Here is a good Question

[Ccrashca069]

So a member can get a warning for allegily antagonizing a moderator . Why can't Modiators get Warnings for antagonizing Members? If you can't then that is some Double Standard BS. Also The allegigity Antagonizing was in normal e-mail not through GF.Net. So basically I am saying don't send me emails Antagonizing me and then run with your tail between your legs because you get the same back.

 

[PacHerp]

The Moderators are given their privileges by Kelli, who is the owner of this forum. I trust her to give out moderator privileges to those who are responsible and able to make the right decisions concerning the negative behavior, language, etc of members here on Geckforums.

I don't think it would even be slightly appropriate for members to be able to give moderators any type of 'warning'... if that was the case, anyone who got slightly upset with a moderator over something would be throwing warnings at them left and right.

I say, we should trust the Moderators to do their job, trust their authority, and work with them to create a positive environment here on geckoforums.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

When a member gets a warning for breaking the TOS of GeckoForums.net, and that member reacts in an antagonistic and infantile manner by arguing with the Moderator over it, it is also breaking the TOS of this website:

...antagonism towards the Moderators of GeckoFourms.net will not be tolerated.

One thing that will not be tolerated is abuse of this site and/or it's members. We do not have a warning point system in place here, however we do have certain rules that will be enforced by the staff. The following are some of the violations of our T.O.S., and they apply to every feature on our site, including the private message and email system. We do reserve the right to add additional violations as needed.

In case many of you are unaware, any time there is a blatant or even questionable post or action made by a GF member, it is posted in the Moderator's Forum. ALL of us discuss the issues and make a collective decision on how to handle it.

If someone gets a warning, you are NOT being antagonized... you are being warned about breaking the rules!

Grow up.

 

[dprince]

Brittney, thank you VERY much for your thoughtful and supportive response.

Being a moderator here on GF.net isn't an easy job, but we luckily have some excellent mods, admins and "checks and balances" to help be as fair as possible. All warnings are discussed amongst the mods, and ALL emails - both from ourselves as well as from members - are shown in the mod forum. There are no secrets.

Perhaps if people - ALL people - reflected upon their own actions, they might see that whatever consequence comes, they *may* have played a part.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I have re-opened this thread because I would like to hear the members' comments about how we perform our jobs as Moderators here on GeckosForums. Most of the time we work behind the scenes, and none of us want to be viewed as 'iron-fisted tyrants'... (except me of course, lol!) We all do work hard to make this forum a place we can hang out and share without too much hassle.

 

[eric]

I too agree with Britt that The Moderators are given their privileges by Kelli, who is the owner of this forum. I trust her to give out moderator privileges to those who are responsible and able to make the right decisions concerning the negative behavior, language, etc of members here on Geckforums. And just to add one thing, this is a free web site provided and paid for by Kelli. Kelli has chosen Mods that will best represent her and her website. So if someone can't respect the TOS and MODs than they need to move on. The TOS and MODs are here to help and protect! Keep up the good work moderators.

 

[Jeremy Letkey]

The moderators here, do an excellent job.

This website is privately owned. As a user on this site, or any other privately owned site, you do not have any rights! Nothing is owed to you! If more than one person has to tell you that you are misbehaving... then you probably are.
If you have a problem with the admin on this site, then I would suggest moving on. Find a new place to whine about.

Personally, I love this site, it is the best leopard gecko related place on the web. I treat it like my home. I would protect it like such as well.

You do not have to agree with anyone on this site. However, if you wish to remain a member and use the site as a resource, you do have to respect the people on it. Especially the admin...

Like I said... if you don't like it, there's the door!!

 

[Mel&Keith]

Brittney, Eric, and Jeremy, thank you.

We do work hard behind the scenes and we have good days and bad just like everyone else. If someone disagrees with a decision I've made I'm more than happy to hear their (politely put) side of the story and change my decision accordingly. After a daily sorting out of the General Discussion sub forum I moved a thread that a member eloquently asked me to move back, I did. Most of the time you get what you give around here. We're here to help, we also have the duty of protecting the forum and its members.

