Times when you feel sorry for the forum mods

ColoursYouHave

Reverb wrote: »

ColoursYouHave wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Every now and then I see stuff on the forums that makes me feel sorry for the mods. Avoiding any specific examples of disciplinary action or other things that are against forum rules to discuss, what sorts of things make you feel sorry for the mods here?

Here are a couple that come to mind for me:

• When you see a 10+ page thread that's been locked with a message from a mod saying "this thread is under review" (yikes, good luck with reviewing that whole thing)
  

The PC/NA BWB Campaign thread got temporarily locked for review at like, 100 pages. They had to review so many posts that they decided to keep it locked overnight. It felt like they were just putting us all in timeout for misbehaving lol.

Darya said that was the highest number of posts ever removed from a single thread

I'd believe it, things were getting pretty heated in there, and lots of people (myself included) were posting things they probably shouldn't have. It was awesome that they actually cleared out the bad posts rather than permanently closing the thread though; we'd already had three threads closed by mods in the past XD.

leepalmer95

When people @ mods on threads then really don't need @'ing in.

sirston

when people @ mods when they don't realize they don't work for zenimax they work for bethesda's forums.

Rosveen

leepalmer95 wrote: »

When people @ mods on threads then really don't need @'ing in.

It's the most exasperating when people tag Rich and the entire community team for information they could find on any wiki.

Sausage

Repetition of same topics over and over again. Im surprised I havent lost it myself already. Especially Gina who reads this forum daily as far I know.

Jaybe_Mawfaka

I feel sorry for them when they are reading funny af threads and have to close them because of the rules
There were too many that will be forever missed..

Sausage

Jaybe_Mawfaka wrote: »

I feel sorry for them when they are reading funny af threads and have to close them because of the rules
There were too many that will be forever missed..

They have humour? I bet they listen Jerry Springer when they have free time.

Zinaroth

It's a job like every other job. They get paid for it. Why feel sorry for them? They chose it themselves. Then you can start feeling sorry for every working person in the world since every job has *** parts.

I_killed_Vivec

I feel sorry for them having to review all the "Running is so OP, nerf running - I was fighting in Cyrodiil the other day and someone ran up to me!" posts. They must know that those posts are going to be full of utter drivel, and yet they will also prove to be the ones that are magnets for nutters, and so probably need the most careful moderation.

And then there are the posts (a distinct minority) that provide useful suggestions (master writs is one that comes to mind) that could make the game so much better.... only ZoS go and mess it up. No matter how "corporate" they might be, a little part of them must be sad, thinking "They are right, it could have been so much better"

jarydf

My personal favorite is when the start of the post is a list of zos peeps like @soandso, @otherperson and @usualscapegoat - I demand you answer my random thingie!!!

DannyLV702

I only feel bad for them when they have to make an excuse for the lack of game performance.

Danikat

dbgager wrote: »

runagate wrote: »

Because I've personally known a couple. And, yes, I assure you reading these forums will drive you crazy. I loathe having to sort through all the BS and idiocy and people posting things they just randomly decided was true despite having no idea what they're talking about.

On the upswing the forum mods don't know about the game and aren't expected to, so I'm sure to them it's just the idiocy, bad grammar, childish attention-seeking and occasional funny moments.

Well I know for a fact Steam moderators do not get paid. Its strictly voluntary.

It varies between sites and it's not always obvious which sites pay and which don't.

If it's a fan site you can be 99% sure even the owner doesn't make any money from it and probably spends his or her money to keep it running. But it's harder to tell with official sites, unless the community is really close and everyone knows who all the moderators are and the people who have been there long enough remember them before they were moderators.

Some official sites can't afford to pay them (one of the bands I was a moderator for barely earned enough money to support themselves), some just don't want to spend the money or don't think it's worth it and some think it's better to recruit volunteers from the community because they'll have a better attitude (which may or may not be true). Others think it's better to have paid professionals.

Ch4mpTW

Coming from my background of being a forum moderator of a few websites (I still am to a couple), and comparing the types of crowds from there to here? I honestly do feel bad for this site's moderation team. This is the only community I've been apart of (outside of a few Reddit sub-forums) where people will ask for others to be banned for having an unpopular opinion regularly. And will throw all types of tantrums over someone refusing to acknowledge and comment on something. As a moderator that has to be incredibly frustrating and irritating to deal with, and in that regards? They have my sympathy and more of my respect. For putting up with pettiness like that on a regular basis.

To be a person in power, and in a sense be forced to babysit a bunch of adults whom chooses not to behave civilized with 1 another must be all types of bad. To see people intentionally derail a thread out of dislike for the original poster, and or make personal attacks repeatedly to a user all for something video game oriented must be incredibly uncomfortable to come into contact with daily. But because the maturity isn't there for people to govern themselves accordingly, someone has to do it.

