Moderation/Rule/Site Concerns and Suggestions

[Blake]

As promised, a thread for grievances, improvement, and everything in between. 
 
I'll tell you what sort of thing to do in this thread, but first... There are ground rules.
 

Ground Rules

First and foremost, this is NOT a warning or ban appeal thread. Posts of the like will be disregarded. Handle these through PMs or platforms such as Skype or Discord.

 

In the interest of keeping this thread from becoming too heated, I ask that you keep it entirely civil, if not cordial. I know that a thread like this has a lot of potential to become heated, but there are reasons that I ask such of you, which you will see later.

 

Follow these, and life will be easier for everyone.

 
With that out of the way, the purposes of this thread:
 
1. In this thread, you can feel free to state your concerns with the team as a whole. Tell us what you would like to see change with the team, how to improve, and so forth. Feedback is essential to growth, after all.
 
2. Of course, this also extends to single Moderators. Think I'm doing a poor job? Tell me how. Think Nai is doing better than the rest of us? Tell them how.
 
3. Think the team needs reform of some sort? Speak up. Your thoughts on the team's composition and group mechanic is helpful.
 
4. If you draw issue with a rule(s), I ask that at least the first post about said rule be a bit more than "I dislike X because C". Anyone can do that with any rule, and if some effort is put in, it shows us why the rule should be really looked at.
 
The rules should be receiving an update soon enough. Please keep this in mind as you comment on the rules in any way.
 
5. Any other concerns with the site should also be brought up, such as mechanics you think need to change.
 
This is not in place of a thread in this section, but maybe little things, or things you're unsure are able to be done on the board, such as the ability to like status updates.
 
6. If you desire, you can also discuss handling of the Discord server here, though it's probably better to do so in the thread for said server.
 
7. Most importantly, any posts in this thread are exempt from punishment or disdain. Just as your posts in this thread must remain cordial, we cannot retaliate against you for your honest opinions. This is in the hopes of improvement and honesty from the members, just as you wish for the team to be honest with you. 
 
So long as you follow the rules, you shall have no fear of repurcussion. Any action taken by a moderator against a member for such will be handled harshly.
 
Please, feel free to speak up! Let us know how you feel!

Update: 1/18/2017

Okay, things that are currently barred from the topic, which shall be added to the OP:
Personal issues with a member or moderator.
Reps being disabled in a section or in general.
 
Maybe I'll remove the latter if you guys won't go overboard with it.

Update: 1/19/2017

Small update, but Dad is going to be my fellow mediator of this thread, to help keep decisions made objective and to keep the thread moving smoothly and with minimal hostility as often as possible.
 
Reminder that this is a neutral ground, so long as hostility is minimized. Things you say here cannot be used against you in a court of law mods, barring outright admitting to an offense.

Update: 1/23/2017

Table of Contents

Permaban Discussion: Wahrheit, Rinne, Evilfusion, Slinky
Moderator/Moderation Critique: Rinne, Birdie, CowCow, Rinne 2, Sombra 2

[Spinny]

Whilst kook has disappeared i want you, Black, to grab the vanguard community back together more, i.e posting the cotd in the discord chat and just keeping it more live cus i dont follow other sources and i find it's never that active when kook isnt here :I

Also playing more matches and stuff would be cool.

idk if this is what you wanted for this thread but i that's what i want to happen :P

[Wahrheit]

Potentially controversial position: Permabans should almost never be used.

 

Additional nuance: It makes a lot of sense to give users a time-out when they're being irrational or are otherwise diminishing the board as a whole. Sometimes, the necessary period may be weeks or months. It makes sense to keep them on a short leash when they come back, too.

 

But, having gained a lot of experience in moderating over the more than ten years I've been doing it, the list of users I feel confident about my decision to have permabanned is very short. People change over time, especially young people, and we are extremely receptive to new information, in most cases. Sometimes we need time to process and reflect on that new information, but we are indeed malleable. We can be wiser, more thoughtful, and ultimately better people, given some time and distance.

 

At the same time, we care about our communities, and our communities often benefit from having us in them. It makes little sense to restrain someone from a community they wish to be a part of so long as they are willing to improve themselves, and many online communities suffer population issues as-is. It's ultimately a question of relationships and our willingness to work on them. I think there's a lot of opportunity for growth and learning on both sides. Don't forget that in life, we don't often have the choice to merely exile someone from our social circles as a result of disagreements or even misbehavior. Obviously, the power dynamics differ here, and certain actions can and should be taken, but "moderation in moderation" may not be a bad motto to live by.

 

I have come to value compassion quite deeply over time, and I have found that my personal life, my relationships with others, and the communities that I manage have all benefited from it. It is difficult, but worthwhile.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Potentially controversial position: Permabans should almost never be used.

 

Additional nuance: It makes a lot of sense to give users a time-out when they're being irrational or are otherwise diminishing the board as a whole. Sometimes, the necessary period may be weeks or months. It makes sense to keep them on a short leash when they come back, too.

 

But, having gained a lot of experience in moderating over the more than ten years I've been doing it, the list of users I feel confident about my decision to have permabanned is very short. People change over time, especially young people, and we are extremely receptive to new information, in most cases. Sometimes we need time to process and reflect on that new information, but we are indeed malleable. We can be wiser, more thoughtful, and ultimately better people, given some time and distance.

 

At the same time, we care about our communities, and our communities often benefit from having us in them. It makes little sense to restrain someone from a community they wish to be a part of so long as they are willing to improve themselves, and many online communities suffer population issues as-is. It's ultimately a question of relationships and our willingness to work on them. I think there's a lot of opportunity for growth and learning on both sides. Don't forget that in life, we don't often have the choice to merely exile someone from our social circles as a result of disagreements or even misbehavior. Obviously, the power dynamics differ here, and certain actions can and should be taken, but "moderation in moderation" may not be a bad motto to live by.

 

I have come to value compassion quite deeply over time, and I have found that my personal life, my relationships with others, and the communities that I manage have all benefited from it. It is difficult, but worthwhile.

We do have a kinda shitty solution for this; I believe you can apply for a new account in like 6 months. But I really am inclined to agree with you. People in the heat of the moment make mistake and they're ripped from the YCM family they've cultivated for years at times (thinking of Thar). A 6 month ban or such should suffice IMO.

