Fairness

[Faux]

I know some mods rub the rules at people's faces all the time to regulate the forums, but can we have something to regulate the mods as well?

 

 

 

1. If a mod was to edit an individual's post, his name should be edited in; or at the least, trigger the message: "This post was last edited by.."

 

 

 

2. If a mod was to delete an individual's post, the mod should post in the same topic or PM the individual and claim the deletion. Or just have an automated system that sends a message with the moderator's name.

 

 

 

I'm all for reinforcing the rules, but can we stop the whole ghost modding?

[Albosky]

Forum Rules

 

 

 

 

 

2.5 - Penalties

 

 

 

Users who break these rules may have their posts moved, edited, or deleted. Moderators are not required to note the reason for edit or removal of a post. Please direct your questions regarding the reason behind removal or edit of a thread to the board Moderator through a PM (private message). Habitual or severe violators may have their posting privileges removed, and their accounts and/or IPs suspended or may be permanently banned. Tip.It Moderators and Administrators will use their best judgment in deciding the most appropriate course of action. If you feel that any Moderator has made an inappropriate decision, please contact an Administrator.

 

 

 

 

 

If you honestly knew just how many posts need to be handled by our Moderators , you would understand why leaving "notes" in every single one would be a a horrible waste of their personal time. We do encourage them to do so as they see fit though.

[the_tallest1]

I make an effort to sign every edit and post a reason for locking but there are times when you need to do something quickly before real life calls and you have to go. I'd rather have a problem topic stopped or a spam post removed quickly than leave it to sit there for an hour longer since I didn't have time to comment. There really are quite a bit of posts that need removal for whatever reason and if we wrote a pm or post for all of those too I can't imagine how much time we would spend. It's not always as simple as just removing the post, there's backend stuff that goes along with that too.

[azntemplar_00]

If I edit a post, I leave a little message saying I have done so.

 

If I edit/remove a post due to 3rd party clients, I send a PM.

 

 

 

If I remove a double post, I do not send a PM.

 

If I remove a thread due to inappropriate content, I send a PM unless it warrants an immediate ban.

 

 

 

What makes you think the mods need 'regulation'? I see mods leaving messages on editted threads quite often. I'm just curious, that's all.

[Cruiser]

Adding a moderation section to the edit page for the forum mods/admins (Like the sticky/announce buttons) would make this much easier. Click edit, make your changes and type in the box. It wouldn't be hard for anyone to throw together a snippet that adds "Edited by xxxx at xxxx. Reason: ". Hell, even make em option buttons so it's one click instead of some typing. It gives the user a reason and saves the mods a bit of time with the automation.

 

 

 

What makes you think the mods need 'regulation'?

 

 

 

I know of one post today already that was locked because someone didn't bother to read the starting post. Half the reason stated for the lock was already answered in plain view in the begining of the thread. 'Regulation' could help point this out, cuz I know if I PM whoever made the mistake I'm going to get my head biten off like every other time I've told this person they screwed up.

 

 

 

Accountability keeps the population at ease instead of leaving room for conspiracy theories. If the users know why, they won't think "OMG THEY HATE US".

[Faux]

If you honestly knew just how many posts need to be handled by our Moderators , you would understand why leaving "notes" in every single one would be a a horrible waste of their personal time. We do encourage them to do so as they see fit though.

 

 

 

Yes... that is why I suggested the automated options. If people care enough, they can inquire the mod instead of feeling left out in the blue.

 

 

 

@azntemplar, some not all.

[____]

Yea... VB has the 'last edited by' even if it was an admin - and I like that a lot. While the concept of 'moderation' is good. There's a lot of cases where a staff member just tags with:

 

 

 

"Moderatoer edit: ....... "

 

 

 

And leaves it at that, but if the poster has a question as to why - who do they contact? Everyone? I'd hope not for the sake of the staff.

 

 

 

 

 

To Carlo: I don't think anything exists to automatically notify a topic owner if a topic is completely deleted, or moved. Since the majority of "deleted" posts are technically moved. It'd just be easier to have a notify on move. It wouldn't be hard to implement, just add a bit of code to the move processing to send a pm to the author notifying of the change.

