SillydogTheGreat

[WildSimba]

[quote="Lynx"]Erm so let me ask... was Silly reported or just simply observed and given warnings accordingly[/quote]

It wasn't according to anything really. They just basicially sent us a PM saying Stop doing whatever it is your doing. They gave us no details, or what to stop doing at all.

[Rarity]

But I feel the members found Silly's behaviour quite acceptable even though the mods might think its out of hand I feel that Silly would never intentionally harm someone like what I did last year. She just loved fun and was a bit headstrong but it was tolerable and we like her as she was. I really doubt anyone reported her but at least the staff should have asked a few of ask for our opinions before banning her.

[WildSimba]

I totally agree, Lynx. Silly was a pefectly fine member of this forum, and I feel like most members on here like her a lot. I mean, she got pretty close to getting voted into the top 3 of the staff race recently. And, I've been trying to say that whole staff should get the opinions of members, but they've yet to care at all about that opinion. Apparantly, they just want everyone to completly conform to every single one of their decisions, even if they have to force it, and dodge around the bullet to keep some things out of our knowledge.

[Rarity]

Well I'm quite fine with a conformist society since I live in one so I have no problem with such things in reality and on internet if I'm needed to obey. But even in a conformist society, there is feedback, discussion just that not at the expense of offending those in power. And as of now we conclude that majority of th users who have posted so far spared for the mods are sympathetic to Silly and we may suggest lifting the ban on conditions you choose to apply.

[DGFone]

Probably will get burned at the stake for this.
Especially because this was before I signed up, but before you bring this point up, I did visit often enough before this. So here it goes:

I would say that both sides got out of line.
Why?
SillydogTheGreat: She most definitely had a right to complain about it. But there is a rule that states that you cannot discuss mod actions on public forums. Complain about it? Maybe. But not discuss them: "Because of this and that point, you banned me unjustly... etc..." I believe this should be allowed "I think it's unfair. The end." Explain the rest in a PM to offending mod. SillyDog created a public topic, which is technically a violation of the rules (whether or not the rule should exist is another point all together). At first the topic seamed to go well, with the mods defending their actions. But it then turned quickly into a mudslinging contest (trolling) with posts that were nothing but insults. To me, it seemed like SillyDog liked the drama, because she joined right in: [quote]Omg stop complaining. The reason there are rules is to put you in your place.[/quote] Useful information in this entire post: 0.

The Mods: I would say that it's okay to defend your actions, but as mods, you need to know when to stop fueling the fire by not replying. You should have been able to tell by the third topic that simply locking them would not work (this is the fourth topic). The proper action would have been to leave them alone, and let the fire burn itself out. I know that from personal experience that sometimes, even if the other person is 100% wrong (depending on your POV), sometimes the best thing to do is to let the other person to "win" by having the last word. Sometimes, a last word that is wrong is better than a fight.

Everyone else who participated: Seeing as I am posting this, I am in this category, but I still feel like I need to post this. But the other people should have simply left the issue between SillyDog and the Mods. It's like WW1: First it's Austria and Serbia. But then Russia and Germany join in. And France, And Britain. And India. And America. And in the end, everyone were left wondering how it all started.
Just leave it alone guys! I am going to follow this advice, so this will be my only post about this topic.

Okay, you can burn me now.

[Moka]

Okay let me just set some things straight because a lot of people seem to be forgetting some things.

Sillydog was banned for having a long history of going overboard with pranks and jokes, disrespecting members (especially staff members), and just contributing to a negative atmosphere on the forum. Yes, she had friends on here and I'm sorry to those people but when a member continually pokes fun at other members and blatantly disrespects them, we have to act on that. No, we did not follow the standard "protocol" of warning her, but she and the staff have been trying to work with her for MONTHS to improve behavior, and after three suspensions (1 accidental), 3 official warnings and countless PMs, we weren't seeing any improvement whatsoever.

I'd like to mention that this all stemmed from a PM sent by staff to a number of individuals as a last warning to improve their attitude and behavior. Instead of taking our advice, the issue exploded out of proportion yet again and someone ended up getting banned over what was said.

