Laser Dude
Well-known member
I'll say this before I comment so it's not taken out of context, I don't know any details of anything that spurred this post. I haven't spoken to anyone about anything, so I'm not taking a side, just pointing out a personal experience.
I've been a moderator on a very large forum for years now, as well as owning and operating forums over the years. On the very large forum, there was a guy who was amazingly helpful. Super nice guy, never gave anyone any issues at all. People loved the guy. Where other's would say "Oh, not a post about ________ again", he'd take time and answer the questions and he was very knowledgable. You'd say he was a model citizen in the community.
Someone else posted something that ended up getting deleted for inappropriate content (family friendly forum), and the good guy simply asked what happened to the post because he had spent a lot of time on it and wanted to know if the inappropriate posts could be removed instead of the entire thread, in order to preserve the information.
Another moderator who thought running a forum was an extension of his previous military career sent a smart ass reply back to the guy. Well, the good guy took offense to it and asked for an apology. Nope. The moderator dug his heels in. The moderator asked all the other moderators if he was right or wrong in his actions and most of us said he was wrong and he needed to apologize to the guy.
Nope. Wasn't having any of it. All he had to do was type "I apologize, my response was inappropriate". He dug his heels in and the good guy, after over 10,000 posts in a 8 year period, walked away. When he did, about 20 other people went with him and they went to every other forum they could find and vocalized it. It left a huge hole in the forum and it started a "us vs. them" tone on the forums for at least 6 months.
Forums are a community. When valuable resources leave, it leaves a void. Sometimes it gets filled, sometimes it doesn't. But just as it's easy for a member to make a mistake and say or do something they probably shouldn't, it's just as easy for a moderator to make a mistake and do something they probably shouldn't. The moderator's aren't always right. However, they hold the power, so there is a thought process that they are always right. Not so.
In my opinion, the best moderators are those who don't rule with an iron fist or have ego issues, but those who are firm, but fair, and not above admitting they were wrong.
In my example, the moderator who was wrong resigned from moderating the forum, so we lost the moderator and the 20 good guys, all because 1 moderator said something wrong and wouldn't admit it.
Like I said, that's just a personal experience, it doesn't imply that this was or was not a moderator issue.
I've been a moderator on a very large forum for years now, as well as owning and operating forums over the years. On the very large forum, there was a guy who was amazingly helpful. Super nice guy, never gave anyone any issues at all. People loved the guy. Where other's would say "Oh, not a post about ________ again", he'd take time and answer the questions and he was very knowledgable. You'd say he was a model citizen in the community.
Someone else posted something that ended up getting deleted for inappropriate content (family friendly forum), and the good guy simply asked what happened to the post because he had spent a lot of time on it and wanted to know if the inappropriate posts could be removed instead of the entire thread, in order to preserve the information.
Another moderator who thought running a forum was an extension of his previous military career sent a smart ass reply back to the guy. Well, the good guy took offense to it and asked for an apology. Nope. The moderator dug his heels in. The moderator asked all the other moderators if he was right or wrong in his actions and most of us said he was wrong and he needed to apologize to the guy.
Nope. Wasn't having any of it. All he had to do was type "I apologize, my response was inappropriate". He dug his heels in and the good guy, after over 10,000 posts in a 8 year period, walked away. When he did, about 20 other people went with him and they went to every other forum they could find and vocalized it. It left a huge hole in the forum and it started a "us vs. them" tone on the forums for at least 6 months.
Forums are a community. When valuable resources leave, it leaves a void. Sometimes it gets filled, sometimes it doesn't. But just as it's easy for a member to make a mistake and say or do something they probably shouldn't, it's just as easy for a moderator to make a mistake and do something they probably shouldn't. The moderator's aren't always right. However, they hold the power, so there is a thought process that they are always right. Not so.
In my opinion, the best moderators are those who don't rule with an iron fist or have ego issues, but those who are firm, but fair, and not above admitting they were wrong.
In my example, the moderator who was wrong resigned from moderating the forum, so we lost the moderator and the 20 good guys, all because 1 moderator said something wrong and wouldn't admit it.
Like I said, that's just a personal experience, it doesn't imply that this was or was not a moderator issue.
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