Just think for a moment having to sit and read some of the comments people make to each other, and having the power to discipline those accordingly AND WITHOUT bias. Regardless of how much you agree with something or not. That's some serious strain on an emotional and mental level. But, you must be professional and do things by the book. Whether you dislike or like the person. It's irrelevant, and you have a job to do.

Now then, are there sites that have worse forums (in regards to toxicity and hostility within its community)? Oh, without a doubt. There are tons upon tons. However, I for 1 never really was too active or apart of said forums to begin with. Therefore I wouldn't have noticed it if it existed. And not for nothing, if I'd have known that a lot of this community was the way it was — I'd have not invested as much time within these forums. But, once you start caring about something and becoming passionate about it. It becomes addicting. All those hours invested start to hold weight to you on a personal level. Hence my particular frequency on these forums.

anitajoneb17_ESO

Do I feel sorry for them ? Well, sometimes, but if I compare with other types of part-time, student jobs - which I assume they are -, like McDonald's, mods are probably better off. If I compare with other types of forum moderation, they're probably also better off (they're paid, they're backed up by a solid management, and the "no-disciplinary-talk" policy prevents them from being judged by the community. They're protected.).

On the other hand, and because I know how intellectually and emotionally draining it is to moderate, I sometimes feel sorry when I look at the overall result of their efforts. These forums are meant to be a safe place - and obviously, it's not, and while some of them do the job very well, the overall result is still (imho) a total lack of consistency in the moderation - making people feel even more unsafe in here. These forums are also meant to promote constructive exchange and debate, and whenever that happens, it's due to contributors, not moderators.

To sum it up, moderation is not something that contributes towards a positive goal, it's only something that prevents bad things from getting worse. I would not consider it very satisfying as a long term main job. But as a short-term, part-time feeding job, it's probably much better than many other jobs.

Voxicity

Well they get paid for it... it's their job

Phinix1

The only time I feel sorry for forum mods is when they aren't Gina Bruno.

It's like "sadly, you aren't Gina Bruno. But you can mod like one!"

I'm on a horse! XD

Myrrah

i feel sorry for them all the time. these forums make me feel grouchy a lot. soooo much spewing of poisonous crap. i have thought often how hard it would be to have a good day-knowing the things you know but can't say. and having to deal with being bombarded with hostility in a professional and yet pleasant manner-ugh! It is said that a persons character can be observed by how they treat waiters and such. i think that also applies to company representatives. And i don't say that lightly. i had an issue that was a pretty major nearly game breaking deal to me and i was upset. i tried to keep a friendly tone but when treated cavalierly over it-i got snarky. had to step back and take a big deep breath and determine how to handle it rightly. More people need to take that view. That they're dealing with real people with real lives. who maybe are having a totally crap day and treat them respectfully

kevlarto_ESO

I think the forum mods, do a great job here, in fact they could be a bit more heavy handed in my opinion, the problem is with troll posters and people just being stupid posting here, personal attacks, flaming, just being nasty, there was a time a new player could come to the forums and ask a question and get real help from the community, now they ask that question you get L2P, and flamed. I feel bad for the people that don't understand trolling and being nasty on the forums is not cool, just because your hidden behind the internet on that keyboard.

Thank you mods for keeping the trolls under the bridge the best you can.

Ch4mpTW

kevlarto_ESO wrote: »

I think the forum mods, do a great job here, in fact they could be a bit more heavy handed in my opinion, the problem is with troll posters and people just being stupid posting here, personal attacks, flaming, just being nasty, there was a time a new player could come to the forums and ask a question and get real help from the community, now they ask that question you get L2P, and flamed. I feel bad for the people that don't understand trolling and being nasty on the forums is not cool, just because your hidden behind the internet on that keyboard.

Thank you mods for keeping the trolls under the bridge the best you can.

Agreed and +1.

Mrs_Malaka

I do not "feel sorry" for the moderators.
It's their job.

Also, I dislike people who "kiss-up" to them in their replies.

Jemcrystal

What bothers me is one post titled "this games sucks and I can prove it" from a troll that keeps being bumped by thousands of posters explaining in detail why they are enjoying the game and it does not suck at all. But that title is what you see when you hop on the forums. Some days negative thread titles simply fill the view and I wonder if the mods sigh.

Cheer up mods! Most people like the game and know devs need time to fix the borked and come up with new content. It's all good. We appreciate both devs and moderators and we even like big fat corporate and investors.

FortheloveofKrist

I feel bad when they cannot ban forum posters who start countless threads complaining about the way other people play, since the thread is not technically breaking any rules. The kind of people who thrive on creating threads that go on for pages with no real constructive rationale or point.

Ojustaboo

UrQuan wrote: »

Every now and then I see stuff on the forums that makes me feel sorry for the mods. Avoiding any specific examples of disciplinary action or other things that are against forum rules to discuss, what sorts of things make you feel sorry for the mods here?