I just want to say thank you to all of the members who always follow the rules or do politely respond to warnings and change their behavior or ask in a civilized way why we've made the decisions we have. Your good attitudes do not go unappreciated!

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Being a mod is a tough job and a thankless job and I can see that the mods here do a great job. Thank you for a great site.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I just want to say thank you to all of the members who always follow the rules or do politely respond to warnings and change their behavior or ask in a civilized way why we've made the decisions we have. Your good attitudes do not go unappreciated!

Well said, Mel! And I sincerely appreciate the vote of confidence from you Brit, Eric, Brendan, and Jeremy!

 

[Halley]

I have personally been given a warning on this site. I don’t believe that the moderators antagonized or where disrespectful to me in any way, however they let me know I crossed the line, which I did. I would have personally have done the same things if I where in their shoes.

I have also had the moderators help me out with things in the past before as well. I don’t personally know any of the moderators here, but have corresponded with some through e-mails and PMs. Each one seemed to be a good honest person, as well as very helpful, and I find it hard to believe that any of them would purposely try to antagonize anybody.

I think if I felt like I had been antagonized by one of them I would express my feelings to them, and tell them why I felt that way, but like Mel & Keith said, I would try to do it in a respectful way.

If a moderator felt I antagonized them for some reason. I don’t know what I would do. I think it would depend on the situation. I believe that sometimes when writing to somebody things can be read different than they where meant to be. Sort of like “it isn’t what you said it is how you said it” saying, so I try to be careful when writing. If you situation is like this, then you might be able to resolve it with the moderators here.

I also fell that the warning system here is VERY, VERY fair. 9 warnings before they kick you off the site, I wouldn't give that many if I owned it.

 

[nwheat]

One of the reasons GeckoForums is such a wonderful place to be is the lack of drama. I am very grateful to our fabulous group of moderators for keeping it such a pleasant place to come!

 

[OhioGecko]

The moderators here, do an excellent job.

This website is privately owned. As a user on this site, or any other privately owned site, you do not have any rights! Nothing is owed to you! If more than one person has to tell you that you are misbehaving... then you probably are.
If you have a problem with the admin on this site, then I would suggest moving on. Find a new place to whine about.

Personally, I love this site, it is the best leopard gecko related place on the web. I treat it like my home. I would protect it like such as well.

You do not have to agree with anyone on this site. However, if you wish to remain a member and use the site as a resource, you do have to respect the people on it. Especially the admin...

Like I said... if you don't like it, there's the door!!

Very well worded Jeremy, I couldn't of put it any better than this.

 

[KelliH]

I just want to take a minute and thank the GF mods aka The Mod Squad for taking the time and making the effort to help all of us keep this site as drama free as possible. From the beginning that is what I wanted and that is what all of the original members wanted also. When members get warned I know it is sometimes hard not to take it personally, but it really is not personal. It is a collective effort on the part of myself, the mods, and the majority of the members here to keep this place nice and clean. Thanks to everyone that helps keep it that way.

 

[Kristi23]

I haven't been here that long, but it seems like the mods are always fair. Its really not as easy job (I was one on an infertility board) and you sometimes have people that will not like you for the decisions you make. The mods are here to make sure things run smoothly the way a board should run. JMO though.

 

[dprince]

Thanks to everyone for the incredibly supportive comments!!

Like Mel so eloquently stated, it's because the majority of folks really do strive for the same things - a wonderful, drama free place where we can discuss, show off, ask questions, etc. of the amazing creatures we all love.

This community rocks because of all of us in it. Seriously. We all have bumps in the road, but I really appreciate everyone here that makes GF the best resource on the net for leopard geckos.

 

[Baoh]

Was this exchange over private email?

On the board or using a board function (such as private messages) would definitely be under the board owner and moderator staff's authority.

