Thanks to the Moderation Team

[rlogan 2,036]

I don't know where else to put this post, and I hope that somehow the moderators in the far reaches of this board get to see it.

I am very grateful for how this board is managed and moderated. Without it, the forum would devolve into an ugly mob. It takes committment to keep a board focused on its mission. All of us as individuals have our own egos as our first priority. Anonymity results in people saying and doing things they would never do otherwise.

Occasionally I see the slights people hurl at moderators. It is such an easy thing to do. But I know what goes into every decision. All of the time spent weighing the rules. Weighing people's rights. Questioning yourself whether you are keeping your own emotions in check. No matter what decision you make, it is the wrong one in someone's eyes.

There is no salary. No awards. It is a service where nobody is counting the hours you put in: Silently, invisibly giving the most important thing you have - your time - for a cause you believe in, but one that a lot of others take far too lightly.

Thank you for your service. In my view the board is very successful in adhering to its mission because of it. Immigration can be an extremely stressful experience full of bureaucratic pitfalls and landmines. Having others to share experience with and exchange information alleviates that stress.

But because we are human and because we are anonymous our egos and emotions many times get the best of us. It makes a better person out of me to have someone there keeping my own ego in check. So even when it is me who is sanctioned, and even when I disagree with any particular decision - I can see the bigger picture. It is the common interest in immigration matters that binds us, and we cannot lose sight of that.

So... thanks.

[Darnell 8,479]

*** moving to 'Site Related Discussion - Updates, Ideas, etc.' forum ***

Edited September 19, 2010 by Darnell

[john & jean 37]

Ok rlogan, what did you do??? :rofl:

when we see this it normally means that you are guilty of SOMETHING!!!

[rlogan 2,036]

Ok rlogan, what did you do??? :rofl:

when we see this it normally means that you are guilty of SOMETHING!!!

Nope.

I've watched a small number of posters generate a lot for them to deal with. Stupid trolls are not much of a problem. They are easy to spot and the rule violations are clear enough to get rid of them quickly.

The cunning ones that have a lot of experience at their game and are clever enough to cover all their actions with plausible deniability - those are a lot more difficult to deal with.

[ValerieA 350]

Ok rlogan, what did you do??? :rofl:

when we see this it normally means that you are guilty of SOMETHING!!!

Heeheehee this was my thought too. C'mon, rlogan, 'fess up!

[The_Dude 1,142]

rlogan, you got some brown stuff on your nose....

[rlogan 2,036]

rlogan, you got some brown stuff on your nose....

Thank you very much for proving my point.

There is an urge within a tremendous proportion of anonymous posters to boost their ego by putting other people down. You don't see this out of people of high achievement.

People that have accomplished a lot in their lives or who are confident and satisfied with their own abilities have no need for petty little put-downs like this. You don't find an olympic champion, a gifted pianist, or talented writer looking for ways to "Invalidate" others as a way of competing with them because they do it through positive application of their abilities.

If they did so publicly it would detract from their stature.

Where you find it most is in people with antisocial personality disorders. This specific technique - Invalidation - was a term coined in a book called Nasty People.

So my point could not have been better illustrated. There is no admirable accomplishment in Invalidation - being nasty - every person on the board is capable of it. That is why you see so much of it.

Furthermore, people cloak their nasty behavior in a lot of ways because the forum rules prohibit posting for the purpose of provoking, belittling, insulting, etc. So you see them pretending a personal insult is really just light humor. You see them doing what is called projection - ascribing their own bad motivations on to someone else: pretending their insult is beneficial in uncovering sinister motives behind a compliment.

Children learn at an early age you can't prove a negative, so these kinds of insults (you are a brown-noser) are ideal from a childish perspective. You get to make insults that cannot be disproven. People of maturity and high stature have something to lose behaving this way, whereas the great mass of non-achievers is ready to use this tactic at every convenience.

This is the omnipresent burden of moderators. You don't see many people complimenting moderators and site management because there is almost nothing to be gained, but it exposes you to ridicule by the anonymous mob, always on the look-out for where they can slip a put-down into a post to make themselves feel above others.

I do have something to gain. I'll be here at least through my wife's citizenship, which is going to be years. I've seen discussion boards devolve into pits of filth - reduced to the lowest common denominator of childish taunts, insults, and general trolling. It takes constant vigilance to prevent a board of anonymous people from falling into that.

The responses here so far could not have proved this more convincingly.

[rlogan 2,036]

Consider what you have told us about yourself with these Invalidation comments.

You do not compliment people because you have empathy for the hard work people have done and the lack of pay.

Instead, you would only compliment someone in order to manipulate your way out of trouble: the only compliments you would give are insincere ones.

Oftentimes when people's bad motivations are exposed like this, they will defend themselves by saying they were just kidding. Another defense is that they don't think this way themselves. Instead, they are just explaining the sad behavior of others.

But what is missing is the acknowledgement of the point in the OP: that we have people working without pay, and more often than not the moderators get insults insted of thanks.

Unfortunately, the egos are too big and the lives too petty to allow for even the smallest gesture. Absolutely, I am no better than anyone else and it would be easy to call me a hypocrite.

But I want to try, you know? To try making this place better.

So I say again, thanks to the moderation team. It's worth it to me taking insults in order to make some small gesture in acknowledgement of the value to your time.

[scandal 951]

So I say again, thanks to the moderation team.

You're entitled to your opinions. I have my own. I've seen moderation on this site prove capricious, arbitrary and ineffective at keeping the tone civil and the discussions useful. I've seen threads locked and discussions shut down and members booted, for no apparently good reason. No thanks from me.

[Ban Hammer 13,678]

You're entitled to your opinions. I have my own. I've seen moderation on this site prove capricious, arbitrary and ineffective at keeping the tone civil and the discussions useful. I've seen threads locked and discussions shut down and members booted, for no apparently good reason. No thanks from me.

are you still mad at me for painting your sheep with that experimental invisible paint?

[Kathryn41 3,205]

riogan,

Thanks for your kind words. It is nice to know that our efforts are appreciated and that some do understand we take on this responsibility because we believe in what Visa Journey is about, and want to help make it a supportive and useful site for those who are going through the immigration process right now. We do get a lot of criticisms - sometimes it is even deserved - and we also do get some nice thank yous and similar comments through PMs. It is just nice to see a kind word spoken publicly, so again, thank you .

[scandal 951]

are you still mad at me for painting your sheep with that experimental invisible paint?

Darn straight

I couldn't find them for weeks, until the paint finally washed off.

[Flames9_RN 359]

typical VJ fashion, someone starts a nice thread, others turn it backwards!! Proves the point the Mods have a difficult task and they do it fairly well!! Keep up the good work

[The_Dude 1,142]

typical VJ fashion, someone starts a nice thread, others turn it backwards!! Proves the point the Mods have a difficult task and they do it fairly well!! Keep up the good work

If you ventured outside of a regional forum, you'd see how arbitrary the TOS enforcement is in Off Topic and the new Politics and Religion Forum.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Rob & Mel

[Flames9_RN 359]

If you ventured outside of a regional forum, you'd see how arbitrary the TOS enforcement is in Off Topic and the new Politics and Religion Forum.

I do venture off and majority its just full of insults. Dont really matter, my time of VJ'ing is pretty much coming to an end, its a very much different forum that what it used to be. It is what it is. Just 1 of those things, you can never keep everyone happy, not sure why anyone would want the Mod job,lol