 

Sunn is the best example of why we should do this. As a young adult he posted some stupid sheet on the nudging of others. Came back under an alt, was well behaved, active in CC. Outed and banned for his old mistake. This happened twice. We essentially removed 3 good users cause of something the kid did 5 years ago. It stupid and won't help us grow this place

 

---

 

I would like an update on a few issues, that I've brought up with Sakura and others on the mod team

 

1) Price Reduction for Color topics, ideally free, because the entrance fee of going to the shop and using the item is more effort than most would put into it

 

2) Lowering the number of likes to 6 as Nai suggested

 

3) Removing Likes from the debate section, and potentially hiring another active debate mod. Say Mido or Pol who are regular posters. Flame doesn't want the job, and Val1ne is missing. Not sure who else is qualified for that section

 

4) an actual clarification of the sexual content rule. Can we still get 3-5 wp for dick jokes, or is it more we shouldn't have a pedophilia furry topic like the one that started this whole sheet storm. Draw the read lines please

 

5) Directed at TCG mods, what are your guys plans for bringing life back into the section that has largely vanished

[Maeriberii Haan]

Real permaban should still exist but used more as a very definitive last resort. Second chance felt like a bad attempt of allowing backpedaling on decision in hindsight, and was admittedly a mistake when we can just not hand permas much in the first place. However it should still exist, at the very least as a deterrent. I'm still thinking that it at the very least should still apply to actual posting of porn, but I think the only cases of that thing that I can remember were the offenders consciously doing it to get banned.

 

The whole Sunn situation was handled very terribly by us, and just serves that having that second chance policy to make some attempt of maintaining consistency to the whole case of people being allowed of returning was a mistake. But that aside, we don't actually perma people much lately anyway. Last time it happens it was Thar I think.

 

In general, sorting out the punishment system is necessary. To what extent, perhaps a complete rework?

 

I would like an update on a few issues, that I've brought up with Sakura and others on the mod team

3) Removing Likes from the debate section, and potentially hiring another active debate mod. Say Mido or Pol who are regular posters. Flame doesn't want the job, and Val1ne is missing. Not sure who else is qualified for that section

 

Is the first part of this even possible? I support it if it's possible. We'll think more on the latter.

 

4) an actual clarification of the sexual content rule. Can we still get 3-5 wp for dick jokes, or is it more we shouldn't have a pedophilia furry topic like the one that started this whole sheet storm. Draw the read lines please

 

As Black said a while ago, it's a rule that is ridiculously hard to give exacts on. Rather than this, sorting out how the warns are given in the first place by moderator would be better. Still figuring out ways to make the process not sluggish.

 

Oh also, can we have some form of Moderator Performance Review every few months? It should be a joint work between the memberbase and each mods to make the review from the two perspectives. It would help a lot in communicating issues, improving performance, and exposing things.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=Second chance policy]
At this time, we're considering scrapping that second chance policy (or seriously revising it; right now, the former is more likely), considering that it does undermine the point of a permaban and reduces it to an extended timeout. (That, and general unpopularity at the time it was conceived; some of you saying that permabans shouldn't be given second chances).
 
Idea for that policy was:

• Have you taken the time to think over what you did to get yourself banned? 
• Contact the staff about it once the period expires (which is actually a calendar year), and convince us that you've learned from this and wish to start anew.
  • Think we agreed on a year to make the severity of the perma significant. 
• We'll look it over and decide if you have reformed enough to come back. 

I'm reading this over and a year does sound harsher than it should be, however as mentioned, the permaban actually needs to mean the final punishment; you blew all your chances, so you're gone, not be an extended time-out. Yeah, we all make stupid choices in our lives and we're human, but we need to take responsibility for our actions. Even as moderators, we aren't exempt from error. 
 
If you don't agree with the second chance policy or wish to keep it around with some revisions, then let us know. 

 
[spoiler=Permas in general]
We did talk about second chances a bit while discussing that policy earlier on in 2016 in conjunction with the proposed warn system overhaul before it got rolled out to you: 
- Reserve permas for the harshest offenses [which is again adult content/porn] and repeat offenders after they blow all their chances, then issue warn increases and temporary bans as deemed necessary for everything else leading up to it. 
 
===
At the same time, we have to be strict on the policy concerning adult content, which Thar certainly broke. Some of us did opt for a temporary ban for him because he was fine up until that point (maybe some run-ins in the past for certain content, but that's about it). However, we decided on a perma after some consensus on the basis that Thar's been here long enough to know what the policy on adult content was (even taking into consideration the circumstances leading up to it). 
===
 
As a whole, I agree that the permaban should only be used as a final option.

 

[spoiler=My use of permas]

Granted, I do use it as an automatic punishment for three occasions: (1) Repeat multiple accounts in CC because they continue to act the same way that got the original banned and (2) spambots, which usually get perma'd anyway and (3) Users who have proven to be uncooperative in the section, and trying to reason with them is not an option. 

 

I should note that #2 and #3 rarely happen nowadays, though #1 has happened a few times during my modship, in which case they're dealt with swiftly. Otherwise, I usually give verbal reminders or warn increases (sometimes elevated, if I warned for earlier behavior and it still happens)

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst kook has disappeared i want you, Black, to grab the vanguard community back together more, i.e posting the cotd in the discord chat and just keeping it more live cus i dont follow other sources and i find it's never that active when kook isnt here :I

Also playing more matches and stuff would be cool.

idk if this is what you wanted for this thread but i that's what i want to happen :P

 

I think Black is going more on the lines of staff improvement (how can we be a better team, any particular things you want to say about certain mods [compliments, criticism]), forum policies (should we be more strict / lenient on certain things?) and so forth.

 

In your case, asking Black to take the reins for leading CFV discussion is reasonable, though it's up to him if he wants to take over for Koko. Even asking for us to take more of a leadership role in our respective areas counts as something we can take into consideration. 

 

=====

 

I would like an update on a few issues, that I've brought up with Sakura and others on the mod team

 

1) Price Reduction for Color topics, ideally free, because the entrance fee of going to the shop and using the item is more effort than most would put into it

 

2) Lowering the number of likes to 6 as Nai suggested

 

3) Removing Likes from the debate section, and potentially hiring another active debate mod. Say Mido or Pol who are regular posters. Flame doesn't want the job, and Val1ne is missing. Not sure who else is qualified for that section

 

4) an actual clarification of the sexual content rule. Can we still get 3-5 wp for dick jokes, or is it more we shouldn't have a pedophilia furry topic like the one that started this whole sheet storm. Draw the read lines please

 

5) Directed at TCG mods, what are your guys plans for bringing life back into the section that has largely vanished

 

1. I'm fine with a reduction, but I can't speak for the other mods about it. 

 

2. We'd have to reduce it in your member permissions, but it's something to consider. (It's possible to do so)

 

3. As I've told you on Discord PM, we don't have the option to remove Likes from certain areas (or least it's not a permission that's available to me or the other regular mods). 

