Re: Democracy!
blue crow;173825 said:
Angel how did you become a admin did steve make you one just because your his wife? Also andy when he was dateing hex made her a mod all because they were going out. Sounds like spoils system to me anyone else? Also i notice when hex was a mod everyone thought so highly of her yet she was mean to some people but when she wasent a mod no one cared and people started to say what were on their minds. Mods and admins shouldent have the right to ban someone if they insulted someone and that said member insulted them back. Democracy will make things fair for everyone not just the admins and the mods.
I became a mod because Steve offered (before we were married) - he asked Andy first and it's always been due to our relationship, I've never hidden that
However, Hex became a mod because at the time Steve had stuff going on and we needed the extra pair of hands. There were three or four candidates put forward and Hex came out on top not because of her relationship with Andy but because she was posting links, helping people out and other stuff. Things went downhill because of complaints, personal reasons for her and other issues going on both on and off the boards which meant it was not possible to continue her position as it was. You all know this, so I will not reiterate further.
As for banning, you need to understand that unruly behaviour, if not kept in check by both the staff and those instigating the problems, leads to a total breakdown across the boards. People don't know if they can post, if they can't - will they get their head bitten off by so and so if they say this or that? It's not the sort of environment we want to encourage here and the only times so-called "censorship" come into play is when the good of the WHOLE community is being attacked i.e. someone trolling or flaming to try and upset or cause arguments.
It says in the rules that staff have the right to ban/moderate/edit/delete without notification although you will notice that very often people are warned first. If they continue to behave like a retard then they are dealt with accordingly. If people don't like the rules, then signing up here is a bit pointless...but the only people who rage against the machine are those who have told someone to **** off or whatever and been hauled for it.
There have been only two major bans concerning insults etc recently and those people were offered every opportunity to discuss their problems in private, away from prying eyes, but they refused. This was their prerogative and the consequences came about from a continued refusal to sort things out in a mature and amicable manner as well as some very unpleasant behaviour off the public boards. Banning is a last and not a first resort with members and if it comes across as sudden or without indication then that is usually due to behaviour privately which is clearly going to lead to an outburst on the boards which will cause a lot of damage. You might think that is horribly unfair but I'd rather ban one unpleasant member than risk them upsetting a whole string of other people by turning a blind eye.
We also act upon complaints, PM's, reported posts etc when making decisions about infractions/bannings.