A Suggestion for Moderation Restructure

[Agro]

Hi guys, with all the drama recently, I was reminded what my thoughts were on the structure of modship on the forum. We have quite a lot of moderators who are in charge of sections that just aren't busy enough to require a mod exclusively for that section, and quite a few instances where there are multiple mods in charge of one section, and in many cases that one section is still not that busy. In many of those cases, as well, there are a few mods who are very inconsistent in their activity and I feel aren't needed on the mod team because of it.
 
Therefore, I thought I'd offer my opinions on how the mod team should be structured and how many mods are actually needed to make YCM function. The following is clearly all my own opinion, but I thought I'd offer it up as suggestion as many besides myself feel we have some mods on the team only because they are either old guards, or aren't doing anything bad as a moderator (albeit, arguably not doing anything good as a moderator, either). So these are my suggested changes:
 
 
 
I don't feel the Forum sections need an individual mod, and should function as they always have: with any active mod responding when they can.
 

Suggestion: 0 mods (Currently: n/a)

 
Creative Cards is the section in most need of moderation. Realistic Cards (Single & Multiple) are the busiest sections, followed by 1 v 1. The other sections are virtually irrelevant. I personally think that 2 mods is too little, as while 2 mods have been able to handle it before, it can be a stressful job and even a single additional mod can help relieve that. So I would suggest 3-4 mods, with one possibly being elevated to a Super Mod if it is felt that there needs to be one mod for the other 2-3 to come to to resolve differences.
 

Suggestion: 3-4 mods (Currently: Zextra, Saber, Sakura, Striker)

 
TCG is currently functioning with 1 mod, and as far as I can tell needs no more help. However, if evilfusion ever says he wants help with moderating the ENTIRE section, then considering that the section has needed legitimate moderation in the past, obv. adding one more would be optimal
 

Suggestion: 1-2 mods (Currently: evilfusion)

 
Creative Commons, I feel, is overtaffed. Creative Writing is virtually dead, with Showcase being the most active section and RP after that. (tbh, I don't actually know the activity level of RP) I think a single mod could watch over the entirety of Creative Commons, but I think it'd be fine with one person in charge of RPs and Creative Writing like Aix is basically doing now, and one person in charge of all of Showcase. There are 4 mods there in total right now, and I think that that should at least be cut in half.
 

Suggestion: 1-2 mods (Currently: Rinne, Aix, Night, Yin)

 
Multimedia is chopped up between 4 different mods, with Flame Dragon, Yin, Rinne, and Aix all apparently having to mod separate sections. I say "apparently" because I didn't even realise Yin, Rinne, and Aix were supposed to mod parts of these forums until I checked. That's partly because Rinne & Aix are in charge of the Lit section, which is so dead that I'm not even sure why it exists at this point (any book that gets popular enough would probably get more traffic in General, to be honest), and partly because I can't really remember seeing Yin in Anime & Manga, which she supposedly moderates, or at least I don't (and I think most others) associate her with the section. All in all, all five sections are either not busy, or very well behaved unless I start an argument with someone. I think a single mod could handle the entire section, as only Anime & Manga and Video Games would need much watching over, and not much actual work, I feel.
 

Suggestion: 1 mod (Currently: Flame Dragon, Yin, Rinne, Aix)

 
Other consists of General, Games, Polls, C&O, and Misc. General is the section that likely really needs any form of moderation, but doesn't get topics in such rapidity that much moderation is necessary. Games, Polls, and Misc basically only need a looking over to know if moderation is necessary. The fact that post count is disabled for Games and Misc and that mods from other sections will actually go in to mod the latter relieves more work for a mod in that section. C&O isn't all that busy either, so I think a single mod could handle all of Other.
 

Suggestion: 1 mod (Currently: Flame Dragon, Legend Zero, Mugendramon)

 
So out of all the mods chosen for these suggested spots, I would suggest 2 get made into Super Moderators. However, I would suggest a third Super Moderator that is active multiple sections, preferably focusing on the sections that are usually active, but is not given any real focus like any other mod. The third super mod's job should be to provide back-up for sections where mods require it, and be able to take care of issues when the mods of sections the issues are raised in are inactive.
 

