Darmok N Jalad
There are FOUR lights!
- Location
- Tanagra
One member's feedback to the recent moderation in the GAS thread.
Dear Mod Team,
First off, I'm sorry for my OT post in the above thread and for the labor it took to move it. It was never my intent to cause harm to this site or place an undue burden on the volunteer staff, yet here I am, and I apologize.
Second, it's not what you say, but how you say it.
Right or wrong, for as long as I've been participating here, the thread in question has drifted out of the realm of photography-centric gear purchases, with an occasional rabbit-trail to utter nonsense. We have a few good laughs, and the thread always re-centers. What is hard to understand is, if this is/was wrong, it's been going on for longer than the last few days, unchecked, with no visible member complaints or OT warnings. Indeed, going OT is not how we should behave, and I fully recognize that how the site is managed is in the purview of the site owner and mods. No argument there. However, the "Mod Team" response, without any prior warnings, takes on a tone I've never witnessed here before from anyone, with terms like "scumhole" and "herding cats," with threats of suspensions and terminations. While those words weren't aimed at any one person, it sure could be implied that those "off-topic members" were getting lambasted by the "Mod Team." Best I can see, the "perpetrators" here are/were members in good standing (some even supporting financially), and I don't believe any of them were setting out to intentionally harm this site, her members, or be a disruption. It all just feels really out of line, or at least unprofessional. If we had taken tone like this with another member of this site, well, we would probably get moderated. Mercy seasons justice.
Perhaps this post risks further action or threatens the status of my account, but I thought it only fair to point out how grossly out-of-character the tone of this moderation action took. I view the collective members here as a tighter-knit, fun-loving community, but I also admit that we do and did get out of line. I get there was much labor on your part to square things up, and I don't want to diminish that frustration and effort. But to take such an ominous initial tone with such a good-natured group of participants, many of whom have actually tried to draw additional traffic here? It just sits wrong with me.
Why post this? Not because of hurt feelings, but as constructive criticism. I feel your active user base does a lot to make this place great, and I'll take the bullet and speak up for those that I feel have been mistreated.
Humbly,
Darmok
Dear Mod Team,
First off, I'm sorry for my OT post in the above thread and for the labor it took to move it. It was never my intent to cause harm to this site or place an undue burden on the volunteer staff, yet here I am, and I apologize.
Second, it's not what you say, but how you say it.
Right or wrong, for as long as I've been participating here, the thread in question has drifted out of the realm of photography-centric gear purchases, with an occasional rabbit-trail to utter nonsense. We have a few good laughs, and the thread always re-centers. What is hard to understand is, if this is/was wrong, it's been going on for longer than the last few days, unchecked, with no visible member complaints or OT warnings. Indeed, going OT is not how we should behave, and I fully recognize that how the site is managed is in the purview of the site owner and mods. No argument there. However, the "Mod Team" response, without any prior warnings, takes on a tone I've never witnessed here before from anyone, with terms like "scumhole" and "herding cats," with threats of suspensions and terminations. While those words weren't aimed at any one person, it sure could be implied that those "off-topic members" were getting lambasted by the "Mod Team." Best I can see, the "perpetrators" here are/were members in good standing (some even supporting financially), and I don't believe any of them were setting out to intentionally harm this site, her members, or be a disruption. It all just feels really out of line, or at least unprofessional. If we had taken tone like this with another member of this site, well, we would probably get moderated. Mercy seasons justice.
Perhaps this post risks further action or threatens the status of my account, but I thought it only fair to point out how grossly out-of-character the tone of this moderation action took. I view the collective members here as a tighter-knit, fun-loving community, but I also admit that we do and did get out of line. I get there was much labor on your part to square things up, and I don't want to diminish that frustration and effort. But to take such an ominous initial tone with such a good-natured group of participants, many of whom have actually tried to draw additional traffic here? It just sits wrong with me.
Why post this? Not because of hurt feelings, but as constructive criticism. I feel your active user base does a lot to make this place great, and I'll take the bullet and speak up for those that I feel have been mistreated.
Humbly,
Darmok