thegreekdog wrote:Finally, and this is completely up to you and Mr. Changsha (who created this thread), because I don't want to derail any further, but if you would like to have a frank discussion about what moderators should and should not do, we can do so over pm or we can do so in this thread or another thread. I've offered to have this frank discussion with others who have voiced similar concerns about moderators killing the five million forums we have on this website. No one has yet taken me up on the offer. Perhaps you can be the first?
Might I interject? Thank you.
As the psychological founder of Cyber-Jock Syndrome, I would like to publicly declare my recent breakthroughs in this new and exciting field of research!
After intensely studying the cracks between the linoleum tiles of my bathroom walls, I then realized that all Greeks--whether they are of the homosapien variety or of the canine variety--have a strong tendency to become victims of cyber-jock syndrome simply because of their genetic traits. These traits are unsurprisingly similar to the common attributes of Greek jocks in the RL:
(1) copious amounts of body hair
(2) an inexplicable disposition toward naked man-wrestling
(3) the occasional desire to soak oneself in a copper tub of olive oil
(4) the strong desire to inflict harm upon others only when wearing a skirt (see: 300, and google "WW2 Greek Military Uniform")
Whenever you communicate with a Greek Cyber-Jock, keep in mind that they might embody one of the above traits; however, be extremely fearful of the chance of communicating with a Greek Cyber-Jock who might be very hairy, has recently viewed videos of naked man-wrestling, smells strongly of olive oil, and is wearing a skirt. Tread very, very lightly through the fora, which is their traditional stomping grounds.*
*
"Unlike the later imperial fora in Rome — which were self-consciously modeled on the ancient Greek plateia (πλατεία) public plaza or town square — the Roman Forum developed gradually, organically and piecemeal over many centuries." -wikipedia___________________________________________________________________________________________________
As for the eternal debate of "meh, mods are bad"I thought we already had this battle... The mods readjusted their policies indirectly, and so have we. The atrocities of mod-inflicted genocide are years old, and in the long-run, mod-violence has greatly decreased after excessive modding became increasingly unacceptable. The people spoke, and their words were heeded--especially regarding issues of excessive moderation and Flame Wars--aw shucks, majority rule. <folds arms> <pout> <pout> <pout>
Currently, a few mods have highly emotional issues or are inexperienced, but most of them are able to learn if we are willing to be reasonable and if we openly communicate with them in a classy fashion--or in an similarly antagonistic fashion without being visibly antagonistic. That has worked in the past, and it will work again.
The following should be reflected upon:
Mr Changsha wrote:Part of the fun of posting here (at least for me) is that one does have to consider the rules, one does have to take into account that a post can get you banned, one does have to think carefully about posting something with regards to the likely moderator response. There is something quite delicious about posting something on the edge of accepted propriety: flaming and baiting but doing so quite indirectly and carefully..challenging the moderators to censure you, knowing that actually they really don't want to...assuming that in general you stay within the lines.
I'd be bored to tears in a forum where anything goes, the joy is, as I said, in stretching rules to their limit. My point is one needs the rules.
This has been my policy in the fora as well. Anybody can get banned for saying something stupid or for blatantly breaking some other rule, but not everyone can assess the mods' limits while subtly hovering along the breaking point.
If the system changes and if you cannot revert it, then get creative, cry about it, or get creative while crying about it.