real answer there are hidden mods as well as drac and cougar who are openly mods. The hidden mods didn’t want the flak and I cannot blame them for it. to be a poster and an open mod is difficult and I have seen both Drac and Cougar accused of using their mod status unfairly which IMO is wrong and out of order
The rest of you can suck up as much as you like. It’s pretty pathetic. 🙄 🙂
Drac and Cougar, no matter hard they may try to be fair, are going to be somewhat biased in the moderating decisions they make (i.e. they may be making their best judgement, but it is an individual judgement, that is not always checked by committee*, because nothing on this forum is important enough that they should go to that sort of trouble, even if they had the resources and inclination to do so). Some people are going to view this as them using their ‘status’** unfairly. It is inevitable, and they have been accused of this many times.
I generally think open mods are a bad idea. It can be difficult to have discussion on a level playing field when the other person has the ability to silence you, and that ability can all too easily go to their heads! I think that lots of people are more accepting of ‘shadow mods’ i.e. ones where we don’t know their personal bias and opinions. Of course, they may actually be much more biased and unfair, but there is less to argue against when we don’t know their personal opinions! I’m also aware that beggars can’t be choosers, and the people behind STW are happy to have a couple of volunteers that have the time, and inclination to do it. You would really have to love the forum, and have a lot of spare time to do it. I expect most of the good work they do is ignored, while any slight inconsistency is blown out of proportion.
*I’m aware the mods have said before that they ‘double check’ each others actions on occasion.
**’Burden’ may be a more appropriate word than ‘status’?!