Moderation of the Classic Forum

I try to avoid exchanges like this, because they are mind-numbingly boring. But you have a complaint, so fair enough. Generally however, I want you to keep the following in mind.

1) Neither I, nor this system, are infallible. I have opinions, just as you have opinions and sometimes we are going to disagree. Try not to get twisted about it if it's not important.

2) I moderate entirely without recompense and I'm not asking for any. Yes, I know I "chose to be a moderator" and I know that "I don't have to do it" and all of those other things, but every troll that is removed from this forum, almost, is removed by me. Every IP search carried out against repeat offenders is carried out by me. Perhaps read the first two pages of this thread in order to remind yourself just how horrible things were when I started moderating, and consider how different the forum is now.

3) Questioning moderators is against the rules on this forum. This is to protect moderators from having to endlessly explain themselves. Classic is a different vibe and I accept that, so different points of view are welcome, but not on all corners of the forum. I don't (And won't) enforce that rule. But if you don't like the way I moderate the forum, tell me here, contact the owners, or go elsewhere. DO NOT badmouth me on the wider forum. It isn't fair to me, and it cloggs the forum up.

Anyway:

Yes, but I don't have to explain myself to you, it would have damaged the thread further to get into a debate about whether or not it should be closed and you DID NOT say you wanted to continue the discussion, which is what you were asked to do. That isn't difficult, what I asked for. It's not hard. If you wanted to continue you should have said.

Lots of times on the forum, I can see guys fighting with each other, and you can tell they don't want to go on with it but they don't want to back down either, so it just goes on and on and on until real trouble develops. I was providing an opportunity to end hostilities without anyone losing face. If you wanted to continue "I want to continue" or something like it is the way to proceed. If you - if anyone involved - wanted to continue why did NOBODY say it? So simple. But nobody bothered to do so. Now we've got two complaints.

It isn't about you. First of all, other people were on the receiving end, not you. But the question I ask myself is, should a new member arrive on the forum right now and click on this thread, is it an embarrassment? The answer was "yes". This made me want to close it, but I was aware that the members might want to continue - but also that they might not but not want to say. SO I offered people the chance to keep the thread open and nobody took it. This, in conjunction with the worsening tone, accusations and counter-accusations of bigotry, combined with my having to delete posts due to infringements, convinced me that closing it was the right thing to do.


You disagree - I have no problem with that, though I wish you had stated this clearly at the time. Feel free to vent here. But do not mis-represent me or my intentions in boxing threads on the forum. Implying I will lock a thread if people start talking about Harry Wills and Jack Dempsey is preposterous.

 

We had this guy at work, a sort of management issue with two guys, one of whom wanted to enter a formal complaint about the other one, and was indulged. But his complaint was so bizarre, so extreme, so without merit or basis that it got tossed. He was complaining about the sandwiches the guy took in from home and stuff, about the way he "touched the zip on his airline suit." Those airline suits don't have zips

I'm faced with a similar problem here. The below is so out of touch with reality that dealing it will be difficult. However, as it's the Moderation thread, I will have to do so. I apologise in advance to anyone who decides to read the following exchange which will be meaningless, pointless drama and, for those who wish to skip it, basically comprises of me rebuking false accusations and explaining minor points of moderation that are well known.

I don't know who Gordoom is. I only heard his name mentioned the other day for the first time. Please answer this question though: who has compared me to him? Which posters? Will you name them please? I don't think they exist, you see. Here is what He Grant said:

HG has made a mistake here; there is no "close out threads" policy. In fact, I think i'm right in saying I have locked a total of one thread (possibly two) in the four months since I started re-moderating the forum, and off the top of my head, three (possibly four) threads in the two year stint I did before. I asked He Grant what he meant and he explained:

Obviously, with a rate of lockage at about one thread every 7 months, there's no danger of this happening here

I am interested though, in asking you this, and would like you to answer please - weren't you perma-banned by the previous moderation team? Completely and without the right of appeal and return? And you say i'm a dictator? Even though I have never moderated one of your posts until today whereupon I moved one to this thread from a thread about Jack Dempsey?