[____]

I'm actually going to add something else, if a post is in the wrong forum but is still has valid content, can't mods just move the topic rather than locking and forcing a repost? This I see very often. I've previously sent the locking mod a pm asking why they didn't just move it. Never got a reply. There was nothing wrong it other than being in the wrong place. Would've taken less effort and time to move it :uhh:

[Ard_Choille]

...can't mods just move the topic rather than locking and forcing a repost? ... Would've taken less effort and time to move it :uhh:

 

 

 

It would take the LEAST effort for users to post in the right place to begin with.

 

 

 

Not every misplaced post is locked, trust me. However, due to the overabundance of repeat misplaced-posters, locking is often the best solution to trigger users to post in the correct place. If a user should have known better than to post in the wrong spot, a lock is appropriate. If we moved every misplaced post, there'd be TONS of "moved" shadows and many users would never take the time to find the right forum before they post.

 

 

 

To the point of moderators tagging edits...I always put my name on edits and locks so if you have a question about anything I've done to your threads, let me know.

 

 

 

- Ard

[insane]

I'm actually going to add something else, if a post is in the wrong forum but is still has valid content, can't mods just move the topic rather than locking and forcing a repost? This I see very often. I've previously sent the locking mod a pm asking why they didn't just move it. Never got a reply. There was nothing wrong it other than being in the wrong place. Would've taken less effort and time to move it :uhh:

 

 

 

I'm one that always locks, and never moves. Ever. I don't want to give the users the impression that they can post wherever the hell they want and get their topic moved to the correct location by a staff member.

 

 

 

@shadowfax; I never edit posts, but when I split off a reply, it's either a large group of spam replies, or it is dealt with with a warning to the poster or a ban to the poster.

[tefda]

I'm one that always locks, and never moves. Ever. I don't want to give the users the impression that they can post wherever the hell they want and get their topic moved to the correct location by a staff member.

 

 

 

That's a good policy.

 

 

 

Moderators are not paid for their time, let them do as they see fit. Just be glad that you've got a nice place like Tip.it to be a part of and be appreciative to the staff for doing quite well already.

 

 

 

I'm just wondering about Moderator time zone distribution. Do we have enough moderatorst that span all of the time zones and a surplus of mods for the busier hours? That is my only problem with the Tip.it Mods, occassionally there seems to be very few Moderators online but then again a great deal of the boards are dead at certain hours.

[Ard_Choille]

I'm just wondering about Moderator time zone distribution. Do we have enough moderatorst that span all of the time zones and a surplus of mods for the busier hours? That is my only problem with the Tip.it Mods, occassionally there seems to be very few Moderators online but then again a great deal of the boards are dead at certain hours.

 

There is quite a spread of time zones among staffers. Keep in mind that you can't always see when we are online. Sometimes we pop in to take care of business without being visible.

[____]

There used to be a massive gap of up to 5 hours (on a bad day) where you'd be hard-pressed to find a moderator that was active, on the forums, in irc or on . Doesn't happen as often anymore, but it still does, since the bulk of the staff come from the same 10hour block (almost) of time-zones :P

[darkmage099]

We aren't suggesting you leave PMs for double posts and obvious infractions. I think you guys should leave PMs or posts about why you deleted an argument or a couple of posts. It's really quite annoying actually. Either that, or just don't delete posts! If they're that bad, then you ought to leave a message.

 

 

 

Albosky, your argument is worthless. Rules can be changed. I mean isn't that what we are proposing? Does legislation not pass new laws because old laws already exist? Such as prohibition in the 1800s.

 

 

 

Recently, I was quite annoyed because one of my minor arguments with GhostRanger on this thread was deleted. I don't even know why. We were simply exchanging our views with one another.

[Anesthesia]

If you honestly knew just how many posts need to be handled by our Moderators , you would understand why leaving "notes" in every single one would be a a horrible waste of their personal time.

 

 

 

I do honestly know how much work moderators have and no one is asking for them to leave notes in every moderated thread - just those in which it would help a lot of users.

 

 

 

Take darkmage099's example - we were all posting in the thread, we'd had some arguments but resolved them of our own accords then a load of posts get removed (including some which had nothing to do with the resolved arguments). They just disappear and no one is any the wiser as to why or who did it.

