Andersp: Complaining about how a board is moderated is like a manager in baseball arguing about a bad call by the umpire. Lots of steam and flash, but little comes of it and then the manager is ejected. The league president or commissioner will receive a report on it. If it's a rule interpretation (Something that an experienced umpire knows quite well and rarely makes a mistake on is the rules) the game can be replayed from that point if it changed the outcome. If it's a judgment call, then the umpire's decision stands and that is how it is.

I think the way these moderators are now organized is not a good system. The censorship and control they wield is too much. As you've pointed out Andersp, it almost defies logic to have a discussion about requests and a new feature just recently added to the site to have the moderator post that we should take it somewhere else and away from the very board that it should be on! Perhaps a recently added feature (Cloak mode) could be taken to the BrainKing discussion board? Of course the moderators there will tire of it and squelch the whole thing. Now what kind of system is this?

The censorship is getting heavier and heavier. For what purpose? Let us talk. The moderators should not censor things they disagree with. Just keep an eye out for cuss words and racial epitats. As it is now I always have to worry that I'll be edited, censored, or banned. With very vague guidelines and being more or less at the mercy of each individual moderator's whim. And with no appeal either. It's not fair to me, and I'm sure it's not fair to a lot of other people. It'd be nice if about 15 of the current moderators and 15 of us non-moderators were able to switch roles and then let them see how it feels. Yeah, I have heard what a thankless job it is, but I haven't seen anyone giving it up voluntarily, have you? Andromedical excepted. Hey, one moderator out of the whole bunch, and he resigned without being asked to for something that he thought he'd made a mistake about. I suppose the rest of them are perfect or really like the job and it's not the thankless job that we've been led to believe it is?

These discussion boards are part of my fun in coming to this site and it is not as much fun for me to post to them anymore.

Since the form of the boards and moderation doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon, I request that a way be made to have the moderators changed from time to time if there are other people interested in moderating a particular board. A sign up list with a schedule time for it to happen. Even if the current moderator is doing a good job or is popular, he should still be subject to being replaced and the position rotated or given up somehow. The moderator being replaced could certainly be allowed to sign up for the job again and wait his turn in line like everyone else. I also think the guidelines should be changed so that the moderators will have the confidence to allow people to talk without having the need to whip out their erasers.

>>A moderator should not be able to alter anyone's posts without the poster's permission.

It is completely unfair to the poster to have such people delete or edit what they have written. The moderator should have the power to hide a particular post or ban a particular person. The poster or person could then voluntarily edit or delete his post. If the poster believed it was legitmate post or his actions were appropriate for the board and he thought the moderator was overstepping his authority, it could be taken to the Global moderators or Fencer.

I believe the Global moderator's job should be rotated too. If we're afraid of just anyone taking the job, we could certainly have a nomination process. Yes, we have that now. Fencer picks and they're made the Global moderator. Apparently Fencer doesn't see the corruption of this, or feels it's working just fine and leaves him to pursue other things on the site. It is obviously working quite well in that respect, but there is an undercurrent of resentment being built up amongst some of us that care about this site and have invested a lot of our time and energy to it to just have someone wipe out everything without a trace because they're able to and can get away with it. Feeling powerless is one of the first signs of trouble in society, and this site is a society in a lot of ways. The site, though still Fencer's, will gradually be taken away from him as he gets further from everyone. It's inevitable as it grows that this will happen. It's amazing to me how well he has kept his hands on it and continues to be a presence. If he ever tires of it and it suddenly becomes like It's Your Turn, you'll know what I'm talking about.