Lads ye need to start advertising for mods

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119836999#Comment_119836999

A few years back, in certain forums, I remember this coming up highlighting 'cliquey' behaviour, and it being allegedly used as a way of dismissing a poster(s) with perhaps opinions that went against the grain per se. It was a very grey area back then, and examples were few and far between (it's a legitimate feature being used in a legitimate way)....but I imagine there's much more pressing matters at hand today.

Admin Side:

1) Campaign to de-mod inactive mods, cmods, and admin - at least then you know where you stand in terms of what hands are on deck.

2) Make efforts to recruit new mods, and promote existing ones to fill the gaps left from inactive mods/cmods/admin.

3) Reconnect with the userbase through perhaps category specific feedback threads (and indeed the mods forums), and collate the feedback into useful data that can be prioritised accordingly. Such feedback threads will need to be strictly constructive....everyone knows it's been a shitshow, but the direction should be turned to looking forward.

4) Bring collated and prioritised information to HQ. Niamh is but one person, and as Beasty mentioned previously, is already fairly heavily loaded up with tasks, but perhaps the CEO can lend a hand here??

HQ Side:

1) Mod tools....without functional/adequate mod tools, the side is doomed because this filters down to people just not wanting to mod, and rightly so. Without mods that are supported and motivated, forums and categories just become crap to read and use.

2) Not sure why the CEO stopped updating through the Feedback thread, but that was a baaaad decision. Significant damage to the community done there, all for the sake of a few minutes per week....even if there's nothing to say or update, a simple check-in keeps users reassured that there's at least someone out there looking and listening to them (more so through a really difficult 12-months post Vanilla move.) As it stands, anyone trying to submit useful feedback there will likely feel ignored, abandoned, and demotivated in terms of continuing to submit good feedback. Really bad call to bury the head in the sand, and is such a far cry from when Dav was so actively engaged with the community (again no disrespect to Niamh, she's hung in there far longer than I would have...but her role as Community Manager seems to have been remoulded into Life Support Manager unfortunately.) The CEO needs to get back engaging again, or take some of the workload off Niamh so she can do it like she used to be able to. I can't overstate how bad it looks from a user perspective, to see an abandoned Feedback forum during a time when the site still has so many issues (some simple, some not).

3) See 1). Seriously, make it happen.

Again these are just my opinions, and some of them may be in effect/in place, but the side is so badly fractured from an overall community perspective, I don't see many ways forward.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119836988#Comment_119836988

I can check for free later.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119837010#Comment_119837010

Who is intimidated by it? You say you're not so who are you speaking for?

TherapyBoy

..but perhaps the CEO can lend a hand here??

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119837149#Comment_119837149

I’m speaking for myself and, I suppose, any others who might be intimidated by such a “tactic”.

Anyway, it’s just a suggestion. Something for the powers that be to consider.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119837261#Comment_119837261

Perhaps you should report your "suspicions" properly in the appropriate forum. I doubt this thread is yhe correct place.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119837363#Comment_119837363

I dunno, maybe, not sure it’s worthy of an independent thread. This thread involved the mods so felt the point was a “tangent” worth pursuing.

Quantum Erasure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119837062#Comment_119837062

I don't think it's so much "keeping notes" as another poster said, but just noticing that EVERY post from one side of an argument has one thanks under it, and it's from someone who is not involved in the discussion, at all (to such an extent that I thought you might have been thread banned, tbh. and I think that issue is something that mods have looked at in the past)

I do something the same myself, but I wouldn't thank EVERY post I'd vaguely agree with, and I'd thank a few from the other side of the debate if they make good points, oh and also contribute a little to the thread. But this is all off topic...

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119837378#Comment_119837378

Pm a mod. This is nothing to do with a lack of mods.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119837228#Comment_119837228

I know, right 🤷‍♂️

it takes a lot of leisure time to make a statistical take on on thanks. Extraordinary dedication to an online forum outside of being a mod/admin etc.

Beasty

OK, let's drop all this thanks discussion. It is not relevant to this thread

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119838809#Comment_119838809

Well it seems some think it should be an issue that mods deal with. I'm not sure why, but it has been raised in Feedback.

Juwwi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119830466#Comment_119830466

From what l see you are being taken advantage of .

There's advertising all over the site ,

I bet if you wrote down the amount of hours over a week you put in on here you'd be shocked.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119839638#Comment_119839638

We could say the same about ourselves, providing content for Boards.ie for free. A lot more people read than contribute.

