Log Posted April 13, 2012 Posted April 13, 2012 Just my opinion, but there seems to be an inherent, and intractable, conflict of interest when moderators are permitted, or permit themselves, to participate in thread discussions without disclosing their moderator identity.If a moderator were to fail to disagree without becoming disagreeable, it would be altogether too easy for them to use their moderator powers to ban people while leaving unflattering comments on the banned's posts, and prematurely terminating what otherwise could potentially be a fruitful series of conversations with other users. It would also be too easy for them to ban a user completely, when that user's posts, by any other reasonable person's standards, would not have been considered problematic at all.Justice can fall by the wayside as the exercise of power overrides the need for reasoned discourse, persuasion, and even charity. Human nature is what it is, and mods shouldn't have a dog in the fights they're supposed to be refereeing.Again, it's just my opinion. 1
Gillebre Posted April 13, 2012 Posted April 13, 2012 Isn't this covered by the fact that other moderators wouldn't stand by and allow such an abuse to occur?
Log Posted April 13, 2012 Author Posted April 13, 2012 Isn't this covered by the fact that other moderators wouldn't stand by and allow such an abuse to occur?That has not been an actual fact, in my observation. Have you ever heard of the "Blue Code of Silence"? Humans, again, are what they are, and persons with power tend to respond with power to perceived threats either to their position, virtue, or ego.
bluebell Posted April 13, 2012 Posted April 13, 2012 Isn't this covered by the fact that other moderators wouldn't stand by and allow such an abuse to occur?I would assume so. I remember mods getting involved in the past when another mod went a bit rogue. I can't imagine that they'd sit by now and let a mod misuse their authority just to settle personal grudges.
blackstrap Posted April 13, 2012 Posted April 13, 2012 " Thou shalt not bite the hands that allow you to bloviate" Most,if not all of the mods are recognizable by their avatars.I see no reason to ban them from any topic.They are only mods"when acting as such". 2
Log Posted April 13, 2012 Author Posted April 13, 2012 Which brings us to the propositional content in the first sentence in the OP - when the individuals who are mods also have non-mod accounts that they use to post in the threads.
Ares Posted April 13, 2012 Posted April 13, 2012 Mods ask other mods to moderate discussions where we are participating. That is when we are aware of someones personal identity. I don't know the "civilian" identity of most of the other mods. It is done that way on purpose. Don't let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
Skylla Posted April 13, 2012 Posted April 13, 2012 We don't allow moderators to moderate threads they are involved in.Skylla
Log Posted April 13, 2012 Author Posted April 13, 2012 Well, it's good to see that the issue is recognized, at least in part. Thanks for letting me know.
Minos Posted April 13, 2012 Posted April 13, 2012 Not all moderators post. Get your assumptions straight before you open threads.
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