 

We can look into another Debate mod if Dad really needs the help. 

 

4. Still working on specifics, but generally explicit pornography and otherwise images that are deemed too risque. 

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

 

Real permaban should still exist but used more as a very definitive last resort. Second chance felt like a bad attempt of allowing backpedaling on decision in hindsight, and was admittedly a mistake when we can just not hand permas much in the first place. However it should still exist, at the very least as a deterrent. I'm still thinking that it at the very least should still apply to actual posting of porn, but I think the only cases of that thing that I can remember were the offenders consciously doing it to get banned.

 

The whole Sunn situation was handled very terribly by us, and just serves that having that second chance policy to make some attempt of maintaining consistency to the whole case of people being allowed of returning was a mistake. But that aside, we don't actually perma people much lately anyway. Last time it happens it was Thar I think.

 

In general, sorting out the punishment system is necessary. To what extent, perhaps a complete rework?

Mainly in the cases of people like Thar or Sunn who are under emotional turmoil, and are pushed in the wrong direction thus making a choice they may regret down the line.

 

Real perma should exist for people who do actually illegal or wantonly break rules for no other reason than to do so. But the mod team having a little more empathy and support for users like Sunn and Thar is important.

 

Smear for one was very outspoken in wanting to give Thar a second chance, I think more should follow in his opinion. We're human, and thus not infallible to circumstance

 

Support on the latter, a feedback loop will hopefully offer more transparency to the team

 

@sakura

 

I'm not sure when y'all made the scrap second chance post, but it seems like what y'all did was ignore the community here (if it was decided now). The whole point is we want to make "perma" bans less so because you guys so so piss poor at having a strict rule base to enforce it upon.

 

I also reject your logic on thars ban. If you really wanted such an upstanding community, you would have banned yujji, dae, and kate for taking advantage of emotionally distressed people and pushing them to make choices.

 

It's a fact that people are more suggestible to even bad choices when they're not in a good state. Thar was repeatedly asking for company and help on discord. And then some jackass pushed him. If anything the second kid should have been banned, and there should have been a wave of resignation from the mod team cause you guys were too incompetent to see someone in actual pain.

 

This is the sorta sheet the Nazis and stalin did, break someone down emotionally then manipulate them. Shame on y'all for letting it happen, and shame on everyone except seemingly smear for lacking a shred of empathy or fairness

 

That being said, I get that Thar isn't crying over his ban, but on principle. You can extend this to either Snatch or Quasar who were contemplating suicide because of how god awful the mod team is at supervising things outside of their own private goals.

 

Y'all were more concerned about one thread that kinka made with sexually explicit content (evident by Koko and other's many month long crusade for the new sex standards) than the fact that YCM as a community has helped drive 3 people in the last year alone to contemplate suicide. Credit to Dad for cracking down and hammering me with a week ban, and others with similar punishment for the Quasar deal....but where the funk were the rest of you

 

If what sakura posted is the view of the mod team, I'm disgusted and ashamed, but sadly not shocked

 

Black posted a status today saying that many members of the mod team were superfluous. I'm inclined to agree with him now, if you're not doing your job, why the f are you a mod

 

You guys seriously came back from us requesting you to lighten up the ban system with a set of ways you'd make it more oppressive

 

SMH

[Blake]

I would like an update on a few issues, that I've brought up with Sakura and others on the mod team

 

1) Price Reduction for Color topics, ideally free, because the entrance fee of going to the shop and using the item is more effort than most would put into it

 

2) Lowering the number of likes to 6 as Nai suggested

 

3) Removing Likes from the debate section, and potentially hiring another active debate mod. Say Mido or Pol who are regular posters. Flame doesn't want the job, and Val1ne is missing. Not sure who else is qualified for that section

 

4) an actual clarification of the sexual content rule. Can we still get 3-5 wp for dick jokes, or is it more we shouldn't have a pedophilia furry topic like the one that started this whole sheet storm. Draw the read lines please

 

5) Directed at TCG mods, what are your guys plans for bringing life back into the section that has largely vanished

More later, but:

 

1. Bad idea. If we make them free, it becomes spammed. Thus we have to restrict it to upper member groups/maybe VIP. Then it becomes annoying to those lower down.

 

3. Seems kneejerky, for the rep removal. It's better than a +1 "I AGREE" post, and lets people get their say in. 

 

5. The section is what it will be. It's not their place to really revive it, because the only way to truly do so would be to bring in fresh blood that's wide-eyed. Every new card gets posted there, even anime sheet, so it's really down to members themselves to want to post.

 

@spinny: but i'm scrub ;;

[Phantom Roxas]

2) Lowering the number of likes to 6 as Nai suggested

 

3) Removing Likes from the debate section, and potentially hiring another active debate mod. Say Mido or Pol who are regular posters. Flame doesn't want the job, and Val1ne is missing. Not sure who else is qualified for that section

Both of your threads on this subject generally showed that this is more of an individual concern, so I'm not convinced that either of those concerns are large enough to justify addressing. To the other mods, wouldn't removing likes solely from Debates be something that we would need YCMaker to do?

 

Would reducing the number of likes apply to every section, or is it primarily meant for Debates? Because if it's only for Debates, then that wouldn't be an issue if the goal is to completely remove likes from Debates anyway.

[Spinny]

1. Bad idea. If we make them free, it becomes spammed. Thus we have to restrict it to upper member groups/maybe VIP. Then it becomes annoying to those lower down.

 

@spinny: but i'm scrub ;;

Maybe make it so that only mods can use colour thingy so then you ask mods to do it for you? Then it's free and not spammed since the mod can see if it's warranted (warranted meaning it's not in misc and is of slight significance maybe? that's another issue in of itself i guess)

 

@Black: Nah ur gucci :)

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Both of your threads on this subject generally showed that this is more of an individual concern, so I'm not convinced that either of those concerns are large enough to justify addressing. To the other mods, wouldn't removing likes solely from Debates be something that we would need YCMaker to do?

 

Would reducing the number of likes apply to every section, or is it primarily meant for Debates? Because if it's only for Debates, then that wouldn't be an issue if the goal is to completely remove likes from Debates anyway.

