Question Who to turn to when Moderators don't answer you?

[NakedMoleRat]

I know we only have a few and we all have our lives....
But I can't get an answer as to when I can run my contest. I was supposed to be next after the blaster contest. Then Jason announced that HE was next....and Wham! There he is, no questions asked!

I have contacted a moderator, who did say we would chat...but no chat yet. I PM'ed again a few days ago and nothing.

I know I did throw a fit, but I was a little upset about having my thread peed all over by the very guy running the contest that he announced in MY thread that he was pulling out of and would not be doing!

Does my overly melodramatic fit (Though to be honest, I am in good company :lol) mean I can't run a contest now?
Why did I get pushed back again?
Or, should I just run it?
Or is it just dead and I should shut up and just get back in the sandbox?



I may as well be the first to.....

 

[JD]

I've contacted the moderator's numerous times without an answer. I've even mentioned this before publicly... I think it's sad that they refuse to address the concerns of members.

Previous staff members have always taken a minute to address concerns... or just to make a comment on a post or a thread at times.

Personally, I think it's bad form on the moderator's part - and a very telling indication of their demeanor and inability to lead a forum like this. Frankly, I think we need a whole new crew of moderators just because of the isue of them not communicating clearly at all.

 

[JD]

...and already moved to a different sub-forum where fewer people will see it. :lol

 

[AJK001]

Moving it to where less people will notice it seems to be your reply.

I know it doesn't matter in the least, but I agree with what you said about your contest and would have been just as upset as you were when someone else was allowed to run a contest at this time just because he did it at the same time last year.

 

[Art Andrews]

I know we only have a few and we all have our lives....
But I can't get an answer as to when I can run my contest. I was supposed to be next after the blaster contest. Then Jason announced that HE was next....and Wham! There he is, no questions asked!

Yup. It happened, but not because Jason said it would. Things just slip between the cracks some time and we push things out as we can. Were you supposed to be first? Yes, you were. Did you get passed over? Yes, and you have our apologies. I would try to defend it or argue it, but will say for all your criticism of the staff, you have handled this very childishly.

I have contacted a moderator, who did say we would chat...but no chat yet. I PM'ed again a few days ago and nothing.

You will have to forgive me but considering your melodramatic exit and then your passive/agrressive PM, responding to your issue vs issues of others hasn't been a priority. You can fault me for it if you like, but stomping your feet and pouting publicly or privately isn't going to get us to move faster.

Does my overly melodramatic fit (Though to be honest, I am in good company :lol) mean I can't run a contest now?

No, you can still run it.

Or, should I just run it?

If you could show just an ounce of restraint and patience, we would still be interested in assisting you with funding and promotion just as we offered initially.

 

[Art Andrews]

...and already moved to a different sub-forum where fewer people will see it. :lol

Moving it to where less people will notice it seems to be your reply.

Moving it to the forum it should have been posted in to start with, just as we do with sales threads that are posted outside the junkyard... but thanks for the conspiracy theories! They are always fun!

 

[Art Andrews]

I think it's sad that they refuse to address the concerns of members.

I'd be very interested to see examples of us refusing to address the concerns of the members. Now if you misspoke and meant to say "refuse to bend to the whim and will of every member" then I can't help you. Do we always get back to members in as timely a fashion as we would like? Absolutely not. Do we always do what every member wants us to do? No... and a lot of you better be thankful we don't because many of you wouldn't be here if we buckled to every member's indignant demands...

Personally, I think it's bad form on the moderator's part - and a very telling indication of their demeanor and inability to lead a forum like this. Frankly, I think we need a whole new crew of moderators just because of the isue of them not communicating clearly at all.

I am sorry you feel that way. :unsure

 

[OldKen]

Previous staff members have always taken a minute to address concerns... or just to make a comment on a post or a thread at times.

You realise that most of those old staff members quit because, having to deal with more crap here than normal life gets taxing after a few years. And no one is ever really thanked DURING their time on staff.

It seems now that THAT whole big staff is gone... people are finally going... wait... they did stuff! :rolleyes

I was usually treated like I was some secret Nazi ruler for just trying to help people resolve things and make the forum run smoother. IT GOT OLD.

I personally think the THREE guys on staff now are doing an outstanding job. Especially seeing as there are only THREE of them, they don't get paid, and have had to deal with whiney BS tantrums and judgement from a LOT of members lately...

What are we going to do when they quit too?

They have made a lot of cool contests and made them be more official than what has EVER happened here before. And I personally think "THEIR WAY" is better than 8 people all running their own contest all over the damn board.

I would love to see what some of you would do if you were put in that position. You have no idea how nice it is to not see "17 new private messages" everytime you log on. :wacko Which is what I personally used to get on a regular basis. And that was when there were like 8 of us.

Cut them some slack.

And it isn't horrible to make a new OT thread addressing the staff in the open. You just don't have to be an arse-hat about it.

To NMR personally... how do you know that the other guy hadn't talked to them about his contest BEFORE you talked to them about yours?

I garauntee there isn't some hidden agenda against you, or that they are playing favoritism to a buddy.

End rant.

