pyro777
|
Question regarding moderator ethics.
Recently, I've encountered some questionable ethics in the way a moderator works here. Here's the story, shortened for your convenience:
Almost three years ago, one of the first threads of a game was made. In it were discussions about the next game in the series (which characters would be in it, in specific). That thread was this: http://www.cheatsguru.com/wii/super_smash_bros_brawl/forum/748/ . For almost three years, that thread had been posted in by perhaps over 100 users in total, and had almost accumulated 7500 posts. And, needless to say, many of said posts were off-topic, but the amount of actual discussion far outweighed the amount of off-topic conversations. For almost three years, many users were able to share their ideas on what could be, and many memories were made from those ideas.
Now, despite Super Smash Bros. Brawl being a relatively-old game, it still has a variety of people who visit and contribute to it, and it always has. Not as many people as there used to be, but still a very considerable amount. Two days ago, the users there were having a great time sharing their ideas and critiquing others, when suddenly, they noticed one of the threads they visited often was deleted. It was one called "General Discussion," and in this thread were off-topic discussions, because that's exactly what General Discussion threads are for. That didn't create much of an uproar, really, because it was just off-topic discussions, but it still deserved a place on the forum. After the deletion of the General Discussion page came the deletion of the New Characters for SSB4 thread , the thread to which I linked before, one day later, because some moderator decided it was "too off-topic" after having claimed to have read through all of the posts (which is most like a lie; would you read almost 7500 posts?). So, with two clicks, almost three years-worth of posts were completely removed.
But, was that really fair or considerate of this moderator to do? Yes, there were many off-topic posts, and the users knew that. However, they almost always were related to the original topic, and there were many more on-topic posts than off-topic posts, as I have said before. I used to go to this thread very often and remove off-topic posts and contribute my own ideas, you know. There were many people who have contributed their ideas. Just so you get an idea of how many people actually had, I'll list a few here: SilentVerse, pyro777, spyrl, AceOverlord, redace100, crankykong99, Metaknight527, double-b, Noncreativename, and Sam-I-Am. (Keep in mind that this is only a very small fraction of said users who visited that thread, and they in no way represent the entire user count.) With just two clicks and not a second thought in his mind, the moderator removed all of the contributions that have been made, only because he deemed it as "off-topic," even though he clearly only read a few pages.
If you go to the last page, you'll see a lot of off-topic posts, yes, but remember that those were ones made after the deletion of the General Discussion thread.
Deleting all of that would be like me deleting every single post on CG Community because some of them are about help on video games. That doesn't seem fair, does it? Does it? |
redace100
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Where's my gun?
that game needed improvement it needed alot and guess what all of the games in nintendo
need alot of improvement |
5-Year-Old
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+1
I agree. I don't have much to say considering I didn't use those forums but what I can say
is that this was very irresponsible. We can't just hire mods for no reason. It needs to be
known whether they are good for the job and that they won't betray the site.
I also agree with Joel on the topic of punishments. Not only should they be demodded but
they should suffer much worse things. An IP ban would be good but obviously the site isn't
capable of this yet. |
AlexGETsomeP
IE
|
298 pages of discussion, deleted.
I agree that anyone accused of such guilt should be punished appropriately. I think that
what Chase and Joel said would be more than suitable for punishment. |
AceOverlord
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My 2 cents
As one of the last frequent users of the thread, here's my thoughts on it. In the overall
scheme of the thread, i was only there for MAYBE 100 pages, but it was enough time to get
to know some interesting people and read some really good suggestions. Like all threads,
we detoured from the main topic on occasion (and it was usually about a suggestion made
towards the main topic, so it was rather rare when we SERIOUSLY began gabbing about
completely unrelated things).
As a solution to getting off topic so much, a former frequenter, Voyd, made the "General
Discussion" thread for when we just had something random to say to the group as a whole
without wanting to throw off the flow of the MAIN topic (SSB4 Characters).
A few days ago, i posted some info on a game that i'm in the process of creating on the
"General Discussion" asking for anyone's input or ideas to better improve it. I got a few
beneficial responses within a day, and within 2 days, the entire thread had been
deleted...
