Question for everyone on the forum.

[cheebacheeba]

Not doing this to shit-stir the forum...it might do though?
I'm just personally interested and please, I'm not starting this to incite fighting or to start people making nasty comments to each other, and/or members of past or present.
I've recently been informed that V has stood down as a moderator.
He has advised me in no specific detail that this is a result of his unbanning of ElvisChrist who had a permanent banning on his status.
While I'm not sure about this and just going on speculation, my assumption is that the subsequent banning of wufongtan was also his work.
I don't need to say where I stand on these two actions.

I'd just like to know, from the general forum if:
*You feel either/both of these courses of action were reasonable, and to what extent?
*Should moderators here be *able* to act outside the standard "t&c" if things occur that constantly lead to eventual breakdowns or breaches in the t&c?
In other words should they have the right to make a judgment call every once in a while,(within reason of course) and simply act, where they believe it to be the good of the site/majority of the site?
*If a moderator is contradicted, repremanded or even having second feelings about such a course of action - Should there be a panel, either made up of the moderators themselves or posters from a variety of ages, backgrounds, post counts, to consider the situation and either "keep things fair" or assist the moderation where they can, to at very least offer advice and/or keep things in check and impartial?
While I'm sure in some matters, certain decisions would be unanimous, in others they could provide valuable varying perspectives.

So that's all I wanted to throw out there.
I'd appreciate everyone stepping in to say their part - Again, keep it respectful.

[newb]

I have no problems with V decision to "un-ban" Elvis. I saw the post that caused him "to see red" and I don't blame him for getting royally pissed.

I can't say about woofungs ban....Not sure what prompted it. But I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. Woofung only seems to post here when he wants to stir up shit. Too bad......he seems like a bright fellow...wouldn't mind hearing some of his thoughts on horror. But I'm sure he'll be back

I also don't see any harm in the mods using their own discretion ....most of them anyway.

[Straker]

Don't really know the specifics about either banning.... Not sure why Wufongtan would be banned, dude was a prick and enjoyed flexing his 'debating' muscles, but he was rarely overly offensive in my, all be it limited, experiance. Lets be honest, for a small community, we have our fair share of busy bodies, ego-maniacs and twats.

Mods put in countless hours of work into the forums that they are part of and its usually unpaid. Sometimes they make bad calls, sometimes they get things wrong and admit it, other times they hide behind a carefully woven collage of bullshit. They dont all have law degrees and they will make mistakes, most mods are harmless and do a great job, others are petty and vindictive.

Do we need a panel of people to make sure the mods are doing a good job or help them make decisions on issues that arise? I don't think so. I would be much more comfortable having a regular mod, say someone like NE, decide my fate, if I ever stepped out of line, than be feed to the wolves...

[TheWickerFan]

It does seem like these matters should be put to a vote among the moderators. Something like spamming seems like a pretty clear-cut violation and wouldn't require a meeting; whoever happens to be online can clean that sort of thing up. However, something as sensitive as banning someone who is being abusive really should be put to a vote. It always struck me as so arbitrary. I've seen far worse things go down by people who are well known troublemakers, and yet they don't get so much as a warning. It clearly depends on who's on duty.

I'm not sure what went down between V and the other moderators, but I hope he didn't resign over this one incident and wasn't driven out. That really doesn't seem right.

[roshiq]

I have my full trust & support for all the moderators...that's a tough job and they are doing fine. Yeah...sometimes there will be some issues that may create some questions or controversies but that's a part of any online community, IMO. But in that process or incidents we shouldn't allow to lose a good member from here as well as in terms of love & respect for this forum and that one thing not only mods but we all regular sensible members should try to keep in our mind.

---------------------------------------------

No mod or trolls...I think we have far more scary thing among us to worry about...the guy who is capable to twist & play with our everyday activities in the forum and cause a massive server horrors aka errors! No offense but I think that twisted pervert had great fun on doing it last time.:D

[Angra]

Originally Posted by cheebacheeba

...Should there be a panel, either made up of the moderators themselves or posters from a variety of ages, backgrounds, post counts, to consider the situation and either "keep things fair" or assist the moderation where they can, to at very least offer advice and/or keep things in check and impartial?
.

Wasn't that pretty much what happened this time? A lot of regulars keeping asking questions about the Elvis banning and showing their disagreement about that decision.

I thought this case was handled very democratic and i most of all thank _V_ for that. Nice to see this place hasn't turned all korean yet.

[ferretchucker]

I love this forum, and I like to think that things are fairly relaxed here - can't we keep it that way? We have an Admin who is literally never here and instead what we have is a group of friends. We make do, some of these friends (the mods) having the powers to keep things under control. Yeah, they make judgement calls which some might disagree with but is it the end of the world?

Flayed decided he was wrong to close Mona Lisa's death thread (when we unsure of the truth) and so he re-opened it. Problem solved.

V unbanned Elvis after people debated whether or not it was the appropriate course of action.

Things can be undone and at the end of the day, it's a forum. Is it really that serious? We come on here to talk about horror (and of course, the social club of the general forum). If we get too caught up in bureaucratic committees evaluating moderator vivacity then things will get far too stale.

Alternatively, join the queue for line B and collect a 76a form, fill it in and hand it over to the man at Window 3. He will give you a 36 and 44 to fill out. Once that's done you can join the waiting list for the committee of Moderator assessment.

[Angra]

Originally Posted by ferretchucker

I love this forum, and I like to think that things are fairly relaxed here - can't we keep it that way? We have an Admin who is literally never here and instead what we have is a group of friends. We make do, some of these friends (the mods) having the powers to keep things under control. Yeah, they make judgement calls which some might disagree with but is it the end of the world?

Flayed decided he was wrong to close Mona Lisa's death thread (when we unsure of the truth) and so he re-opened it. Problem solved.

V unbanned Elvis after people debated whether or not it was the appropriate course of action.

Things can be undone and at the end of the day, it's a forum. Is it really that serious? We come on here to talk about horror (and of course, the social club of the general forum). If we get too caught up in bureaucratic committees evaluating moderator vivacity then things will get far too stale.

Alternatively, join the queue for line B and collect a 76a form, fill it in and hand it over to the man at Window 3. He will give you a 36 and 44 to fill out. Once that's done you can join the waiting list for the committee of Moderator assessment.

Shut up, wise ass Jesus. :D

[Elvis_Christ]

I'm really sorry if unbanning me has caused ____V____ enough trouble to have to step down as a mod. I'm feeling pretty shitty if that's the case.

I think perhaps a little more democracy/information would've gone a long way. None of the moderators stepped up to let anyone know what was going on when asked except ____V____. I didn't receive a warning or was given a reason to why I was banned (all it said when I tried to log in was reason for banning: none // date of band to be lifted: never), which just doesn't cut it especially for a permanent ban that wasn't going to be lifted.

I do think the mods should be able to make judgement calls if there is cause for it and there is overwhelming response from members of the board to do something. It's everyone's board so everyone should have their voice heard in what happens to it.

____V____ is a great mod who is really good at his job (diplomatic and has a feel for what's been happening on the board) and he was justified and had support from members of the board for the decisions he made.

[TheWickerFan]

V said he made the decision to resign long before this happened, so don't blame yourself.