We all have been givin rules to follow and for the most part we are all happy to follow them. Now, i'd like to hear from fellow orgers on what type of expectations *they* have for their moderators. Simple requests that will make dealing with them better. Anyone got any views? Here are my:

1) Dont take criticism personal- Nobody likes to be told that they are doing a bad job. But, sometimes hearing a different opinion on how to manage situations could help you in the future. Just remember these recommendations have nothing to do with you personally.

2) Don't belittle the visitors of your site- Sure its fun sometimes to to poke fun at your guests. But, it could offend and hurt peoples feelings. Never make fun of the fact that you had to take action against someone.


3) Your not the star- Always remember, its not *you* that makes this site great...its the guests. So dont make comment within threads about your "moderating power". Dont create threads announcing what "power" you have. If your making changes, important as they are, keep them in the "Prince.org site discussion" forum... (Just like Ben does).


well, these are my opinions...take them as they are...anyone else?





oopsies
[This message was edited Mon Aug 26 10:31:42 PDT 2002 by SkletonKee]

SkletonKee said:

I love that word.

My Grandmother used to say that every time she farted.

SkletonKee said:

yes... http://www.prince.org/msg...&tid=20926

oh wow...i didnt even notice that my comments towards Ian were deleted...Yet, my comments to Anxiety remain...not fair..

and here i am trying to maintain a neutral balance here...

This site has always been called Prince.org, not Ben.org or Mat.org. They very rarely surface on here, and generally only when necessary.

If someone's gonna go through the trouble of creating an online community for Prince fans to chat, I hope they will continue to preserve an atmosphere of free speech.

A discussion involves more than one point of view.

I agree, SkeletonKee.

You make good points and I hope that they are heard.

I agree with those points too SkletonKee, most of them anyway. Not quite sure about the third point though. Moderators have a right to post too. I don't think any of the mods do it for the "power trip" - it'd be pretty sad if we did really

Aside from that your points get my thumbs up.

ian said:

Well, I do like the fact that you participate more. No offense to Ben, Matt and Kevin, but we mostly saw them when they were deleting, locking or commenting on why they lcoked and deleted. I like the fact you contribute a bit more through posting.

I say we continue with the honeymoon.
[This message was edited Mon Aug 26 19:49:10 PDT 2002 by Aerogram]

ian said:

im not refering to your participating on the org...more, your initial constant reminder that *you da man*...read through some of your posts for the first couple days...how many times did you refer to you being the moderator and having complete unarbitrated power? one could easily see that as a power trip..while these may be or may not be the case, many people have felt that way...

also, try not to get defensive...I noticed that someone pointed out their dislike for the new rules...instead of being empathetic to their frustration you pretty much told the person that nobody forced them into visiting this site and if they didnt like it they can go somewhere else.. Why respond like that? They have a right to their opinion..isnt there a more diplomatic responce that could have been used? Or let someone who doesnt have an *official* role on the site respond?

once again...me just waxing my mind...

i post this here out of fear it will be deleted from its original home..i hope you dont mind Anxiety. -nicholas



originally posted in the "goodbye to anxiety" thread in the general discussion forum.

A message from Anxiety

Someone hipped me to this thread, so of course I checked it out. Thanks for your kind words, guys. Really. I mean it. Y'all are sweet.

What my impressions of this site have come down to is a need for the moderators to understand the dichotomy between the mere depiction of language and the actual meaning behind the words that pop up on these screens. That, to me, is the crux of appropriate moderation, be it on a website, in a magazine, on a television program, wherever.

There's a pop-Buddhist expression quoted in a Laurie Anderson song, which I think was originally coined by William Burroughs: "Language is a virus from outer space." Well, I don't know about the outer space part, but I can get with the virus part. Words are just combinations of letters and symbols that we manipulate to express our thoughts and feelings as best we can, and those combinations of symbols mutate with every person who ingests them, based on that person's interpretation. We can use strong words to express harmless messages, and we can use weak language to express some pretty heavy stuff. It's all in the interpretation, and perhaps just as importantly, it's all in the author's intent.