Additionally, if email facilitated by the contact information in someone's board profile is used by one member to harass another, then that would certainly be unacceptable.

However, when it comes to private email, that might be a different story. If JoeBlow@yahoo emails TomFoolery@hotmail in a private exchange not facilitated by the board's inherent functions, then that should be considered separate from board activities or authority.

I mean, an owner can run anything the way an owner wants to, but that last point above could be construed as an abuse of power if performed improperly. It all would depend upon the context of the exchange. Board-related or facilitated? Legit. Individual email to individual email not using or involving board activity? Not so much. The posting of private emails is almost universally considered poor form, however, this would not apply if -as I have repeatedly mentioned- this was truly board business and not a personal point of disagreement not involving the boards. Since I was not involved, I would not know.

Personally, I feel I have been treated well and have no personal complaints thus far. I will agree with authority when it is just and will never agree if it is unjust. All of the conduct I have been able to witness on the part of the moderator staff has been just since I joined.

I like this thread for its transparency. Transparency strengthens a group. If there's ever the urge to conceal something, it prevents logical people from making the best possible choices due to the absence of complete information when coming to decisions. The need to hide information that goes beyond that which is truly private tends to indicate a defect in a given system. Transparency encourages positive growth for the entire community. Differing viewpoints allow for the consideration of otherwise unexamined ideas, allowing reason to be the tool employed in order to glean the best from the rest.

 

[moosassah]

I moderate on 3 different Freecycle groups, but not here. Trust me, a moderators (volunteer) job is no cakewalk. You need to tread lightly, be an enforcer & keep the peace at all times. Sometimes you have to throw down warnings, knowing it's going to rock the boat, but it must be done for the good of the group.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

I like this thread for its transparency. Transparency strengthens a group. If there's ever the urge to conceal something, it prevents logical people from making the best possible choices due to the absence of complete information when coming to decisions. The need to hide information that goes beyond that which is truly private tends to indicate a defect in a given system. Transparency encourages positive growth for the entire community. Differing viewpoints allow for the consideration of otherwise unexamined ideas, allowing reason to be the tool employed in order to glean the best from the rest.

This is the reason I re-opened this thread after it was closed. Thank you for your articulate post!

The bottom line here is, that ultimately the owner of this website can veto or implement other decisions that were made collectively by the rest of the moderation staff. This happens only rarely, because as moderators, we are pretty tuned-in to how this site's owner wants GF to run.

We have a VERY lenient warning and suspension system here. When someone attacks another member here on this forum, or in the PM or email system in place here, a warning will be issued. The direct example of the violation of the TOS is plainly given to the violator, and they have every right to respectfully reply or give a rebuttal. If the member who was warned begins a tirade of antagonizing PMs and emails to the moderation staff over the warning, then that is against the TOS and warrants a warning as well.

If after those two warnings, a thread like this one is posted, it is blatant public antagonism towards the entire staff and members of this website. We have a "three strikes, you're out" system.

We all want this website to run smoothly, and it's members feel like it is a drama-free environment. Most of the time, we mods take care of much of the 'drama' that goes on before it ever gets posted or seen by the rest of the members. Also, we don't make a habit of publicly humiliating anyone who has been issued a warning. Even though it's really none of anyone else's business if a member gets warned, there are incidences where it's obvious to the rest of the members when that occurs.

If anyone here sees something that is going on here of GF that is against the TOS, or otherwise objectionable, we have a "report a post button" that will notify every member of the administration staff. We want you to use it, but not abuse it.

I am honored to be a part of this great online community, and to have the trust and confidence if it's members, administration, and owner to keep this a positive environment for everyone!

 

[RepBex]

I have been on a few forums about geckos and there is always substrate fights people picking on new comeers who are there to learn and i was on a uk one that got some bad just about every user has stoped visiting

this site has to be the most respectible one i have been on yes we disagree but it does not get out of hand thanks to the rules and the mod

thanks for makeing this a nice peacefull online comunity