Is there any way we can complain on moderators and/or get any explanation to their actions?

Artis · May 2016

Kalebron wrote: »

For what purpose would there to have the package size increase on your character or to complain about a quest involving any LGBT situation or other. I believe to complain about it means you are prejudice and expect some sort of privilege. This is a game not the politically charged state controversy over equal rights and such. This is not a good topic and should be deleted. It provokes politics plain and simple.

Deleting such threads is tyranny and politics. People are allowed to have different opinions, you know. Not everyone is happy with some things they do

ZOS_AlanG wrote: »

We have no problem with moderation being discussed generally, but please do not discuss specific actions. As covered in the rules, this isn't allowed, and needs to be kept to PMs. In respect to everyone's privacy, we will not discuss actions taken on the forums with anyone except the person affected. So if someone is warned or suspended, we will not talk about this or even confirm it with other people.

If someone repeatedly breaks the rules future infractions are likely to involve disciplinary acts, and eventually a temporary suspension or permanent ban. It is also our policy to tell people if they are at risk of being suspended or banned for future infractions.

We are actually planning to tweak the strike system in the near future, and are expecting to post about this in the coming weeks.

But I just showed you above that it's NOT forbidden by the rules. Those topics didn't promote violence or anything like that. You should refer to certain articles in rules when you delete topics... There would be nothing for you to refer in that case. Nothing.

None of them contained hate speech or broke other rules. They were related to genders, sexual orientation etc (there's a list in rules), but weren't promoting violence or intolerance.

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Artis wrote: »

That makes sense but is unfair, because it can also have other quotes and contribute to a discussion. But anyways, those 2 specific comments of mine didn't have any quotes deleted, they were just deleted. One of them quoted a moderator's generic "some comments were removed". Now I don't know if that was him or no. And how do I report whoever did that so that somebody else (obviously not him) considers it?

The moderators have to make choices. What is fair is relative and what one person considers fair in thee matters will often differ from another's oppinion.

With your own description it seems the topics and conversation was rather volitile and as such there should be no surprise action was deemed necessary. As such, and again based on what you posted, it should be of no surprise posts and threads were removed.

But there are topics that provoke me and are volitile for me. Those aren't deleted. Why am I worse than other people?

rootimus · May 2016

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

That said, if you have any questions about a moderator's action, feel free to message a staff member/admin privately and we'll be glad to look into it for you.

That's a nice narrative, but I contacted a moderator on 17th Sept last year and never heard back from them despite a follow-up message from me. I then escalated it to you, @ZOS_GinaBruno, in October and you didn't bother replying, either. All of my messages relating to the issue were both polite and literate, as was the post that was deleted.

I look forward to your reply.

Taisynn · May 2016

Because this is their home. They can lock anything they feel crosses the line. They haven't violated your freedom of speech just because they locked a thread. They locked it because they didn't like what was said, so they showed them the door.

Volkodav · May 2016

Artis wrote: »

Kalebron wrote: »

For what purpose would there to have the package size increase on your character or to complain about a quest involving any LGBT situation or other. I believe to complain about it means you are prejudice and expect some sort of privilege. This is a game not the politically charged state controversy over equal rights and such. This is not a good topic and should be deleted. It provokes politics plain and simple.

Deleting such threads is tyranny and politics. People are allowed to have different opinions, you know. Not everyone is happy with some things they do

ZOS_AlanG wrote: »

We have no problem with moderation being discussed generally, but please do not discuss specific actions. As covered in the rules, this isn't allowed, and needs to be kept to PMs. In respect to everyone's privacy, we will not discuss actions taken on the forums with anyone except the person affected. So if someone is warned or suspended, we will not talk about this or even confirm it with other people.

If someone repeatedly breaks the rules future infractions are likely to involve disciplinary acts, and eventually a temporary suspension or permanent ban. It is also our policy to tell people if they are at risk of being suspended or banned for future infractions.

We are actually planning to tweak the strike system in the near future, and are expecting to post about this in the coming weeks.

But I just showed you above that it's NOT forbidden by the rules. Those topics didn't promote violence or anything like that. You should refer to certain articles in rules when you delete topics... There would be nothing for you to refer in that case. Nothing.

