Ever had an unidentifiable moderator leak information? And how did you deal with it?
- Thread starter CTXMedia
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Good god.
"The whole class stays behind" works for eight year olds. Adults tend to take it rather poorly.
a legacy reborn
Well-known member
Agreed.
Personally, I would not demote any of them. I would ask the person who did it to come clean and if he didn't then you always have your logs. Obviously, if that doesn't work out then you are going to have to start deciding which moderators you absolutely trust, which if you can find one that you don't and is the possible perpetrator then they should never have made it to the team. Maybe to prevent this issue from happening in the future you can make your forum only visible to admins...but that might defeat the purpose of a "Staff" Forum. However I am going to have to completely disagree with Carlos(no hate breh, just plain logic), these moderators have worked their arses off to make your community into what it is today, unless they all have broken your trust then they should not all be punished. Just my 2 cents.
CTXMedia
Well-known member
Thanks, but the forum in question is on IP.Board (it's not GeeksChat ...
)I've reassured everyone that I'm not going to do anything and all mods will be staying on. A few of them don't like the idea as they don't feel they can trust everybody now, but there's not much more I can do. The trust will have to be rebuilt over time.
I've locked everything down so the only thing a mod can do now is leak stuff from the private mods forum, and there's nothing that can be done about that from a technical standpoint if someone choses to do it.
I suppose we're all in a similar situation and have to account for the fact that, maybe, one day, someone will decide to pervert the trust you put in them and you just have to get past it and move on.
There's some work to do to put things right, but I'm sure with a bit of hard work it can be done.
Cheers,
Shaun
F
Floris
Guest
Moderators can't force us an opinion. And I do not think you're a bad person.
I think they asked to have the topic dropped, so any post beyond that is justified to be removed.
I think they asked to have the topic dropped, so any post beyond that is justified to be removed.
As Floris said, I had already asked the bickering to stop but you seem to be unable to follow simple requests.
I have already pointed out to you that there's a common denominator when it comes to all of the episodes you have on here, usually ending up with you crying the victim.
I'll leave you to work out what the common denominator it is.
Now, back to the thread subject.
Carlos
Well-known member
"You seem to be unable to follow simple requests." What's that supposed to mean?
I wasn't even bickering. Your definition as it regards to my post... bickering was a wrong assessement. But hey, you want to delete my post and continue to call me the "crying victim." Fine.
Now, I have two people who speak ill about me, but you leave them alone. Good job, Brogan.
You seem to want to perceive me as a crying victim, bad person, and whatever is it that you come up with.
I wasn't even bickering. Your definition as it regards to my post... bickering was a wrong assessement. But hey, you want to delete my post and continue to call me the "crying victim." Fine.
Now, I have two people who speak ill about me, but you leave them alone. Good job, Brogan.
You seem to want to perceive me as a crying victim, bad person, and whatever is it that you come up with.
Carlos
Well-known member
Falling into deaf ears again, sigh.
I have to put up with negative people every day, don't I?
I can be the nicest person anyone meet, but these people talk so negatively about me that it's annoying. But you don't seem to be annoyed by their attitudes.
Do we really need this post:
After this post?
And is that post really necessary? It's insulting to me. Because this person wants to perceive me as the "bad" moderator, the "bad" person. I run a business. I'm obviously going to lose customers with the way he's perceiving me.
Divvens
Well-known member
Good to hear you got the situation sorted outSome good suggestions, thank you.
I've made a few changes to limit mods ability to change user accounts etc. (I probably had the mod privs set a bit too high anyway) and have posted a thread in the mods forum offering the person the opportunity to discuss things in private with me, if they want to.
Unless they come forward I doubt I'll ever know who it was, but there is really no merit whatsoever in getting rid of a great modding team on the back of a single incident. They are a very good, hard working team, who have a passion for what we're doing and it would be stupid of me to destroy the trust of the entire team, for the sake of one person. It's better to have someone on board who cannot be wholey trusted, than not trust the whole team.
I'm going to move forward with all of my moderators intact, and whilst that means taking someone along who has shared information, I would hope that a discussion on how to improve moderation would give them the opportunity to say what they feel and help us avoid a similar situation in the future.
A learning experience for me, but hopefully one that will lead to some positive changes and to improvements for me, the moderators, and our community.
Thanks,
Shaun
And good to know you took a decision you felt was right! I just want to add this, I do not mean to personally attack any member this is just my opinion in general.
A community is always about we, not I, not me, it is always we. A community is made up of members and staff both. Yes, you can handle a board all alone without staff but it's going to be stressful and more likely feel like a full time job.
The biggest example here is Vbulletin. See how they are treating their ex-employees, do you think the current staff there is happy? Do you think the members are happy with whats happening? You can see the reactions all over the internet...that's what happens if you get on the wrong side of your community even if you have influence upon your members. Compare your community to a country (just an example). If the people are not happy with the government eventually the government falls, it is the mass who decide what happens. The community works the same way, if you piss of the majority of the members there goes your community. You threw it out of the window if you disappoint your members.