True, but there were people supportive like Nai

 

Removal in debates and 6 sitewide is the ideal

[bury the year]

Regarding permabans:

 

During my tenure as a moderator, I held largely the same opinion as Sakura: that giving second chances on permabans undermines their purpose and takes the teeth out of the punishment, so to speak. On that note, a permaban should only be used in the following circumstances:

- Spambots, but that's obvious.

- Posting explicitly sexual/graphic content, as we are a "kid's forum" and such.

- Repeated malicious attempts to disrupt or destabilize the site's community. This one's a bit more open-ended, and would naturally require faith in the mod team to ascertain what qualifies as "malicious and disruptive." There are a few active members now for whom this argument could be made, which is why I advocate for deliberation in such circumstances. Key thing to note is that it isn't just a one-time thing: it requires a pattern of active... dickbaggery.

 

Regarding moderators:

 

Don't have many complaints for y'all tbh. I've modded on many sites before where people frequently run into the whole "give them an inch and they take a mile" problem, so I can understand the need for trepidation. My only concern is that some mods don't really stay active in "their section" anymore, or at least not active enough to keep activity up in their portion of the community. I personally feel like that's part of the job description of a moderator, having resigned due to not feeling like I could handle that aspect anymore, so I think the site would receive a benefit from reviewing staff on that quality.

 

Regarding random other suggestions:

 

Please don't make member groups or topic color changes free. It'll turn the site into a kaleidoscopic hellhole. Plus, having those sorts of things require points encourages activity, and I don't think I've seen anyone spamming low-effort posts in order to get one of those things.

 

Just my $0.02.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

More later, but:

 

1. Bad idea. If we make them free, it becomes spammed. Thus we have to restrict it to upper member groups/maybe VIP. Then it becomes annoying to those lower down.

 

3. Seems kneejerky, for the rep removal. It's better than a +1 "I AGREE" post, and lets people get their say in.

 

5. The section is what it will be. It's not their place to really revive it, because the only way to truly do so would be to bring in fresh blood that's wide-eyed. Every new card gets posted there, even anime sheet, so it's really down to members themselves to want to post.

 

@spinny: but i'm scrub ;;

Debates isn't meant to have either. It's not about the person rather the idea. If you have nothing more to add than an I agree post or a like you're doing debates wrong

 

As for the color topics, YCM shop IS pretty cumbersome to use, seems like an entry hazard that most people won't care to use. If someone is spamming, like Enguin might do, warn them

 

---

 

Undermining the permaban is the goal though. Why is that so hard to understand. The finality of the ban is counterproductive as people do change.

[Phantom Roxas]

True, but there were people supportive like Nai

 

Removal in debates and 6 sitewide is the ideal

And even more people were opposed to the idea, or agreed that it was an individual concern, though Nai suggested five, not six, and you agreed with that number.

 

Debates isn't meant to have either. It's not about the person rather the idea. If you have nothing more to add than an I agree post or a like you're doing debates wrong

 

As for the color topics, YCM shop IS pretty cumbersome to use, seems like an entry hazard that most people won't care to use. If someone is spamming, like Enguin might do, warn them

 

---

 

Undermining the permaban is the goal though. Why is that so hard to understand. The finality of the ban is counterproductive as people do change.

Offering support through either a like or an agreeing post is showing support for an idea, which isn't at all doing Debates wrong. If anything, it shows that users can reach a consensus on ideas.

 

I'm with Sakura that one of the reasons could be if someone has blown all their chances. The finality of the ban is because previous attempts to curtail behavior could come with the hope for someone to change, and yet that person shows little to no signs of changing. We shouldn't "undermine" permabans; we should we be more careful in deciding when to implement them.

[Aerion Brightflame]

I oppose the removal of reps in debates because removing a form of positive feedback within a section that desires a higher active memberbase in the first past is counter intuitive. Debates gets intense, and has a bad rap because of it, and because of how frequently it spills out. As such, getting new members to post in it becomes hard, because people see these long posts that can read quite angrily and be put off. Reps provide a form of positive feedback when one does decide to make a well reasoned post, which provides a nice warm fuzzy feeling on the inside, which encourages one to keep posting.

 

Is there an issue of 'circle-repping'? Debately, but as I've argued before reps are an entirely abitrary form of approval and are thus meaningless outside of the the warm fuzzy feeling and thus it's a fairly meaningless concern.  I think that however removing them will damage any future efforts to encourage engagment if the manner in which people currently post doesn't change (And I don't think it will).

[Yui]

Not to draw attention away from the permaban issue, but I do agree with Winter that 750 points for a single color item is pretty damn steep. If the colors wouldn't change every time somebody edited the OP that'd be one thing, but as it is, somebody would have to buy one just to buy another after making even the slightest change to the OP, or ask a mod to do it, which not everyone wants to do every time they edit their thread's OP. This is a problem in any section where a regularly-updated table of contents or otherwise a regularly-updated post (maybe Blogs, RP especially, perhaps CW and CC Multiples) is the norm for that section's threads. However, I do agree that making it free makes it too spammable, even if the effort of going to the shop to use them is a slight deterrent. Until a solution is worked out to make the colors stick around after editing the OP, perhaps lower it to 250 - maybe even 100 - points a pop?

 

Also, this probably isn't something normal or perhaps even super mods can fix, but there are some issues with the site either on the 2edgy theme and/or when using Firefox. Specifically, features that would expand anything on the page save spoilers don't work without refreshing the page. "Show All Comments" on a status doesn't work and the notifications bar won't drop down if it's your first time on the front page on that tab; you have to refresh to make them work. The feature to show new posts that come up while working on your own also doesn't work. These weren't problems for a short while before the recent-ish downtime, but if we're bringing up comments and concerns, this just feels like a good time to mention it.

[evilfusion]

We do have a kinda shitty solution for this; I believe you can apply for a new account in like 6 months. But I really am inclined to agree with you. People in the heat of the moment make mistake and they're ripped from the YCM family they've cultivated for years at times (thinking of Thar). A 6 month ban or such should suffice IMO.

