A Message from the Moderating Team

[WhistlingBadger]

Greetings, fish fans! On behalf of the moderating team, I would like to remind everyone of a couple of rules.

"Members who...persistently cause trouble, irritation and upset...or otherwise affect the smooth running of the forum will not be tolerated..."

"This is a privately owned site. As such, its running is not a debate and discussion will not be entered into. The administrators and moderators have final say in all areas and decisions."

To be completely clear: complaining about the forum, agitating for change in policy, discussion of moderator/admin actions, and general argumentativeness are not permitted. These are the rules, and they exist for a reason. As a team, we try very hard to err on the side of fairness and leniency, but things are getting out of hand. We would like to remind everyone that you are here because you choose to be here. If you disagree with the rules or are unwilling to abide by them, we kindly ask you to go elsewhere.

Thank you.
--The Moderating Team

 

[itiwhetu]

I have noticed recently that some members have been becoming overly aggressive. Remember if you don't like what is being written on a thread or the way someone is doing something, just walk away from the thread and go somewhere else where there is a discussion you agree with. I have learnt that people don't want to hear a point of view that doesn't align with there way of thinking so just leave them to it.

 

[Mash-]

I haven’t moderated forums before but I’ve managed stream chats , discord servers and group chats. It’s a very hard job that many take for granted. When we look like we’re doing nothing about a situation we’re always talking about what to do in private. You guys do an amazing job for this forum keeping it safe and calm. Mad respect , let’s all just be kind to each other .

 

[Colin_T]

"Members who...persistently cause trouble, irritation and upset...or otherwise affect the smooth running of the forum will not be tolerated..."

Does that include werewolves

 

[itiwhetu]

Does that include werewolves

 

[Deleted member 149562]

As I posted elsewhere......

Definition of an admin and mod.....

You need to be able to act like a NATO peacekeeper and a kindergarten teacher, have the patience of a saint and have the ability to be onsite 28 hours a day, 9 days a week. The ability to read minds is essential and to have a strong coffee addiction is helpful too....along with a life supply of tissues, ibruprofen and haemoroids cream (an optional extra to have would be the pins to stick in yourself to prevent excess swearing)

You must NEVER have a life away from the forum as that will inevitably interupt your duties and be a distraction. To be an admin or mod is a thankless task that ages you prematurely, gives you grey hair and bald spots and wrinkles....you also get severely bruised fingers from the mountain of typing behind the scenes and will, again inevitably, lose your voice due to screaming obscenities at the wall behind your pooter.

The life of an admin or mod is not an easy one...they have to make difficult decisions that most forum members would not have to make and would not want the responsibility to make.

I should also add that to be a mod or admin, you definitely require the skin of a rhinoceros to assist survival against the various barbs, spears and arrows lobbed your way.

(I spent 15 years or so building, administering and moderating a total of 22 forums like this one for an owner in Texas....its an honour and a joy to be asked to become staff but it can be mentally and emotionally draining, especially when dealing with disruptive, underage or trolling members...and don't even mention the spambots which are a nightmare)

Something that I used to tell members of my forums was to just use the report tab on posts that rile, upset or give bad information.....try not to get angry on the thread as that will perpetuate the argument, which usually plays right into the offender's hands.

Use the report tab. Don't rise to goading or taunts.

You may not see an immediate mod or admin intervention but rest assured that ALL staffmembers know that a post has been reported....and in its unedited form too. This software is very clever, it originated from VBulletin to become XenForo, as someone who built forums in the earlier and the current variant, there is alot of things that the software does that the average member has no idea about....so if you make a post that is borderline or worse and you think that if anyone reports it after you edit it....think again

The guys and gals on this forum do a damned good job, as a former admin I would be proud to have them on my staff. So please cut them some slack, they do all have lives away from this forum but do please realise that every report made DOES get to them instantly and even if it seems to take a while to deal with that report or issue, it will be sorted, nothing gets ignored......and incase you did not realise, all these wonderful guys and gals are volunteers, they are not paid to be mods or admin, they do it for the love of doing it and the love of the subject so please don't give them a hard time.

 

[Anonymous Fox]

He eats cats, y'know?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Does that include werewolves

Especially werewolves.

Thanks, everybody, for the kind words. Let's get back to talking about fish.

 

[Fishmanic]

Something that I used to tell members of my forums was to just use the report tab on posts that rile, upset or give bad information.....try not to get angry on the thread as that will perpetuate the argument, which usually plays right into the offender's hands.

Well said, @wasmewasntit Good advice for keeping the peace on the forums.