Animation Source Forums

Hey all!

Just your friendly fanfic writer RTW here today.

You all know me. I'm a really easy guy to get along with. It really takes a lot to get my dander up, but it has been gotten up here lately.

I'm appalled at the state of the structure within this community.
You all have no idea how much work the Moderators of this site do to keep it running smoothly. I know a few of them, and they work their tails off. Yet we seem incapable of realizing that, we need to afford these people some respect for their efforts. There's a reason Steet chose them for their position instead of you or I. For that they deserve a bit of respect. Now, I agree that respect is earned, never given, however, something I learned in the Marine Corps (but that applies to civilian life too) is that sometimes you have to respect the position even if you don't respect the person. Being smart-alecey or disrespectful to your manager at work will most likely get you fired, or at least threatened with that possibility. Even talking back to or snapping at a teacher you didn't like in school would wind up with you in detention. Now, I'm not saying "bow down to the all powerful mods", if you disagree with them, that's fine, do so, I encourage you to do so if you feel they are wrong, however, keep it respectful. It is possible, I had to do it many times while I was in the Marine Corps and I'm sure I'll have to do it many more times as a civillian in the work force. Respect the position even if you don't respect the person. Try to handle tense subjects with a mod via PM and be respectful. You will probly find that the mods will be more likely to come to your aid if you don't belittle them and disrespect them. I am moving that this be added to the rules of the site. That blatant disrespect to a mod be cause for banishment. There is no call for that kind of behavior.

Now, on to the fun part... I know that there are those of you out here that are going to accuse me of doing this to protect one Mod in particular. If you frequent the forums you probably know by know that RTW <3's Brown Wolf, and there have been some... tense discussions about the way she is treated... this is not only for her, but for all the other Mods as well. They deserve at least the respect of not being talked down to, it is entirely possible to address any situation with anyone without being disrespectful. So what do you say? Do our Mods here at Baltosource deserve this protection from flamers and immature users? Or does the work they do on the site truly not matter to us to the point hat we trash talk them without thinking of what they do for us here without expecting some kind of reprisal?

Let's let the site speak, Community of Balto lovers out there... what are your feelings on this?

(Also, this is not a flame, or an attempt at war, this is a discussion, let's keep it to a respectable level shall we?)

Have a great day and God bless!

-RTW

I agree with you the Mods do need to get some respect

Question. How many people actually trash talk the mods? Not to be mistaken with disobeying the rules. Actually trash talking the mods. I don't believe I've seen it, and I can't remember hearing of anything like it in particular.

Trash talking can be defined many ways...

That is true.

You are correct Jerseycaptain in saying that their "fallibility" should be called into question IF they've done something wrong, however, it should be done with respect, and to someone who can do something about it, not used to degrade their image in front of the other members. That is respectfully dealing with a situation. Being immature and disrespectful is what I'm getting at here. And THAT is using a situation to bring disrepute down on someone, talking back to them, flatly disobeying them and just outright flaming them in front of other members... take it to someone who can do something about it, don't air out their dirty laundry here. You'll find that the mods in question will remember that, and then perhaps when you need them they will choose not to "be at your beck and call anymore."

- RTW

I agree people do need to show more respect but I think it's more of a general thing, not just to mods.
I don't think it should be a rule though.

I agree with UK.

And even if you don't respect the person, you should at least try to respect the office. If there's a rule that is to be put in place, it would need to be one of 'respect one another' not just respecting the mods.

JC: Rotramel is not going to let this go and he does have a point. You know full well that not only the mods but all members of the site in general need to be treated like human beings. No one is suggesting that the mods are being treated poorly, it’s just a matter of respect. Our authority was given to us for many different reasons. Yes, there are times when some mods, even few mods, can make some bad judgment calls but we are only human just like you. Yet, there are times we are not treated like it. We’re just the ones with the power to ban whenever we feel like it right? Wrong. We do what we have to do for the good of the site. Criticism is one thing but bashing a mod for a said statement of so called disrespect is wrong. How would you feel if someone disrespected you for some unbeknownst reason? Would you like it? Remember the old saying ‘Think what you say before you say it’ That saying still exists and its time that it was put to real good use. Then there’s the other ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all’, in other words any cold thoughts anyone may have over a certain member it is best to keep those private thoughts private and not purposefully hurt a person’s ego, mod or just a regular member. The people on this site have feelings. Respect them, you respect yourself. Don’t respect them, your disrespect yourself.

While I agree that moderators - and all the members as a whole - should be more respected, I am against it becoming a bannable rule. We can't impose respect on each others by force; that would be a really hard blow to our members.
We can't really add such a rule, and it would be near impossible to enforce it.

There's really not "firewall" that would stop flaming if members first began flaming a moderator, and it has happened before, however it has always been dealt with calmly and through PM's. I don't think we need further 'protection' against these things; the protection against flaming has been there from the start. Disrespecting the moderators is not an 'end-of-the-world' offense, but we would like to know why that member didn't respect us, and we would take means to rebuild that respect and trust.
Only in extremely rare cases has disrespecting a moderator (and even then, it would be a warning) led to a ban.

So no; disrespect should not be a bannable offense, nor should respecting the mods be a rule - we have to earn respect like anyone else.

Post script: Though yes; you should respect the position, even if you don't respect the person. But if there came a rule declaring that moderators have to be respected, would that not be unfair of the other members? Should only the moderators have forced respect?
This will never happen, I am afraid. We can't force members.

Yes the mods should be respect but i i agree with Wolfux. People will still not respect a person due to their position. As Wolfux pointed you earn respect here and will create bad moral or false respect if you make it a rule. Also you cant earn respect immediatley. It takes time for a person to trust a mod then later give him respect.

Having this as a rule would be s-t-u-p-i-d to the extreme. It shouldn't have to be a rule. Even if it WAS a rule you would get people STILL "disrespecting" mods, so I don't see how it'll help.

What is this, "don't question our authority, we are right no matter what"? Common sense here, human judgement isn't always flawless. 100% against this with Jersey, Flux and whoever else is. It is going WAY too far.

Hmmm I see what you're saying... but... if you're saying no... what do you propose to fix the problem so that people realize 1. How much the Mods do on the site 2.Treat them accordingly... any suggestions? ...this is an open forum, anyone feel free to stand up and say something.

- RTW

I'm not certain if this goes for the newest kind of Moderators ie=Webrankers,but if so,I also agree.