Please Clarify The Correct Rules -Individual Mods Have Different Rules

[Jesse]

Firstly I had read all your rules very carefully as I do on any site I join, as I am a site owner and respect the rules of any site.

Good. I wish more did

1.

I am not posting correctly because of copyright rules, and told how to post them "correctly",,,,, when I did, the next item I posted in the way instructed by that Mod, I receive another pm from a different Mod telling me to post correctly and instructing me to post them in the way I originally had ????

I am an ex Sub Editor for a British Newspaper and know all about copyright laws.

Posting what?

2.

I am not allowed to post more than 2 threads per day on News events

No rule about that. It was talked about, but never happened. Post away.

3.

I am not allowed to use the different colour fonts on your site in any post, it is a new rule

Sometimes it's just a piss off, not an infraction or a ban. It looks awful when posts look like this

4.

I am not allowed to multi welcome new members every day

Not a rule either. Welcome away. You don't get post count or anything for it, so it doesn't matter.

Now one of my ongoing threads has been deleted;

"Some Good Advice on Filehosts- Payouts etc"

So many were benefiting from it and it took me hours investigating and posting on it to help your members. I was just going to reply to someone that had posted on it and it had gone.

Could whomever deleted it at least explain why, it was active and had been for weeks?

I'll check it in a few min and edit this post

I have sent a C & P of this to a Supermod friend on here, in case this thread gets deleted too.

lol

[sniffdog]

Well, to be honest I restricted LB to some of these (unwritten) rules. There is no benefit of having members who want to be in the spotlight every day by opening massive threads like news, welcoming new members or using fonts to attract more attention.

I would consider those posts also a way to increase post count just for the sake of increasing post counts and contributing nothing.

To make sure that the smooth day-to day operation of the community is guaranteed, mods must sometimes apply unwritten rules. This also works the other way around where there is a written rule, but in a particular case is not applied because such circumstances don't requiring applying them.

[JGM]

To make sure that the smooth day-to day operation of the community is guaranteed, mods must sometimes apply unwritten rules. This also works the other way around where there is a written rule, but in a particular case is not applied because such circumstances don't requiring applying them.

So in short you end up with threads like this because everybody (staff) does contradictory things resulting in chaos. If there is a rule about something particular it should be written down somewhere for members to read, it also gives the staff something to fall back on so to speak since they can say "well it is all explained in the forum rules and you chose to ignore them".

mods must sometimes apply unwritten rules

Another way of saying they can do what they want to within reason (just about). Moderators should follow all the forum rules as well as enforce them hence another reason for having all the rules written out somewhere.

JGM.

[sniffdog]

I don't think the all inclusive job of a moderator is to only apply the rules, but more than that.

Also I think a moderator should be biased. If he wasn't his vision would be blurred.

I compare the job of a moderator roughly to that of a police officer. For the sake of safety he might instruct a motorist to put his car somewhere else even though it's not written in the law. Or he even might decide not to fine somebody although he broke the law.

How wide the margins are is to be decided by the team. If we simply would apply all the rules, there shouldn't be a justification section.

[JGM]

Also I think a moderator should be biased. If he wasn't his vision would be blurred.

I have to disagree on that, imho any member of staff should be impartial and unbiased otherwise people can (and will) complain about staff playing "favourites". I agree that a moderators job is much more than enforcing rules all day long they want to enjoy the forums too so make it as easy as possible for them to do their jobs and everybody wins.

Anyway I think we have gone rather off topic here so going back to my idea of installing Cyb Advanced Forum Rules... instead of doing that create a custom page and you get the same thing without the security issues.

JGM.

[snowmanrene]

So..... restrictions on the amount of members you can welcome? Utter rubbish, whoever came up with this rule or "unspoken rule" or whatever is an idiot. Yes it may be annoying if one member replies to say 10 threads at one, but some new members actually feel more welcomed with the more replies they have in their intro thread.

Limiting the number of news topics I can post? From how things were handled with other senior members before, this is another rubbish "unspoken rule". There are other members who used to spam the News section with up to 15 topics a day EACH with completely irrelevant topics. Nothing was ever done to them.

Mods, you need to come together and discuss all these "unspoken rules", because your conflicting views and opinions can cause misunderstandings and misconceptions.

"Also I think a moderator should be biased. If he wasn't his vision would be blurred." This statement is completely inaccurate. Mods who are biased already have their vision and judgement clouded by their own personal opinions and beliefs, and as such will not be able to carry out their duties properly as a neutral party to a situation. Yes they are required to use their judgement to handle their duties, however, a biased opinion can be the difference between a member getting banned or infracted or even just receiving a simple warning.

[sniffdog]

Nothing was ever done to them.

So no reason to do something about it if needed?

Yes they are required to use their judgement to handle their duties, however, a biased opinion can be the difference between a member getting banned or infracted or even just receiving a simple warning.

Correct. You got it! So a mod should be biased to use common sense and judgement.

But perhaps bias is not the correct term.

[snowmanrene]

No, if they know that they are biased in a certain regard or have a conflicting interest, then they should stay out of that matter and let an unbiased member of staff handle it. Favouritism/hate can come into play and that's where the problems can start.

Using your judgement as an unbiased party is what's needed as staff. Bringing personal feelings to come to your decision can cause trouble.

[WDF]

I believe sniffdog is not using the term biased in the sense many of us do.

Sometimes you have to think about what is being posted not just read it here.

I believe he is saying he uses a certain amount of judgement by looking at a post from the readers and posters point of view when applying rules, written or unwritten, and dispensing disciplinary action.

On the topic of unwritten rules, I think we all know we are expected to act a certain way and with a certain amount of consideration and respect for others.

Many of us operate sites and do things differently, but this is not our site and they do things here as they do them.
Just like your friends do not allow things to happen in their home that you allow in yours.

I do not think any member of the staff is maliciously out to get anyone here either, some times we forget the person responsible for maintaining the community and it's standards is from the other side of the map or globe and they may not speak, use words and phrases, think, etc like someone else does.

So many of us forget that English is not the primary language of a large segment of the membership here.
There are also many here that try to post in English without checking for the appropriate translation and that creates issues with other members and staff at times.
To go further there are some that use English as a first language but lack in English and Grammar skills, myself included at times.

While this type of thread can be helpful to a few people I believe it being a public discussion harms the community over all.
If you believe a staff member has done something wrong PM an Admin.
We have a very active 1 now.

If you put your business in the street then the street will be in your business!


Perhaps a forum similar to justification should be open on the index page that hides to all but the poster and staff to discuss discipline and post issues is needed rather then dissension in posts.

Sorry for the long post.

[JGM]

Perhaps a forum similar to justification should be open on the index page that hides to all but the poster and staff to discuss discipline and post issues is needed rather then dissension in posts.

That is a fine idea if there ever was one however that is for another thread (still a crackin' idea though).

This thread deteriorated into placing blame this time (for whatever reason) it was on sniffdog, now personally my replies were aimed at helping and a clear (to me at least) discussion of opinions and options. However, if you sniffdog have felt that I was "attacking" you in any way then for that I sincerely apologise it was not my intention.

Now that we have some decorum back shall we carry on? Excellent! All those in favour can have a cookie

My other idea of a custom made page for the rules would solve the issues of the hack installation and be far more configurable. Also all the rules for the hosting sections could be made as stickies in their own sections rather than under the N&A area and the N&A section could then be used to announce new changes to the rules whenever needed and just refer people to them.

This "unwritten rule" thing to me is just daft and creates more issues than it solves, if it is going to be a rule then write it down for all to see then there isn't any confusion

JGM.