I’m going to respond to this thread but I’m not going to get into a debate. Technically this thread should be removed as it breaks the rules about discussion of moderation in open forum. Questions should normally be put directly to us via email.
The reason, I’ll clarify, is because no matter how justified or otherwise the moderation.. No matter how clear cut the reason… there will always be someone who disagrees and wants to debate and argue the decision. This just leads to moderators being dragged into debate and argument that serves no one other than the person who wants to argue. The moderators are all under strict instructions to not engage in open forum after moderation.
I can break that rule as I am one of those responsible for implementing that rule…
I take issue with the inconsistency/random argument.
In 90% of cases we respond to reported complaints from users of the forum. This is how the forum has to work as there are simply thousands of posts a day and it would take a huge team of moderators to approve and moderate each and every post. I’ve said this many many times before and I suspect I’ll be saying it again and again until I retire… just because it’s there on the forum does not mean we have approved it. If you find it offensive or that it should be moderated for whatever reason then report it to us so we can look at it.
Further more… individuals on this forum are NOT treated equally. If you frequently break the rules then you have used up your warnings. The thresholds then for action that will be taken against you are reduced. Previous warnings and action taken ie.. your record, WILL be taken into consideration and this will dictate if you are banned or just warned.
Fred has been moderated so often that we don’t bother warning him on the whole – he just gets banned. This has been explained to him many many times and yet he still doesn’t modify his behaviour. The fact that some of the time he’s ‘good’ does not mean that when he’s ‘bad’ he gets excused. The fact he’s ‘ a nice person in real life’ means nothing. This IS real life. What you say on a forum is read and taken on board as much as what you say to someone’s face. That is fundamental to the behaviour we expect of all posters. You may disagree with that… you are entitled to disagree.. but the basis of our forum is based on that simple and clear premise.
When you post on here you are not engaging in a private conversation. What you say is being broadcast to thousands by the very fact they are able to read it. The ‘if you don’t like what I say then don’t read it’ excuse does not apply. It’s already been read. No matter what you put in the title of a thread you are not excused from this. As much as you would moderate your own statements if you were stood on a stage in front of an audience you must do the same on our forum.
We do not care how you are allowed to behave on other forums. We do not care how moderators handle things on other forums. We moderate only one forum and this is how we do that.
You may debate issues as much as you want but if you start to insult in anyway the other person for their views then you run the risk (if we see it or it gets reported to us) of being moderated.
What you consider ‘fun’ is not welcome here IF it is at the expense of another.
In other words you must show respect for other users at all times, regardless of their pov. If we catch you doing otherwise you will be moderated.
These are the terms of use for this forum. These are the same terms we had 10 years ago.
Is it too much to ask to be nice to each other?
That’s rhetorical…