Living in Interesting Times

[Captain Blood]

It seemed more than odd to lock a thread which was questioning, politely, the locking of threads. It also seemed odd that the moderation in question came with a speech and a load of rebuttals so the lock came across like a simple 'last word freak' lock.

My point - explained on that thread - was that the topic you were keen to have a public debate about (choice of moderator on a particular board) wasn’t a matter for public debate, but something you should feel free to raise with the forum owner.
A discussion with everyone piling in with their views wasn’t going to get anybody anywhere. Because moderator appointments aren’t crowd-sourced. Nor is it remotely fair on the moderator in question to make him personally a topic of public conversation where everyone can chip in their views.

Heavy-handed, totalitarian stifling of debate? Or simply saving a load of people wasting their time offering thoughts on something which isn’t in their gift. Depends on your point of view I suppose.

[Artemis Black]

My point - explained on that thread - was that the topic you were keen to have a public debate about (choice of moderator on a particular board) wasn’t a matter for public debate, but something you should feel free to raise with the forum owner.
A discussion with everyone piling in with their views wasn’t going to get anybody anywhere. Because moderator appointments aren’t crowd-sourced. Nor is it remotely fair on the moderator in question to make him personally a topic of public conversation where everyone can chip in their views.

Heavy-handed, totalitarian stifling of debate? Or simply saving a load of people wasting their time offering thoughts on something which isn’t in their gift. Depends on your point of view I suppose.

Which may or may not be a reasonable point of view and I may or may not have had a reasonable reply.

Neither of which mattered because the thread asking about locking was locked and the bizarre instruction to privately email the owner of the forum about it was the seeming advice given. And apparently I can reply to it here, on a vaguely related thread about it, but not on the actual thread.

I don't really want to argue about it though, nor was I particularly 'keen to have a public debate' about the original issue. I'm just letting Fram, and whoever was arguing with him, know that yes, other people were talking about similar issues.

[mcfonz]

I'll put my hand up and say that I also have expressed some sympathy with Fram.

But only because the disappearance of my own posts without any form of notification or reasoning. I wasn't warned so I can only think that they were deleted to help 'stifle' more responses. That's fine but it would have been nice to be told so I'm not left there thinking what has happened when the posts I had replied to were still there.

Maybe a clarification of 'rules' are needed. Because honestly, I'm not sure about them. If the things like the Frostgrave child boards are 'official' and to be more sensitive to other posts then that needs to be clear.

Personally, I think no ill of the people behind this place - I know how tough it can be at times. I'll always support transparency, because I think informing people encourages understanding.

Hence I like that you have the GW thread so all of that can be kept to one place. You can then remind people to take their beef there rather than express it somewhere which is more destructive than useful to an otherwise well meaning thread.

[Mr.J]

Rules:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=16293.0

I don’t think the rules specific boards are treated any differently to any other, we’re just fortunate to have the authors here to field answers on specific questions or keep players updated on new releases etc.

[mcfonz]

Thanks Mr.J.

I think they might need a ruling though. If complaints are not to be voiced there - which is fair enough is they are to act as a resource.

I have no issue with who is moderating it, just clearer boundaries around them.

E.g; LAF is lucky to have authors, sculptors and rules writers amongst it's number. From time to time 'child boards' are set up so that they have an area to support the community with their creations. These are not areas to attack or complain about the author or indeed their products. Any posts of this nature will be deleted. These people do not have to come to LAF nor share their thoughts and answers to rules queries here, as a mark of respect for that, they are extended a level of protection to insure such luxuries remain available to the LAF community.

[Captain Blood]

I'll put my hand up and say that I also have expressed some sympathy with Fram.

But only because the disappearance of my own posts without any form of notification or reasoning. I wasn't warned so I can only think that they were deleted to help 'stifle' more responses. That's fine but it would have been nice to be told so I'm not left there thinking what has happened when the posts I had replied to were still there.

Well that's not right, I agree. On the rare occasions when I have to lock or a post, I always give the reason (even if you don't agree with it) and I try not to delete a post without sending a PM to say what I've done and why. Unless it's really really obvious... 

[mcfonz]

I'm sure it was just a mistake - no worries. I'm certainly not bearing any hard feelings about it.

We all have a lot more going on than to carry that sort of addition woe with us!! 

