Admin-moderated or Member-moderated?Follow

I have a complaint, and I'm airing it here. I could PM Allakhazam directly, but prefer not to, simply because I not only want to complain about an admin, but also want to get feedback from whoever reads this about the current policy regarding the moderation of this site.

In this thread, Wiggley made a post that, while having something in it that could have been interpreted as sarcasm, was fairly innocent in my interpretation, and suddenly she found herself berated by an admin for acting like an 'ethug'. I didn't see that in the original reply, but I can see how it could have been read as a 'snarky' comment- even though she also welcomed the OP back to WoW. Rather than concede that he could have misinterpreted the emotion behind the comment Wiggley made, he continued to chide her as if he was absolutely right. Now, we've taken a minor issue and blown it way out of proportion.

At the same time, as has been mentioned, we have a number of veteran posters (Bodhisattva, MentalFrog and Theophany come to mind quite readily) that, while having had somewhat abrasive personalities before, seem to revel in one-liners, trash-talk, putdowns, and basically trolling the forums, with an occasional helpful post to offset the majority of their crap. They have been doing this for months, and seem to be doing it more and more frequently, padding their postcount with vitriol and spite. However, I assume that since they're long-time posters who occasionally have moments of helpful productivity, they're overlooked by the same admin. In fact, I felt it necessary to comment about one of them in a post today, and find it very odd that Akuin decided to lambaste Wiggley for her comment while overlooking their comments calling people moron, noob, loser, etc.

I've also noticed admins stepping in more & more frequently to moderate threads- does this mean Allakhazam is taking a more hardline approach to site moderation? Are we going to see more admin intervention? Are the admins going to be trained in proper handling of situations, or are we going to get treated the same way that Wiggley was when we've run afoul of their delicate sensibilities?

I'll say this- if there's more admin involvement in moderating threads and stopping asshats, make sure you choose your battles and go for the people stirring the pot before you deal with the minor infractions. Also remind the admins that it's not always easy to read someone's emotional intent when reading text, and a lot of that emotion or attitude that is read can often be due to the reader's interpretation. Finally, pick battles. Small comments that could have been curiosity, a joke or a snide comment can be overlooked more easily than someone saying "you're a noob that should l2p or quit the game".

I'm sorry- I'm tired of the double standard being displayed on the forums these days. Certain people seem to revel in asshatery and get encouraged by a verbal section of their peers, and the admins constantly say that the forums are member-moderated; only for admins to step in where their involvement wasn't required.

Edit: A perfect example, also by Akuin, in this thread:




Edit #2- and from this thread, you can see a typical Bodhisattva response to the OP:


Edited, Nov 5th 2008 4:32pm by Wondroustremor

Edited, Nov 6th 2008 12:15am by Wordaen

I'm about to head home anyway, so may not get back to this until tomorrow morning.

Alright Id like to clear this up, which I thought I did when I closed that thread.

Wiggley replied to the thread and it did come off sarcastic.(I wasnt the only one who picked this up)

So I replied with my thoughts on the matter. Look I dont know if a lot of you read the forums or not,

but recently people have not been as helpful/friendly. I spend several hours a day reading forums and have

noticed this. And Im tierd of it. When I read Wiggleys reply I just had enough and let what was on my mind out.

While I know lots of you dont agree with it I am entitled to my opinion just as you all are. It is difficult

to tell someones tone on posts, but thats what I have to do and do my best to inturpret it.

I am sorry if I offened many of you and I will be doing my absolute best to not allow this to happen again.

Looking at that thread, I have no idea what prompted Akuin to respond the way he did to a comment that didn't seem sarcastic at all. IMO it was unprofessional for an admin, and the closing "I dun care what any of you think lolz, /thread" comment at the end just made it reek of childishness.

And this is why we stick with Allakhazam.

That, and they hire Hawt admins

I have only been here a couple short years now, and I have nowhere near the post count that most here have, but I have read many threads both in the WoW forums and in my home of FFXI... But I could not believe what I saw in that thread. I'm a little disappointed in general at that post being singled out, when it didn't seem at all sarcastic. She sounded British, yes, with the use of "then", but sarcastic?

I am saddened today. :(

Personally I didn't see anything sarcastic at all in that post as a matter of fact I saw it more as "wow how did you get all the patches so fast I want that"

Then again it is really hard to get a feeling for a post since it's text and there are no facial expressions or tone behind it. I just hope that Wiggley is given an apology. my 2 copper :)

wwdragon

Thanks for the reply, DF- I appreciate your objectivity! I didn't expect you (or whichever admin had ended up responding) to agree with me 100%, but I'm glad I got my feelings aired.

I really do still prefer Allakhazam to any other gaming site out there, which is why I stay (as well as why I keep renewing that premium membership). I think that, like Akuin, I am a little perturbed at the tendency of posters to emulate what they think is cool behaviour- which makes it feel less like Allakhazam and more like the O-boards at times. I was also rather surprised by an admin responding in the manner they did- although I do understand that admins are human like everyone else, and prone to error and emotional responses.

However, I view administrators like I would a police officer in a way- they are the public face of enforcement (as well as management, but that isn't something the average poster is privy to), and as such are more in the spotlight (and crossfire) than other posters. When one acts out of turn, it can appear to be an abuse of power (although appearances may not be accurate). Thus, an admin should try to remain objective and impartial when setting out "judgements". Perhaps in future, a little research or a PM for clarification could be done before replying. As an example, look at Wiggley's post history- she's hardly prone to flamefests IIRC. (For the record, I didn't know she was a "she" until she mentioned it in the thread).

I do accept the reply made by Akuin, and if he/she re-reads my post I do, in fact, mention my concern regarding posters' attitudes lately, so we are in accord there. I think my biggest issue at the time was that he (I will assume he for now) replied with such a strong response for such a minor infraction that it rather shocked me. Also, IMO (and this is really just my feeling), to tell someone off, then to make a response basically restating their position and locking the thread is not a professional way to close an issue which clearly upset Wiggley as much as Akuin.

I do appreciate that, given the rise in negative posts, administrator intervention is needed more. However, I was tired and frustrated, and then saw that thread, and (like Akuin, I guess) something went pop, and I felt I had to respond. I must confess, I find that Wordaen usually intervenes at very appropriate times, and is quite professional in his method of handling the issues.

Finally, since you asked, all is well with me & mine. Mrs. Wondy & I celebrated our 10th annniversary by buying a house here (Bermuda real estate is criminally expensive), and we have knocked out one year of our thirty-year bondage to the bank. She's working as a counsellor at the local community college, and this week, it was announced that I am getting a small promotion from hardware monkey to apprenticing with the consultants at my company. We're also considering a 5-year plan to sell our house, get our Landed Immigrant status, and move to Canada, but we haven't decided yet! I have been posting a lot less in recent months, but that's more due to my current job having higher demands and a block on Allakhazam than personal preference.

Edit: Heh- started this before Wordaen's post, so no, I wasn't just kissing butt.

Edited, Nov 5th 2008 6:38pm by Wondroustremor

We had to give you a chance, you're the keeper of the banstick we are scared of you :P
*Runs*

wwdragon

Edited, Nov 5th 2008 6:03pm by wwdragon

As a new member of the admin team I'd have thought that he wouldn't have such a jaded view of Alla and it's members in such a short length of time?

Tepekthet- you claim that Akuin's reponse was akin to wondroustremor, by quoting his comment that "something popped and he had to comment" as did Akuin. The difference here is that wondroustremor did it in a civilised manner without needed to resort to personal insults like I recieved, to which I've still recieved no apology.