EllisDee said:

That joke is played out now Ellis.

Get some new material please.

minneapolisgenius said:

but why should i get new material, when my old material is so funny...

:drumroll:

EllisDee said:

You really are Rodney Dangerfield aren't you?

minneapolisgenius said:

hey... what can i say.... i get no respect around here...




the sad thing is that i look just like him....

EllisDee said:

True, true....

minneapolisgenius said:

When I was a kid I got no respect. When my parents got divorced there was a custody fight over me ... and no one showed up.

ben said:

i agree 100%. Thats why I brought up the issue of the "bully effect".....i think im more excited to be in a position to engage all the mods in a discussion of preventative measures...how we can all cultivate an enviroment that allows expression yet stops posters from becoming popular by baiting other people....Its the importance of that type of discussion within the moderator community thats most important to me ..not the act of deleting threads or editing them.....

for example, did moderators ever talk to icenine or rdhull from a peer level about their activities? and not as a moderator but a member of the community? sorta say, "hey, i know this is fun and all but....some of these people arent liking being attacked...could you please cut it out? because if you dont you might end up being banned?"

as a business owner i know its far easier and productive to communicate and discuss problems up front rather then disciplin on the back-end.....

-----

And I know a lot of people blame me for the banning of rdhull but the fact of the matter is, I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT....This was ben's decision....Ben has his personal life, his beautiful wife , a career and a move to worry about; in addition to managing the org.....There comes a time when an individual (and his/her actions) start to take up too much of Ben's personal life... dealing with the drama and eating up time is probably when ben decides to ban that poster...I had one org note conversation w/ ben over rdhull and it was apparent to me that rdhull was being banned long before our orgnote (one message) exchange.....

i see the importance of posters like rdhull, aaron, chemmie and icenine..but i also see how they can "bully" other people within the community.....i look forward to each and every one of them returning...as long as we "keep it friendly" and discuss our ideas and not attack them... this place will be a wonderful diversion from reality....but it needs to be that for all the vistors..not just a chosen popular few....

EllisDee said:

Oh boo hoo, get over it. That was years ago!

Moderating Prince.org isn't a "profession" - these guys are giving their time free of charge, and doing their best. They don't have to tolerate abusive treatment from anyone. The person you are talking about posted many rather nasty abusive comments, and got booted for it. End of story.

Moderating a website is not an exact science, and you won't always be happy with decisions that are made. However, this site has always needed a larger number of mods providing better coverage across the forums, and given the characters of the individuals concerned I'm sure that the new mods' involvement will have a hugely positive effect. It's great news, and I wish them the best.

Ian

ian said:

blah blah blah... ain't nobody talking about "these guys"... i'm talking about you... i have the highest expectations from these people and nowhere have i indicated otherwise...

[Flame snipped. --Matt]

and i also wish these new guys the best... ...
[This message was edited Mon Mar 1 8:01:16 2004 by matt]

EllisDee said:

Sure, I quite agree... I was a shitty moderator. Did my best to help out, but I've more important matters to think about than a Prince fansite. So what? Luckily for all of us, I'm not involved in running the site now so you really shouldn't give me a second thought.

I'd love to tell you what I think of you too... but I don't think I've ever thought anything about you
[This message was edited Sat Feb 28 8:01:31 2004 by ian]

ian said:

if you can't think anything nice about Mr. Dee, don't think anything about him at all... ...

ian said:

Ian< your still here... for real though I liked your style of moderation...(you always gave me fair warning those few times you had too ... )....I liked the fact that you put your foot down and realized tony would indeed start racial baiting threads and you finally banned him.... seeing you at the quaid bowl was a bit unpleasant but you told me what was up and that you had just joined so I will say it here where alll can read it..... sorry if I offended you or your wife. I should have shown you more respect . You really never rubbed me the wrong way so cheers to you ...

peace


pej
[This message was edited Sat Feb 28 8:47:24 2004 by PEJ]

btw I wish azure could have had a chance to come back loike the rest of the deactivated people..... she had a great spirit and meant well....

PEJ said:

Hey no worries at all Pej mate, no offence taken or anything. You've always been cool with me

PEJ said:

Yeah...

Well, I think if she had any interest in returning I doubt anyone would have any problem with that. She came across as a very nice person (disregarding the arguments that got her deactivated... and there were lots of different people involved in that). Banning people has never been a very effective strategy anyway IMHO.

ian said:

Azure wasn't/isn't interested in coming back, not out of anger, but because her life naturally led in other directions. She's one of the few people who actually stayed away after she left here.

As far as "lots of different people involved" in the "arguments" that got her deactivated--let's remember it was really all surrounding the love-triangle (square? lol) of AzureStar, IceNine, Lavishh and Muse2NoPharaoh and the underhanded shots taken at Azure, which she felt weren't responded to. Lavishh also was a moderator at the time, so Azure had no one to go to.