None of them contained hate speech or broke other rules. They were related to genders, sexual orientation etc (there's a list in rules), but weren't promoting violence or intolerance.

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Artis wrote: »

That makes sense but is unfair, because it can also have other quotes and contribute to a discussion. But anyways, those 2 specific comments of mine didn't have any quotes deleted, they were just deleted. One of them quoted a moderator's generic "some comments were removed". Now I don't know if that was him or no. And how do I report whoever did that so that somebody else (obviously not him) considers it?

The moderators have to make choices. What is fair is relative and what one person considers fair in thee matters will often differ from another's oppinion.

With your own description it seems the topics and conversation was rather volitile and as such there should be no surprise action was deemed necessary. As such, and again based on what you posted, it should be of no surprise posts and threads were removed.

But there are topics that provoke me and are volitile for me. Those aren't deleted. Why am I worse than other people?

I am with you. Why leave some threads that are far worse than others,..which wind up deleted?
Same with comments.
Why leave very aggressive,provocative,and volatile comments,while removing others which are less so.It winds up being whatever the moderator wants to remove.If they come to the site in a rough frame of mind and see something that wouldnt be even paid attention to otherwise,..they delete it,and/or ban the person for commenting.Period.
We have no real options,though they say to submit a ticket,or talk to a different moderator.
For the most part,that suspension,or thread removal will generally stand.

Skitttles · May 2016

zomg I've been triggered

Volkodav · May 2016

Skitttles wrote: »

zomg I've been triggered

Send in a ticket.They'll care a lot.

JKorr · May 2016

Volkodav wrote: »

Artis wrote: »

Kalebron wrote: »

For what purpose would there to have the package size increase on your character or to complain about a quest involving any LGBT situation or other. I believe to complain about it means you are prejudice and expect some sort of privilege. This is a game not the politically charged state controversy over equal rights and such. This is not a good topic and should be deleted. It provokes politics plain and simple.

Deleting such threads is tyranny and politics. People are allowed to have different opinions, you know. Not everyone is happy with some things they do

ZOS_AlanG wrote: »

We have no problem with moderation being discussed generally, but please do not discuss specific actions. As covered in the rules, this isn't allowed, and needs to be kept to PMs. In respect to everyone's privacy, we will not discuss actions taken on the forums with anyone except the person affected. So if someone is warned or suspended, we will not talk about this or even confirm it with other people.

If someone repeatedly breaks the rules future infractions are likely to involve disciplinary acts, and eventually a temporary suspension or permanent ban. It is also our policy to tell people if they are at risk of being suspended or banned for future infractions.

We are actually planning to tweak the strike system in the near future, and are expecting to post about this in the coming weeks.

But I just showed you above that it's NOT forbidden by the rules. Those topics didn't promote violence or anything like that. You should refer to certain articles in rules when you delete topics... There would be nothing for you to refer in that case. Nothing.

None of them contained hate speech or broke other rules. They were related to genders, sexual orientation etc (there's a list in rules), but weren't promoting violence or intolerance.

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Artis wrote: »

That makes sense but is unfair, because it can also have other quotes and contribute to a discussion. But anyways, those 2 specific comments of mine didn't have any quotes deleted, they were just deleted. One of them quoted a moderator's generic "some comments were removed". Now I don't know if that was him or no. And how do I report whoever did that so that somebody else (obviously not him) considers it?

The moderators have to make choices. What is fair is relative and what one person considers fair in thee matters will often differ from another's oppinion.

With your own description it seems the topics and conversation was rather volitile and as such there should be no surprise action was deemed necessary. As such, and again based on what you posted, it should be of no surprise posts and threads were removed.

But there are topics that provoke me and are volitile for me. Those aren't deleted. Why am I worse than other people?

I am with you. Why leave some threads that are far worse than others,..which wind up deleted?
Same with comments.
Why leave very aggressive,provocative,and volatile comments,while removing others which are less so.It winds up being whatever the moderator wants to remove.If they come to the site in a rough frame of mind and see something that wouldnt be even paid attention to otherwise,..they delete it,and/or ban the person for commenting.Period.
We have no real options,though they say to submit a ticket,or talk to a different moderator.
For the most part,that suspension,or thread removal will generally stand.

