Animation Source Forums

this will probably get locked because the mods hate seeing bad things about themselves however i will go ahead and try anyway.

To get some things out the way:

Yes i know the mods have lives

Yes i know if we see something wrong we need to report it or contact and mod directly

Yes i knwo not all the mods are like what i am about to say

Yes i know if a mod has made a mistake you need to contact them directly so they the can fix it...

however

Lives or not you should not have taken the job if it was going to be to much for you

We users do report and as far as contacting a mod directly yeah how about that goes out the window, I have tried numerious times and loads of things.

Examples:

My character rodney keeps getting deactived with the statement " how is this chracter related to balto? " However in his history it says he is Aleu's adopted son. His profile has said this form the very first time i sent him in. he has been deactivated six times, not once was he ever activated. I have contacted fan character mods and they never reply, I have obviously re-submitted him and the same thing happens. My theory? the mods have stoped reading the character profiles properly. Evadence of this; I have come across a few new character pages that are lacking a whole lot of stuff that have been activated.

Example 2

My old fursona Ixxie was deactivated because she had "hair" and that made her to sparklie. She was deactivated by Kirada. However the rules state that the "hair" is ok for fursona's, kirada tried to get on me about the "hair" and when i through that rule at her she did not reply, this was long before she left the site for a while, And then i found a flaw with her fan character and reported her, yes you all probably hate but but oh well. what i am getting tto is after that my character was activated.

The mods here hate a "shut them up" liek policy and attidude, which is unbecoming and have become lazy in their efforts. I can see some points they have about there work. Balto source is big and is still growing it can be alot to handle. Yet this does not mean to slack off or become rude or lazy. If your having personal problems or have alot of school/work to do yeah i kinda understand but still.

Also the mods say they are not bias in their work however I have heard a mod say that in caps all a user (not giving the username out of repect) does is " WHINE and WHINE" that sounds bias to me. does it sound bias to you?

Mods become mods without getting tested for Knowledge of the rules, i was surprised to learn this, I believe that is just silly why would you be chossen to moderate anything without be tested to see if you know the rules that apply to the area you were going to moderate?

So this means not all mods know or understnad the rules fully.


when i first came to balto source the mods were fair, repectful, propper, delagent, watchful, and put alot of effort into their work.

however now they are not. I have reported and sent many messages to steet regarding the mods, and i am waiting for a reply.

Well I can't say anything about that (I "resigned" from fan characters because I don't have the time for them all) but every character should be looked over fully. :/

I can only think that perhaps some don't click to view the pages directly. (We can't see character profiles from the mod panel - it doesn't work, we have to go to the pages directly) In which case I suppose asking how it's related and deactivating it and waiting for a reply would be easier than going back and forth but it's not how it should be done.
And rather worrying to hear. :/

A best bet would be to report it all to Togo, he's BaltoSource's site admin and can sort out any issues or worries you have with BS mods. Steet is often very busy with the site itself and building/improving it so wouldn't have much time to sort out the mods too - which is why each source has a site admin.

Not really. I would be more likely to lock the topic for the line I quoted rather than the criticism itself, for irony's sake. Of course, I wouldn't really, though I'll admit I am always tempted when I see lines like that.

Other than that, UK summed it up pretty well.


I want to add that you shouldn't argue a moderator's decision as that moderator will normally ask you to consult a lead mod. In rare cases will they change their decisions based on your feedback to them directly. Lead Moderators are chosen for their ability to be unbiased in their judgement (fair, in other words) & their knowledge of the rules applying to their section, not to mention their experience in moderation and therefore all issues with moderators should be taken up with the Lead Moderator of the relevant section, as they are the only ones (except for the admins) who can overturn any decisions made by the other mods in that section. If you are not happy with the Lead Moderator's decision you can opt to bring your case to Togo who has the authority to overturn the Lead Mods.

The Lead Mods are listed as the first mods of each section in the Staff pages (from the left) and you can contact them by clicking on their icons.


It's not a "shut them up"-policy; it is meant to keep moderation as drama-free as possible, because topics like this one (not to mention the shoutbox drama when a moderator is forced to make a decision on a member and that member doesn't like the outcome) are only doing more harm than good. We're more than willing to compromise with you, I promise.


