OT Rules of pissy behaviour...

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

FYI here is what I see when I track tickets from the contact us form. Right now there are no open tickets however there are a lot on Hold. Many of the tickets on hold are "site ideas" on things to improve. I keep them on hold and flag them so that when I do an update I will keep those ideas in mind. I will then close as resolved the ticket so the member knows that their idea was added to a new feature (I email them a short update too).

For context, I get about 10-15 new tickets every day. Out of the last month or so the ticket system has been active we have 11 on hold at this time.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Thanks Ewok, for the information. I appreciate the open door.

[mox 298]

If they are not able to address an issue then the issue should be forwarded to another mod or myself.

Huh?

The question was: Should all moderators be accepting PM's from the membership? Yes or no? I ask because at least one of your moderators PM'd me, but is refusing my reply to their PM. I hardly think that's fair. I wrote this in a ticket, which you closed without addressing. You also closed a ticket today, several days after I submitted it, without addressing it.

You asked me to give the ticketing system a chance. I did. I think I'm done with your ticket system. You close my tickets without responding to them, and when you do respond to them, you don't address the actual issue.

And hey, whatever, this is your site, you're free to run it as you see fit. But please stop saying one thing and doing another.

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

Huh?

The question was: Should all moderators be accepting PM's from the membership? Yes or no? I ask because at least one of your moderators PM'd me, but is refusing my reply to their PM. I hardly think that's fair. I wrote this in a ticket, which you closed without addressing. You also closed a ticket today, several days after I submitted it, without addressing it.

You asked me to give the ticketing system a chance. I did. I think I'm done with your ticket system. You close my tickets without responding to them, and when you do respond to them, you don't address the actual issue.

And hey, whatever, this is your site, you're free to run it as you see fit. But please stop saying one thing and doing another.

Several of your tickets were simply, "here is another example of one of your mods (name omitted) doing a bad job.... he is a bad mod". I took a look and in at least one case pinged that mod and gave him some pointers on how to better handle a situation. I may not reply to you and tell you what I talked to the mod about -- it is not your specific business. I did and have listened to your feedback, but I would say 90% of your messages to me are complaining about the same SINGLE person / mod. Seriously, I am going to go count them and will post again in a minute.

To your other point, I am NOT requiring a mod to reply back if they feel unable to to handle a situation. You may escalate it to myself or they as a mod should push it to another mod or my if they feel unable to handle a situation.

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

Mox you used the system 4 out of 5 times to complain about the same specific member / mod.

Just to add, just because you have a complaint does not mean I will always agree. I respect that you think that one of the mods here is the worst decision ever made, ever, forever ever. That said there have been many cases where I personally think that their job and role has helped the site a lot. Do I expect any mod to be perfect -- heck no. Am I -- no way. I certainly do think though that on the whole the entire team does a great. You always measure their performance on their perceived failures. You do not count or see their successes -- which are many.

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

You also closed a ticket today, several days after I submitted it, without addressing it.

I did not address it to your satisfaction -- maybe. I did however address it. I read your concern about a mod, looked at specific posts, if required messaged them to get perspective. I did not run back to you talking about what I was doing -- that is not my job nor should I need to status everything I do back to you. I want you to know though that I DO read what you say and look into your concerns. If I close a ticket as "resolved" then I did look at it and make some action behind the scenes to try and resolve it. If I close it as "unresolved" then I was unable to take any action.

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

I had a previous action to create a TOS addendum for the Off Topic forum on what "Anything (well almost) that you need to say you can say here" means. I will work on that today.

[john & jean 37]

I had a previous action to create a TOS addendum for the Off Topic forum on what "Anything (well almost) that you need to say you can say here" means. I will work on that today.

We, the OT regulars are sensitive to others. There are people there that need policing, however for the most part we police ourselves!!

To create a policy, to serve the needs of one whiner, would be a disservice to the majority

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

We, the OT regulars are sensitive to others. There are people there that need policing, however for the most part we police ourselves!!

To create a policy, to serve the needs of one whiner, would be a disservice to the majority

That is a valid point. I am only going to create a small set of text that gives a little better guidance, as much for the mods as anything. Don't expect anything to really change other than to help remove some ambiguity.

[john & jean 37]

Personal attacks are dealt with, without the needs of the mods. We have a couple of mods, that are regulars, in the ongoing OT topics.

These mods are there, as welcomed participants, not as MOds!!!

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

My draft on an OT addendum:

Don't Exist Only in the Off Topic Forum! Venture out into the general forums and contribute when you can (especially if you have personal experience or knowledge that may help others)!

Spewing pointed rants against a particular race, country, religion, or political group is not allowed. If you would like to discuss items regarding a specific group then keep it civil and constructive. When the main purpose of the topic or post is to attack or belittle a group (for personal beliefs or reasons) then this is a "no no" and it will be shut down -- VisaJourney is a diverse community and respecting each other and their cultures is a critical part of what we stand for.