 

Sunn is the best example of why we should do this. As a young adult he posted some stupid sheet on the nudging of others. Came back under an alt, was well behaved, active in CC. Outed and banned for his old mistake. This happened twice. We essentially removed 3 good users cause of something the kid did 5 years ago. It stupid and won't help us grow this place

 

---

 

I would like an update on a few issues, that I've brought up with Sakura and others on the mod team

 

1) Price Reduction for Color topics, ideally free, because the entrance fee of going to the shop and using the item is more effort than most would put into it

 

2) Lowering the number of likes to 6 as Nai suggested

 

3) Removing Likes from the debate section, and potentially hiring another active debate mod. Say Mido or Pol who are regular posters. Flame doesn't want the job, and Val1ne is missing. Not sure who else is qualified for that section

 

4) an actual clarification of the sexual content rule. Can we still get 3-5 wp for dick jokes, or is it more we shouldn't have a pedophilia furry topic like the one that started this whole sheet storm. Draw the read lines please

 

5) Directed at TCG mods, what are your guys plans for bringing life back into the section that has largely vanished

 

We try to reserve permabans as a last resort option for...actual human members. Spambots get banned on sight. Porn posters get banned on sight...and subsequent brain bleaching as needed.

 

These two situation don't require or warrant second chances. There is precedent for allowing a former porn poster to return after a long time span, because as you said, people do stupid things. But there's no way in hell I would ever agree to "Oh, he posted porn a month ago, but swears it was just a stupid thing and won't happen again". Um...no, try that argument in a few MORE months or years, and maybe I'll consider it.

 

Posting porn and the like is probably the single most dire rule you can actually break, and choosing to do so indicates that you make profoundly stupid decisions that actually probably qualifies as ILLEGAL, because minors could stumble across it. We simply cannot allow people to believe that they can do something like that and get a slap on the wrist for it. And even if it was lashing out from emotional stress or something...take more time off to get your head on straight, because until we're sure that you're stable, that person is considered a risk factor. A person who might be too volatile to be allowed back.

 

But okay, let's say that someone is repeatedly aggressive and disruptive has finally gotten warned enough times that we're considering a permaban. This is PURELY hypothetical, there is no one that ACTUALLY fulfills this requirement. Smaller scale bans are ineffective, for the person continues to act this way. Permaban is last resort, but we decide not to make the ban a "finality". What would be a fairer ban? Two weeks? A month?

 

Yes, there were past situations where a former banned member managed to slip by our radar as an alt, and actually integrate naturally into the community. I do not believe that person should have been banned on the basis of being an alt, unless they showed signs of reverting to their old ways. I recall having a "rule" that all of Red Mage's alts were to be zapped on sight because he was the most persistent of the persistent trolls, but I also recall more recently noting that I legitimately just don't care any more, and he could totally come back if he wanted, provided behavior was better.

 

Ban evading was more a problem with temporary bans than it was with permanent bans, depending on the offense.

 

3) I'm not entirely sure if it's possible to make a specific section "un-Like-able". If it is, it's probably similar to how one would disable post count, but I haven't looked into it that deeply. However, I don't think it benefits anyone to make Debates this way. I could see more credit to GAMES or other spam-heavy areas being hit that way. And while I do know we can reduce the daily rep limit...how often do people actually go through the reps they have? I don't really see the "necessity", especially since reps have no real value.

 

4) Ugh...the thing is, it's partially up to mod discretion. For me, personally, I tend to turn a blind eye to juvenile jokes, although I can be exasperated by them. I'd rarely consider giving someone 3+ points for "hurr hurr, dick, hurr", but I might remove the content, or if particularly irked, give a point or two, but that's it. But that's for juvenile jokes like the Exodia/Raging Earth thing that...was a thing. If you make jokes that come off as more...explicit in their implications, or involve sexual acts with minimal ambiguity, I'll cut that down much faster and more harshly. But yeah...don't make pedophilic furry topics, please.

 

5) I have absolutely no plan whatsoever, nor any intention of making a plan. I have a job, the faint semblance of a life, and hobbies to occupy my interest. I have no real way to draw newer members in, nor the ability to force people to make posts, NOR a way to draw our former super-active/skilled people back to the forum or back into Yu-Gi-Oh!

 

It's more up to the member base to improve the section's activity than for the mods. The best I can do is try not to let people act like a-holes in there.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

I oppose the removal of reps in debates because removing a form of positive feedback within a section that desires a higher active memberbase in the first past is counter intuitive. Debates gets intense, and has a bad rap because of it, and because of how frequently it spills out. As such, getting new members to post in it becomes hard, because people see these long posts that can read quite angrily and be put off. Reps provide a form of positive feedback when one does decide to make a well reasoned post, which provides a nice warm fuzzy feeling on the inside, which encourages one to keep posting.

 

Is there an issue of 'circle-repping'? Debately, but as I've argued before reps are an entirely abitrary form of approval and are thus meaningless outside of the the warm fuzzy feeling and thus it's a fairly meaningless concern.  I think that however removing them will damage any future efforts to encourage engagment if the manner in which people currently post doesn't change (And I don't think it will).

But if likes are entirely arbitrary, and debates is created to strive for objective discourse, why do you need public pats on the back to affirm your objective reasoning skills?

 

 

And even more people were opposed to the idea, or agreed that it was an individual concern, though Nai suggested five, not six, and you agreed with that number.

 

Offering support through either a like or an agreeing post is showing support for an idea, which isn't at all doing Debates wrong. If anything, it shows that users can reach a consensus on ideas.

 

I'm with Sakura that one of the reasons could be if someone has blown all their chances. The finality of the ban is because previous attempts to curtail behavior could come with the hope for someone to change, and yet that person shows little to no signs of changing. We shouldn't "undermine" permabans; we should we be more careful in deciding when to implement them.

Yes, cause the side the benefited from it came out strongly in favor, while the other side didn't comment, but made their feelings clear by slowly posting less.

 

The idea behind debates again was an hands off objective debate (the Original goal in the topic that lead to it's creation). It's not about consensus, it's about objectivity. 

 

Come now, there's people on the mod team who're itching to ban me for expressing views different than theirs, and god knows what sorta measures have been taken in the past regard others under Icy. The mod team has not proven a reasonable measure of competence in their assessments of "blown all [ones] chances"

 

 

We try to reserve permabans as a last resort option for...actual human members. Spambots get banned on sight. Porn posters get banned on sight...and subsequent brain bleaching as needed.

 

These two situation don't require or warrant second chances. There is precedent for allowing a former porn poster to return after a long time span, because as you said, people do stupid things. But there's no way in hell I would ever agree to "Oh, he posted porn a month ago, but swears it was just a stupid thing and won't happen again". Um...no, try that argument in a few MORE months or years, and maybe I'll consider it.

 

Posting porn and the like is probably the single most dire rule you can actually break, and choosing to do so indicates that you make profoundly stupid decisions that actually probably qualifies as ILLEGAL, because minors could stumble across it. We simply cannot allow people to believe that they can do something like that and get a slap on the wrist for it. And even if it was lashing out from emotional stress or something...take more time off to get your head on straight, because until we're sure that you're stable, that person is considered a risk factor. A person who might be too volatile to be allowed back.