When your characters are deactivated you should be given a proper reason and I can poke around a bit about your character Ixxie to see what I find out. I will, however, need an exact copy of the message you were given after the character had been deactivated - through PMs preferably.

First and foremost, I will stress -- yet again -- that I have a 10-week-old son who requires more attention than Balto Source or any other website, as well as classes in which I need to make up 5 weeks of classes (tests, quizzes, homework, in-class assignments) in addition to my current work. This is why I resigned as a fan art, images, etc. moderator.And, if you are so uptight about it, Kirada MacNiall is practically my fursona, though she is my 13-year-old character and not officially designated as such. She was submitted to the site as a character before the rules, or the moderation process, was created. We mods have repeated, time and time again, to report any rule-infringing characters. You did that, kudos. However, a countless amount still complain about those numbers, neglecting the fact of when this section was first created, the moderator activation process didn't exist!

I didn't reply to your PM about Ixxie because it's as simple as this: Fursonas are in debate. The moderators lack communication. One minute, fursonas aren't allowed. The next, they are. With such poor communication and updates, and with my being online for a week and then offline for a week, I come back completely lost. This, predictably, is when you contact another moderator of the section. (For example: Kirada was deactivated and I didn't get a PM! This wasn't automatic, it was by a moderator. So the moderators are even, once more, failing to communicate with the members as well as with one another.) There are also times when I have enough time to log in, read, and get on the move again.

It has nothing to do with the rules, really. As a multi-mod before, I became familiar with the appropriate rules -- those I needed to know to participate in the site and moderate my sections. As any senior member would know, the site has changed dramatically. As I mentioned above, it's not progressive -- it's sudden. And contrary to your accusation: I treat every member with the same regard to the rules. It's nothing personal (why would I hold a grudge against someone for their fan creations? REALLY?), it's my duty. Seems rude? Well, I'm not about to give anyone a candy-cane.

In just:

The site has changed drastically. Here I have been here about 4 years now, out of the site's 6 years of "age." And whether people like it or not, rough edges are needed. (JerseyCaptain had that boat, and it was sunk. Ghost-Unit, well, he's vanished.) No one else has any real gull to be blunt. And, when someone is blunt, they're being "chastising, immature," and they're also "attacking the member." The rules weren't meant to agree with every one person. So typically, when someone gets rapped for not following those pre-set rules, a tantrum ensues. It happens, I suppose.

I doubt there is anything me or anyone else can do at this point to help this administration to a more realistic level.

But surely they thought of me with regards to their decision to remove Rockandi from the mods. But it is their nature to not let on to such a thing. Even when people do them favors, like in this instance.

Lux, i change Ixxie from my fursona because i was nolonger happy with her but thank youm, also i think you stated something about not arguing with a mods dession (sorry not spelled right) however if their is a flaw in it or it does not go along with, the facts of what has and has not be activated and deactivated i feel you can, not rudely of course, but i feel you can argue your case.

Kirada: XD thank for commenting here, about the characters being from back in the day whent there wasn't a activation thing, i beilve they should have moderators who go threw the fan characters and check over the older one to make sure there up to snuff.

and as mods if any of you are having lack of comunication it's also upt to you to tell steet or togo about that as well, so they can work on it.

as for the more harm than good thing, i belive it does alittle of both ot be honest, it steps on mods toes and users. which is needed her greatly posts like this give both mods and users to say there peace, if some one sasy something out of line then well delete that post (like if they curse or are extra rude) also i think that the mods need to learn to talk to each other more. about who thinks what is aceptible and what not so they can all be on the same page. because from my dealings with the mods they are no were near being on the same page. XD one stops orange dgos from getting through and another lets yellow dogs in, it's kinda funny and kinda worrying all at the same time.

Clearly this whole issue stems from the Characters feature on the site and the mods that are in charge of it. Not so much as our jobs as mods in general, especially the ones that are not even related to the Characters thing. I suggest you all quit using that a baggage. This also includes generalizing the staff members. It has no value and just ends up working against you.

While it's true we may screw up sometime in regards to reports and other issues on the site, the staff has generally never had this much trouble with each other or the members. At least, in my observations, not before the mods started getting assigned to the Fan Characters when the whole system changed.
It is obvious what is going on right now with communication between members of the site. I have a hunch that it has always been like that ever since the Fan Characters feature was first changed. My hunch is: of all of the mods who were originally selected for moderating over the Fan Characters, not one of them were completely instructed how the system and the rules work. No enough to share and teach the other mods or any new requites. And if they had, it's likely the whole thing is running like a bad game of Telephone.