[Oldben1]

I am merely a droplet of water in a very large pond but this thread seems a little out of place.

The forum is designed to showcase the building and painting of miniatures.  Right?
The forum is supposed to be friendly and encouraging.
The forum is owned, operated, and funded by a group of dedicated workers.
You can use it for free.

Most businesses benefit from boards that highlight their product.  These are good for general users because we can trade ideas and discuss rules.  Most writers seem open to new ideas.  The new Frostgrave rules were critiqued and discussed.  After a while it felt to me that certain users were looking to 'push' buttons.  Say your peace and move on.  It is a hobby site and should be treated as such.

[Westfalia Chris]

I'm sure it was just a mistake - no worries. I'm certainly not bearing any hard feelings about it.

In some cases, though, we might remove some postings which, in itself, were not a "violation" or "offence", but part of the discussion that was leading nowhere and not contributing to the original topic.

In order to restore the discussion's direction, it may be the least problematic issue to remove these posts as part of the section to be excised, but we strive to only remove such items if they do not fit into the discussion anymore once the problem posts have been removed and the thread cleaned up.

This is obviously unfortunate, but sometimes unavoidable. We try to be as precise as possible, but sometimes there is a bit of "collateral damage".

[mcfonz]

If that's the case, then a post on said thread stating that some posts had been removed for fear of going drastically off topic, would have gone a long way to reassuring folk, such as myself, that they hadn't posted anything wrong as such.

Just deleting stuff outright without any announcement isn't particularly cool in my books. I know if it involves several people you can't pm them all - hence a post.

Otherwise stuff is just 'going missing'.

[Dr Mathias]

Actually 95% of moderation is just dull tidying up, comprising:

-   Moving or deleting threads that have been put in the wrong place – very often at the request of the OP concerned
-   Occasionally deleting cross-postings on multiple boards (against the forum rules)
-   Occasionally adding a ‘Kickstarter’ or ‘Commercial’ tag to topics that fall into these categories
-   Very occasionally we step in on a thread to ask people to calm down if they’re getting feisty and threatening to disturb the peace. This, by the way, is almost always prompted by a report or complaint from another member complaining about aggressive or abusive behaviour.

That’s about it.

This sums up my experience as a moderator perfectly. I typically let a thread run its course even after getting a complaint, if the 'rule breaking' is on the subjective side. I've deleted maybe two threads in my entire term as a mod- and they were clear cut violations.
 
Not quite sure how to feel about being associated with the term 'right wing'. On one hand it is amusing, on the other I should probably find it offensive

[FramFramson]

Well, I think the last couple pages demonstrate pretty clearly that if there's a problem, it's really more a communication issue more than anything else, which really isn't all that far off from what I was saying in asking for a bit more transparency. Misunderstandings turn into confusion and confusion can easily turn into anger or resentment or such (wait... that's the not the Yoda line...).

I don't think anyone, including me, accused the mods of being fascists or right-wing or any of that silliness. Saying a relationship is getting somewhat adversarial is a far cry from goose-stepping! Let's try to avoid invoking Godwin's Law, eh? If anything, the current mods have responded with some of the most open-minded and civil replies in this thread.

I don't really have any request beyond everyone just trying to stay mindful of how what you're doing or saying (or not saying), might appear to someone who doesn't have the information you do.

[Plynkes]

I don't think anyone, including me, accused the mods of being fascists or right-wing or any of that silliness. Saying a relationship is getting somewhat adversarial is a far cry from goose-stepping! Let's try to avoid invoking Godwin's Law, eh?

Maybe you should re-read the very first post of this thread.

But I think that commercial-oriented right-wing fanboys are a world phenomena in all areas of human activity nowadays...  Sad, but true...     So the "we're closed to all dialog for reason of the common good" are harsh words being said worldwide, not only here at our dear LAF. 

You are technically correct that it is not a direct accusation I suppose, but if he's not talking about us, who the hell is he talking about?

[FramFramson]

Fair enough, though that's still a ways off accusing anyone of being a fascist. I don't think anyone here was playing at being Rick, the People's Poet. 

I suppose these real world concerns are pressing hard enough these days that they're hard to put out of mind even in our little (nominally apolitical) hobby haven.

[FramFramson]

And I don't even want to know where or how Cubs found that image.