And if the mods do delete any threads that, in your opinion, are aggressive, provocative, and volatile, the raging about OMG TEH MODS ARE CENSORING ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! will begin. Did you report the aggressive, provocative and volatile threads? With a civil explanation of why you believe there is a problem? I've found that the mods do respond to reason. They may or may not agree with my rationale for reporting something, but if there was something "wrong" that actually did go over the line for the forum rules, they did do something about it.There are things that might be borderline, where someone goes just up to the very edge of breaking the rules, but doesn't take that last step. If the mods delete it, they catch crap for censorship/whatever, if they don't they catch crap for not acting on it. They can't win.

The forum rules can't get into the minute and specific. There are posters who take a great, almost perverse delight in splitting hairs down to the sub-microscopic level, and those posters will fasten on any specific rules with rabid focus. I'm a mod on a different site; we had one poster who wanted to debate every word in the forum rules, and went so far as to explain that Black's Law Dictionary wasn't applicable to the situation he was complaining about. The mods gathered all of the information regarding his "abuse", his multiple forum accounts with the ip address tie-ins, all the incidents that caused his suspension and eventual ban and passed it on to an admin. I have no idea what happened after that, but I'll take a guess it escalated to the legal department at some point, if he pushed it that far.

As for the mods "coming to the site in a rough frame of mind"; where I moderate, if I think I'm grouchy, grumpy, out-of-sorts, or just in a pissy mood, I check with other mods about what I'm going to do. While I have asked the admins for a "Just Because" day for the mods, it will never happen. Just Because Day would be one day where a mod could moderate the way the posters think we do; we could delete comments or threads Just Because; warn and suspend people, Just Because.... We are accountable for what we do, and everything gets logged to the admins can see it. If it works this way for volunteer mods, I can't believe it would be much different for Zenimax.

Alurria · May 2016

I would venture to say that people do know when they cross a line, and do push the envelope of what the rules say is not acceptable. Words do matter, being snarky, sarcastic and on the edge of offensive is no conducive to good healthy discussion and debate. I know if I went to someone's "house" (meaning the forums) I wouldn't start being rude to the host. That is what is going on.

I see on these forums all the time insults and foul language thrown at ZOS you all know that's true. There is a way to communicate and be civil. Bottom line their house their rules. Deal with it. If you need to question it ask them privately for clarification, if you are not sure about posting something then don't chances are you know it's volatile.

clayandaudrey_ESO · May 2016

pieceofyarnb14_ESO wrote: »

I would venture to say that people do know when they cross a line, and do push the envelope of what the rules say is not acceptable. Words do matter, being snarky, sarcastic and on the edge of offensive is no conducive to good healthy discussion and debate. I know if I went to someone's "house" (meaning the forums) I wouldn't start being rude to the host. That is what is going on.

I see on these forums all the time insults and foul language thrown at ZOS you all know that's true. There is a way to communicate and be civil. Bottom line their house their rules. Deal with it. If you need to question it ask them privately for clarification, if you are not sure about posting something then don't chances are you know it's volatile.

If only the Templar's House was as impenetrable as the ZOS house here.

ZOS_AlanG · May 2016

We're happy to have a discussion of forum moderation, but it's getting tense, and losing focus. We ask that everyone please make an effort to keep their comments on topic and constructive. Additionally, if there is something specific you wish to complain about, or you have a more general complaint that is better illustrated with some specific examples, please send me a PM or submit a support ticket about it.

pieceofyarnb14_ESO wrote: »

I would venture to say that people do know when they cross a line, and do push the envelope of what the rules say is not acceptable. Words do matter, being snarky, sarcastic and on the edge of offensive is no conducive to good healthy discussion and debate. I know if I went to someone's "house" (meaning the forums) I wouldn't start being rude to the host. That is what is going on.

I see on these forums all the time insults and foul language thrown at ZOS you all know that's true. There is a way to communicate and be civil. Bottom line their house their rules. Deal with it. If you need to question it ask them privately for clarification, if you are not sure about posting something then don't chances are you know it's volatile.

