Mods: Keep your opinions to yourself (split from BS&T Home thread)

[finkleshnorts]

imsaguy,

You are one of the loudest, rudest, most obnoxious and immature posters on this forum. I mean in general, irrespective of BTCST.

It's time to hit the button (the "lalala i can't hear you" button).

Bob.

[BadBear]

I never had a real opinion on Pirate and company, but this sure is making me wonder why they are so intent on silencing dissenters.

Oh and by the way, go fuck yourself, I'm not gonna censor myself just because I'm a mod.

[Vandroiy]

Just wait until the outcome is clear, then demote the mods that were engaged heavily on the wrong side of a flamewar. An operator who fuels up a flamewar to help a scammer is unacceptable, so there will be a reckoning after the show.

The first thing I'll do after the game is demoting psy, probably using just a single quote. Enjoy your remaining time with the staff tag. I hope, though, that you will resign the position on your own and apologize, because it would suck if even an old moderator account were in on this.

Being a moderator does not mean one can get away with anything because "oh, this had nothing to do with my moderation role". There are enough users already who post with their head in offline mode.

[Raoul Duke]

Just wait until the outcome is clear, then demote the mods that were engaged heavily on the wrong side of a flamewar. An operator who fuels up a flamewar to help a scammer is unacceptable, so there will be a reckoning after the show.

The first thing I'll do after the game is demoting psy, probably using just a single quote. Enjoy your remaining time with the staff tag. I hope, though, that you will resign the position on your own and apologize, because it would suck if even an old moderator account were in on this.

Being a moderator does not mean one can get away with anything because "oh, this had nothing to do with my moderation role". There are enough users already who post with their head in offline mode.

What does the fact of me being a moderator has to do with me defending MY OWN beliefs?
I'm not collecting anyone elses money to invest in Pirate, I only have MY OWN money there.

I invite you to search for any post on my posting history where I talked as a Moderator and did a bad job at it.
Most likey you will not find any because I'm conscious enough to just delete spam posts and whitelist new members. Moderating discussions is not for me and wasn't the reason I accepted to be part of the staff and theymos was made well aware of that fact before promoting me, and I'm sure he can confirm it if you ask nicely.

You're as much of an asshole as Goat is.
Go fuck yourself. <<-- You can quote that.

Now I will quote theymos just for your reading pleasure:

I don't require moderators to pledge an oath of neutrality in all forum discussions. Moderators will not censor themselves. I'll express my opinions freely, and I expect other moderators (and other members) to do the same.

If you're not happy with the way the forum is run you're free to leave, I think. Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

[rjk]

The only reason a moderator would deserve to be stripped of their title is if they were editing and deleting others' posts to support their position in a flamewar. In regards to psy, he doesn't even have mod capability in the board where the altercation took place, so this isn't even possible. In other words, please put your head back in online mode before responding.

[Maged]

Labelling someone without proof based on a "feeling" is not how to operate. If you label him I hope he sues the owner of the forum  for defamation which is dangerously close to what you are suggesting.

Innocent untill proven guilty is how civilised people operate.

Don't worry, despite my opinion on the matter, I haven't even opened a scammer investigation. Sure, I'm investigating, but it's not in any official capacity.

[Raize]

I can't think of any good reason why moderators shouldn't express their opinion on EVERY legitimate or illegitimate transfer of Bitcoin. That they choose not to express an opinion on some of them and choose to do so on others reflects their level of trust, and with that, a history of knowledge of past and ongoing "scams" that they have had experience with. If something seems fishy to them, so be it.

It's not just mods that have to wonder if interactions they've had are ultimately questionable, all of us have dealt with this in some manner.

[imsaguy]

Labelling someone without proof based on a "feeling" is not how to operate. If you label him I hope he sues the owner of the forum  for defamation which is dangerously close to what you are suggesting.

Innocent untill proven guilty is how civilised people operate.

Don't worry, despite my opinion on the matter, I haven't even opened a scammer investigation. Sure, I'm investigating, but it's not in any official capacity.

Perfectly fair.  Anyone that doesn't investigate for his/herself in some fashion isn't doing him/herself any favors. 

[imsaguy]

I never had a real opinion on Pirate and company, but this sure is making me wonder why they are so intent on silencing dissenters.

Oh and by the way, go fuck yourself, I'm not gonna censor myself just because I'm a mod.

I'm not asking you to sensor yourself, I'm asking you to separate your personal and professional opinions.  I'm glad to see you take such offense to that. 

[rjk]

I never had a real opinion on Pirate and company, but this sure is making me wonder why they are so intent on silencing dissenters.

Oh and by the way, go fuck yourself, I'm not gonna censor myself just because I'm a mod.

I'm not asking you to sensor yourself, I'm asking you to separate your personal and professional opinions.  I'm glad to see you take such offense to that. 

Being a mod is a profession?

[imsaguy]

I never had a real opinion on Pirate and company, but this sure is making me wonder why they are so intent on silencing dissenters.

Oh and by the way, go fuck yourself, I'm not gonna censor myself just because I'm a mod.

I'm not asking you to sensor yourself, I'm asking you to separate your personal and professional opinions.  I'm glad to see you take such offense to that. 

Being a mod is a profession?

Unless this forum is their own personal playground, it is.

