Talk about anything?

soda · Post by **soda** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 5:37 pm

gotta agree with thrance plus it's Animanger not Animanga

duotrouble · Post by **duotrouble** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 5:38 pm

Hey! Maybe that's something magician can add to his upgrade. Aside from the obvious open thread - closed thread, how about a cooling off device? Something like you cannot post here again for x number of hours so you can have time to think about what you're going to say. Kinda like a time out. It works on my dog.

Baylor · Post by **Baylor** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 6:57 pm

Wow. If we have to add that on top of my other mod duties, I'm going to start asking to be paid. And how would that work? Would a mod have to be right there, witnessing the thread in action and then would have to read the possible posters' minds about what may or may not upset them to the point of writing something they will regret?

This makes my head hurt.

duotrouble · Post by **duotrouble** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:12 pm

Well, it wouldn't be targeted at one person. It would be something for the whole thread once it "starts to get heated". But I don't even know if it's possible. It was just a thought. I need to go back to rarely visiting this section. Too much drama!

I'm here for the anime anyway.

Baylor-chan, did you bring me a drink or what? I'm getting thristy eating this popcorn. Oh! And let me tell you what I found - via pm of course.

Baylor · Post by **Baylor** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:16 pm

duotrouble wrote:Well, it wouldn't be targeted at one person. It would be something for the whole thread once it "starts to get heated".

Isn't that called "locking"? I suppose one way we could do it is to lock the thread for a time period and then un-lock it again... like what happened today...

Baylor-chan, did you bring me a drink or what? I'm getting thristy eating this popcorn.

First you call me a freak, you want my bed, and now you want a drink. Oh and you want a magical cooling off device for threads. Anything else I can bring you, your Majesty?

duotrouble · Post by **duotrouble** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:26 pm

Well actually, a good way to defeat Sephiroth would be awesome.

I can knock down half of his life and then he kills me.

glorff · Post by **glorff** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:27 pm

All I was suggesting is a 24 hour lock to allow for cooling off, just like what happened today.

Please, nothing too fancy

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:27 pm

Thanks for asking politely. Really nothing?

Baylor · Post by **Baylor** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 7:29 pm

I understood what you were saying, Dave, I just had to poke fun at DT. It's what I do, and I do it rather well.

Sephiroth, huh? Hmmm... maybe if I can put down my new DS long enough to play KH again, I might figure that out.

Post by **magician** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:17 pm

Time for my two cents:

There is no good answer here. No solution is going to make everyone happy. If we let people go off unhindered, then the mods get hit with angry or hurt email and PMs complaining about the flames and demanding we take action.

If we take action, we anger others for interfering, overreacting, or my absolutely least favorite gripe, CENSORING people, posts, topics...etc. If we do nothing, we continue to get emails/PMs complaining that the tone is all flaming and they aren't going to visit Beta anymore because it's devolved into personal attacks.

I have been around for most of Beta's existence. I was not around at the beginning. I did not see or experience anime-alpha. I do know about animanga thru complaints and links posted here, and have read some of those threads. One constant feeling I have seen in 3+ years now is that the great majority of people do NOT want to see unrestricted personal attacks, childish name calling, and general nastiness here. I don't want to read threads like that either.

The question of why we discourage religious/spiritual or political discussions has been asked many times, including in this thread. I have never directly answered this for fear of offending someone, but I will answer it now. Threads on these topics almost inevitably devolve into open battle. Opinions are not respected, attacks are sudden and rapid-fire, complaints come in en-masse with requests for us to do something, and members inevitably leave. Older members will remember Dbzmomma. She was the 22nd member to join. She left Beta after a religious "discussion" exploded into open flames. Things were said that offended her so deeply that she left.

The last couple years have shown some patterns about topics and flames. Religion and politics have been the most frequent topics to turn ugly. Since we can't win no matter what our actions are, those topics are going to be locked early and often to end the disputes.

