The moderation of the FSX Forum is becoming quite disturbing. A thread was locked two weeks ago for no good reason only to be opened back up by Tom. Yesterday the moderator locked a thread because he didn't agree that it is possible to assess a product in 20 minutes and wrongly accused the poster of not reading the manual when the information was not in the manual.

 

The fact is you can decide whether to buy a car based on a 20 minute test drive or decide whether to buy a house based on a 20 minute walk through. You spend thousands of dollars on a TV or computer based on spending 20 minutes with it in a store. But it is not possible for a person to assess software in 20 minutes? And even IF you can't access software in 20 minutes...being wrong is not an offense to be moderated. It is OKAY to disagree and have differing opinions as long as they are presented in accordance with Avsim usage rules.

 

I understand that the job of the moderator is no easy job. HOWEVER, moderators should not be locking threads that have violated none of the Avsim rules. Threads are now being locked just because the moderators don't agree with the opinions of the poster. Is it now an unwritten rule that posts must be in agreement with the opinions of the moderator?

 

My *opinion* is that the increasingly heavy handedness of moderation in the FSX Forum is taking a lot of the good natured "color" out of the forums and as a person who has been around here for a loooooong time, I'm sad to see that trend taking hold.

Its happend to me too.

 

I make a topic, that got deleted.

 

I make another topic askin why it got deleted, as i was unaware of breaching any rules, that got deleted...

 

I PM the Moderator of the forum i had made a topic in, that was ignored.

 

The Moderator then has an issue with an addon, in witch i help him, and also ask again for an explaination. I was told i have a reply within 2 hours..Days later still nothing...

 

....Its just plain rude, ignorant, arrogant, and paints the picture of bad management ran by 12 year olds..

 

( Untill the more mature -see from both sides - look at the bigger picture - moderators come along )

The culture here has a tad bit of tenseness and I hope to see a bit of a change to!

 

I recently chanced upon several threads in the garage sale forums and I saw a few members dissing the thread starters for things that wasn't included in the first thread. User said thread starter was misleading. But the situation was clearly a mere omission of information. Thread starter omitted the fact that he would not want to sell the desktop separately. Although he mentioned vaguely that he doesn't want to take apart items, I still don't think the user should be so quick to flame up the thread starter just because of that.

 

It didn't just happen on one thread but several threads as I mentioned. And it's a bit annoying to see fellow members turn on each other over a trivial matter when we can converse politely just as what the forums are for.

 

Just my two cents..

Take a deep breath guys. Forum moderation is a balancing act. Sometimes we teeter to the left and sometime to the right, and we are constantly trying to find balance in the middle. Mods are not born; they learn and get better. And, they are always trying to give it their best.

With apologies to Star Trek's Mr Spock.

 

"The needs of the many, outweigh the (personal) needs of the few (Moderators)"

 

Everyone should be entitled to an opinion, and not everyone may agree.

 

Those that do not agree, should be entitled to share their disagreement in a civil and constructive way. The same should apply to Mods when voicing a personal view.

 

If they are voicing their personal opinion, they should do so, just like any other member, and not abuse their Moderation tools to force their personal opinions on others.

 

However, if the are voicing official Avsim policy, then as a moderator, it is a judgement call as to how strongly to enforce.

 

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I have never understood the apparent policy to LOCK threads, when some individual makes an inappropriate statement, leaving the statement there for all to see, and effectively Punishing those others who are contributing in a constructive way to a thread.

It would seem better to move the post to a hidden area (for potential review), and inform the poster of their their transgression.

 

Then again, its not MY forum, (I am only a guest here), and I accept however it it is run by those who make the time and effort to do so, reserving my one right to stopping frequenting it, should I so wish.

Before I became a moderator here at AVSIM, I used to think I would really like to make these forums run smoothly and avoid the usual pitfalls because of having to work with other faulty humans like myself.