 

But okay, let's say that someone is repeatedly aggressive and disruptive has finally gotten warned enough times that we're considering a permaban. This is PURELY hypothetical, there is no one that ACTUALLY fulfills this requirement. Smaller scale bans are ineffective, for the person continues to act this way. Permaban is last resort, but we decide not to make the ban a "finality". What would be a fairer ban? Two weeks? A month?

 

Yes, there were past situations where a former banned member managed to slip by our radar as an alt, and actually integrate naturally into the community. I do not believe that person should have been banned on the basis of being an alt, unless they showed signs of reverting to their old ways. I recall having a "rule" that all of Red Mage's alts were to be zapped on sight because he was the most persistent of the persistent trolls, but I also recall more recently noting that I legitimately just don't care any more, and he could totally come back if he wanted, provided behavior was better.

 

Ban evading was more a problem with temporary bans than it was with permanent bans, depending on the offense.

 

3) I'm not entirely sure if it's possible to make a specific section "un-Like-able". If it is, it's probably similar to how one would disable post count, but I haven't looked into it that deeply. However, I don't think it benefits anyone to make Debates this way. I could see more credit to GAMES or other spam-heavy areas being hit that way. And while I do know we can reduce the daily rep limit...how often do people actually go through the reps they have? I don't really see the "necessity", especially since reps have no real value.

 

4) Ugh...the thing is, it's partially up to mod discretion. For me, personally, I tend to turn a blind eye to juvenile jokes, although I can be exasperated by them. I'd rarely consider giving someone 3+ points for "hurr hurr, dick, hurr", but I might remove the content, or if particularly irked, give a point or two, but that's it. But that's for juvenile jokes like the Exodia/Raging Earth thing that...was a thing. If you make jokes that come off as more...explicit in their implications, or involve sexual acts with minimal ambiguity, I'll cut that down much faster and more harshly. But yeah...don't make pedophilic furry topics, please.

 

5) I have absolutely no plan whatsoever, nor any intention of making a plan. I have a job, the faint semblance of a life, and hobbies to occupy my interest. I have no real way to draw newer members in, nor the ability to force people to make posts, NOR a way to draw our former super-active/skilled people back to the forum or back into Yu-Gi-Oh!

 

It's more up to the member base to improve the section's activity than for the mods. The best I can do is try not to let people act like a-holes in there.

1) Not saying we should so easily forgive porn posters. But I don't think y'all have a good track record on the matter either. Thrice Getter tried to come back and was a productive member of YCM. And thrice he was banned for something he did 4 years ago. 

 

And likewise I don't see anything that wrong with Thar being given a second chance eventually. There's a difference between, "we are lax on porn posters" and "this kid was in emotional duress and did stupid sheet"

 

3) I dunno how active games or misc is now days, but at the high of the rep games, a person could burn through most of their daily likes in one thread alone. As for debates, again it's not supposed to be a pat on the back consensus jerk, but rather an additive evolution or argument. Concurrence doesn't prolong or improve the debate and has no use there

 

4) So the line between getting a week in mod queue (crossing 10 wp) is based on which mod sees what? That doesn't strike you as problematic

 

5) fair, it does need to be more on the members

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

To be fair, some of us did like him and would've liked for maybe a 1-2 year ban (which would go in line with the minimum time period before you can ask for a redemption). 

 

I would be open to giving him and Sunn a second chance though, however you know full well that it's not a one mod decision.

 

[Thar did use an alternate account and came under the radar, but he at least admitted that what he did was stupid and accepted what happened]. 

 

1) Not saying we should so easily forgive porn posters. But I don't think y'all have a good track record on the matter either. Thrice Getter tried to come back and was a productive member of YCM. And thrice he was banned for something he did 4 years ago. 

 

And likewise I don't see anything that wrong with Thar being given a second chance eventually. There's a difference between, "we are lax on porn posters" and "this kid was in emotional duress and did stupid sheet"

 

3) I dunno how active games or misc is now days, but at the high of the rep games, a person could burn through most of their daily likes in one thread alone. As for debates, again it's not supposed to be a pat on the back consensus jerk, but rather an additive evolution or argument. Concurrence doesn't prolong or improve the debate and has no use there

 

4) So the line between getting a week in mod queue (crossing 10 wp) is based on which mod sees what? That doesn't strike you as problematic

 

5) fair, it does need to be more on the members

 

1. Correction; Sunn was banned 2 and a half years ago [give/take a couple months] by Striker's hand (yes, Striker actually did something) after he posted porn in CC. But yeah, he had been a good member during his re-runs. His alternates were banned due to the policy on multiple accounting (in this case, using it to avoid a ban). 

 

If he had approached one of us about this earlier and showed that he reformed, we might have considered granting him a second chance at the time (or at the very least, look over his case and decide if he's changed enough to be allowed re-entry). 

 

2. Only games you need to worry about in terms of reps nowadays are probably the Rep Bomb game and the Pokedex one; both of which are relatively dead right now. Modified age game has been dead for a while, and you all know what the fate of the original one Darkplant/Kenta made after the incident concerning a certain member posting every couple seconds in there. 

 

Miscellaneous basically has a ton of "Post and I'll give you [x]" threads nowadays, most are from the usual members. 

 

3. The point of implementing that permissible sexuality content was to establish a common standard that all of us could use in moderation. What may be fine for one of us might not sit well with others, depending on upbringing and general morals. 

 

We also need to be more uniform in how we deal with punishments for general offenses, yes, based on the severity considering circumstances and how often it has been done. 

 

====

 

Not to draw attention away from the permaban issue, but I do agree with Winter that 750 points for a single color item is pretty damn steep. If the colors wouldn't change every time somebody edited the OP that'd be one thing, but as it is, somebody would have to buy one just to buy another after making even the slightest change to the OP, or ask a mod to do it, which not everyone wants to do every time they edit their thread's OP. This is a problem in any section where a regularly-updated table of contents or otherwise a regularly-updated post (maybe Blogs, RP especially, perhaps CW and CC Multiples) is the norm for that section's threads. However, I do agree that making it free makes it too spammable, even if the effort of going to the shop to use them is a slight deterrent. Until a solution is worked out to make the colors stick around after editing the OP, perhaps lower it to 250 - maybe even 100 - points a pop?

