reported posts forum that sends a PM to the person reporting the post to say it has been looked at? Some thread tools option that marks the reported post thread as [UNDER REVIEW] or [CLOSED] and auto-PMs the status to the OP; that way other mods can easily see if a thread is being handled.

I might have gone a bit off topic...

aidan_walsh

pickarooney wrote: »

Maybe something as simple as a button in the reported posts forum that sends a PM to the person reporting the post to say it has been looked at? Some thread tools option that marks the reported post thread as [UNDER REVIEW] or [CLOSED] and auto-PMs the status to the OP; that way other mods can easily see if a thread is being handled.

I might have gone a bit off topic...

Something like this has been mentioned before as well. Personally, I also don't like this idea. If I look at something and decide it doesn't need acting upon, I don't need the potential for people to start PMing saying they know I looked at it and why haven't I done anything about it yet.

Beruthiel

LoLth wrote: »

Better option as already mentioned would be to have an admin/cmod/mod inbox that can be picked up by the pool of cmods/admins/mods perhaps a version of the admin clinic (that we use for mods) for each category?

More forums to check?
How necessary would that actually be?
I mean, will someone actually die if the Mod doesn't instantly answer a PM?
A reported post will go to all mods of a particular forum + the CMod.
I really don't understand what could be so urgent that it needs an instant reply.

Sparks

Wibbs wrote: »

Yea real clever showing how many admins(or mods) are online. Instant invitation for the fcukwits/spammers/trolls to charge in.

Unless we use a random number generator to report how many are online...

K-9

Beruthiel wrote: »

More forums to check?
How necessary would that actually be?
I mean, will someone actually die if the Mod doesn't instantly answer a PM?
A reported post will go to all mods of a particular forum + the CMod.
I really don't understand what could be so urgent that it needs an instant reply.

I'd say most posters wouldn't expect an instant reply, they understand the time commitments involved. For those that do demand a reply, I'd make them wait even longer!