You as an admin, are the president/leader etc. A person the community looks up to, may it be for solving technical issues with the board or may it be being the 'final' voice in a argument. You are like a captain of the ship, you aren't the strongest but you lead your community to the right direction. Your staff and moderators are essential part of the community. They work for free, they work out of love for the community and make it 'our' community. They trust and respect you and you trust and respect them, it has to be both ways you cannot expect them to give respect without you being respectful to them. You are not a 'boss', you are just a higher authority. And that, in no way means just disrespecting them and demoting them off their status.
If I were in a situation such as you, Shaun. I'd make a post in the staff forums, speaking how I truly feel about this incident and that the staff can really be free and discuss anything with me if they feel a decision we made is wrong. The better team work and understanding a staff, the smoother the community runs.
Now, Carlos I'm not taking personal hits at you just stating my opinion ^^ (The 'you' here is general, to all readers)
If say someone were to throw out all the moderators and staff, and then post in open about the issue. What would the members reaction be? "The staff is falling apart", the moderators? "Wow...never knew I could be kicked out after all I did", the final result "**uk it all". The result, whatever influence you have over your members would be mass leaving of members. Moderators make friends to you know, they could easily request members to not support the site anymore and there you have it. A competitor site could use this opportunity to shame you even more, win your members or who knows a new site with your member base is created. Eventually, members will get a feeling that you are a kind of person whom they can't trust since you don't trust them (And you show that by removing them in an instant). Even if you happen to take them back after finding the person responsible the staff will never feel the same about you. "Oh, so I can be kicked out any time. I don't want to waste time contributing on something knowing there is a trigger happy person behind the control panel" is what the general impression would be.
I don't say you shouldn't tell your staff when they go wrong somewhere, you are the creator of the community and you have authority to correct them. Just a small example, we are a small community, we've become a bunch of good friends within this time. But do you think just because the admins are friendly the moderator or the members don't give a damn about what we say? No. Once you make a stand they respect it because they know who you are. They know you aren't just an administrator who is influencing his power here and there, they know you are a genuine person and you respect them thus they respect you even more. And moderators earn more respect you know, when a member has a problem they don't go "Contact the admin!", they mostly say "Contact the Senior Moderator" or "Contact the staff", very less directly try to contact the top.
Just my opinion on the whole matter, and I wish you the best of luck Shaun that you don't face such problems in the future and that your team grows stronger and stronger together
Saeed
Well-known member
Very nicely put, CapnLuffy! 
All I can add is that no matter how hard you rack your brains, situations and circumstances will come up now and then which you as an administrator / forum owner have never faced before. You can have guidelines for yourself, but at the end of the day, they only guide you about how to do tackle situations and may not cater to every situation.
Having earned the respect and trust of your community, including moderators, takes time and effort and is perhaps the one and only thing which saves your behind in case you ever take a wrong step / make the wrong decision.
All I can add is that no matter how hard you rack your brains, situations and circumstances will come up now and then which you as an administrator / forum owner have never faced before. You can have guidelines for yourself, but at the end of the day, they only guide you about how to do tackle situations and may not cater to every situation.
Having earned the respect and trust of your community, including moderators, takes time and effort and is perhaps the one and only thing which saves your behind in case you ever take a wrong step / make the wrong decision.
a legacy reborn
Well-known member
Having a "personal touch" to our forums is one of the main differences between us and bigger sites(ex. Facebook). I doubt very much that Mark is talking one-on-one with every or even the majority of all FB Users, but as a forum admin we can have these "personal relationships" with our members. No matter who has broken your trust, breaking your members' trust would be far more damaging to the community.
AdamD
Well-known member
I ran a forum for just over 8 years, dedicated to a single game, so there were times when things didn't quite work.
For the first few years, I just hired pretty much anyone who wanted to work for the site, which was a bad idea, because most of them were just after the power trip and title that came with it, especially when we had interviews and representatives from Electronic Arts posting on the forum.
Most important thing I've found is to only hire those who have proven their worth to the community at hand, by being consistantly helpful to new and existing members.
Avoid ANY and ALL drama queens. (a prime example of which is in this very thread)
If you can find out the source of the leak, I would just remove them.
It sounds like he or she purposely leaked information, which in my eyes, is intent to cause trouble and he or she would be lucky to be able to post/view any forums at all, let alone remain as a trusted member of staff.
If no one owns upto it, you could delve deeper and see if the moderator is listed as a friend of the individual on facebook or myspace (or equivalent), IF you feel comfortable doing that, of course.
For the first few years, I just hired pretty much anyone who wanted to work for the site, which was a bad idea, because most of them were just after the power trip and title that came with it, especially when we had interviews and representatives from Electronic Arts posting on the forum.
Most important thing I've found is to only hire those who have proven their worth to the community at hand, by being consistantly helpful to new and existing members.
Avoid ANY and ALL drama queens. (a prime example of which is in this very thread)
If you can find out the source of the leak, I would just remove them.
It sounds like he or she purposely leaked information, which in my eyes, is intent to cause trouble and he or she would be lucky to be able to post/view any forums at all, let alone remain as a trusted member of staff.
If no one owns upto it, you could delve deeper and see if the moderator is listed as a friend of the individual on facebook or myspace (or equivalent), IF you feel comfortable doing that, of course.
Carlos
Well-known member
What's that? Got somethin' to say to me? Say it.
Say it!
If you got nothing positive to say to someone, or about someone: DON'T SAY ANYTHING!
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