TOS Violations and Moderator Responses

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Should Mods be bumping their own threads?

[mota bhai 2,675]

Should Mods be bumping their own threads?

I don't see why not.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Why are we not allowed to discuss the Senkakus?

[B_J 2,752]

Why are we not allowed to discuss the Senkakus?

I have no idea, but I bet you're in trouble for even asking.

[TBoneTX 45,284]

Not in trouble at all for asking.

Some reasons aren't always apparent, but the rationale would be acknowledged and perhaps readily agreed with if it could be revealed.

[UncleBeer 244]

Not in trouble at all for asking.

OK; I'll seize the opportunity then. Is the "support ticket" system officially dead? If so, it might be worth mentioning publicly so folks don't get their hopes up waiting for VJ mods & admin to act or even respond. It's been a week now without a peep ...

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

OK; I'll seize the opportunity then. Is the "support ticket" system officially dead? If so, it might be worth mentioning publicly so folks don't get their hopes up waiting for VJ mods & admin to act or even respond. It's been a week now without a peep ...

Per Ewok: He sees all the tickets, and resolves them as he deems necessary. Ignore appears to be the most common resolution.

[Sousuke 1,214]

Why are we not allowed to discuss the Senkakus?

This notion that certain topics are off limits is inappropriate and in violation of the Terms of Service. If there are users making racist statements or other issues, they can be thread banned. But to ban an entire topic for users following the rules seems to be interfering with the enjoyment of the forum by regular users.

[UncleBeer 244]

Ignore appears to be the most common resolution.

Gotcha, and thanks. Any answer is better than deafening silence.

[Sousuke 1,214]

I should also note that if a Moderator suddenly declares a topic verboten, how will the membership even know? Once the locked thread slips a few pages, many people will become unaware.

Is there going to a list of banned topics somewhere in the forums?

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Not in trouble at all for asking.

Some reasons aren't always apparent, but the rationale would be acknowledged and perhaps readily agreed with if it could be revealed.

That's a non-answer. This isn't the bloody oracle at Delphi. It's a message board.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think the original reason that people were told to not 'restart threads on this topic' was to stop flame wars spilling into other threads and give people a chance to cool off. It made a kind of sense. The topic wasn't banned, just not discussed until people had calmed down.

That said, it shouldn't be forgotten that the real problem is not the topic, but the posters in it. Having a site moderator pretty much say that an entire topic of conversation (and a pretty arbitrary one at that) is banned from any discussion on the site whatsoever is bizarre.

As I say, you may as well preemptively ban any controversial subject, which would mean you'd have to close the P&R forum and lose a bunch of the site traffic.

Abortion? Death penalty? Guns? You know people will kick off, why allow it?

Seems to me that there is too much ego in a lot of recent moderation decisions. But there you go, VJ doesn't moderate on the basis of good practice. You pick a bunch of people with a jobsworth mindset and this is what happens.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Papa Lazarou

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

Not in trouble at all for asking.

Some reasons aren't always apparent, but the rationale would be acknowledged and perhaps readily agreed with if it could be revealed.

Just from reading this I know you'd make a great politician

[TBoneTX 45,284]

Just from reading this I know you'd make a great politician

I'd more likely run FROM politics.

If I could spill the frank answer, I would. Speaking oracularly is suboptimal.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I should also note that if a Moderator suddenly declares a topic verboten, how will the membership even know? Once the locked thread slips a few pages, many people will become unaware.

Is there going to a list of banned topics somewhere in the forums?

Having been a member of VJ since 2003, I can say that the site has never been particularly transparent.

There's quite a few topics that can't be discussed here - lawyers who threatened the owner with legal action, former posters who tried to start up their own site because they didn't like how VJ was run and were accused of copyright infringement.

And no, the site isn't moderated in fair or transparent manner. And no, noone cares.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Papa Lazarou