When talking it is not necessary to have have every other word a four letter word. Casual and infrequent use of foul language is common in the real world and not prohibited (in context). Using foul language "just to use it" or to be a "jerk" begins to cross that gray Off-Topic line. Be sensible!

Be Kind! No one here is or needs to be Mr. Rogers, but there is a difference between a disagreement and just being a jerk. Constructive criticism is expected on public forums -- try to be respectful.

No nudity or sexual photos. If it is more risky (or illegal) than something you would see on a typical beach in the US then it is probably not allowed.

[mox 298]

Several of your tickets were simply, "here is another example of one of your mods (name omitted) doing a bad job.... he is a bad mod".

This is *exactly* the reason I don't think you take site moderation seriously. "Simply another example" of a moderator doing a "bad job" implies a trend. And for every incident I reported, there were lots that were gray areas. The ones I reported were very clearly TOS violations. I never even included any "here's where Charles could have handled the situation better." They were, every one of them, TOS violations.

I took a look and in at least one case pinged that mod and gave him some pointers on how to better handle a situation.

You did. That was after I posted the incident publicly, and you chewed my @ss for not giving the new ticket system a chance. And so when you replied with a well-thought out response, I thought you were serious about the ticket system, so I started to report other TOS violations I saw. One time you replied that you didn't think it was a problem. All the other times you ignored me.

I may not reply to you and tell you what I talked to the mod about -- it is not your specific business. I did and have listened to your feedback, but I would say 90% of your messages to me are complaining about the same SINGLE person / mod. Seriously, I am going to go count them and will post again in a minute.

I don't expect you to tell me what you discussed with the mod. I expect your ticket system to function like a ticket system, and that when my ticket is closed that I'm at least told that it was handled. I expect a ticket system to function like your response to my first ticket. To just outright close the ticket with no explanation sends the exact signal that you've just confirmed, namely "oh for ####'s sake, mox is whining about Charles again, *plonk*."

To your other point, I am NOT requiring a mod to reply back if they feel unable to to handle a situation. You may escalate it to myself or they as a mod should push it to another mod or my if they feel unable to handle a situation.

You are not listening to me. A moderator sent me a PM. I tried to reply to that PM, and got a message back that the Mod has me blocked. Now seriously, #### that sh*t. I don't want your moderator PM'ing me if they're not going to allow me to respond. If Charles didn't think he could handle the situation, then he wouldn't have PM'd me. If he PM's me, then he de facto is implying that he is handling the situation. I sent you a ticket when my PM was blocked, and you sat on it for 2 weeks and then just closed it.

And by the way, the PM from Charles was a warning not to attack a member's family. Only he hadn't read the thread correctly, it actually was a different member attacking the person's family. My pm was to tell him he had gotten the wrong member. Granted, Charles can't handle criticism in any way, shape, or form, so something that stupid probably would have eventually escalated, but this really should have been something a qualified moderator could handle. I told you ALL of this in the ticket that you sat on before closing after 2 weeks.

Anyway, as I said before, I'm done with your ticket system because it doesn't work. Every issue I have will be posted publicly from now on. You might as well ban me now if that doesn't work.

[mox 298]

Just to add, just because you have a complaint does not mean I will always agree. I respect that you think that one of the mods here is the worst decision ever made, ever, forever ever. That said there have been many cases where I personally think that their job and role has helped the site a lot. Do I expect any mod to be perfect -- heck no. Am I -- no way. I certainly do think though that on the whole the entire team does a great. You always measure their performance on their perceived failures. You do not count or see their successes -- which are many.

I don't expect you to agree. In fact, wrt Charles I expect that you will defend that train wreck of an idea until your last breath.

If Charles has done such great things, either he's doing it behind the scenes or those posts have been removed. The search utility shows that he consistently treats other members who are not his buds like sh!t, and that he absolutely will not tolerate the slightest bit of criticism. In one particular case (which I reported), he even had a member suspended because he didn't like what she said to his wife. IN OFF-TOPIC. And what was this terrible horrible thing that Charles' wife was subjected to? Turns out Nessa had said she doesn't give a flying #### about the Haiti earth quake, and the member who is now suspended took her to task as being insensitive. Now sh*t like this happens ALL THE TIME in off-topic, but it was Charles' wife, and that just will not do.

So yeah, I do tend to measure by perceived failure in the absence of success. And by the way, in one of my tickets I *did* tell you I thought your moderating team (with the exception of Charles) was doing a better job these days.

[Jenn! 918]

Spewing pointed rants against a particular race, country, religion, or political group is not allowed. If you would like to discuss items regarding a specific group then keep it civil and constructive.

Hmmmm, this is going to be a nightmare for the mods to try to enforce in OT.

[john & jean 37]

seems that one member, is not considering the best for the community. but, trying to have another member ousted, from a perceived

position of superiority....