Too much crap-talking going on!

[Ben Kenobi]

Ken Benobi - do something about that avatar

Why?

It looks fine to me.

[DaShi]

Ming, how is a poster to know what threads are not acceptable unless the mods make consistent actions against them? For example, there could be a thread that states religion sucks, and even have posts calling for its closure within, but ignored by the mods. While at the same time another thread could say . . .oh. . .China sucks and please closed rather quickly.

Does it depend on the mood of the mod? Should we just look at which mod is avaiable and post our threads accordingly?

What if the current mod supports an offensive thread like the clear examples above? Do we all have to sit around reading why a particular group, maybe the Japanese, are terrible just because a mod doesn't like them?

Sure, you could ignore it. But you can't ignore thread titles. I don't think anyone wants to come here to see a thread biasly trashing what they are or what they believe in in such a crude manner. If the policy is to just ignore it, then why do we have mods at all?

What standards do the mods have? I would hope that they at least are expected to follow the decorum required of the posters here.

I love to have some fun as much as the next poster, but I believe that there is a line for both posters and mods. When posters cross that line, the appropriate mod action is usually taken. However, when mods do, it is quite unsettling because the posters are left to feel helpless against actions. A bigoted mod can destroy a community (look at what happened to Sidgames). Can Markos really afford the loss of traffic, if the OT was to collapse?

[Skanky Burns]

Markos would probably like nothing better than for the OT to just up and disappear.

[Agathon]

Skanky is a spammer.

How many posts to Deity then?

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Markos would probably like nothing better than for the OT to just up and disappear.

I really don't think so. Given the hassle it is, I wouldn't blame him for closing it down. But it brings in traffic, which advertisers like.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Agathon
Skanky is a spammer.

How many posts to Deity then?

Unlike some people, my comments were related to this thread.


DaShi: Its just the impression I get is all. OT is routinely given second-rate treatment compared to the gaming portion of the site, like closing the entire OT down when Civ3 came out to reduce server load. Not that I blame the admins for that decision, I wasn't an OTer then.

[DaShi]

I can definitely see how the OT can be troublesome. Not that I'm at all guilty of contributing to such trouble in any way. :cute;

[DrSpike]

How long did he close it down for? I bet that did not go down well.

[Skanky Burns]

This was when I first joined and when Civ 3 had only just come out. The OTers, being without a forum and all, took it upon themselves to spam the Civ3 forum instead and harass newbies. Thankfully, safety in numbers.

I don't recall it lasting too long though, caused quite a bit of trouble.

[DrSpike]

So that was why Ming was around a lot at that time, and there was quite a lot of trolling going on.

[Ming]

Originally posted by DaShi
Ming, how is a poster to know what threads are not acceptable unless the mods make consistent actions against them?

We do "try" to be consistent... granted, it is difficult considering "opinion" comes into play and different mods are involved... but we give it our best shot, and I feel we are doing a good job of it.

For example, there could be a thread that states religion sucks, and even have posts calling for its closure within, but ignored by the mods. While at the same time another thread could say . . .oh. . .China sucks and please closed rather quickly.

First, you are assuming that the mods read every post in every thread... we don't and can't. Many times, it is the complaint feature that brings us on the scene. While you may think something is being ignored, it may simply be that we aren't aware of it. On the other hand, in your China example... wasn't the title something like China sucks... something that was hard to miss... it's no surprise it lasted about a minute

Does it depend on the mood of the mod? Should we just look at which mod is avaiable and post our threads accordingly?

While I can speak only for myself, I try to stay consistent no matter what mood I'm in... As far as looking to see which mod is available so that you can post accordingly, I have to chuckle. If you break the rules, you will have problems. Every mod handles things in their own ways... but it still comes down the fact that somebody broke the rules...

What if the current mod supports an offensive thread like the clear examples above? Do we all have to sit around reading why a particular group, maybe the Japanese, are terrible just because a mod doesn't like them?

First... your example above doesn't prove your point that mods suport offensive threads... and is not a "clear" example.
Second... I haven't seen any situations where mods do as you suggest...

Sure, you could ignore it. But you can't ignore thread titles. I don't think anyone wants to come here to see a thread biasly trashing what they are or what they believe in in such a crude manner. If the policy is to just ignore it, then why do we have mods at all?

Your China sucks thread is a classic example that we delete that kind of stuff real quick when somebody is stupid enough to make a thread title like that... Similar thread titles lead to similar action.

What standards do the mods have? I would hope that they at least are expected to follow the decorum required of the posters here.

Mod's have to live to higher standard than posters... and we answer to the owners. And as has been seen in the past, we also get punished when we break site rules... If you have a complaint about a mod... just contact the owners via PM.

I love to have some fun as much as the next poster, but I believe that there is a line for both posters and mods. When posters cross that line, the appropriate mod action is usually taken. However, when mods do, it is quite unsettling because the posters are left to feel helpless against actions.

Their punishment is usually no more "unsettling" than the problems they caused other posters by their violations. Action is taken because somebody did break the rules. While the poster sometimes disagrees that they did a break a rule (and sometimes whines like a stuck pig) it's the mods call to make.... this isn't a democracy... and again, if you have a problem, you can take it up with the owners by PM.

A bigoted mod can destroy a community (look at what happened to Sidgames).

Yeah... a bigoted mod can destroy a community... it's good that we don't have any at Apolyton.

Can Markos really afford the loss of traffic, if the OT was to collapse?

One... I don't see how the OT could collapse... But second, this is a gaming site first. The OT has been provided as a "service" to the members. I don't think that it would come as any surprise to people if I state that the OT isn't a high priority to the owners. They are more concerned about the on topic stuff... as it should be.

[Theben]

And as has been seen in the past, we also get punished when we break site rules

Really? Now just what could you be referring to?

[rah]

[Imran Siddiqui]

What's it called?

Threadjacking is my prefered terminology. Spamming is more like one sentance, one word posts which add nothing (like what rah just did above me )

[GhengisFarb™]

roflmao at the Theben and rah.

And yes, a very specific certain incident will be included in my writing of the Mythos.