 

Also, this probably isn't something normal or perhaps even super mods can fix, but there are some issues with the site either on the 2edgy theme and/or when using Firefox. Specifically, features that would expand anything on the page save spoilers don't work without refreshing the page. "Show All Comments" on a status doesn't work and the notifications bar won't drop down if it's your first time on the front page on that tab; you have to refresh to make them work. The feature to show new posts that come up while working on your own also doesn't work. These weren't problems for a short while before the recent-ish downtime, but if we're bringing up comments and concerns, this just feels like a good time to mention it.

 

I'm accessing YCM via Firefox at home; so far, I don't have the issues you mention (well, I have the default theme up). But if the 2edgy4me is broken, it's something we can look into, provided it's not something YCMaker alone can fix (and you all know how inactive he is). For clarification, normal mods can't access themes in the ACP (evil/Flame can access the themes, but not sure on what else they can do); we can give you certain themes that aren't available via the drop down menu in your profiles, but that's it. 

 

As is the case for a lot of other updates you'd like YCM to get, many of them (including the cardmaker update and fixes, if you guys still use it) are only doable by YCMaker, so until he shows up again, we can't do much about it. Draco gave us his Twitter and we do have his email now, but even then, it will not be a guarantee to get him over here. 

[Aerion Brightflame]

But if likes are entirely arbitrary, and debates is created to strive for objective discourse, why do you need public pats on the back to affirm your objective reasoning skills?

 

Because we have a lack of members posting most of the time, and thus positive reinforcement can be a good thing to bring more members in.

 

The people already in there to discuss for the sake of discussion don't care, because they get enough enjoyment out of the debate itself, but for people on the fence positive reinforcement could be the enocouragement needed to bring them into the section. It's not affirmation of objective reasoning (In part because when the funk that does that happen in YCM debates), but affirmation of constructive involvement.

 

Like we are both in debates for the discussion, we don't need the warm tingly feeling to get us to post. Some people might warrant it as enocouragement to get involved, which is what we want to strive for right now. Higher member involvement. We can worry about quality later, it comes kind of naturally as a result of getting involved within the back and forth nature of discussion.

[Yui]

I'm accessing YCM via Firefox at home; so far, I don't have the issues you mention (well, I have the default theme up). But if the 2edgy4me is broken, it's something we can look into, provided it's not something YCMaker alone can fix (and you all know how inactive he is). For clarification, normal mods can't access themes in the ACP (evil/Flame can access the themes, but not sure on what else they can do); we can give you certain themes that aren't available via the drop down menu in your profiles, but that's it. 

 

As is the case for a lot of other updates you'd like YCM to get, many of them (including the cardmaker update and fixes, if you guys still use it) are only doable by YCMaker, so until he shows up again, we can't do much about it. Draco gave us his Twitter and we do have his email now, but even then, it will not be a guarantee to get him over here. 

After a quick bit of testing, I'm having the same issues with all three available themes, so it may be one of my addons (though I don't recall getting any new ones during the downtime) getting mixed up with how the site works or something, or perhaps one of our browsers is out of date. I'll do some further tests and check that I'm up-to-date, then edit this post with my findings.

 

EDIT as promised: After having tried with no addons, I came up with a theory that maybe it's because YCM is the first page my browser loads. Not the case; the same errors persisted when I tried starting with a blank page and when I tried using a new homepage. Firefox is up-to-date too so that's not the issue unless Sakura's is outdated (doesn't seem likely). For good measure, I also tried seeing if the same issues persisted on Chrome (they do), which tells me it's neither the browser itself nor the theme that's the problem. Guess this is my own problem now; I'll look into some solutions when I get around to it, but y'all are doing fine it seems.

[Phantom Roxas]

Yes, cause the side the benefited from it came out strongly in favor, while the other side didn't comment, but made their feelings clear by slowly posting less.

 

The idea behind debates again was an hands off objective debate (the Original goal in the topic that lead to it's creation). It's not about consensus, it's about objectivity. 

 

Come now, there's people on the mod team who're itching to ban me for expressing views different than theirs, and god knows what sorta measures have been taken in the past regard others under Icy. The mod team has not proven a reasonable measure of competence in their assessments of "blown all [ones] chances"

Just because you don't like seeing "Phantom Roxas likes this" next to a post doesn't mean that we should limit likes across the board and remove them entirely from Debates, which is where you've been especially frustrated with seeing me like other people's posts.

 

Expressing different views is not inherently not cause for a ban. What would be banworthy is how you express those opinions, and I do think the other mods are all capable of fairly judging if someone's behavior when expressing their opinions may be hostile. If someone has blown all their chances, then it's not as simple as a difference in opinion. That member would be banned not to silence a dissenting opinion, but to remove a source of hostility from the forum. And no, "dissenting opinion" and "hostility" are not being treated as the same thing.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Just because you don't like seeing "Phantom Roxas likes this" next to a post doesn't mean that we should limit likes across the board and remove them entirely from Debates, which is where you've been especially frustrated with seeing me like other people's posts.

 

Expressing different views is not inherently not cause for a ban. What would be banworthy is how you express those opinions, and I do think the other mods are all capable of fairly judging if someone's behavior when expressing their opinions may be hostile. If someone has blown all their chances, then it's not as simple as a difference in opinion. That member would be banned not to silence a dissenting opinion, but to remove a source of hostility from the forum. And no, "dissenting opinion" and "hostility" are not being treated as the same thing.

It's not just you, I tend to reap most of my reps from Debates too. It's not healthy when Polaris and Hina do it for me and other rightwingers, and it's not healthy when you without fail for combative leftist post

 

That's not how you reacted to the Trans topic. There were multiple trans people (and the official psychiatric verdict) on the matter affirming it would be treated as a mental illness, and you still blew your top and threw WP for "hate speech"

 

Evil reversed it ofc, but unless you're a lone radical in the matter (you weren't) there is something very concerning about the mod team conflating their personal opinions with judgment

Because we have a lack of members posting most of the time, and thus positive reinforcement can be a good thing to bring more members in.

 

The people already in there to discuss for the sake of discussion don't care, because they get enough enjoyment out of the debate itself, but for people on the fence positive reinforcement could be the enocouragement needed to bring them into the section. It's not affirmation of objective reasoning (In part because when the funk that does that happen in YCM debates), but affirmation of constructive involvement.

 

Like we are both in debates for the discussion, we don't need the warm tingly feeling to get us to post. Some people might warrant it as enocouragement to get involved, which is what we want to strive for right now. Higher member involvement. We can worry about quality later, it comes kind of naturally as a result of getting involved within the back and forth nature of discussion.