In my experience most first offenses come from people who honestly don't realize they've broken any rules. Many are apologetic, and even those who feel the rules are too restrictive generally accept they need to follow them, even if they disagree with them. Most later offences are "heat-of-the-moment," while others fall into the various shades of gray of acceptability. It's true that some people knowing cross the line, often because they don't care what the rules are.

failkiwib16_ESO · May 2016

Honestly OP I think that ESO is a game that tries to attract a wide range of gamers, but it is limited in resources to include every minority.

I also think that the main reason of removal of such threads is to avoid controversial discussions that often critisize ZOS for not including a certain very small minority in the game. That can be interpreted as unrelated to the game, and in the end it is their own forum - they can do what they want to do.

Artis wrote: »

We definitely should have an option to report that stuff and have some transparent system where we can see what actions were applied to those moderators.

I think there are some legal problems with a company publicly shaming and punishing their emplyees.

The highest thing you can achieve by reporting a moderator or admin for abuse, is to get his boss to give him or her a warning, possibly fire him from his job. However for this to happen, you will need justification and evidence that goes far beyond "moderator shut my thread for (insert reason) reason.".

Sogreth · May 2016

Taisynn wrote: »

Because this is their home. They can lock anything they feel crosses the line. They haven't violated your freedom of speech just because they locked a thread. They locked it because they didn't like what was said, so they showed them the door.

That's very wrong. And I feel bad for people that actually think this way.

JKorr · May 2016

Sogreth wrote: »

Taisynn wrote: »

Because this is their home. They can lock anything they feel crosses the line. They haven't violated your freedom of speech just because they locked a thread. They locked it because they didn't like what was said, so they showed them the door.

That's very wrong. And I feel bad for people that actually think this way.

Nope, sorry. FREEDOM OF SPEECH is the government stopping you. Private areas can have rules. You come in my home and start spewing hate speech and swearing, and I'm calling the cops. Stand outside and scream all the obscenities you want [until you get reported for disorderly conduct and/or harassment and deal with the cops] and I have no recourse. Do so inside my home, and yes, I do have legal recourse.

https://www.quora.com/Is-moderation-in-forums-violating-Americans-right-to-free-speech

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2009/09/free-speech-in-online-communities-the-delusion-of-entitlement/

No one is stopping anyone from posting what they want in a public forum. This is Zenimax's private forum however, and they can make rules about what gets posted here. If they want, they can make everyone post in pink, in Old English style font, and have My Little Pony avatars. If you don't like those rules, you don't have to join. Once you agree to the rules, you should be held to the rules you agreed to when you joined. If you want to contest or complain about the rules, there is usually a "Contact Us" link somewhere, or a Support forum where you can communicate without joining first.

BlitzGirl41 · May 2016

Without more evidence, it is difficult to make a conclusion on what, if any, forum rules were broken in the thread/posts, OP. Just because you did not see anything wrong with it, doesn't mean that there wasn't anything wrong. I suppose that in terms of comments and threads that are hostile/rule-breaking, but are not locked/deleted, all we can do is be responsible forum "citizens" and report them. It's the same in real life - don't hesitate to call the police on suspicious activity, thinking that someone else may do it for you. I imagine that the moderators are only so many, and can't possibly monitor every single thread and post here.

Kalebron · May 2016

Artis wrote: »

Kalebron wrote: »

For what purpose would there to have the package size increase on your character or to complain about a quest involving any LGBT situation or other. I believe to complain about it means you are prejudice and expect some sort of privilege. This is a game not the politically charged state controversy over equal rights and such. This is not a good topic and should be deleted. It provokes politics plain and simple.

Deleting such threads is tyranny and politics. People are allowed to have different opinions, you know. Not everyone is happy with some things they do

ZOS_AlanG wrote: »

We have no problem with moderation being discussed generally, but please do not discuss specific actions. As covered in the rules, this isn't allowed, and needs to be kept to PMs. In respect to everyone's privacy, we will not discuss actions taken on the forums with anyone except the person affected. So if someone is warned or suspended, we will not talk about this or even confirm it with other people.

