Aggressive Moderator ban

fonecrusher1

To whom it may concern,

This is a response to what i would consider an unfair temporary ban executed by the motors moderator onkle.

I pm'd the moderator in question to resolve this matter as the helpdesk advised me to do so. He rejected my request to reconsider the ban.

The thread is titled; Imagine its 2000... (or something like that) in the Motoring section under Rec.

It was a good thread & i was enjoying it until 14:53 today someone posted a comment like this; 'Oh not another one of these boring threads....'

Somebody responded by saying that he/she thought that this comment did not contribute anything to the thread & i posted a comment agreeing with this observation, i said; 'Well said, there are plenty of other forums to choose from'

At this point the moderator onkle intervened some 4 hours after the initial antagonistic comment was made & suggested that i should leave it to the moderator to sort out.

I felt this was a bit unfair as i was only trying to defend the OP so i posted this comment;
'With all due respect dude, the original comment was posted at 14:53 & i think it should have been acted upon earlier to avoid exactly what we're talking about now'.

The moderator then temporarily banned me.

If i'd known that standing up for the OP & the forum itself would result in a ban then i wouldnt have bothered. Im a newbie & i was only trying to keep the thread on track.
I feel that this extreme course of action was an aggressive attempt to conceal my acknowledgment of the fact that the moderator took such a long time to act accordingly on the initial comment.

Anyway i just thought i should make this known to the administrators.

Thanks

sceptre

Hi fonecrusher

Unfortunately for you what you did was to argue with a moderator decision on-thread. This is a no-no and that's stressed pretty starkly in the site FAQ (it's linked to from the top of every screen in the blue bar up there^). The charter for the motors forum also mentions what to do if you have a problem with a post.

As for the time taken to act on the problem, moderators are volunteers and don't spend all of their days on the forum (this is also mentioned in both of the documents I've linked to). While we always hope to act on problems as quickly as possible, there's no possibility that the moderators of any forum take steps to conceal delays of a few hours - they're not expected to be there all the time.

Problems with a moderator decision should be addressed to the moderator by PM first, then to the cmod if the response you receive isn't satisfactory and then to an admin using this forum if you're not happy with the response from the cmod. Arguing with a moderator decision on-thread is a no-no everywhere on the site, hence the temp ban. You should try to work this out with the forum mod first, especially now you're aware of the rule, after having a read of the forum charter.

fonecrusher1

sceptre wrote: »

Hi fonecrusher

Unfortunately for you what you did was to argue with a moderator decision on-thread. This is a no-no and that's stressed pretty starkly in the site FAQ (it's linked to from the top of every screen in the blue bar up there^). The charter for the motors forum also mentions what to do if you have a problem with a post.

As for the time taken to act on the problem, moderators are volunteers and don't spend all of their days on the forum (this is also mentioned in both of the documents I've linked to). While we always hope to act on problems as quickly as possible, there's no possibility that the moderators of any forum take steps to conceal delays of a few hours - they're not expected to be there all the time.

Problems with a moderator decision should be addressed to the moderator by PM first, then to the cmod if the response you receive isn't satisfactory and then to an admin using this forum if you're not happy with the response from the cmod. Arguing with a moderator decision on-thread is a no-no everywhere on the site, hence the temp ban. You should try to work this out with the forum mod first, especially now you're aware of the rule, after having a read of the forum charter.

Thanks for the response.

There is no mention of a cmod in the What DOES this forum handle section of ***READ THIS BEFORE STARTING A NEW THREAD***? Whats a cmod?

I did PM the moderator in question before I posted this.

This is the pm, word for word:
Hello Moderator

Im disappointed that you should take such extreme action against someone who was trying to stand up for the OP & the forum itself.
I felt his comment was rude & off topic.
As a newish member I was unaware that my response was in violation of forum etiquette & yes that is my fault.
In light of the above points im asking you to reconsider the ban.

If you stand by your decision then fair enough.

Cheers

Do you not think that this whole issue could be attributed to the fact that im new to the forum?

Thanks.

Gary ITR

For clarity this was my response to the PM

Onkle wrote:

Hello fonecrusher1

The forum charter is very clear on this issue. If you have a problem with a post, report it and if the moderators see fit to take action they will.

Your ban stands, when it is up just give the charter a quick once over

Thanks

Onkle

My take on this is that questioning a mod decision on thread is one of the biggest 'no nos' on boards.ie. It is covered, as mentioned above by Sceptre, in the FAQ and in the Charter, for this reason I feel the temp ban is warranted

-Chris-

Apologies Sceptre if it's not my place, but I feel the need to chime in here.


fonecrusher1

Why did you back-seat moderate on-thread at 6:59, and then report the post at 7pm? You obviously knew reporting the post was the right thing to do, but you back-seat mod'ed anyway.

Why is it ok for you to wait until 7pm to report the post (a 4 hour wait), but not ok for a moderator to address the issue 3 minutes later?
BTW, by my maths and your above logic, it took 4 hours for you to report the post, but only took the mod 3 minutes to respond to your reported post...

Why do you think it's ok to chastise someone for calling the thread sad, but give a "well said" to someone who calls another poster's contribution "sad, pathetic and pointless"?

I would have probably warned EPM for calling the contribution "sad, pathetic and pointless", but your back-seat modding has compromised and distracted from that. Do you think your "helping" has made our job easier or more complicated with regards to this thread?

I am in agreement with Onkle's decision to give you a temporary ban.

fonecrusher1

-Chris- wrote: »

Apologies Sceptre if it's not my place, but I feel the need to chime in here.


fonecrusher1

Why did you back-seat moderate on-thread at 6:59, and then report the post at 7pm? You obviously knew reporting the post was the right thing to do, but you back-seat mod'ed anyway.

Why is it ok for you to wait until 7pm to report the post (a 4 hour wait), but not ok for a moderator to address the issue 3 minutes later? Because the moderator is there to moderate the thread?
BTW, by my maths and your above logic, it took 4 hours for you to report the post, but only took the mod 3 minutes to respond to your reported post...

Why do you think it's ok to chastise someone for calling the thread sad, but give a "well said" to someone who calls another poster's contribution "sad, pathetic and pointless"?
Because the original contribution served no other purpose but to antagonize forum members

I would have probably warned EPM for calling the contribution "sad, pathetic and pointless", but your back-seat modding has compromised and distracted from that. Do you think your "helping" has made our job easier or more complicated with regards to this thread?
Which section do you mod?

I am in agreement with Onkle's decision to give you a temporary ban.

Of course you are but i think you may be just a tad biased.;)

Not to worry lads im not that bothered but i do not regret posting this thread in the Helpdesk. Thats what it there for.
People are occasionally going question the decisions of moderators.

Cheers

sceptre

There's rarely a reason to regret posting in the Help Desk - it's there to help both mods and forum members. You shouldn't regret posting here in any way,

Given that I'm unbiased (or as unbiased as you'll find), the arguing with a moderator on-thread is referenced sufficiently that everyone should be aware of it. Yes, the fact that you're new is probably a contributory factor towards being unaware of it but we can't make you read the rules, just repeatedly advise you to.

As a seven day ban, I don't see a problem with it - the rule is nice and clear.

fonecrusher1

Fair enough. Case closed.