I was rather irked by this occurrence, and those of us who had been discussing on there,
obviously brought this up on the main thread. I figured it was a sign that we were TOO off
topic (which honestly makes no sense since that particular thread was made for the purpose
of BEING off-topic)??? So, we were then forced to bring our "off-topic" discussion to the
main thread, and after MAYBE a page of being off-topic, the whole "SSB4 Characters" thread
was gone.
I was completely FLABBERGASTED BY THIS! 3 whole years of collective information...GONE, at
no more than a simple click of the mouse! Over a PAGE OF OFF-TOPIC DISCUSSION!?!? Hundreds
of users punished, hours of time put into some very detailed posts, all for naught...all
gone over the whim of a random moderator...
It's just mind-blowing to me, i won't say that he should be punished or that i want
retribution over this...I'm just telling my story as it is and hoping that right is
upheld... |
redace100
|
Where's my f*cking gun
who ever did this i'm going to get their head, sounds dramatic but really I pay good money
for games they need improvement I'm tired of bad Nintendo games and guess what they were a
pain everytime I waste good money remembering codes for the Wii for that retarded parade
thing and they get rid of ideas so I can waste more money on aspirin and badly made games
in fact if you can get a character with personality and in a M rated game and good
gameplay on just the Wii he/she is in the greatest video game character list (ex. Travis
Touchdown he is the rank of Kratos in massive gore games) |
Custard
|
...
The chances of nothing being changed because of this is very high.
Edit: Though, if you read this zin'ya, and you think it would be good to change the way
moderators system works. I'd like to take a part in the discussions, I could think of
several decent solutions.
Double Edit: Joel's post was removed, this confuses me. >_< |
AlexGETsomeP
IE
|
A moderator deleted another legitimate post.
I don't know why Joel's post was removed. Maybe this done by the same person who deleted
the forum? |
redace100
|
god
Posted: dec 24, 2010 5:38 pm
|
5-Year-Old
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@Alex
Joel said he knew who did it so perhaps it was. |
pyro777
|
Chase
Any mod that followed the link would have been able to find out.
Also, it's back up now. |
Custard
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Okay the forum is back up.
Does anybody still care about corrupt moderators? |
pyro777
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Yes.
Posted: dec 25, 2010 12:24 pm
|
FCSNAKE
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So..
Why not name all the corrupt moderators and send them to zinya? |
AlexGETsomeP
IE
|
because
The corrupt moderators would name not corrupt moderators |
pyro777
|
Actually
I don't know of many mods who would lie very often |
Custard
|
because
zin'ya wouldn't do anything about it unless he knows for sure.
I think public petitions for bad moderators are a good way to get his attention. |
Happeh
|
Hm..
Although I have no interest in, and at this time certainly don't intend to join any
off-chat related topics, such as game Forums, I would suggest that this could be moved
onto a question of Q&A activities and a counteraction towards these incapable moderators
to be put to action. I'm not entirely sure of the abilities of certain ranks of moderator,
but I could safely suggest that if a system such as pre-deleted questions and forums to be
visible to all ranks of moderator would decrease the chance of unfair topic removal in a
dramatic manner.
This way, following the occurance of a possible incorrect decision of removal by an
imprecise moderator, the question/forum could be yet again restored by another member of
staff if he/she considered it a bad move. Also, the name of the deleter and restoring
moderator to be acknowledgable to fellow contributors. They could then construct a
follow-up report of this mishap and the name of its doer to a moderator / administrator
and reestablish the topic and consequently lay a punishment upon the inadequate moderator
- the most recommended action being obvious demoderation. |
Happeh
|
Now 8 positive votes.
Amazing what a click can do, isn't it? |
FCSNAKE
|
so
then why hasnt it been done? |
Custard
|
zin'ya
Has better things to do, I guess. |
Happeh
|
Well,
You wouldn't think a system like that would be very complex and take up too much time. I
think this area should be regarded more thoroughly. |
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