Beasty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119839638#Comment_119839638

Would not be shocked at all. I know I spend a lot of time on this site. I know the site could not afford to pay me. I am happy with that knowledge

Beasty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119839618#Comment_119839618

We have had numerous discussions of thanks over the years. We have always concluded nothing required changing. If you wish to discuss it again then please start a thread on it

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119837073#Comment_119837073

Let's be honest, the owner is an absentee landlord. He is like cotton eyed joe - where did he come from? Where did he go?

Not sure what he is getting out of the site (unless it's making a bit of money now). He doesn't use the site, doesn't contribute to the site, doesn't seem to really "get" the site. Doesnt care about or respond to user feedback. Doesn't care about moderation. Doesn't care about growing numbers or promoting the site. It's a weird situation.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119843663#Comment_119843663

Well the owners not trying to use boards to preserve the light of human consciousness like some billionaires. Boards.ie came to life as more of a bonsai tree under a bed to talk about video games on with friends, not a world-tree of social media, and I don't think that was ever the vision and I don't think it's going to be. Going big goes with big problems.

The problem IMHO isn't the HQ it was the community. In my experience it was just no longer worth it to read through endless pages of users complaining about user-moderators like myself. How dare this volunteer moderator have opinions and life experiences etc. and how dare they clap back to my rudeness in a pub level dialogue etc.

Same thing that happens as in political theory, the more the volunteer moderation would ween out bad actors, the bad actors would find themselves banding together under common axes to grind looking to campaign and cancel-culture against doing the job. It wedges volunteer mod against volunteer mod against admin etc. until people just say it's not worth it and stop logging in or responding to reported posts.

The 1st reply asked a great question in this thread but then backfilled some bad conclusions. If the community is ready for a new wave of volunteer mods it has to be ready to volunteer themselves, each, to make it not a thankless hobby.

i think the absolute exodus after the move really argues otherwise tbh, and that's not saying that modding isnt a pain in the arse.

more mods, quicker zapping of rereg trolls, less modding besides, who says no?

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119855527#Comment_119855527

Exodus overall decimated the monthly daily active user count of the whole site I imagine, incl. mods. Disruptions went on for weeks. I don't think the 'exodus' disproves my point, I for one retired before the exodus.

Beasty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119855527#Comment_119855527

We are unlikely to be able to be much quicker dealing with re-reg trolls. We cannot ban because someone says it's a re-reg. We need evidence. As a start it would help if posters reporting someone as a re-reg tells us who they think it's a re-reg of

And as I've already mentioned (probably in this thread, but certainly quite a few times across this forum) our tools are not as helpful/efficient as on the old platform

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119818819#Comment_119818819

I could be wrong but it appears I part of the problem seems to be there is only 1 admin left who is active on the site.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119870419#Comment_119870419

Oh that is definitely a large part of the problem.

Beasty

There are one or two others acting in the background, but yes you are certainly only seeing me and Niamh

I am hoping we will make some progress on getting new Admins on board, but there is of course no guarantee that any invitations we do put out will be accepted

@Beasty

@Beasty , what are the main differences between an Admin, and a Cat Mod / Mod?

Beasty

A Mod deals with a specific forum

A CMod oversees a whole category and is the initial arbiter of disputes. They also put forward new mod proposals for consideration by Admins

Admins have site-wide responsibilities, including dealing with specific local issues or indeed sitewide feedback and taking decisions on Mod and CMod appointments

There used to be an FAQ section which went into all of this

The boundaries have been significantly blurred particularly since the platform changeover as I have taken on quite a lot at all levels. I was always a mod of CA (and Coronavirus) but on the old platform we had more active mods, CMods and indeed Admins which meant I was not acting as judge, jury and executioner. Alas that has not been the case on the Vanilla platform

Esel

Judge Roy Beasty "acting as judge, jury and executioner". 😁

Witcher

Just as well that he is because there's fcuk all anyone else looking after the site.

@Beasty

@Beasty at this stage you have posted many many times about other admins either having downed tools / not pulling their weight since the upgrade and it all falling on you, this is the exact issue that ripples down to mod level, starting at the top, do the other admins need a “kick in the hole” and made make a decision on whether they are in or out which would allow new recruits of admins if needed.

it almost feels like mods / admins no longer want to do the work but are not willing to step back as they like to retain the status and access to privy information in the background.

I think this site is suffering from the perception that you are the only one running the show (Niamh and Oran don’t look very active or engaged these days and as you say the other admins are gone awol), as another poster said you appear to be the judge, jury and executioner which is not a good look