In essence, people can only operate and teach others what they themselves have learned. And if they haven't learned something, they can't use it or teach it.

Another point to that is contributing to this mess is the pace that the website is changing. As Kirada had said, the site changes are sudden and sometimes drastic. A lot of times, not even the Mods know what is coming. Yet, we always have to deal with the (sorry of the language) crap when something changes and doesn't go as planned.

With all this going on, the mods can only work with each other to lessen the negative impact and relations to the community (and I know we could improve in areas of that too). The mods alone cannot prevent such negativity because we don't have the tools or the understanding to do so. Because the Administrators do not provide us all of the tools and understanding we need.
I really hate pointing fingers, but the key lies with Steet and Togo.

I am not too sure how much of the site is really in Togo's hands as far as new developments are concerned, but Steet has added things and changed things without so much as a word to anyone (or if there is, a vague one). When these changes involve the Mods, or people turning into Mods, that is when confusion and miss-communication starts getting at it's worst.

But I digress.
The matter at hand is the Fan Character feature and the system in it's entirety. I am leading a discussion topic with the mods to come up with a final conclusion to this issue and other related issues.

I have seen so many characters created by "famous" BSer's that either have nothing to do with Balto or are very. very, VERY distant relatives (ex. ___ is the mate of the daughter of Kodi's great-grandson, so it's related). And yet I created a character that is Balto's grandson and Dingo's son, and he got deactivated :/ Bias much? Just because the fangirls might get angry because they deactivated a famous user's character.

I'm not saying the mods are stupid or ignorant, I'm just saying that maybe they get caught up in all the hype over a character, too much that they can't deactivate it.

I don't have any favourites in characters, except my own who all exist outside of the movie worlds (aside from the odd one).

You can report those characters if/when you see them. If you feel like your report would simply be ignored then you can PM a specific mod about it. We won't mind.

We have to keep in mind though that the Characters section is a very subjective moderating task. One mod may let something through, another may not. Plus, it's the most recent section, and a new style of section, thus we have to expect it to be difficult (although this isn't an excuse for lack of communication and the such)

To be honest, I think the character selections are nothing but trouble (Even though I have a few characters my self)
It may take awhile since I'm sure alot of characters are sent in, and there are alot of reports I'm sure.

There are LOTS of characters sent in, especially on Balto Source. At least 40 a day most days - usually more.

Then I'll take over for them. (even though I see G-U up there. HI G-U!)

Example 2 just reeks of butthurt about your fursona getting deactivated. Was it totally necessary to go on a mission to prove Kirada wrong just because your fursona was deactivated? Just chalk it up to a loss and move on. Not every single character you come up with needs a character page.

Okay, forget example 2. This ENTIRE POST reeks of butthurt. Classy move accusing the mods of being biased. If you think that's a problem, take it up with Togo instead of whining on a forum topic. And before you say "BUT THIS IS THE RANT BOARD," I understand that. But you complaining and throwing out accusations like it's candy on halloween doesn't help your case or address your problem directly.

I can't stress this enough; if you have a problem with a mod; TALK. TO. THEM. OR. ANOTHER. STAFF. MEMBER. The staff aren't psychic, they can't read your minds and figure out if there's something wrong. Srsly, when I was staff on another site it drove me nuts when people would complain and then admit they took NO steps to trying to fix they problem and making someone aware of the problem.

This is good too, however, along time ago, when the characters were fairly new, I PM'd them something asking about the characters, and NEVER got a reply.
I don't know if this happens to other people.
But yeah, PMing them is the best thing to do.

XD thats what i said in my psot as well sora-kun, yes part of my post was butthurt teh other part is truth, and i have tired PM other mods of the section and other stall, but most of the time I never get a reply most of everthing on this site is "halfway" done for everyone, and you sora-kun, got butthurt or annoyed to by this post lol, as a mod that was not a good way to carry yourself XD your are suposed to remain calm XD kirada, uk, Lux, and Question have done a better job of that, which gains more respect from users.