If someone repeatedly breaks the rules future infractions are likely to involve disciplinary acts, and eventually a temporary suspension or permanent ban. It is also our policy to tell people if they are at risk of being suspended or banned for future infractions.

We are actually planning to tweak the strike system in the near future, and are expecting to post about this in the coming weeks.

But I just showed you above that it's NOT forbidden by the rules. Those topics didn't promote violence or anything like that. You should refer to certain articles in rules when you delete topics... There would be nothing for you to refer in that case. Nothing.

None of them contained hate speech or broke other rules. They were related to genders, sexual orientation etc (there's a list in rules), but weren't promoting violence or intolerance.

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Artis wrote: »

That makes sense but is unfair, because it can also have other quotes and contribute to a discussion. But anyways, those 2 specific comments of mine didn't have any quotes deleted, they were just deleted. One of them quoted a moderator's generic "some comments were removed". Now I don't know if that was him or no. And how do I report whoever did that so that somebody else (obviously not him) considers it?

The moderators have to make choices. What is fair is relative and what one person considers fair in thee matters will often differ from another's oppinion.

With your own description it seems the topics and conversation was rather volitile and as such there should be no surprise action was deemed necessary. As such, and again based on what you posted, it should be of no surprise posts and threads were removed.

But there are topics that provoke me and are volitile for me. Those aren't deleted. Why am I worse than other people?

It is already political.

Blackbird71 · May 2016

Sogreth wrote: »

Taisynn wrote: »

Because this is their home. They can lock anything they feel crosses the line. They haven't violated your freedom of speech just because they locked a thread. They locked it because they didn't like what was said, so they showed them the door.

That's very wrong. And I feel bad for people that actually think this way.

I feel bad for people who don't understand the U.S. Constitution or the history behind it.

As indicated, the rights of the First Amendment (and others) were established specifically to prevent abuses of power which the Colonies had suffered under British rule. Freedom of speech specifically came about because those who expressed ideas contrary to the King and his laws could be harassed or imprisoned for their views. The Founding Fathers recognized that free expression of political ideas was essential to a functioning democratic government, and as a check against government abuse, and so "Freedom of Speech" was established as a fundamental right of U.S. Citizens within the First Amendment of the Constitution. As such, it specifically pertains to speech regarding the actions of government and the laws they establish, guaranteeing that no citizen can face repercussions for (peacefully) protesting such actions or laws. No branch of government, or representative thereof, has the legal ability to silence such speech.

However, if it is not the government or its agents stopping your speech, and you are expressing such views in a private (other than owned by you) venue, then "Freedom of Speech" most definitely does not apply. If you are protesting the actions of a private entity within their own domain (such as on an internet forum owned by them), or if you are simply expressing ideas which they disagree with, they have every right to ask you to stop or even ban you from their venue; after all, it is their privately-owned space. There is no Freedom of Speech here; even if your ideas were political in nature, and in protest of the U.S. government, you are still on a privately-owned forum, and the owners have every right to say "not in here", and to remove your words or shut you out. None of your rights will have been violated, and you will not have been censored (another word often used by those who do not understand its meaning). You are perfectly free to express your views in a public venue, and as long as they are expressed peaceably, not in an obscene manner, and do not endanger others, no one has the right to stop you. But once you cross into private space, you are subject to the rules of those who allow you to be in their domain for as long as they permit you to do so.

*Disclaimer: all of the above applies only to the United States, its laws, and its citizens. Laws and rules outside of the U.S. will of course vary.

nimander99 · May 2016

I was very unfamiliar with forum's and forum communication in general until I became a member of this community. I had finally found a game I cared about enough to actually talk to people in forums outside of the game-world itself.

First thing I did was read the Forum Rules thread to better understand what the rules were, what was acceptable vs. un-acceptable etc.

It's actually quite enlightening and will give you a really good idea of the boundaries you can operate in and an idea of what you can get away with if clever enough... and so far I remain un-remanded *evil chuckle* heheheheheehehe

SirAndy · May 2016

Artis wrote: »

how can we complain on them and their abuse of authority sometimes?

