Site is a graveyard - How can boards save itself? [Threadbanned users in 1st post]

(Added this to my last post, but decided to edit and post it separately as BBOC had already responded….)

With all due respect, @Big Bag of Chips you've said yourself that you moderate two forums, you do it to the letter of their charters, and you don't go into some of the other more contentious areas.

I think we all learned in this thread that very few of the issues in moderation get far as the eyes of the admins.

Maybe it would be better to allocate some time (a few weeks?) to visit and review some of these areas and see for yourself what goes on so you can get the full picture, and also review the charters, before making any changes.

I will add, that if Mods need to feel the support of CMods and Admins, then posters need to feel they will be supported by them to, if they report being treated in an unfair manner.

Right now, how many posters in this thread have said they won't even bother trying to dispute anything? Why do you really think that is?

"And posters are often sided with against the actions of a moderator."

Often? Apologies in advance, but I genuinely doubt that.

Well, I've put my thoughts out there, as best I can. That's all I can do.

Maybe we will see some improvement (on both sides) after this thread. Maybe not.

A bit of both.

I'm basing it on experiences that have been shared with me by others and also from the many dispute threads I have read in the Helpdesk, and on the Dispute Resolution Archive.

Whatever those statistics actually are, they don't include the number of posters who won't even open a dispute because they feel it's not worth it, or if they do it will put a target on their back. Posters do talk to each other by pm about these things.

OK but what is 'muppetry' and who defines it?

I reckon you should explain it in detail with good examples across the various forums.

Then put it to a poll?

All the drama seems to be in a couple of forums instigated by the same few people.

I've always appreciated the practical community information sharing and the time mods give to keeping this service alive.

I always avoided afterhours and most CA affairs as they just seemed full of people lashing out at everyone from behind a vail of anonymity. I don't know what the answer is to this pointless behaviour.

Perhaps we're still in the juvenile phase of the internet with the initial fun playschool days behind us.

That's really interesting.

I was getting very frustrated with one poster who was idiotically spamming a thread, throwing digs at everyone, usual nonsense behaviour we've been talking about. Yet when I looked at their contributions to forums where they were a mod there was none of the awful behaviour.

There must some power tripping thing where some they think that being a mod in one forum means they can shyte endlessly elaswhere.

I think that 3rd party non mod account could work well if it kept everyone feeling they're on an equal footing.

Thanks for that.

I'm not trying to be difficult I can assure you, but how do you even define 'Don't be a dick'. You might say it's something you recognise when you see it, but doesn't everyone see things differently (hopefully)? Is there any guidance around the idea or does it come down to each moderator and how they feel at any given time as what is 'Don't be a dick'.

For that matter am I engaging in 'being a dick' or 'muppetry' here?? Honest answer.

My user name is carefully chosen as I'm probably a bit of a contrarian in some peoples eyes. But contrarians are useful in that they will question assumptions & group think etc. My observation is that we have quite a few sheeple here - yes people and we also have a good sprinkling of contrarians.