Suggestion: 3 Super Mods (Currently: Night, evilfusion, Legend Zero)

 
So that is my whole spiel. Don't really expect it to do anything, but I just figure we have more mods than we need. If necessary, you could also have an extra regular mod who acts as back-up for all the other sections just like the 3rd Super Mod, since the biggest issue I can see arising by removing a few mods would be that there would be long periods of time where there is no mod online. However, that's the only reason for an extra mod with this position.
 

Suggestion for Extra Mod: 0-1 mods

 
Would like to hear feedback.
 

 

My personal suggestions for how this could shape up:
 

Creative Cards Mods (3-4): Zextra, Saber, Sakura, 4th mod

TCG Mods (1-2): evilfusion

Creative Commons (1-2): Aix, Night

Multimedia (1): Phantom Roxas

Other (1): Mugendramon

Extra Super Mod (1): Flame Dragon

*bolded are suggested super mods

Suggested Total Mods: 10

Thoughts? Suggestions for improving a possible restructure?

[Kyng]

Issue is best mod ain't there.

 

Where's Yin?

[Agro]

Issue is best mod ain't there.

 

Where's Yin?

Yin's a good person. However I don't think she's needed as a moderator. I feel Night can handle Showcase well by himself.

 

Others I've spoken to have also argued she doesn't do much as a moderator.

 

However that ending was only my own ideas on who would be where. If the mod team is open to restructuring at all, then all I really care about is that they pay attention to how many mods I think each section really needs, not which ones I would have stay.

[Night]

Firstly I'd like to state that this is a step in the right direction. If any member feels as if there's an issue with any aspect of the forum, don't make a status that'll only be seen for an hour and then forgotten, make a thread in this forum or at the very least present it to the staff in the form of a pm, it's literally our job to assist. 

 

I'll try and respond to all of the topic points presented, do tell me if I miss anything. 

 

Removal of mods because we have "too many."

 

The only reason why I would ever personally demote a mod is if I ever had any reason not to trust them, thankfully over the last couple of years I've come to know most of the staff fairly well and I don't see that as an issue.

Most of the mods whom you may not see contributing much actually do quite a bit in other aspects which make them very valuable. Rinne for instance is the only one of us who has any knowledge on web design, I've personally asked him for assistance on multiple occasions. In general even though we may not "need" as many mods as we do, it's always helps just to have them around.

 

Removal of mods because due to inactivity. 

 

Most of the time this isn't really an issue seeing as though most mods will resign themselves prior to us having to deal with it (Opal's a good example). Also, we actively use the mod forum in order to post notices if we're going to be away for a period of time, obviously you guys don't see that and to some it may seem like they just vanished. 

 

In the event where's someone's actually been gone for a long period of time without notice we do take note and will act if need be (such as with Yankee).

 

More super mods.

 

It may seem like we just randomly decide on things and go with it which I'll definitely admit to being a flaw on our part, we should make it more of a priority to publicize the decisions we make but more often than not we legitimately do discuss specific topics for weeks if need be. I remember the topic of super mods specifically being one of them. It was already established that three was the perfect number, in the event that a specific dispute arises and for some reason we're forced to discuss it solely between the three of us there would obviously be no stalemate. Therefor it's clear why there can't be four and it was also stated that five is far too much. 

 

Issues with Striker.

 

Literally only making it a point to respond to this because of the shit-storm that arose earlier but I do want to make it apparent that I personally don't want to let this go by unnoticed. Among the points made in the status bar, one that has legitimate merit is that we should really listen to the members more. Not to say we wouldn't have promoted him because of what was said, but at least we wouldn't have to deal with this 3 months down the road and more or less every day since.

 

All I can say is that it's currently being discussed in the mod forum, and while that may sound like we're excluding the members from the equation yet again, I'll personally see to it that everyone gets their say in the matter.  

[Agro]

I never suggested having more Super Mods o_O

 

In any case, yes, it's fine to keep mods on if you have a reason for them being mods. But I would definitely rework who's in charge of what section at least for members' understanding and knowing who to contact about different sections, especially if some mods listed as running certain sections are currently/have been inactive. Most of us will probably just contact whatever mod is online, but I feel it would be a good move, especially for newbies to the forum.

[Night]

I never suggested having more Super Mods o_O

 

My bad, I saw: "Extra Super Mod (1): Flame Dragon" and then merely assumed. But now I realize that in this scenario LZ gets demoted which is pretty much unfathomable because he's the bae. 

 

Your second point seems reasonable though, I'll make sure it's discussed in the mod forum. 