Here are a couple that come to mind for me:

• When you see a 10+ page thread that's been locked with a message from a mod saying "this thread is under review" (yikes, good luck with reviewing that whole thing)
• When people get upset with mods for only making "play nice folks" comments instead of giving us answers to game questions (they're mods, they're not devs - they're not usually going to know the answers to those questions)
• When something exciting/controversial happens/is announced and dozens of threads on the topic pop up, and the mods have to scramble to try to consolidate discussions (good luck deciding which threads are different enough to justify keeping open, which ones should be closed, and which threads should become the "active" thread)

They presumably are either paid, or volunteer, If they are paid, it's their job, if they volunteer, it's their choice.

Having been a forum mod in the past on another popular at the time site, it's not really that hard.

As to your 2nd point, there needs to be some option of flagging a post as having mod input.
I've lost count at the amount of long threads I've seen the mod icon, hence want to hear what t hey are saying about an issue, only to go through 7 pages and find the usual "we've deleted some comments play nice.." post.

Then when they sim[ply delete posts etc, the thread wouldn't be flagged up. Not sure how possible it is, but yes it is very annoying.

As for them not being devs, yes we know that. Yet they still obliviously communicate with some people at Zenimax, else they wouldn't ask for ticket numbers in threads reporting botting, or telling us exploits or servers down are being worked on etc. If enough people complain about the same thing, a mod should make sure Zenimax is aware.

The problem comes when mods are effectively marketing voices for Zenimax letting certain threads drop down into oblivion, closing threads that aren't toxic but are justifiable imo critical. This does seem to happen at times.

And to be honest, if they simply came down very hard on both sides to those on threads calling anyone that thanks ZoS a gullible fanboy etc, and came down just as hard on threads where constructive complaints are being made, and others (usually the same few people on both sides) are calling them whiners, complainers, entitled etc etc, that one clampdown would make this forum a 10000 times better place to be. I've lost count on the amount of debates I've joined in on the OPs side, even if I don't 100% agree with them, solely due to the way others in the thread have spoken about the OP.

Or to put it another way, I feel far more sorry for the way numerous posters are spoken to by others and zero mod action is taken.

Edit: reading above about the community team, if that is correct and that the community team never moderate the forum and only the forum mods do, then surely you could give the mods one label and the community team another, then we can sift through threads and read actual announcements rather than find its a moderation incident. If the community team also moderate, then I stand by everything I said above.

TerraDewBerry

I feel bad for them when the forums are on fire with people just enraged.. I'd hate to have to try and read through all that as a mod. I've played a lot of MMOs and have been on a lot of MMO forums. This is a pretty active forum and from what I have seen, we keep the mods pretty busy! I would have to say hands down, to me, the mods here do a better job actually moderating the forums than any other MMO forum I have been on. I like when they have to remove posts that they actually say they had to do that. On other MMO forums, you don't hear anything.. just posts gone. If they close a thread.. it's just gone.. if people are getting out of hand.. their post are just gone.. I like the transparency the mods have on the forums here. I might not always agree with the decisions, but at least I know what happened and to a degree, why. Keep up the good work mods!!

menedhyn

I think the forum moderators have a job to do, and in my eyes they do it very well. They will always have my respect, even if I don't always agree with every action or decision I see. It's not about feeling sorry for them, it's simply about speaking (sic) to them in the same way you would like to be spoken to.

Ojustaboo

UrQuan wrote: »

t3hdubzy wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Every now and then I see stuff on the forums that makes me feel sorry for the mods. Avoiding any specific examples of disciplinary action or other things that are against forum rules to discuss, what sorts of things make you feel sorry for the mods here?

Here are a couple that come to mind for me:

• When you see a 10+ page thread that's been locked with a message from a mod saying "this thread is under review" (yikes, good luck with reviewing that whole thing)
• When people get upset with mods for only making "play nice folks" comments instead of giving us answers to game questions (they're mods, they're not devs - they're not usually going to know the answers to those questions)
• When something exciting/controversial happens/is announced and dozens of threads on the topic pop up, and the mods have to scramble to try to consolidate discussions (good luck deciding which threads are different enough to justify keeping open, which ones should be closed, and which threads should become the "active" thread)

So you feel sorry for them soing their jobs? Lol sorry but I dont agree with your points. The mods all seem to be alright people but I dont pity them for doing their jobs, and hopefully they enjoy what they do.

So if there's a particular part of someone's job that's a real pain in the *** you don't feel sorry for them when that comes up and they have to deal with it? I know there are plenty of things at my work that come up and make me feel sorry for the person who has to deal with them...

No I don't. Virtually every job on the planet has things that are crap to do, whether firing staff, or being a sewage worker etc, all have good parts, all have crap parts.

That doesn't mean I don't have empathy, sure there's somethings that no one really should ever see, like some of the things the police,ambulance,fire service etc see, but no I don't feel sorry for them, they decided to go into those jobs knowing what it would be like.

I am actually a very empathetic person, but while I try to find the good in anyone and hate those that write off the homeless, drug addicts etc or call them scum etc, that's a completely different thing to feeling sorry for someone doing the job they chose to do.