[copumpkin]

Honestly, I agree with imsaguy here, but think it's more of a technical problem. I like reddit's moderation system because I can, as a moderator of a subreddit, speak normally, but I can also "distinguish" a post I make in official capacity. That is, I can fuck around with people and say things like "haha u so dum also trollface pun pun pun" and it'll just appear under my username. Or I can be serious, type something like "Please refrain from posting off-topic pun threads as they are against the rules of this subreddit", and then press a button to distinguish my post, which makes my username appear red and all fancy.

I do think there needs to be something like that though. Otherwise it's a weird power situation, like socializing with a police officer who always wears his uniform, and you're not sure if you should act like a friend (teasing, making fun of, not guarding your speech) or as a citizen (respectful, fearful, making sure not to do anything that could be remotely seen as illegal). When Maged or theymos or any other mod comments on a dispute, it's hard to be sure if they're acting as moderators/arbiters or as just regular people. If they're arbiters, it can reasonably be assumed that they've done their due diligence and have a stronger basis for their opinions than other people just spreading FUD. If they're just opining as regular forum members, we risk their opinion being taken as a stronger statement of truth than it is. That should make people feel uncomfortable, regardless of what the topic is.

[imsaguy]

imsaguy,

You are one of the loudest, rudest, most obnoxious and immature posters on this forum. I mean in general, irrespective of BTCST.

It's time to hit the button (the "lalala i can't hear you" button).

Bob.

Thanks for this.  I'll do my best to be more polite.

[Raize]

It's sounds like maybe your point is that it's hard to tell if a moderator is being a moderator or just another long-time member of the forums. I regularly see guys with hundreds to thousands of posts defending what seems to be a pretty obviously shady operation (not necessarily BS&T) and I wonder how long they could have possibly been members and sure enough they are no more than 6 months old and in some cases they only been posting for maybe 3 of them. I often wonder if these high-post count users send more of a wrong message than a moderator just warning about a possible shady op.

Also, something to keep in mind is that "buyer beware" is advice, not law. Anyone willing to remind buyers to beware isn't breaking some unwritten law, and it's only scammers or their victims that would want to prevent such advice from being repeated, quite honestly.

There's also an edge that is less frequently talked about here. The guys that benefit from HYIP scams are typically the ones that only invest once. They have a vested interest in keeping HYIP possible, because that's how they make their money, attempting to scam the scammer. Pesky things like moderators commenting on the validity of an investment, only get in their way.

[imsaguy]

It's sounds like maybe your point is that it's hard to tell if a moderator is being a moderator or just another long-time member of the forums. I regularly see guys with hundreds to thousands of posts defending what seems to be a pretty obviously shady operation (not necessarily BS&T) and I wonder how long they could have possibly been members and sure enough they are no more than 6 months old and in some cases they only been posting for maybe 3 of them. I often wonder if these high-post count users send more of a wrong message than a moderator just warning about a possible shady op.

Also, something to keep in mind is that "buyer beware" is advice, not law. Anyone willing to remind buyers to beware isn't breaking some unwritten law, and it's only scammers or their victims that would want to prevent such advice from being repeated, quite honestly.

There's also an edge that is less frequently talked about here. The guys that benefit from HYIP scams are typically the ones that only invest once. They have a vested interest in keeping HYIP possible, because that's how they make their money, attempting to scam the scammer. Pesky things like moderators commenting on the validity of an investment, only get in their way.

They weren't commenting as moderators.. that's the point

[Nachtwind]

Back in the days of Ultima online we had shared moderator accounts. Like Nicknames that stayed, but the mods behind it changed. That way moderators could do their moderation without giving a "personal" opinion. You never knew who was just moderating and if people brought in their personal opinion they used their nicknames...

I wont comment on the OPs opinion.. i just say that this what we did years back in such a situation...

[drakahn]

I think its important that moderators and anyone else that is meant to be trusted is very loud with their opinions, Its easier to spot a rotten apple when the worms are on the outside - and if they really do feel it is a scam they should post the same as everyone else

having said that i would appreciate a way to distinguish what is being said between personal and professional, forum mods (edit: as in modifications, not moderators, lol) being the pain they are and separate accounts being overkill, perhaps just sign 'site related' posts as '-staff' at the bottom (it wouldn't be a problem to forget to sign, as long as important posts are signed and personal opinions aren't) ... but even that could just be a treatment for a non-existent problem

[bulanula]

Labelling someone without proof based on a "feeling" is not how to operate. If you label him I hope he sues the owner of the forum  for defamation of character which is dangerously close to what you are suggesting.

Innocent untill proven guilty is how civilised people operate.

In other news if my scammer tag is not removed within 24 hours I am suing bitcointalk.org Inc. for damaged amounting to $ 100 000 for preventing me selling my GPUs now ASIC are coming.

Harassment too !

Joking ...

[drakahn]

Labelling someone without proof based on a "feeling" is not how to operate. If you label him I hope he sues the owner of the forum  for defamation of character which is dangerously close to what you are suggesting.

Innocent untill proven guilty is how civilised people operate.

In other news if my scammer tag is not removed within 24 hours I am suing bitcointalk.org Inc. for damaged amounting to $ 100 000 for preventing me selling my GPUs now ASIC are coming.

Harassment too !

Joking ...

People have sued over eBay ratings, Any other site rating being defaming is not that much of a stretch

--

edit : in pirates case, if all the ponzi talk causes everyone to withdraw and it turns out it ISN'T a ponzi but the lack of funds/client faith does kill pirates business... I would expect there is a case there

[Raize]

I can think of no legitimately ethical investment that ceases to be profitable based on the number of investors.