I do not moderate here anymore. I used to, but my patience and diplomacy for dealing with "damned if you don't and damned if you do" situations ran out. I hear very little gratitude or praise for what the mods do here. The complaints about heavy-handedness and censorship quite frankly piss me off, and make it very difficult for the mods to stay an active part of this community. Several left because the abuse took the joy out of Beta for them. Some of you might remember Kane. I have been a distant part of this site myself for several months now, and this is one of the big reasons why.

I have given thought to closing Beta down over the last couple months. It's not free to maintain this site, in terms of money and in terms of time. I keep it alive because it does seem to be generally enjoyed by most members. But primarily I keep it going to honor and remember David Pierpont who created it along with Allison, and who really gave Beta its spirit. I do not keep it going to give people a place to come pick fights.

The question of an un-moderated section where it's bare-knuckle for all has come up several times over the years. Almost a year ago I installed an un-moderated chat room here. Mods suggested that the chat would be a place for battling it out. It has gone virtually unused and will not be renewed when the license runs out in July. I am looking into the possibility of a private un-moderated forum when I do the facelift. We'll see what we come up with.

Ultimately it is all of you who determine what thread gets locked or what subject becomes unwelcome because of flaming. Moderators do not enjoy having to moderate, and they do not deserve to be abused because they are moderating. They VOLUNTEER to do this thankless job because they love the forum, not because they are on a power trip. It's real simple. The guidelines are pretty clear. Name-calling, insults, flaming….the thread will get locked. Keep things civil and it won’t. Don't give moderators a reason to have to lock a thread and they won't lock it.

Gonzai · Post by **Gonzai** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:39 pm

You know, I totally have to agree with magician on this one.
I have been moderating this forum for over 3 years now,
and it is totally a thankless job. He is completely correct
by saying we are damned if we do, and we are damned if
we don't. And then to have people run off over to Rubberslug
and complain - I can't think of a bigger slap in the face.

Its ok, as I stated before, I try not to take things personally.
But, what Mag said is correct - we have had mods leave here
because of crap like this. I know I, myself, have thought
about it on a few different ocassions. But, also like Magician,
the reason I haven't stopped being a mod is because of David.
He asked me to do this for him three years ago. He put his
trust in me to do a good job, and I would like to think that he
is happy that I am still here.

However, I think if I get anymore crap for the job I am doing
here, I may just walk away. I don't get paid to do this, nor do
I care to be around here alot of times for this exact reason.
What I do think is funny, though, is that the only ones that
complain about the way we moderate, are the ones who have
never done it themselves. All the people who do or have
moderated are all on our side. Go figure.

blueheaven · Post by **blueheaven** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:01 pm

I'd have to agree. While I have had my criticisms of certain things on this board, I fully support the rights and decisions of the mods. While I do wish to offer my two cents now and then, it is still their decision to make. And even if I did not agree with some of those decisions, they were still made with fairness and thoughtfulness. I know what it means to work a job for meager pay and get criticised at every turn for the work you do. I tell my kids all the time, if I did this job for the money, I'd be an idiot. When it becomes more of a problem than it is worth, it is time to quit. Everyone has to decide when that time is.

For now, though, I think we need to close off this thread by saying thank you to the mods who do a thankless job for very little motivation other than they support Beta and their members. They want to keep this board a place where folks can feel safe to post and welcome to share. So thank you, everyone!

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:02 pm

How do you know? Now that is saying a mouthful.

RahOtaku · Post by **RahOtaku** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:09 pm

I think to solve this problem, there should be a NAZI-MOD and a Good-Mod like Pudge.

I would like to be the NAZI-Mod.

The good mod would post pictures that we provide like the following:

Bad DOG!

And when things get really bad. You can call the NAZI-Mod to lock the thread, edit the thread. Make fun of the posters. etc.[/img]

vapalla · Post by **vapalla** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 5:31 am

RahOtaku wrote:

I think to solve this problem, there should be a NAZI-MOD and a Good-Mod like Pudge. ..The good mod would post pictures that we provide...And when things get really bad. You can call the NAZI-Mod to lock the thread, edit the thread. Make fun of the posters. etc.

Sounds Like Anime News Network, except over there, they generally use cute kitty pics. They have numerouS NAZI-MODS.[/code]