[Goose]

I don't want to sound like a nostalgic oldie, but I liked when normal mods actually had less power.  Normal mods would be only in charge of their specific forum.  They would moderate it, deal with spammers there, and lock threads there.  Super moderators would moderate all forums and would be in charge of stuff outside of the forums themselves like name changes.  It made things simpler.

[J-Max]

I don't want to sound like a nostalgic oldie, but I liked when normal mods actually had less power.  Normal mods would be only in charge of their specific forum.  They would moderate it, deal with spammers there, and lock threads there.  Super moderators would moderate all forums and would be in charge of stuff outside of the forums themselves like name changes.  It made things simpler.

Problem is, in the olden days, sometimes we had only a Mod of a certain section on. Spambots and the like attack all sections so the Mod is Question could only defend their territory. Now we have Mods that can function anywhere. From what I understand, they can't issue the Warns etc outside of their area but can Lock Threads and the like when required.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Actually, regular mods can warn outside of their sections if the need arises.

 

Put in terms of old YCM, regular mods essentially have a curbed version of what a Super Mod would have on MyBB. Most of the time though, I keep mod stuff within CC; though I've dealt with occasional flare-ups outside of it when necessary (mainly for general things, such as spambots).

 

Only real difference between evilfusion, Night and LZ and regular mods like Yin, Flame Dragon, myself, Zextra, etc. is that the former three can delete members/forums (regular mods can create new ones, as shown from the birth of Joke/OPed Cards, Spam/Misc; but no deletion). There's some other things that I probably missed [also access to the theme + editing other mods]. Yes, regular mods can give name changes as well.

 

--

Going back on topic, some sections are a bit overstaffed, yes, but that's to make sure there's a staff member to keep an eye on it on a regular basis.

 

Yin's been in charge of GFX since around the time I joined in 2009; granted I don't go in there much, so can't comment on her mod things in the section. She does, however, handle things outside of it. She's also needed to keep Night in line to some extent (mainly with the swearing).

 

In terms of CC, adding newer ones was needed since Zextra had the whole section to deal with on his own at the time. Right now, Saber and myself are managing the bulk of the section (Striker does some work, but not too much lately outside of his 1v1 area), though there isn't exactly a distribution of how we've decided to split the roles. I usually check on both RC sections once every couple hours and Pop Culture [considering I did write a guide for making good cards in that section; similar to the one Toyo wrote in RC]. Any Other Cards is pretty much checked on daily, but unless someone reports things in there for rulebreaking/broken concepts, probably won't be checked up on frequently like RC.

 

Zex's been absent lately due to real life matters, but this was already mentioned earlier. At the minimum, 2-3 active mods should work for CC. I have some ideas for members that could serve as a 4th CC mod, should Zex withdraw or Striker get demoted (more on this later); though Aix did say he'd help a bit with CC matters if needed.

 

Restructuring the mod team might help a bit, though as mentioned earlier, they're kept around because of their knowledge of certain matters. Granted, Yankee was demoted because of his inactivity/lack of a section.

 

As for Striker (since there was a 2-3 hour status convo about the matter), Night's already mentioned that we are discussing this in the mod forum and figuring out what happened that caused the status wars this morning/afternoon. You all will have a chance to explain your sides of the story later on; in the meantime, we are finding out what happened from Striker's side of the argument.

[J-Max]

I was about to mention having a chance for other members to have their say. It needs to be discussed in a closely watched Topic though. If things go out of hand, issue Warnings.... I agree that Striker has pretty much only been keeping an eye on 1 on 1 for the most part. You on the other hand (Sakura), have done a fine job and I am pleased that you were chosen as a Mod.

[Simping For Hina]

I suggest J-Max for the acting role of the 4th CC Moderator.

[J-Max]

I suggest J-Max for the acting role of the 4th CC Moderator.

I appriciate the thought, i really do. Thank you.

 

However I do not believe that I deserve to become a Mod again just yet. Sure I have the experience from Modding before but it would be too much heat. You think the situation Striker in is bad? If I was Mod again, there would be a Shitstorm regarding the fact that a previously Permabanned member has become a Mod.

 

As I mentioned in the Status Feed last night, I will admit that getting the Mod Job was a bit of a rushed thing. Back then we had next to no Mods to watch the section. I was nominated mostly for my work on the Pokevolution Custom Card Project. Back then I was still a newbie at Card Making. Was using Fake Types for goodness sake lol. 