 

 

 

No one is asking for them to leave notes for double post removals, removal of things which need to be removed and no notice given (blatant spam, cheat posting etc.) - only where it would be helpful to leave one.

[Ard_Choille]

Albosky, your argument is worthless. Rules can be changed. I mean isn't that what we are proposing? Does legislation not pass new laws because old laws already exist? Such as prohibition in the 1800s.

 

 

 

I'd HARDLY compare the forum rules to such things as prohibition. Not to mention the fact that this discussion isn't about laws, but about communication.

 

 

 

Every situation that we (forum staff) encounters requires a unique treatment. If every rule-violating post/thread remained in view, we'd have pages upon pages of locked threads with messages that describe all the reasons why the posts/threads have been locked. Personally speaking, I don't remove anything from the public forums that is not in violation of one of our forum rules. If a post has gone missing, the forum rules serve as a publically posted, obvious reason.

 

 

 

It would be painfully redundant for us (forum staff) to quote the obvious reasons back to rule-violaters when the forum rules are available to everyone at all times. If your post has gone missing, read the forum rules to find out why...it's obviously helpful.

[Anesthesia]

If your post has gone missing, read the forum rules to find out why...it's obviously helpful.

 

 

 

The thing is, certain things are removed that don't violate the rules - like the posts in the topic we are talking about. That is when it is useful to know why they were removed.

[darkmage099]

Albosky, your argument is worthless. Rules can be changed. I mean isn't that what we are proposing? Does legislation not pass new laws because old laws already exist? Such as prohibition in the 1800s.

 

 

 

I'd HARDLY compare the forum rules to such things as prohibition. Not to mention the fact that this discussion isn't about laws, but about communication.

 

 

 

Every situation that we (forum staff) encounters requires a unique treatment. If every rule-violating post/thread remained in view, we'd have pages upon pages of locked threads with messages that describe all the reasons why the posts/threads have been locked. Personally speaking, I don't remove anything from the public forums that is not in violation of one of our forum rules. If a post has gone missing, the forum rules serve as a publically posted, obvious reason.

 

 

 

It would be painfully redundant for us (forum staff) to quote the obvious reasons back to rule-violaters when the forum rules are available to everyone at all times. If your post has gone missing, read the forum rules to find out why...it's obviously helpful.

 

 

 

Albosky said that the only reason we won't change it is because the rules says we can't. What I said was rules can be changed! And that is what happened to prohibition. I was simply pointing out that just because there is a rule there doesn't mean we can't make a new law that would be better.

 

 

 

We are not asking you to leave messages for locked threads or double posts, but threads and posts that you deleted because YOU thought it was a so called "flame war".

 

 

 

Rule 1.5. It says that mild-mid flaming was allowed. The argument of mine that was removed had no curse words or anything of that sort. It was simply one of the frequent disagreements that I have with GhostRanger. Even still, we had already solved it! There was no flaming on my part. Just stating my opinion on his relationship.

 

 

 

Suggestion: All posters who've had their thread or post deleted should be sent with an automated PM. If the person wishes to know why their posts were deleted or locked, they can simply reply. And you, being the 'great' mods that you are, should politely tell them why their post was deleted. Keep in mind that most people won't want to know why their post was locked. Most times it's obvious.

[How2PK]

I don't really see why the rules can't be adjusted a little bit, if it makes things better.

 

 

 

And I don't see why leaving a little note of [edited this post due to this and that rule, edited by ] would take a lot of the moderators personal time, even if they have to do it 10 times a day. I mean, you didn't become a moderator for nothing right? When you take the job you know you have to invest a little more of your time in the forum than the regular user. If you can't handle it time wise, then quit the job.

 

 

 

It would also be nice if there would become a guideline on how to act for moderators, that they mod in the same style. Because now, one does this, another one does that. It doesn't make things very clear to the users.

[insane]

Like I said, you will always see a message from me if something happens :). I guess it's impossible not to generalize the moderators since you don't know which ones are the guilty party.

[Anesthesia]

That's a good reason to make it policy to do that then (in the circumstances we described).