Similarly, by way of (mis)interpretation, a person can take your language and twist it around in ways that you didn't intend. They can take something harmless and make it ugly. That's what I contend to have experienced this weekend, and I felt it was grossly inappropriate, bullyish and, to some extent, violating. And being someone whose bread and butter is expressing himself by way of the written word, it was a slap in the face that stung more than perhaps was intended.

Deleting my posts isn't a big deal to me. Re-purposing them maliciously from a position of so-called "authority" IS a big deal to me.

Context is important. Context is everything, even when dealing with a "pointless", harmless missive, such as the one that led to my eventual storming out from this site. If context weren't important, then why else would this moderator have re-posted my seemingly "content-free" post, only to re-frame it in his own intended context?

That's dirty playing.

I might have reacted with a little bit more bile than was appropriate (okay, a LOT more), but the core of all my kvetching was right-on, and I continue to stand by the issues I have with certain recent actions made, as well as the stream of little frustrations over the summer that led me to blow my stack at this virtual straw that broke the virtual camel's virual back. Virtually speaking, that is.

It sucks to distance myself from the Org. I don't like it. But I also don't like feeling like my contributions will be manipulated against me at the moderators' whims. Deleting is one thing. This is quite another.

If it's about being arbitrary, then great. At least that's consistent. Be arbitrary, but be arbitrary across the board. Be consistent. And if that seems too much to ask of The Powers That Be, might I suggest you find a copy of a delightful children's book titled "The Emperor's New Clothes"? It might learn ya a lesson, sooner than you think.

I would love to reconsider my decision to leave the Org; I would love to be assured that new moderators won't go unchecked, and that they won't use their "powers" as a form of petty retribution. I would like to think that moderation on this site is treated as a responsibility rather than some kind of high-and-mighty "entitlement".

But I'm not convinced.

How's that song go? "Eye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U Anymore"?

Moderators (particularly new ones): Play nice. Think before you act. Remove the phrase "It's Good To Be King" from your internal phrasebook. Hold yourself to a higher standard, especially if that's what you want from us. Then I'll be happy to come back and play, and I'll kiss and cuddle and feed milk and cookies to every last one of your rules and regulations.

And for the rest of you, all I can say is you have a whole lot more patience than me. And I've been here a while.

All my best to all of you...even Ian.

-Anx
[This message was edited Tue Aug 27 10:55:02 PDT 2002 by SkletonKee]

SkletonKee said:

Thanks for your honesty Skeletonkee!

To be honest Ian I got the same power trip impression as the others, and I am a very neutral person...And at times you pop up just to be sure that you remind us that you are watching...Big Brotherish!

Anyway I do appreciate that you have volunteered your time, thank you..And yet we have some really insightful, opinionated, funloving, entertaining people here, PLEASE DON'T CHASE THEM OFF!

The bit in the new rules that I don't get is where it says ;Do not create "devote-a-threads" or other useless messages.
How do the moderators decide what is useless? I means POOK's 'edit and quote' party has been around for awhile and that is pretty useless, but other stuff has been deleted over it.
And what was so wrong about 'devote-a-threads' that you decided they had no place on this site?

Aerogram said:

Be gentle with me Aerogram dahling

RandomDuck said:

I'll deal with them on case-by-case basis and make a decision. If there's a post that particularly bothers you, click on the "report to moderators" button and I'll check it out for ya.

sag10 said:

Well first of all - whatever your impression was, I'm not here on a power trip. I don't need to feel all powerful over you people, I'm just trying my best to help out the site. End of story really. When I "pop up at times" it isn't to remind you necessarily of my presence - rather I like posting on the site like everyone else and I'll continue to do so If you find my presence "big brotherish" it's probably just because you're not used to having a moderator so "hands-on" and of course I'm more heavy-handed than previous mods because of the new rules etc.

I'll deal with the issues as best I can, you all have my word on that. Doesn't mean I'll be perfect, or the site will be perfect, or that some people won't get their knickers in a twist from time to time... but at least we'll have tried to improve the site. Worth a try right? I mean, it couldn't have got much more unpleasant than the GD Forum before it was all closed down before.

Thanks Ian!

I would only hope that the moderation is kept to a minimum. Especially if posts/threads are deleted because someone is hypersensitive or cannot tolerate any type of criticism about a subject that is being discussed in an intelligent manner.

I'm all for deleting useless and or extremely abusive posts or threads.