 

[JD]

Moving it to the forum it should have been posted in to start with, just as we do with sales threads that are posted outside the junkyard... but thanks for the conspiracy theories! They are always fun!

Again, I disagree... the OP here appeared to be asking the membership at large a question. This forum appears to be for questions/suggestions directed the the staff (mis-)running this forum.

 

[JD]

I'd be very interested to see examples of us refusing to address the concerns of the members. Now if you misspoke and meant to say "refuse to bend to the whim and will of every member" then I can't help you.

That's just the kind of attitude you have to absolutely love from someone that's supposed to moderate a forum in a fair in resepectable manner.

Sheesh... if you have such a chip on your shoulder before even interacting with a member why are you even here!?!

No one expects you to bow any single members whim. We do expected to at least approach any poster with some semblance of respect. But, I can't really expect that from someone that goes into with blinders already expecting not to help you.

That's a very negative approach, and really just lumps on the pile of reasons why you shouldn't be moderating this forum.

Do we always get back to members in as timely a fashion as we would like? Absolutely not. Do we always do what every member wants us to do? No... and a lot of you better be thankful we don't because many of you wouldn't be here if we buckled to every member's indignant demands...

Art, I can think of multiple times when I have NO RESPONSE. Before the current moderation teams arrival - everytime, every single time I contacted one of them or used the 'report a post' button I got something from - at least some acknowledgement and usually something polite explaining why what was reported might be allowed, or accepted or something. This current staff? Nothing... you get absolutely nothing from them.

Well, you do get something... selective enforcement of rules, backpatting, egotism, arrogance, move things for their benfit and general silence..

I agree, this is generally a totally thankless job and you'll never please everyone. But, that comes with being a moderator in this type of forum, so please save me the "every members whim" and "every membr's indignant demands" - get off the high horse and act accordingly...

Honestly, Art - just to reiterate, if you're logging onto this forum as a moderator with that type of attitude, save yourself the mental anguish and quit. Do us all a favor and quit.

If you're going to stay on the RPF as part of the moderation team, I could only hope that you'd rethink your approach... and make sure that open minded approach stays.

Or you could continue the current system which is clearly broken.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Hey Art, not to jump on the dogpile but I sent you a PM like 2 months ago because I'm having trouble getting logged on at TDH and I still haven't heard back from you.

When I mentioned it in a Thread, you said you were back-logged from being out if town on your honeymoon and were working through PM's.

If you still have my PM, I could still use some help.

 

[OldKen]

***** JD, he is just trying to defend himself...

Do you have something personal against Art? These last few posts make me a bit ill brother.

You are personally bashing someone, not to mention the fact that he is a moderator. If he was an actual ****y tyrranical leader your ass would be banned and this thread erased.

Just because your questions or PM's weren't whimsical wastes of time, doesn't mean that the 20 he had to wade through before yours weren't.

This thread seriously disgusts me. I understand everyone wanting things to be "fair" but personally talking down to the staff is just really sad to see.

I personally would like to see the mod bashers take on the job for just a week or 2. See how much fun it is. See how you may forget to respond or some other human error. And how bad it makes you feel to be talked to like you are a bad person in front of the whole prop community of the ENTIRE world just because you forgot to contact the maker of the pink power ranger power panties about some RPF members refund!!! :sick

Until the day this forum is fully self aware we may have to deal with imperfect people making human errors from time to time. I personally think it is going to be alright.

For the record I do NOT personally know any of the current staff members. My feelings on them doing a good job isn't out of pity either. I am honestly amazed the place can run with 3 people.

 

[Art Andrews]

Hey Art, not to jump on the dogpile but I sent you a PM like 2 months ago because I'm having trouble getting logged on at TDH and I still haven't heard back from you.

When I mentioned it in a Thread, you said you were back-logged from being out if town on your honeymoon and were working through PM's.

If you still have my PM, I could still use some help.

Ack! You are not "dogpiling" at all. You are right! Got you squared away, now. Sorry.

 

[JD]

***** JD, he is just trying to defend himself...

Do you have something personal against Art? These last few posts make me a bit ill brother.

See... that's part of the problem, he's trying to defend himself. If that's even necessary, he should do so in a way that's worthy of a moderator. ...and yes, that means taking the high road and sometimes biting your tongue. Sorry, that's just the way I see it.

Nothing personal at all, I actually felt kinda bad posting that the way I did. But, I do find everything I said true... Art's only the figurehead for the entire moderating team, and at least he was decent enough to post here. I've never met the guy and personally hold no ill will against him... there are no secret pacts, no conspiracies, just judging the job I've seen here.

I am still not bashing him personally... I am critiquing the actions of the staff her overall and the words of member, who I think misspoke dramatically. Was it harsh? Perhaps, but then again sometimes our leaders need to be held to higher standards.

OldKen, as "disgusted" as you are - I've felt that while for a while. Espeically, regarding several things going on around here. I do feel the communication/lack of respect issue is the most prominent. I've been here for a while, I love what this place can be... but I fear what it's become.

 

[MooCriket]

Wow. Sucks to be a Mod for sure, but for what it is worth, Art and team...at least one member is grateful for the job you are doing.

THANKS.

