as the other poll was public, personal, and passive aggressive, I figured we should try it without those handicaps. So the question is, should there be term limits for mods?
Terms for mods? Are you serious?!? If there were terms for mods, how would my long-running plan for usurping Lanz and taking contr--- I mean, no. Heck, no. There shouldn't be terms for mods.
It depends. In the other thread quite a few comments were focused on the amount of time that someone like Tamar spends on the internet, thus making her able to devote more time to the place. Changing that depends on how many people can give the time. That said, in a ideal world mods would be rotated simply for the sake of freshness - even if previous mods came back for another tenure at a later date. I think it would go some way to reducing long term drama.
Wordforge would still be full of the same people. There has always been drama....when we had a huge, oft changing staff it was just as dramatic as it is now and if one is honest, it was more so. A good portion of people here can't even name the staff without looking it up...hell, even I, as apparently notorious as some say I am, still occasionally get "You work here? Oh...I didn't know." If one is honest, I don't think the staff can really be accused of being much of a source of drama.
One thing I thing I think also might be a good idea is this habit of referring to mods as "staff". They are not staff. They are not employees for which qualifications or anything else are needed. They are volunteers who give up their time. I think the word "staff" only serves to potentially fill delusion and ego, when in fact a modship should be recognised as someone simply giving up their time to help out.
Be prepared for plenty more now that the ego has been massaged, history has been revised and nobody had a bad word to say about anyone.
Isn't it amazing how Tamar and the rest of the "staff" constantly downplay the significance of being a mod, yet they hold onto their positions with an iron grip? I for one am sick of seeing Tamar with lifetime tenure. I wonder if it ever occurs to her, or the other mods who have been around a long time, that others might enjoy being taught the secret handshake and seeing the inside of the clubhouse? It won't matter. I've long advocated for mod term limits and rotating "staff," but it's always fallen on deaf ears. I do find it fascinating that others have now started to speak out against her, people who before would have never publicly criticized her. As long as it was just me or Faceman advocating for these things, Tamar always found it easy to discredit the idea. But Tex, El Chup & Spaceturkey? Like I said....fascinating.
The clubhouse is filled with empty beer bottles, used copies of Mad Magazine and Elwood's old socks he never picked up. Tamar is lousy at keeping the place clean.
Rotating the staff...oh, I'm sorry, the mods () may not be the worst idea in the world. But like others have pointed out here and in the other thread, WF pretty much runs itself now. Any problem posters are dealt with and shunned by the general populace (Kirk being one recent example), so there's no need to run to the mods to run interference, aside from issues of privacy.No need to reinvent the wheel, IMO.
They could have a regularly rotating position at the very least. A member at large*, if you will. *Or a large member, but I already have one of those.
The staff - or whatever you wanna call 'em - haven't changed because I trust the people I have. Remember, being a mod and having moderator powers (I'm thinking mostly of the ability to give warnings and bans) can very easily be abused. And Admins get the keys to the whole deal, so ya gorram right I'm gonna limit that pool. Another thing to consider is that Wordforge remains a fairly small board. If "everyone got a turn" how long would it take until everyone had had a turn? Even people the Kewl Kidz don't like, like Baba or 14thDoctor? Suppose one of your "most hated" or whatever was suddenly a moderator? Some people here have been mods and have said they don't want to do it again . . . Bulldog, Spaceturkey, Diacanu for example . . . what about them? Or should I bring in outside help and make T'Bonz a mod here?
Out of interest, what is your take on the question of whether or not Tamar has been biased in the past?
Gee, maybe some that would have a self regulating influence and make mods behave regardless of politics or personality conflict! I'm in that group. Remember me, the do nothing mod? At best the board administration is a group of passionate people who keep the forum they love going. At worst it's crustier than any of the good old boys in a smokey room caricatures that you can imagine. It's why I demanded to have my privileges revoked.
Actually, I only resigned because of Tamar's playing favourites and back dealing hijinks. (She overturned me sans consultation AND double jeopardied Tasvir in the same day-That was the one time Elwood disappointed me).
You're the owner of the board. How much can any one person abuse mod powers? If a mod goes off and tries to give a bunch of warnings to someone they're in a flame war with, you can just reverse them, and then strip the mod of the position. Problem solved. Funny that you're now concerned with making sure WF treats everyone equitably. Before, you allowed Sokar & Gang to create a WF underclass with unrelenting neg rep campaigns and histrionic memes (pedo! pedo! pedo!). I would have no problem with 14th Doctor being a mod. I would have even less problem with RickDeckard being a mod. As others have pointed out, the board essentially governs itself at this point. Mods are largely symbolic positions. If someone I didn't like became mod, I can't see as how it would make any difference in what I do here. There's obviously no way to force someone to do it.
I read that as him limiting the number of Admins, not mods. Perhaps he can clarify that, since I'm included to agree that a mod can't do much of anything to damage the board. Considering the experience with Nick's temper tantrums, I can't say I blame him on limiting the admin stuff.