 

Now that I have been a moderator here at AVSIM for some time, I think that I would really like to make these forums run smoothly and avoid the usual piitfalls because of having to work with other faulty humans like myself.

 

It seems like there is still a lot of work ahead of us. One thing my friends, please believe us when we plead for understanding and mercy; we are doing the very best we can and want to do better still.

 

I hope that in the long run, over a period of time we are on the average getting just a wee bit closer to the ideal we all have in mind, with two steps forward, one step back, sort of thing.

 

Kind regards,

While I don't agree with everything the mods do here, overall I think they're doing an excellent job.

 

If you think a thread was inappropriately locked, report the last post and state your case in a calm rational and respectful manner. If you can't manage calm rational and respectful, wait a day. It does wonders.

 

Hook

If you can't manage calm rational and respectful, wait a day. It does wonders.

 

Hook,

 

That is the best advice I have read in a very long time! I find that a sleep does wonders to change one's ability to be cool and rational...now, if only I would always follow that advice myself... :blush:

if only I would always follow that advice myself.

 

If you're talking about the occasional public warning you pass out when it's needed, don't change a thing!

 

Hook

I did wonder (aloud) in the FSX forum just these last few days about this, but I see my (FTX) thread hasn't (yet!) been moved, despite some controversial comments, and I am pleased to see Stephen's comments, above. Seems to me we live and let live and as long as the mods are trying their best, the odd mistake/disagreement is a small price to pay for participation here. Nice work, mods, as a rule. Erring on the side of not moving/locking/banning might be a good rule of thumb, I'd suggest. But it's easy to set the rules when you're not playing the game

Another thing I hope all can take away from this is we are all human and mods can make mistakes in judgement too. It's our goal to keep that to a minimum. With that being said, we are all good men here, and being good men, we're always open for direct conversation and feedback. Open up that PM and let us know what you think about what we said or did so maybe we can change something.

 

I commend Mike for having the courage to speak up and let us know how he feels. Good for him, we love honest feedback. It's the feedback with strong emotions that don't get far here. :smile:

Is 'Feedback' the new 'My forum, my rules'? If so, maybe the trend will export to 'another' place. :ph34r:

A good point raised by Mike,

 

However, although it would be wholly inappropriate to name an individual here (and I would ask that no-one attempt to do so), with all due respect, aren't we all referring to one person here?

 

Nothing personal at all - I don't even know the guy. He's probably a great bloke, but the problems I see being mentioned in this forum seem to relate to one person, who often seems to make a judgement (to move, or to close a thread), without reading it properly, and often missing the nuances (sometimes obvious nuances!).

 

...and it certainly isn't Spiritflyer I'm talking about; In my humble opinion, (I moderate a busy forum away from this hobby), I've not yet come across a Mod who gets the balance right as well as Spiritflyer does. Moderation without the ego ..... I have learned a lot from your work here sir, that's the truth.

 

I do respectfully think some other mods in this community could benefit from taking a few leaves and examples from Stephen's book.

There has been a lot of talk here and elsewhere regarding "product bashing" and topics being closed because of. Reporting a problem real or apparent is not "product bashing". Nor is saying you dislike a particular product because of.... etc.

Real "product bashing" was the bain of "Flight". It was a bad product and went the way it was expected. In the forums the likers and dislikers where become offensive toward each other and to the product.

The impression one gets for a whole range of payware with forums both here and on their respective sites is that "love-ins" only are allowed.

There's no harm in criticism as long as it's constructive.

I did read that aforementioned topic and thread and the impression I got from the moderator's comments was that quite clearly one was not allowed to say "anything" against said product.

I don't want to name names either, but have noticed a certain moderator lock, or move topics without perhaps reading the content first, there also appears to be a certain amount of personal agenda rather than an objective decision based on the thread's content....certain products appear to be granted special protection...

 

Still the majority of moderation is great, its a great place here and definately the heart of the fs community.