Cute but misguided. ZOS owns this forum and they can do anything they wish.
You signed away all and any rights when you registered here.

There is no such thing as "abuse" on their end.
There is no such thing as "free speech" on a privately owned online forum.

SteveCampsOut · May 2016

KingYogi415 wrote: »

If only they spent as much time fixing bugs as they did moderating the forums!

Entirely different staff.

arena25 · May 2016

Taisynn wrote: »

Because this is their home. They can lock anything they feel crosses the line. They haven't violated your freedom of speech just because they locked a thread. They locked it because they didn't like what was said, so they showed them the door.

Is there a way to mark "Insightful" and "Awesome" in one post? Because this explains it better than the rest of us can.

1st amendment only applies to the government. It doesn't apply to businesses.

Let me provide you with a couple examples to show what they mean by the 1st amendment:

An example where your 1st amendment comes into play: Two days before an important game against the school's archrival, a fellow football player dies in an accident. A group of players and I decide to mourn him by writing his jersey number on our hands. A teacher tells us to remove the jersey number from our hands. In this case, the students have a right to free speech.
An example where your 1st amendment does not come into play: Over the summer, a school changes its dress code policy. On the third day of school, cross country team tryouts are being held after school. Because its a hot day, a girl hoping to make the team wears very short shorts and a shirt that reveals the midriff and has a revealing neckline. Both articles of clothing are against the new dress code, which the student was unaware of at the time. As the student walks into first period class, several students are transfixed by this girls clothing, so the teacher asks her to go back home and change her clothing. In this case, since the school implemented this dress code policy, she cannot claim 1st amendment. Because it created a distraction to the students, the school has the right to change her clothing. However, once the bell rings at the end of the school day, the school cannot force her to change her clothing, so she can wear the questionable clothes to the tryouts, but not to school.

Does that help?

Volkodav · May 2016

JKorr wrote: »

Volkodav wrote: »

Artis wrote: »

Kalebron wrote: »

For what purpose would there to have the package size increase on your character or to complain about a quest involving any LGBT situation or other. I believe to complain about it means you are prejudice and expect some sort of privilege. This is a game not the politically charged state controversy over equal rights and such. This is not a good topic and should be deleted. It provokes politics plain and simple.

Deleting such threads is tyranny and politics. People are allowed to have different opinions, you know. Not everyone is happy with some things they do

ZOS_AlanG wrote: »

We have no problem with moderation being discussed generally, but please do not discuss specific actions. As covered in the rules, this isn't allowed, and needs to be kept to PMs. In respect to everyone's privacy, we will not discuss actions taken on the forums with anyone except the person affected. So if someone is warned or suspended, we will not talk about this or even confirm it with other people.

If someone repeatedly breaks the rules future infractions are likely to involve disciplinary acts, and eventually a temporary suspension or permanent ban. It is also our policy to tell people if they are at risk of being suspended or banned for future infractions.

We are actually planning to tweak the strike system in the near future, and are expecting to post about this in the coming weeks.

But I just showed you above that it's NOT forbidden by the rules. Those topics didn't promote violence or anything like that. You should refer to certain articles in rules when you delete topics... There would be nothing for you to refer in that case. Nothing.

None of them contained hate speech or broke other rules. They were related to genders, sexual orientation etc (there's a list in rules), but weren't promoting violence or intolerance.

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

Artis wrote: »

That makes sense but is unfair, because it can also have other quotes and contribute to a discussion. But anyways, those 2 specific comments of mine didn't have any quotes deleted, they were just deleted. One of them quoted a moderator's generic "some comments were removed". Now I don't know if that was him or no. And how do I report whoever did that so that somebody else (obviously not him) considers it?

The moderators have to make choices. What is fair is relative and what one person considers fair in thee matters will often differ from another's oppinion.

With your own description it seems the topics and conversation was rather volitile and as such there should be no surprise action was deemed necessary. As such, and again based on what you posted, it should be of no surprise posts and threads were removed.

But there are topics that provoke me and are volitile for me. Those aren't deleted. Why am I worse than other people?