But as you've mentioned, it was a long time ago--about a year now--and it's time to move on. I just don't want Azure's name associated with trouble, because other than that issue, there was none with her.
[This message was edited Sun Feb 29 22:38:49 2004 by AnotherLoverToo]

EllisDee said:

Mr. Dee, I think more and more about u, ALL OF IT NICE!

Can I just say one thing about NPGMC, even though it might be considered kind of bizarre by some around here?

I think they've really cleaned up their act lately in terms of the way they moderate the site.

I don't think this was an act of kindness - NPGMC is getting flooded with new members since Prince has started off on his media blitz, and I'm sure the last thing he wants is to have new fan$ alienated by his own website - but all the same, I can't help but notice it's not as arbitrary and heavyhanded as we've known it to be in the past, and for whatever reason that has come to be, I'm happy for it.

Sure, there's the whole "no cursing" rule and there are certain strictures that are in place over there that can be viewed as uptight and constrictive. But that's the style they're going for, so hey - whatever. Good thing about the Org (AND Housequake, and all the other similar sites for that matter) is that it gives people a choice. I can say right now that I dig the environment over at the club for what it is, and I dig the atmosphere here for what it is. I hope part of what I can do as a moderator is redirect all the "Us vs. Them" crap between the Org and the club, at least to where the sites aren't villainizing each other, because there's really no reason for it and in my opinion, that whole attitude is getting really boring.

So, um....THERE.

Just hadda get that off my chest.

Anxiety said:

There are other sites?

Teacher said:

...

Anxiety said:

damn good thing to finally hear somebody say this... really... the "them" vs "us" is bullshit, because there's a lot of muthafuckas that are neither "them" nor "us"...

and it's crazy, too... cause i would consider myself to be more "them" than "y'all", and although you will see the occasional org joke over at npgmc, there aren't threads created with the sole purpose of belittling it's members and talking shit about it, like there are over here...

if it ain't your cup of chowder, fine... but ya ain't gotta slander the place...

sosgemini said:

That's a very encouraging post, SOS. If nothing else, good and effective moderation is about time-saving strategies for the moderators and it sounds like you know something about that. There's no reason why it has to take up your entire day. Though these strategies shouldn't obviously be at the cost of disrespecting the users who come here every day, as well as those who only come occasionally, newbies etc. And of course, it's up to us to respect the new moderators, as long as they don't flame the users and treat users with respect. I'm also glad to see in the new rules a provision for contacting Ben about issues that arise regarding moderators. (I'm pretty sure that is new. It is certainly welcome.)

If nothing else, it's good to have moderators who like the site and like the users.

I remember from the beginning that you, SOS, were never afraid to say what you thought about the moderation, and I always thought that in that regard you were right on the mark. In fact, you said it right from the beginning that heavy-handed moderation would eventually be a liability.

One of the biggest lies that has been propagated is that certain people were resentful of any moderation. That simply was never true. Many people asked Ben time and time again for more moderators and better moderators. I think having these new moderators (whose "characters" I know nothing about so will refrain from commenting on) will be tremendously beneficial to the Org, simply because there are more of them. This will certainly be more beneficial than any technical changes or added emoticons could be (though those are welcome too).

I hope that the Org can once again be a place that is fun and interesting to come to, like it was of old.



I'm also glad you cleared this up, or at least your role in it. I am still of the opinion that the reasons why rd was banned were largely weak, or could have been addressed in another way. And I am not ignoring anything that he said or may have said. And I understand I may not know the whole story.

And once again, with the exception of Loudawg, IceNine, and IrishEcho who were beyond tolerable, I think there should be a general amnesty for all orgers banned. Look at the list: rdhull, C, chemmie, Essence, AzureStar, MD7, Aaron, Nep2nes (at various points) RaneStarr (at various points), and I'm sure numerous others I'm forgetting. What kind of site sees it as acceptable to ban the majority of its users as a way of keeping peace?

Anyway, I think 2004 will be a banner year both for Prince and for the Org!

Now, who are the two people who approved my avatar at the same time last night??

ben said:

Who?

Moderation is a strange art. I have yet to learn of any hard and fast science to it...discussion forums are still relatively young in the grand scheme of things, and lots of mistakes will be still be made. It's a process...but I think the org has come a long way. Live and learn!

Congratulations, new mods, and good luck!

Anxiety said:

...and then proceeded to say a shitload more than one true things about the club's deliiiiteful recent remodeling. I'm a big fan of the way they're running things right now...hell, I've recruited at least 2 people to join this week for the advance tickets. I wouldn't know much about the moderation obviously, but what you said makes perfect sense.

Cool people make me smile, and ain't nobody cooler than Anxiety. And I've known pissier people, I think...Prince, myself....

2the9s said:

Have I been away that long? Not only do I not recognize many of these new mods, but I also didn't know about these bannings! Rd? Aaron? WTF?
I guess getting married distracted me from the really important things... like the org!

ANyway, best of luck 2 y'all.

Congratulations!

PEJ said:

well do they?

PEJ said:

we know everything about you. your social security number, your criminal history, etc...

by they way, you frighten me.