 

I did my job well and was also quickly allowed to Mod the whole section. But deep down I was always questioning myself. "why was I Promoted?" I asked myself. I jumped at the opportunity at the time as my love for the section was great but maybe I was Power Hungry at the same time. I never actually did anything to abuse my Powers (Unless you include that time I gave in to Peer Pressure and banned Raq for a Month)

 

I did my job with respect and still did my best to be a Normal Member just like the rest of you guys.

 

tl;dr. I would take the opportunity if it arose, me and Sakura (also Saber) could make a fine team. But maybe it would be a hasty move. Thanks again though Dae. I am touched by your comment.

[Catterjune]

I don't want to sound like a nostalgic oldie, but I liked when normal mods actually had less power.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Oh man, great joke. The times before mods had powers this site was filled with bots and spam. If there was spam in the Realistic Card section without a super mod or Realistic Card section mod online, we were shit out of luck.

If a mod left forever he was gone... forever. If he remembered he still had access to the site and wanted to frunk with us (cough) he'd be able to with no one able to stop him.

You're either boldly ignorant, remembering poorly, or making a terrible joke.

[Goose]

I also preferred when people didn't flame me for having an opinion. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

I also would say that there are more actual mods than needed. There's several who would do good at a position somewhere between member and mod. Seeing as how much power mods have, it would be good to have more levels of modship beyond mod and super active.

[Catterjune]

I've always been of the mind that it's better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it.

The way the YCM mods are set up, there's pretty much always at least one moderator online in case of spam or other problems.

"We need less mods!"

... Okay, why?

[evilfusion]

I don't want to sound like a nostalgic oldie, but I liked when normal mods actually had less power.  Normal mods would be only in charge of their specific forum.  They would moderate it, deal with spammers there, and lock threads there.  Super moderators would moderate all forums and would be in charge of stuff outside of the forums themselves like name changes.  It made things simpler.

 

For most intents and purposes, individual mods are only in charge of their specific forum. They are able to do moderator actions in other sections, but this is a good thing in my eyes because it means you're not completely reliant on one or two specific people to take care of generic things like spam, or bots, or blatant misbehaviors within that specific section (or a Super Mod, but you'd probably still have to draw their attention to that area to get it taken care of).

 

The specific power limits was also a HUGE issue way back when I first got promoted. YCMaker somehow botched the promotions of me and two others, and we effectively had no power because we weren't set to a section. The only reason we got anything done during the months of vainly trying to draw his attention back to us and fix it was by creating a Damage Control account for mod duties, as this was pretty much the only power we actually had.

 

Simpler for members, a nightmare for the mod team itself.

 

Also, assigning mod power exclusively to specific sections is probably why I had to almost literally tear the CC section apart just to remove Yankee's NAME from the Mod Team list.

 

 

I also would say that there are more actual mods than needed. There's several who would do good at a position somewhere between member and mod. Seeing as how much power mods have, it would be good to have more levels of modship beyond mod and super active.

 

I have a hunch that either I'm misunderstanding this statement, or you don't realize how much power Mods have compared to Super Mods.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

I have a hunch that either I'm misunderstanding this statement, or you don't realize how much power Mods have compared to Super Mods.

 

Probably both? Not sure. But I mostly mean, have some people who only clear up spambots and lock topics, or something like that. Like, I know some mods were referred to as "support mods" but is there actually a difference?

 

Forgive me if I come off as ignorant. I pretty much am in these things.

[Goose]

I guess my main point is that it doesn't feel like mods are mods of their forum, it feels like they are all super mods.  In terms of how members interact with mods, there is functionally no real difference.

[Aix]

I guess my main point is that it doesn't feel like mods are mods of their forum, it feels like they are all super mods.  In terms of how members interact with mods, there is functionally no real difference.

Actually, Super Mods are Admins, and they are entrusted with the ability to make big changes to the site as well as oversee ordinary mods. As for ordinary mods having power in other forums, what difference does that make and why does it matter?

[evilfusion]

Probably both? Not sure. But I mostly mean, have some people who only clear up spambots and lock topics, or something like that. Like, I know some mods were referred to as "support mods" but is there actually a difference?

 

Forgive me if I come off as ignorant. I pretty much am in these things.

 

 

That's presumably what Damage Control is intended for, in that they don't have the flashiness of the Moderator label, but they can affect all areas of the forum, lock topics and so forth. Ironically, they had more power than Moderators during the old days because the majority of things that Mods did, D-Control could do just as well, but in all sections.