I am with you. Why leave some threads that are far worse than others,..which wind up deleted?
Same with comments.
Why leave very aggressive,provocative,and volatile comments,while removing others which are less so.It winds up being whatever the moderator wants to remove.If they come to the site in a rough frame of mind and see something that wouldnt be even paid attention to otherwise,..they delete it,and/or ban the person for commenting.Period.
We have no real options,though they say to submit a ticket,or talk to a different moderator.
For the most part,that suspension,or thread removal will generally stand.

And if the mods do delete any threads that, in your opinion, are aggressive, provocative, and volatile, the raging about OMG TEH MODS ARE CENSORING ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! will begin. Did you report the aggressive, provocative and volatile threads? With a civil explanation of why you believe there is a problem? I've found that the mods do respond to reason. They may or may not agree with my rationale for reporting something, but if there was something "wrong" that actually did go over the line for the forum rules, they did do something about it.There are things that might be borderline, where someone goes just up to the very edge of breaking the rules, but doesn't take that last step. If the mods delete it, they catch crap for censorship/whatever, if they don't they catch crap for not acting on it. They can't win.

The forum rules can't get into the minute and specific. There are posters who take a great, almost perverse delight in splitting hairs down to the sub-microscopic level, and those posters will fasten on any specific rules with rabid focus. I'm a mod on a different site; we had one poster who wanted to debate every word in the forum rules, and went so far as to explain that Black's Law Dictionary wasn't applicable to the situation he was complaining about. The mods gathered all of the information regarding his "abuse", his multiple forum accounts with the ip address tie-ins, all the incidents that caused his suspension and eventual ban and passed it on to an admin. I have no idea what happened after that, but I'll take a guess it escalated to the legal department at some point, if he pushed it that far.

As for the mods "coming to the site in a rough frame of mind"; where I moderate, if I think I'm grouchy, grumpy, out-of-sorts, or just in a pissy mood, I check with other mods about what I'm going to do. While I have asked the admins for a "Just Because" day for the mods, it will never happen. Just Because Day would be one day where a mod could moderate the way the posters think we do; we could delete comments or threads Just Because; warn and suspend people, Just Because.... We are accountable for what we do, and everything gets logged to the admins can see it. If it works this way for volunteer mods, I can't believe it would be much different for Zenimax.

Goodness.Such a long comment about my short one.

Well,I am speaking in general.I have been here for a long time and things tend to ratchet up to high heat at times,and the mods are not consistent in their actions.Some allow some things that others do not.So,in the end,my point is that one cannot know when they have crossed an invisible line with what is and what is not allowed.One person may rank the heck out of another including the calling of names and get no warning,but on a different thread someone else will become incensed and respond without carefully couching their words and get in serious trouble for their less acerbic comment.
Mods should all have the same requirements to uphold in regards to how they do their jobs.
Just my opinion.
May not be anyone else's,but it is mine.

SeptimusDova · May 2016

I found out all the rules simply by breaking them.Mod's have a job and I would like to think that they are impartial. As per reviewing to a set criteria, well, thats part and parcel of being a mod.Now some one post up a kitten picture.

P.s Whilst you are at it grab a sammich..

Destyran · May 2016

I once commented something along the lines of feminazi or fem scum on a post that used the terms cys gendered and misogynistic male. Then got told i have been warned my comments have been deleted and not to do it again.

ZOS_AlanG · May 2016

Hi guys, please keep any discussion of moderation general, rather than discussing specific instances. Given the nature of this thread we're giving people a pass, but we don't want this misconstrued as acceptable.

BlitzGirl41 wrote: »

I imagine that the moderators are only so many, and can't possibly monitor every single thread and post here.

This is true, if anyone feels a post or thread is inappropriate we ask that people report it, rather than respond to it. While we do read the forums, given the activity here we don't see everything, and reports alert us to content we should review.

Artis · May 2016

I'm wondering why I can't mark this question as answered. I did it long ago, surprised some necromancers brought it back to life

But yeah, I understand that's it's a privately owned forum and all that.
I just asked if there any way to keep track of what's going on and/or if it's possible to implement a feature like that. So don't try make it look like I'm trying to insult moderators or anyone else, please

bedlom · May 2016

In the long run probably not.