Thanks for your input, Jerry, and Cougar. I appreciate it.
Unfortunately, that doesn't sway my position.
You may not agree with my decision, or James', but then, you didn't make the call.
I say again -
I don't have a problem with constructive criticism. Unfortunately, that wasn't what was happening.
You may be content to let it "die a natural death". Unfortunately, this was more akin to "picking at an open wound". There was no productive discussion occurring, it had reached the point where it was just
1. Reiterating the same points over and over, and
2. People were starting to complaining for complaining's sake; and that serves no productive purpose,
period. All it does is make a lot of noise over nothing.
So what was the net effect? Zero, or less than zero (as in negatives) if you count the public perception that "BladeForums.com must have been screwing up if people are complaining about censorship and thread locking!!!!"
Mike, myself, and the staff of BladeForums.com as a whole has always been 100% open about our reasoning, and more than willing to discuss any action we take. We don't try to sneak about and pull one over on you guys - if there's been a questionable judgement call we've
always been willing to talk it out.
Jerry, you made the comment -
t's all about power. Give someone a "delete" key and they will abuse it.
Let's temper
assumption with the
reality of our track record. In the 17 months that we've been open, I think there have been less than 10 threads deleted by moderators, including the posts from the one in question. Of them all, IIRC, these are the first that James have deleted, and given his track record I am 100% convinced that he wasn't acting hastily when he did so. We've left threads far more damaging in place, even when they've made us look bad. Why? Because we're open about what we do, and don't have anything to hide. It's our intention to make sure this site *serves* the industry in the best way possible.
So you'll pardon me for saying that your insinuation is out of place, and without merit.
Folks, don't confuse what happened here with something else, or read more into it than what was there -
- A few members decided to insult each other. We don't allow that. You want to insult each other, do it via private email. I don't want to hear about how some of may have thick skins - that behavior is inappropriate, and I've yet to see any justification for doing so.
- All appearance's aside, we're not omniscient or omnipotent. So we can't be everywhere at once, nor can we read every post in every thread. If something slips by us that ticks you off, it's your job to notify us of it so we can take action (if necessary). The spectacular lack of emails asking us to take action or check out threads leads me to believe that we're doing a great job already. This is not to say that we don't occasionally miss something that needed to be taken care of, but I'd say that by and large we act on things in an efficient and timely manner.
- James deleted the content of those posts with the best of intentions. While this may not have been the best course of action, I'm going to back him up for doing it. He even explained his reasons for doing so in the first iteration of this thread - because he wanted the discussion to continue without locking the thread and killing it off.
So, when I read CENSORSHIP!!!! FIRST AMENDMENT!!!! coming from any member of the forum (not to single you out, Tim) you'll pardon me if I don't take you seriously. Make no mistake - BladeForums.com is private property. If you want to post here, you will follow the rules that we've established for everyone. We fully reserve the right to edit or delete the content of posts or threads at any time, for any reason, and each of you agreed to follow our rules and abide by our policies when you signed up as a member.
The fact that we rarely, if ever, do so should speak volumes about our leniency. So, when it does happen, it's for a good reason.
But don't mistake leniency and a laissez - faire attitude for apathy - You don't have the right to insult others. You don't have the right to take a post off topic with barbs or jibes. You don't have the right to pick fights, or be abusive, or any of 100 other ways of making life difficult for a moderator. So if you do, don't be surprised when someone takes action to stop it.
Each one of you is a guest, among close to 6000 other guests, so please show the courtesy of acting like one. You don't have to drink your tea with your pinky extended, but lets refrain from punching holes in the walls, setting fire to the drapes, ripping up the carpet, or anything else the would be a major buzzkill.
- If you feel one of our policies or one of our actions are questionable, feel free to call us on it. But do it the right way - it's one of the reasons we have a Service and Support forum. It's for you guys to give feedback on what's right and wrong with the site and how we run it.
Be advised, however, that you'll get further by giving a clear reason why you feel that way, how the situation could be improved / resolved. And you'll find me a lot more likely to listen if you've thought out what you've said, and have read everything in the thread that bothers you; going off half cocked over something you didn't read correctly just wastes the time of everyone involved.
- Moderators, if any of you have to make a call on a thread or post, feel free to ask for advice in the BladeForums.com Back End forum, sometimes everyone needs a second opinion.
For that matter, if any one of you is unsure of what the duties and responsibilities of being a moderator is, feel free to ask. I guess I've been slacking in what is expected from you guys lately, so part of that is my fault.
So, with all of that being said, does anyone have any
constructive criticism so we can get this problem (if there is a problem) solved? What can we improve? What can we change?
Spark
------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com
Insert witty quip here
[This message has been edited by Spark (edited 03-30-2000).]