 

[Jannix Quinn]

I appreciate the trouble it is to moderate, let alone run a large forum, having done so myself. It is a difficult and thankless job. The guys here do a decent job in my opinion too.

Having said that, I have had maybe three PMs to mods not answered. Minor stuff I guess, but it was important to me at the time.

I certainly don't flood anyone with PMs though. I've sent maybe four, ever.

Perhaps there is an issue with responses to PMs that needs looked at when the time arises.

I'm generally happy with how it runs here though.

 

[NakedMoleRat]

Art,
Thank you for responding, though I do take issues with a couple comments. You say I

for all your criticism of the staff, you have handled this very childishly.


Please provide a thread that proves this comment!


And...

your passive/agrressive PM, responding to your issue vs issues of others hasn't been a priority.

If you will agree, I can post my PM to you and see if the rest of the community thinks it was passive aggressive or not! I certainly don't, I think I just expressed myself clearly. I even started with an apology and explained why I was upset.....

Your call!

 

[defstartrooper]

My sole gripe is the way the staff here will make a decision and stick to it no matter what, right or wrong it will stand there is no right of appeal as such because it simply falls on deaf ears.

Example 1:
I report a member for posting spam, last time i checked recruiting people into marketing scams is spam.
I wasn't the only person to report this incident, thread remains open so i made a post saying it was spam and just a marketing scam.
I then get a warning for calling the guy a spammer.
I protest this several times to several staff pointing out that it is a marketing scam and they could find that out easily on any search engine in seconds and that i wasn't the only one who reported it.

No dice warnings still there for being truthful and not wanting fellow members to be conned into the same scam.

Example 2:
I posted in a thread which was actually about staff decisions not started by myself and one in which at least two staff members had posted in too with semingly no protest to the subject matter.
Some weeks later(staff are slow) i get a warning for debating staff decisions, as far as i'm aware i was the only person to get this warning for taking part in a thread i didn't start and staff were active in too.
As before i protest this pointing out i actually hadn't debated any specific decision and that staff decisions was what the thread was about anyway.

No dice warning stands.

Doesn't end there some time later a staff member is happily telling everyone publically that they are welcome to discuss staff decisions and that nobody will ever be punished for that.
I point out this isn't true and show the warning i have for it.

Despite that you guessed it the warning is still active.



Now sure i get it decisions aren't always cut and dry and stuff happens but when someone actually shows they're not guilty of what they're being punished for it's good form to say quite right sorry about that we now see what happened the warnings gone.
But that doesn't happen.

And by the way i'm not saying this for my benefit or to dog on the staff i just simply wish it were and issue that was addressed for everyone's benefit in the future.

 

[Art Andrews]

Art,
Thank you for responding, though I do take issues with a couple comments. You say I

for all your criticism of the staff, you have handled this very childishly.


Please provide a thread that proves this comment!

NMR, I am not here to play *** for tat with you on this matter, but since you asked, I consider your "exit" thread pretty high up there on the childish scale.

http://www.therpf.com/f12/peace-out-all-im-schmuck-99516/

And...

your passive/agrressive PM, responding to your issue vs issues of others hasn't been a priority.

If you will agree, I can post my PM to you and see if the rest of the community thinks it was passive aggressive or not! I certainly don't, I think I just expressed myself clearly. I even started with an apology and explained why I was upset.....
Your call!

It is your PM. You are welcome to post it if you like although I am not sure what you hope to gain from it other than the possibility of sympathy from the usual suspects who always come out of the woodwork for threads like these.

Personally, I'd rather move on to seeing about getting your contest up and going but I'll leave it up to you whether you want to join me in doing something productive or continue on this current bent.

 

[NakedMoleRat]

Funny, I don't see ONE SINGLE attack or criticism against the staff in that thread! Nor in any other post I ever made! Now you change up and say my "exit" was childish when you had clearly stated at first my "criticism" of the staff was childish. Sir, you can not change your comment to suit your needs when you can't find a thread to prove your argument.

I think I have been accused of something I did not do.

And again, you accuse me of a passive aggressive PM, which I deny. So I will post it, since I have your permission, to again prove the claims against me are inaccurate.



Art,
Sorry for the melodrama but I was and am quite upset about my contest. Why did I suggest a contest in August and was told that I would be next after the custom blaster contest, then Jason decides HE'S next and wham! I'm out! He gets to clog up my thread pissing about contests, tell me how I should run mine...ANNOUNCE that he WILL NOT run the dollar store saber...then BOOM! Here's his thread stuck on top! All the while I'm pushed back....AGAIN!
I don't think it's right, or fair! Especially since I was told I would be next after the blaster contest.

Okay, it's off my chest, respond or don't! Let me run my contest or not, but it's off my chest! If I do get to run it, I really don't want Jason stepping all over my thread telling me how to do things.
Thank You,
Thad



Passive aggressive? I don't think so. But without any explanation as to why I got bumped again, and no response to my PM, or ANY kind of communications as to what happened or why, I believe that I communicated a sense of frustration. I believe others may agree it's even an honest frustration.

Thank You.

I would like to run my contest, but I doubt it would be supported now after this. :unsure