[quote="Amanda"]But I just want to say that MLK has lost a very valuable member who did a lot for the forum and the FAA section, including designing the MLK Christmas theme logo and the admin's own avatar. That's all.[/quote]

Yes, she was a valuable member and I'm still very thankful for the banner and the avatar AND I will miss her on the forum. But just because someone made a few graphics for the forum doesn't mean we're going to treat them different than we would any other member.

[quote="YFWE"]Place seems pretty ban-happy these days. Not a good environment.[/quote]

Oh, sorry, do you have access to the moderator logs? No. If you did, you'd notice that our last ban of a community member was back in mid-January. Thanks for contributing, though.

[quote="SnowyCheetah"]The former mods have more sense than the current, these days [/quote]

That's the kind of attitude that we're talking about.

@Lynx: As far as I know you haven't been warned or anything. If you guys aren't getting nasty PMs from the staff, you're probably doing things right. There's no reason to believe otherwise unless you start believing in internet conspiracy theories.

@WS...it was our mistake for adding you to that list, I think. There was some stuff said in January, but you've been fine recently...so sorry about that and sorry for causing a fright.

[quote="WildSimba"]They just basicially sent us a PM saying Stop doing whatever it is your doing. They gave us no details, or what to stop doing at all.[/quote]

Not true.

[quote="Lynx"]but at least the staff should have asked a few of ask for our opinions before banning her.[/quote]

The entire purpose of the moderators is to decide who is helping the community and should stay, and who is disrupting the community and should leave. That being said though, I did ask a few members their opinions.

[quote="WildSimba"]And, I've been trying to say that whole staff should get the opinions of members, but they've yet to care at all about that opinion. [/quote]

WS, the whole REASON for the staff elections was to show the members that we DO care about their opinions. Decisions are made fastest and arguably most rationally when a small, trained group is making them. We can't hold a vote every time to ask members if we should ban this spambot, or warn this user for having a signature that is too big. The job of the moderators is to keep things running as smoothly and as healthy as possible. When we run into a member that won't budge for months upon months and starts bogging down the community, we're gonna ban them.

[quote="Lynx"]And as of now we conclude that majority of th users who have posted so far spared for the mods are sympathetic to Silly and we may suggest lifting the ban on conditions you choose to apply.[/quote]

The majority of the users who have posted so far in this topic cared enough to post. 184 views, 24 replies. Think more...?

[quote="DGFone"]I would say that it's okay to defend your actions, but as mods, you need to know when to stop fueling the fire by not replying. You should have been able to tell by the third topic that simply locking them would not work (this is the fourth topic). The proper action would have been to leave them alone, and let the fire burn itself out.[/quote]

We've been watching this "fire" you speak of burn itself out and light itself up again every time a member disagrees with one of our decisions. Simply ignoring the problem won't solve it. That's bad advice, no offense. Like I said before, we'll give a member time and opportunity to bring their concerns to us (SOMETHING THAT A LOT OF FORUMS DON'T OFFER. Many forums have a "don't argue with the mods, the mods are always right" rule). But like I said before when a member won't budge for months and months, we're just gonna ban them.

Silly will be missed. No, we're not lifting the ban.



Sorry for being overly harsh.

[Rarity]

Fair enough I guess... though somewhat I feel a bit lost...
Well.. since you guys did what was said I guess its fine. Even if we don't know everything to Silly's case there is this saying that the Sky and the Earth will tell true^^
With that said I'm going to be away for the weekend, I need to do some more reflection of what I did in the past and make sure I don't make the same mistakes as well again.

[Moka]

To report in depth every action we take to the members would not only breach member's privacy, but be incredibly exhausting for all us mods. We're just asking everyone to have a little faith and trust in us to make the right decisions both now and in the future. The current moderators think of MLK as a part-time job now, and we do that job so other members can enjoy their time here. A lot of previous moderators have actually left because being a moderator was too labor-intensive. We make decisions that will hopefully benefit the majority of the members. No, we're not perfect, but we are doing the best we can with the schedules we have.

And with that, I'd really like to lock this topic. I think the original purpose of this topic was honorable, but inevitably it got a little nasty.

If anyone has any more questions, just PM us.