 

The site isn't really at a level of activity where we'd need specific people to do nothing else BUT seek out spam or such in various areas of the site. I suspect most of the menial, clearly eliminated things are taken care of by mods frequenting their sections of interest, as opposed to their set sections.

 

 

I guess my main point is that it doesn't feel like mods are mods of their forum, it feels like they are all super mods.  In terms of how members interact with mods, there is functionally no real difference.

 

The real difference is that the Super Mods can directly affect pretty much anything. They're also the higher authority, so you go to them for the more serious problems with either members or mods. Regular mods are mostly just able to do the basic things like lock, delete, warns, bans, etc. They just aren't restricted to their own sections, but they're usually more knowledgeable about their own sections, making them better as the "go-to" person regarding that section or any discretion cases.

[Legend Zero]

A few things, please bare with me I've had a long day. ~_~

1. OP's post has 10 mods, we currently have 13 iirc. Is these 3 extra mods that troublesome? (which includes me, Yin, and Striker)

2. I would like to reiterate this...

"We need less mods!"

... Okay, why?

3. Is there really a problem of mods going to other sections and....modding?

4. I would also like to support the idea that evilfusion lrn2shadowclone so he can mod the entire forum.

[Agro]

1. OP's post has 10 mods, we currently have 13 iirc. Is these 3 extra mods that troublesome? (which includes me, Yin, and Striker)

Well, I mean, like, having Striker as a mod has been fairly troublesome. Whether its his own fault or not. :'D

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

When we get that thread set up, you can elaborate on how Striker has been troublesome to deal with (assuming you cite specific examples + can prove them). The rest of the mods know that a lot of you dislike Striker for his past actions and presumably what happened this time around. We're still trying to piece together what actually happened, so the matter can be dealt with properly.

 

Going away from Striker, Yin and LZ are fine, just that the latter is busy with work and other things from what I'd imagine. Former is more or less active in the Anime/Manga section from what I've noticed. She's done a good job during the older days of YCM; that's for sure.

 

As LZ mentioned, there's not really a problem with other mods intervening in sections that they aren't in charge of. Yin's dealt with a few things outside of her section, even in RC to some degree (though general things like necrobumping, flame wars and so on). As already mentioned earlier, it allows problems to be dealt with quicker, should the section mods be away (or in some cases, if said section lacks a designated one).

 

 

I was about to mention having a chance for other members to have their say. It needs to be discussed in a closely watched Topic though. If things go out of hand, issue Warnings.... I agree that Striker has pretty much only been keeping an eye on 1 on 1 for the most part. You on the other hand (Sakura), have done a fine job and I am pleased that you were chosen as a Mod.

This is also being brought up in the mod forum (more specifically, how are we going to plan this out). Night did say we'd give you a chance to explain yourselves.

 

As mentioned earlier, we'd like to hear your opinions/testimony on the matter so that it can dealt with properly. However, it's not going to do us good if you all bash Striker like in the statuses. I'd also like to quote one of the YCM rules that was blatantly broken; particularly the bolded part.

 

 

Moderators of YCM have been appointed to their positions because they have the confidence of the administration. This means, essentially, whatever they say goes, whether it be locking a thread or banning a member. If you are not a moderator yourself, you do not have a say on what the site moderation does, nor should you be telling members what they can or cannot do unless you are simply advising them of the rules - this is all called "backseat moderation" or "mini-modding" and may warrant a warn. If you want to help the moderation team, the best thing you can do is use the Report system, which is done by clicking the "Report" button that appears beneath every post.

You must follow moderators' instructions at all times. It's their job to keep the forum running smoothly and if they ask you to do something it is indeed for the good of the forum.

Moderators do, however, have to abide by these rules, so if you feel a moderator has made an incorrect or unfair decision, bring it up with them in a calm manner with a Private Message (PM). Do not complain about it in public (e.g. in the status bar or in a thread). Attacking a moderator will also likely get you into even more trouble. If PMing them does not work, feel free to contact a Super Moderator.

[Legend Zero]

Well, I mean, like, having Striker as a mod has been fairly troublesome. Whether its his own fault or not. :'D

Just because some members personally dislike a mod does not mean he is doing a bad job. Just like I personally dislike my boss, but can firmly say he does his job correctly.