Emergency Services Moderation

MagicSean

I'd like to draw your attention to this thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056515417

The opening post is just an article. As a result of the article a discussion developed into how the public might be alerted to cars involved in crimes like the one in the story. The moderator intervenes and states to get back on topic. First of all I would think this was on topic. Secondly, when asked to clarify the topic the moderator simply highlights the article, accuses me of breaching the charter and goes back to the original instruction. Now I have no idea what the topic he wants us to discuss is. For all I know he could want us to spell check the article. I'm afraid to post again in the thread in case I displease him and get a ban.

This is not the first occasion I have had trouble with this moderators actions. The last time he didn't like something I said he banned me for a month without any kind of warning. And I know I am not the only one to have trouble with him either. I don't think he is suitable as a moderator. He is very unreasonable. I think he has destroyed that particular forum with his actions.

Dades

Will take a look at this in due course.

Dades

Firstly, I apologise for the delay. Real Life has been somewhat time-consuming recently, and I don't check the Helpdesk a lot so this slipped my mind.

----

As it turns out there doesn't really seem to be much substance to this. The thread was drifting off topic (down a similar route toward another topic that has clearly been discussed before) and Shield simply asked the posters to stay on topic and deleted a handful of posts that weren't related to the article.

MagicSean, you then violate one of the prime directives which is questioning a moderation decision in-thread, to which Shield replies asking you again to stay on-topic without any sanction whatsoever.

The topic was the article, and the events surrounding it. Not hypothetical situations where unmarked cars are involved in other random crimes. It may be narrow, but there's no onus on anyone to keep posting in the thread once all valid points appear have been made.

So frankly this whole charge appears contrived. If you have issues with Shield and his moderation you going to have to find something more solid than this. It's no use bemoaning a previous ban a year later when nobody has any context to it.

Dades

MagicSean

How did I violate the charter? Can you not see the difference between questioning a moderator and asking him a question? It's a big stretch to suggest that was a breach of the charter and I think you know that.

The opening post was an article with absolutely no context at all so it's ridiculous to expect people to know what they are supposed to dicuss without further clarification. It is very vague and not "narrow" as you suggest. In fact the first line in the op was "Not a new issue to this forum" so it's quite reasonable to think the op wanted to speak about the issues the incident raised as opposed to the incident itself.

If the moderator wanted the discussion to be more focused it would have been quite simple for him to say what he wanted the discussion focused on instead of issuing vague instructions. As you can probably see the thread died after his input. No doubt this was because nobody knew what they could talk about.

Dades

MagicSean wrote: »

How did I violate the charter? Can you not see the difference between questioning a moderator and asking him a question? It's a big stretch to suggest that was a breach of the charter and I think you know that.

You said:

MagicSean wrote: »

Could you clarify what the topic of the thread is? The op is just a news article.

You answered your own question.

Also, lest you forget, this is what you've posted above:

MagicSean wrote:

The opening post is just an article. As a result of the article a discussion developed into how the public might be alerted to cars involved in crimes like the one in the story. The moderator intervenes and states to get back on topic. First of all I would think this was on topic.

Clearly you disagree with the moderators decision to restrict the thread topic, so saying now you were "only asking a question" doesn't cut it.

So again, given the fact that you were not sanctioned in any way, I don't see what the deal is.

And finally this certainly doesn't warrant a Helpdesk thread, especially given you didn't even attempt to sort this out via PM before coming here.

I'm done here.

MagicSean

Dades wrote: »

You said:

You answered your own question.

A news article is not a topic. It is a source. It could refer to the incident itself, the rise in crime, the use of certain methods of committing crimes, the methods of law enforcement to prevent such crimes etc... If a mod wishes the topic to remain narrow it's not too much to ask that he states this.

Dades wrote: »

Also, lest you forget, this is what you've posted above:

Clearly you disagree with the moderators decision to restrict the thread topic, so saying now you were "only asking a question" doesn't cut it.

I have no problem with him restricting the conversation. My problem is that he would not clarify what he wanted it restricted to. As I said, I thought we were still on topic so I was unsure what he wanted.

Dades wrote: »

So again, given the fact that you were not sanctioned in any way, I don't see what the deal is.

The deal is that he has interupted a thread for apparently no reason and effectively destroyed it by issuing pointlessly vague instruction. I wanted to bring this action to the attention of those in charge. I thought this was the forum for this. The erratic decisions in the ES forum make it very difficult to post in without fear of infraction.

Dades wrote: »

And finally this certainly doesn't warrant a Helpdesk thread, especially given you didn't even attempt to sort this out via PM before coming here.

Sorry if I wasted your time. The last time I tried to deal with this mod via PM was in relation to an infraction and he ignored me so I didn't see the point in doing it again.

Dades wrote: »

I'm done here.

I noticed that the mod is also a mod here so I wasn't particularly hopeful that anything would be done. I would welcome his input though as to why he felt the need to threaten an infraction instead of just clarifying how he would like the thread discussion focused which was a perfectly reasonable information request in my opinion. I notice there is a new thread on the ES forum about an incident in Tipperary which has already tangented onto a discussion about armed Gardaí. I trust that if he is to remain consistent he will refocus this thread back to the article too.

Dades

MagicSean wrote: »

I noticed that the mod is also a mod here so I wasn't particularly hopeful that anything would be done. I would welcome his input though as to why he felt the need to threaten an infraction instead of just clarifying how he would like the thread discussion focused which was a perfectly reasonable information request in my opinion.

Firstly, you weren't threatened with an infraction. It was pointed out that that what you were doing was in violation of the ES (and any) charter. I find your assertion in keeping with the false sense of oppression you appear to have.

Secondly, you could have "welcomed his input" via PM instead of posting a Helpdesk thread.

MagicSean

I guess you are right. It was pointless to post a thread here.

Asiaprod

Excellent. Then I will mark this thread resolved.