Thought you'd like to see this from a Moderator's point of view! I'm not going to say that I completely agree or disagree with you, but before you jump to a few conclusions as you have, I'd like you to have better insight on the situation.
People have left this site because of a ban they got...when they
didn't deserve it.
I can tell you personally that banning is an absolute last resort rarely used...I can't speak for the rest of the mods, but a user is never banned for a first time instance, even in some cases like having duplicate accounts. We instantly ban duplicate accounts, but the original person is usually left with a warning. If a person is banned on the site, it's a result of multiple issues popping up on the site. If we didn't do anything about it, then you just have the problem of everyone breaking the rules, and teetering to the other extreme. Especially when you look at the fact that this hasn't just been hidden. Granted, users here are much faster at kicking, but even then, that comes after several warnings to the person, along with an explanation of why (note, like having charges read off by police in fairness) and a kick is only temporary. Even a ban can easily be reversed.
Remember how abusive Will was when he....? Oh wait, what has he done?
Remember when Mew gave 3 warnings to someone for using caps lock, and then he just kicked them? What a jerk...
Remember Trachy managing through the ban report, shutting down the mini modding (the thing you later criticize) and then gave warnings and reasoning to people before taking an appropriate action formed by Pokemaster and not him? How heartless of him...
Remember when I had Sammich hero tell me to STFU and instead of banning him, I asked him to explain why he had a problem with me? Sorry I was so unfair.
I don't say this out of arrogance, but I'd say that the mods here are much more willing to listen to you than on just about any most other locations around. Go on Pokemon Online and bring your problem to a mod. If you don't kiss up to them, sucks for you then...If you're lucky, you won't get banned just for imposing on them by as much as talking to them.
People have left this site because of the endless point grubbing and
power.
While I do agree with this, I fail to see how this can be linked to the mods and leadership on the site. This is more a criticism of the regular users, so I fail to see how this plays in.
People have left this site because they have had enough of mini
Modding.
Again, I agree, but first, this isn't a fault of the leaders of the site (I understand that this is a criticism of the site as a whole, but I'm here to defend a group of people)
People have left this site because it isn't a Q+A website...anymore.
says who? People still ask and answer questions almost daily. It's slower because there are already hundreds of questions in the database, keyword, DATABASE. The more content you have, the more likely it is that someone will have already asked something you want to know. Basic probability right there. People have been competing for points since the site started. I doubt it will ever stop. If you really have such a big deal with it, focus your energy elsewhere.
All there is now is points and policing on who gets a ban and all this
useless crap. I say we become a bit more decent. With Mods having so
much power on this site makes things harder to do. There are too many
mods Editors and Experts are completely fine.
Again I say that the mods will go out of their way to be understanding, and we don't throw out bans left and right, so don't even try to give me that crap. As said before, kicks, you know, those ten minute things? Yeah, AFTER several warnings, but I don't think it's fair to say we're being tyrannical here. If that were the case, I would've hidden this post and told you to shut the hell up and quiet you down instead of trying to respond to it. Do I sound really harsh and stubborn? Most likely. That tends to happen when posts about how much of a dictator you are pop up. Editors aren't able to ban, so I have no idea where you're getting their criticisms from. Everyone can hide and edit posts, but that's to sharpen the quality of the content coming in on the main sites. There are 6 mods, 2 of which aren't currently active. Too many experts? Perhaps, and I actually see where you're going, but realize that they can't do as much as a moderator, so that's a cheap straw man argument to attack them as well because of how you feel (incorrectly, btw) towards mods.
Mike (Holy Name*) Left. trachy left for 2 weeks Mythical Flygon left
for 5 months because of it. I almost left.
You realize that Mike has left several times. He's not the only one, that tends to happen when you're around people so long. It' s a website oriented at several age groups. Take some time off to sharpen the saw if you can't put up with it. I agree that there's plenty of bullcrap here, but part of that is people overexerting themselves here.
But I really don't know if you have realised, but a Mod can view IP.
Had NO idea. Not at all .
A hacker can easily hack into a Mods account. And using the IP address
scanning, they can actually fry a persons computer. IP address has
gone too far. I say we remove this feature from mods.
I think you underestimate how easy it is to search these people out. Even if you strip that of the mods (which we use to search out those duplicate accounts and point grubbers you had a problem with before) there's nothing stopping Pokemaster from searching this stuff out. I have no idea what the hell you're talking about to "fry" a person's computer, but even if something happened, pokemaster still supersedes everything and could stop that in an instant. The whole reason he gave mods the ability to view IP (which you can easily find on someone's computer without the mod account btw) was because he can't (and doesn't want to) always be here. You want to remove the feature to ban IPs from mods, and you can restore things to how the site initially was, where all you can do if there's a person spamming or complaining on the chat is to sit there and hope Pokemaster happens to pop up. We could report things, but you can see how much crap the ban report causes (hence my suggestion). Again, a misunderstanding of technology isn't any reason to do that to moderators.
You want my take on it, I agree that there are too many people backseat modding. I don't think it's fair to try and pin this on people trying to reduce the problem, which to be honest is a big spit in the face to everyone trying. I think that there are too many backseat leaders rather than too much policing. If you can't ban people or kick them, then don't worry about telling people to stop. Arguing on the chat about people won't do anything, even if they insult you. All that does is just cause more bullcrap. Everyone is too quick to jump in and try and fight when it doesn't do anything. That's where I think most problems here come in from. Rules don't exist just for the sake of having rules...They exist to address a common problem people saw. If that problem is there, then it's appropriate to deal with it, regardless of whether the rule explicitly says to or not.
A few notes:
- You don't get banned if you don't continually cause problems. Don't make duplicate accounts, don't use caps locks a lot on the chat, and just go along if a moderator asks you do to something.
- I don't give a damn how much pride you have. It's not defending a friend to fight with someone that insulted them. It's just fighting. It's more understandable in a real fight situation to physically protect someone, but this is an internet website...that's not happening.
- The most important of all is to Calm the balls down. Not directed at you flare, but most of the site honestly.