Likes haven't brought in members now. Nor anytime since debates was created. People who post there aren't there for the encouragement 

 

Quality is a better conduit for activity than subsidies Tom

[Wahrheit]

Winter, just for the record, I think you're wrong on many levels and I agree with Roxas.

[Kazooie]

So, for me, my primary concerns are the moderation teams current status. Like it's been said, it feels like there's a couple loose parts in the machine. I'm just gonna throw in my two cents by going over each mod on the list and the impressions I get from them.

 

Rai: Honestly, I'm still a little bitter about his appointment to General mod. I've never forgot the shitshow that was that 'election' and how poorly handled it was by the mod team at that time. That said, I'm not holding that against Rai. He doesn't really seem to do much actively in the section, but General isn't really a section that requires a lot of heavy moderation in it's main section. I can't speak for Debates, because members seem to be really conflicted over how they want that moderated, but either way, Dad seems to have debates taken care of.

 

That said, I don't see him doing much of anything, anywhere. I heard he had a Music thread that he sometimes does, and that he took over Music modship, but it doesn't seem to do much in the General subsections either. Honestly, I haven't seen much of Mr. Dogeman at all lately. He's not one of the high priorities I would say, but his lack of activity is a little concerning. Is he just lurking?

 

Aix: I'm of the opinion that RP doesn't have enough traffic to really warrant two Moderators. Heaven knows that Creative Writing isn't. I like Aix, but he just kinda feels... Unneeded, especially because I don't see him on the forum much. It seems like he just posts in whatever RP project he currently has, but doesn't do much else. Of course, I can't see reports. I don't know if he's handling a bunch of report things in RP or not, and if he is, I wanna know. But it seems like Nai is a lot more active with the community and does about the same amount of actual 'work' in RP as Aix does.

 

That said, I still like the section having two moderators, because even if the traffic doesn't warrant it, it's good to have diverse opinions when it comes to things concerning writing. I don't know if Aix and Nai are separate enough in the stuff they like though. That's mostly an issue with not knowing them very well, maybe they work better together than I realize.

 

Nai: I... Really don't have any complaints with Nai. He's on the Discord a fair bit and talks to people there, he's active enough on the forum that I see him from time to time, and it feels like he's putting a fair bit of effort into RP. Maybe I missed something and he's doing a terrible job, RP people would have to talk more on this one.

 

evilfusion: This one I can say with certainty is perfectly fine. I feel like he's more than objective enough to handle tough cases and he keeps TCG running smoothly. I don't know if he even has much of an interest in the section these days, but he's still doing a great job regardless.

 

Flame Dragon: I had issues with him once upon a time, but not anymore really. He's active, he's done a good job keeping Video Games in order. I can't speak for how he's doing in Other TCG cause my time spent in that section is fairly low right now, but he's got enough presence that I can't really say anything bad about his moderation now.

 

Black: This is a tough one to write, but we're being honest here, yeah? I don't know what he's done in CC lately. At all. If anything. But what he HAS done is been incredibly more transparent than most, maybe not all, but most other mods and done a much better job at keeping up with the community. If anything, I think removing him from CC and moving him to be a Public Relations mod/Other TCG to take up the spot Koko left is for the best. 

 

Dad: I love what he's done so far. It honestly feels like he's doing everything he can to make the Debates section as good as it can be, including listening to the rapidly shifting demands of what people want moderation in that section to be like. Even if he was on a trial period so far or something, he's done amazingly and he's pretty hard on himself too, so I have no doubts he's gonna strive to continue improving himself and the section. Not to mention, he feels like one of the more approachable members of the team right now. Even if he is a filthy Gengu main.

 

Koko: She left the site. She shouldn't be on the moderation team now. Like... That's obvious right? Not just me? She wasn't a bad mod by any means! She just... Isn't here with us now. Hence why I feel like moving back to basically take up the old position she had is for the best.

 

Night: I... I haven't seen him do much of anything in ages. As one of the 'admin' Super Mods we have, that's not great. I know he's busy, and I f***ing love the dude, but if he can't be around, maybe replacing him is for the best. I don't particularly like that, the thought alone leaves a bitter taste in my mouth cause what he's done for the site has been pretty nice, but it's... It's something to bring up and discuss, that's the point of the thread. I'm not even entirely sure where I stand on that matter.

 

Phantom Roxas: He's my least favorite moderator by far. He has trouble distinguishing jokes from actual issues and he's a little... Overly harsh on his punishments. I know he moderators Anime/Manga/TV&Cartoons, but... While they're technically more active than other sections, they still aren't too extreme. Not to mention that's the sections that Smear also mods, though I dunno if Smear is around all that much either. If there was any moderator I would cut, it would honestly be Roxas. Participating in 'Mod Discussions' but not really doing much outside of that, besides aggressively posting in Debates, is a little... Scary, to be honest. It sort of feels like he's getting weight just by being around a long time, without contributing a lot else. Maybe I'm wrong, but if I'm not the only one feeling like this, it's worth consideration.

 

Sakura: Okay, my issues with Sakura is that he talks like he's the one who leads CC instead of letting the others talk too sometimes. Also I'm still a little bit bitter about his involvements in the failed General Mod election, because sometimes he doesn't... Exactly communicate very well. He's not a terrible person, I feel like he does his job, even if it feels more like a janitor at times. I can't exactly say he needs to be reworked or anything, just to work on his presentation when he speaks.

 

Smear: I'm honestly not sure if Smear is active. I see him on the Discord though, and I think he had a period without Internet and got it back yesterday, so I don't wanna say anything about activity. He's a good dude and I think he's been focusing his efforts on Graphics, which is a quiet section overall. It needs someone to mod it, and since Night isn't around a lot, having Smear there is good. He's also listed as doing things in Anime/Manga/TV&Cartoons, though if he hasn't been hanging around there, it's good to know.

 

Gadj: I don't know if he really does much in CC anymore. If CC people can confirm or deny his involvement, I would appreciate that. That said, he's a great person and a ton of fun to speak to when we do talk on Discord. But that's about it. I can't say to demote or keep.

 

SO. TL;DR:

 

Koko needs to be removed.

 

Roxas, Night, Aix are primary concerns for moderator status. Aix less so than the other two, but above Rai. I went over the reasons above, I might come back and go into more detail. Or get someone else to do it.

 

Rai needs to be monitored for his activity, cause I just dunno if he's actually doing much lately?