A Tale of a Mod's Abuse of Power

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Edited (by my own choice).
Dear Community,

When I think of the ideal role of forum moderators, I think of a laissez-faire, hands-off approach. The mods only step in to execute the peculiar privilege of their office when an aggrievous violation of community rules has occurred, and they prefer to foster understanding rather than take immediate action. I usually think of direct conflict between two or more parties when I think of this just exercise of privilege. An example of when more immediate, unilateral action is necessary is to prevent denial-of-service attacks and flooding of irrelevant content by malicious users. This is a rarity, at least here.

Earlier today, I made a post on the new Haven forum called "Inadequacies," which presented a satirical, searing look at the angst typical among us aspies. The thing is a person who cannot bear a little sharp jest will take this poorly, perhaps. This was particularly the case with the action taken by consensus of the mods today, who arbitrarily (without a clear nod from the entire WrongPlanet.net community that deleting this type of post is appropriate) used their power to delete my post for being thought provoking and challenging. The fact is it expressed my discontentments, with some of the attitudes present on this forum.

My response follows:

I do not fear the laughable threat of the ban; I can overcome it at my discretion. I have used proxy servers to post under different names here before, merely to make sure things around here are not as dull as they tend to be; but that's another story I take this on principle: I have not directly attacked anyone, but I have pointed out all too clearly in my now deleted post the weaknesses of excusing oneself on account of having Asperger's syndrome instead of improving oneself.

I choose not to name examples of the kinds of topics I believe are too abundant here (not that I do not feel they have a place in the community; I've even written a few of the type myself) because it will only cause discord between other well-intentioned community members and me. Those who are aware of the feelings I have expressed here know the sorts of topics I'm talking about, though.

Now, I believe we have been warned—all of us. The moderators stand before the whole of the community, having abused the judgment of their authority. Now they have shown themselves to be tyrants. We have all been reminded of the ease with which even a well-meaning group of people can pass the subtle boundary between justice and whim. I do not fault the moderators, who in general have been kind and supportive of the community; but we are all, after all, only human. I seek only to remind everyone of the error of authority. The community, mods and regulars alike, should address this delicate issue, the execution of power, and come to a consensus.

Sincerely,
Néant Humain

Edited to correct my mistaken assumption that BeeBee acted without consensus from other moderators. My apologies to BeeBee for stating that she and she alone was solely responsible for the miscarriage of justice that has occurred.

Last edited by NeantHumain on 12 Dec 2005, 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've had my own disputes with the mods on several occasions and I have to agree with them on this one. That was a really stupid thing for you to do!

I should modify this to say that this is a criticism of the mods' use of power as a group and not BeeBee in particular. BeeBee did, in fact, have the consensus of the mods.

The way the post reads, it seems like you're clearly singling out BeeBee.

I agree with everything you said. Something similar happened to me on another forum because some moderator thought that my name might offend someone, so he changed it. No one was offended by it, and he gave me no warning. After what he did, he ended up getting a lot of hate mail from all of my friends. I have a lot of online friends, even if I am a bit weird.

I think the people who found your post offenseive are just too sensitive. It shouldn't have been deleted.

The action was not unilaterally. BeeBee moved it, yes. And she gave the advisory yes. But she had the support of the other mods online at that moment in time.

For a moment there, I thought you were Ghosthunter. (sorry to drag that one up) But hey, unfortunately, I agree with the Mods. Personally, I do feel that BeeBee has been a prominant moderator recently, but I don't believe this should make her a scrape-goat.

I haven't been on recently- I've been busy, so I've missed a bit, including the creation of The Haven. I was so pleased that the forum had been created, as I looked to WP for a sort of 'haven' for myself. I agree, this may have just been an 'error in judgement' for you, but since it's been moved, and 'dealt with,' I feel it is just a little unfair to the Mods. Sure, they are the elite, and the most popular users I daresay, (sorry again to drag up the Ghosthunter debacle) and they seems to enjoy many privileges, they are still human. BeeBee was only doing what she felt was right at the time, and I don't think she should be put down for that.

Soma.

I haven't actually modified, but I should. I'm just letting the reply stand in place of the modification. Well, perhaps I should make the changes; after all, I'm not that lazy.

after recent events, can anyone really say they approve of joke threads which ridicule members' feelings, such as fear, suicide, desperation? even if any situation isn't as extreme (and i absolutely hope none ever is), the haven forum was set up as a safer space, away from the sort of sniping which makes people feel unsafe. if anyone doesn't like it, they don't have to go there.

and i'd like to re-iterate the fact that singling BeeBee out is not only churlish, it's also inaccurate, and i would consider it a personal attack.

enough said, i do believe.

Vivi
(as Admin)

Moderators always have been, and always will be power abusing, nothing will ever change.

This is a forum, not a democracy. We mods follow the guidelines Alex laid down for us. Alex laid down the rules. We enforce them. This is like a big, father knows best state, with Alex as father. If you can't abide by the rules he has set down, you may leave. Otherwise, sit down and follow them. And before anyone calls facist or anything like that, no, we accept that members may disagree with our actions. Thats why the TOS states members are free to PM us if they feel that something is wrong etc. But Alex and several other mods have stated the view that Neants comments and "Sacrastic jokes." are crossing the line in some areas of the forum.

And finally, I leave you with an old saying. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. Indeed, shall it be considered wit at all?"

Good grief NeanHumain. It's a support group forum - you don't make fun of people there.

I missed the original posting so I have no idea what you said - but based on other responses I think it is safe to say.

This makes me want to agree with Neuroman (what he said regarding the viability of Haven).

Neant, that forum is meant to be solely for posts of a serious and compassionate nature.

But in hindsight, it would have been a good idea to post some sort of rules sticky with that statement, because the mods had agreed to delete/edit any posts which didn't conform to the purpose of the new forum.

It was (in consistent fashion) a bit tasteless on your part. BUT we should have posted a statement with the rules for the members to know what would be appropriate and what wouldn't. I'll talk to the mods about an apology, but now you know (as well as everyone else reading this thread) that your deleted thread remains as is and all future threads of such a nature will receive the same action.

It's meant to be a haven. The less poking fun and "people should lighten up" the better.

How come no one did anything about TheViking? Hes rude to everyone more than everyone else.

Deleting a post from a support board because it was mocking the reasons it was there for is justifiable,
my understanding of 'Haven' [apart from being a cheap and nasty UK caravan park] is 'an escape' or 'sanctuary' ,somewhere to go when in a serious(? can't think of a better word) way,there is no humour aspect to it.