I'm fascinated as to why you are here - if you think I am a "dictator" with such liberal moderation, you must consider the owners the actual devil? Satan personified?

Furthermore, as a perm-banned member, any moderator at any time is within their rights to perma-ban you again. There is absolutely no way I would do this, however. In another small way this contradicts your point completely.

This is also completely inaccurate. I moderate in full view of the forum. When I delete a post, with ONE recent exception (which I now regret), I soft delete them and leave an explanation; I have a dedicated thread for grievances (you're posting in it); despite this, my style of moderation is so liberal that he grant didn't even know I was a moderator. He's a regular, he posts in a variety of threads, but he just didn't know it until all of this happens. This is because I moderate gently and so despite it being public, few people have cause to notice. I haven't handed out a single perm-ban to anyone that would be recognised here as a poster, and a total of two days in temporary bans for posters whose names would be recognised.

In short, your accusations are baseless, and all the more unpleasant and personal for it.

Why not just say "no"?

I have pretended no such thing. Your accusations are baseless, once again. Twenty four hours before you make this mistake, I post:

"It wouldn't have mattered" if people had asked to keep it open given the way it went:

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showpost.php?p=16820351&postcount=7

Furthermore, I said so in direct conversation with you just a few hours ago:

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showpost.php?p=16821889&postcount=38

Despite me saying to you directly, in English, a length of time ago in the recent past which can reasonably be counted in minutes, that "it would not have mattered in the end", you still great delight here in accusing me "pretending nobody asked me to keep it open", although this is the direct opposite of what happened. I asked why you didn't ask for it to remain open. I'm not pretending anything.

I await your apology for this false accusation with bated breath :yep

Because with it locked, all the work that people have put in, all the good posts in the thread (of which there are several) are available to anyone who is interested.

All the psycho-babble about Jack Johnson and measuring of degrees people can't prove they have is also still available, but I removed some of the really weird stuff at the end.

Why would I delete it because a few guys went mental on the last few pages? Jesus, that would be hideous moderating.

Possibly every single forum there is without exception.

Every single forum on the internet that is moderated relies upon the moderators personal judgement in deciding these matters. Your assertion that it has only happened on that forum where you had a bad experience is frankly bizarre in the extreme. How do you think it works? Do you think there is a computer program that decides if a thread is offensive? That a vote is taken by members? Or do you really believe that good moderators only act when there are complaints? A forum where moderators only responded to complaints would be awful. Sorry to astonish you, but that is simple fact. Certainly on ESB less than 50% of actions are the result of complaints.

This, despite the fact that there are instructions in this thread on how to report a post, and on how to PM me if there are any problems, it just doesn't happen. People are far, far more likely to just close their laptops or go to another website if the place is overrun by idiots. That is specifically and inarguably why website owners like to have moderators.

Fortunately for you you are posting on a forum where the moderator only very rarely takes action; goes out of his way not to action members who are regular who break the rules (including you, a permabanned member posting under a new account name) and who only very very rarely locks threads.

You are welcome.

If the first fifteen pages isn't embarrassing, almost nobody will find it embarrassing. If the last few pages are embarrassing, people will be embarrassed. In other words, your assertion that the length of the thread means it didn't become embarrassing is ridiculous.

Yes, that's fine.

But please keep these ramblings to this thread or contact administration to complain about me. Do not take this weirdness to the wider forum please.


In the end klompton, all that's happened here is I've locked one thread and you disagree with it. Some of the things you've said to be because of this minor disagreement are very, very bizarre. I doubt very much that it is worth all this drama and if you're going to get on on the internet you have to accept that you can't absolutely control your environment. Like the rest of us you are posting here as a guest, and sometimes moderation decisions will go against your personal opinion - as they go against mine.

 

As i've said, three or four times now, those objections didn't matter in the end. I knew where the thread was going, but I waited for it to go there before actioning it. Read the last post (if you can stand it).

 

Well if i'm moderating the thread long enough, it'll get up to 100 pages, and to be fair most of what's gone before has been at least reasonable.

I fear you're right though, this could be a three day effort, with matinee.

Still, it's been a while :yep