Something is Seriously Wrong With The Forums

[William Draven]

I don't like to rock the boat, but I think I need to here. I think this point needs to be said. It goes along with that entire "further the art of magic" mindset that people here seem to subscribe to.

Forgive me mods, but this one is going to get aimed at you. Know in advance that nothing I type is laced with any sarcasm, malice, or mal-intent. This is just an observation that I just made, and feel it should be addressed by both sides of the table. Your's and the rest of the people here.

I think our priorities for what we allow to exist or continue on the forum is a bit skewed. So long as it has something to do with magic, some of the worst fire fights have been allowed to suffer on longer than they should, yet the instant an off topic thread pops up, it dissapears faster than Criss Angel before a screaming mob of fan boys.

Allow me to illistrate my point. I am well aware this is self incrimenating, but at least this way I know the facts I'm working with.

I posted maybe 10 minutes ago a harmless spoof on the "im leaving" threads and plugged Gyko in the body of the message. It was a joke. Most people (including the mod that deleted the thread) probably laughed at it.

However this thread isn't a joke.
http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=22273

This thread had a nasty exchange of words between a few forum members (myself leading the pack) and eventually solved itself by the antagonists withdrawing from the thread all together.

My point is... one harmless thread shot down and closed in under 5 minutes... another thread with mean, rude, and unprofessional behavior allowed to go on for a few hours before it resolves itself.

I think the issue here is consistancy. I'm not advocating for off topic threads to be allowed. Understandably if you make an exception for one, you make it for all, but the swift movement to moderate one thread and the lack of attention of another seems unbalanced.

Nor am I excusing my activity in either threads afro-mentioned either.

Also, before it's said. No moderator appears to be online in any form that I can see as of the time of this edit. It would be impossible to bring this up with the party responsible in private.

Thoughts? Mature debate please, if you are going to reply. This is not going to turn into a slug fest, mud throwing assult on each other.

 

[RDChopper]

Yeah. I agreee with you 100 percent.

Actually, I did a thread like this two days ago. It was deleted almost instantly. And when I asked raiker why my thread got deleted so fast and spam and porno type related stuff lasted so long he was just like :

"Its the responsability of you guys to report those threads."

Bunch of bull. I report almost everything I see almost inmediately and nothing happens. Biggest example of this is in here:

http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=22119

The discussion got pretty heated until the point where we were throwing mindless insults towards each other. You will notice how there is a part were I am like "Yay! zachmonkey ins online! he will finally close this!(I did reported the thread)" but oh I was wrong. I went to sleep and the next day the thread was still open.

And it was a thread full of racism, and pointless and stupid bashes. And it went ignored.

And a lot of users know that I took a risk sending my conversation with J. Bayme to a lot of people demanding a change in here. and guess what. even then it was ignored.

Most probably this post will get modded. so Im copying it.

I hope this stays open.

 

[praetoritevong]

I'm simply going to state two things from my observations:

1. I agree with what both Will Draven and RDC have posted above.
2. There have been quite a number of notable inconsistencies with moderating standards over the past however long it's been. These regard to threads that involve arguments, spam threads, and other mod-related statements.

And yes, J.B completely missed the point in his conversation with RDC. Didn't answer a single point except to throw the blame back with mindless accusations.

And ironically, this will probably get moderated faster than the above threads.

 

[j.bayme]

Will,

Mad love, but your previous post I removed myself as 50% of the content was "I did save a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Gyco." I do believe it's Geico, by the way, as Gyco - I'm pretty sure - is something entirely different and gynecological. I digress, but the reason it was removed - within 90 seconds I might add - is self evident, and some swift moderation on our part. I realize you meant it in jest, but keep in mind that our moderation team is a limited, volunteer force, and every post that our core team has to moderate - myself included - is time away from our core focus in filming, production, podcasts, etc.

We have a small team and a large community, and we try our best on all fronts to be alert and on point. Regarding the other post you cited - I have not personally reviewed the content therein, but keep in mind that this is a forum and consists entirely of user generated content. Our moderation crew is here to keep things civil, professional, respectful, and on-topic as much as possible. Because this is a very active community and we have but a limited moderation team, we are not perfect and will not catch every post of offense. We need your help and that of the community to help us guide things in the right direction.

If you do ever have a concern, feedback, suggestion, anything - contact our crew directly and let us know. You can always PM our core team, or send an email direct to jonraiker@theory11.com for immediate attention. We always listen and always respond.

 

[praetoritevong]

Our moderation crew is here to keep things civil, professional, respectful, and on-topic as much as possible. Because this is a very active community and we have but a limited moderation team, we are not perfect and will not catch every post of offense. We need your help and that of the community to help us guide things in the right direction.

Uhh, no offense JB, but all of RDC's post talks about reported threads which have been ignored. Kinda feels like someone didn't bother to read the entire thread

 

[RDChopper]

Uhh, no offense JB, but all of RDC's post talks about reported threads which have been ignored. Kinda feels like someone didn't bother to read the entire thread

+1

Yep, same exact thing that I was going to say. Anyway Im curious to see how this unfolds...

 

[j.bayme]

Uhh, no offense JB, but all of RDC's post talks about reported threads which have been ignored. Kinda feels like someone didn't bother to read the entire thread

My response was directed at the creator of this thread (Will). That said, unless there's some technical issue I'm unaware of, we would never dream about ignoring a reported post. I have one of our staff members looking into this now to see how that could have occurred, as it is not something we would condone. That does not mean that every reported post will be immediately deleted or acted upon, but I can guarantee that it will be addressed promptly. Will look into this and advise.

 

[William Draven]

I would love to look into this and advise, but I don't think I'm quallified for that.... am I?

And thank you for your personal attention JB,

I'm well aware of why my post was deleted, being off topic and all. I was more drawing a comparison to how some threads run for days and contain more malicious material than a joke that is killed within seconds of it drawing it's first breath.

I guess in typing this I realize that my point is more Rhetorical than anything else. Thank you for your time and careful consideration.

 

[j.bayme]

Just looked through some of our forum admin panel options, and have enacted a change that should resolve the concern addressed in this thread. Previously, reported posts for all forums were only set to go to our moderators. As mentioned in my previous post, our moderators are an amazing but limited, volunteer force.

From this point on, we have set all reported posts to go not only to our moderation crew, but also directly to our admin staff (Jon Raiker in particular). I can 100% verify from this point on that no reported post will ever go ignored even for a few hours - and all will be addressed swiftly with priority treatment. That is not to say that reported posts were ignored before, but because our moderation crew all operates on different time schedules, administrative oversight will GREATLY help improve response time on those posts in question.

Any further insight, suggestions, or recommendations - do not hesitate to contact us directly (Jon Raiker - jonraiker@theory11.com or via PM) and we would be glad to discuss. Overall, do know that we soak in the feedback and appreciate the concerns vocalized within this thread. We always use your feedback to improve and evolve, and I can promise the same in this case.

 

[jonraiker]

Just looked through some of our forum admin panel options, and have enacted a change that should resolve the concern addressed in this thread. Previously, reported posts for all forums were only set to go to our moderators. As mentioned in my previous post, our moderators are an amazing but limited, volunteer force.

From this point on, we have set all reported posts to go not only to our moderation crew, but also directly to our admin staff (Jon Raiker in particular). I can 100% verify from this point on that no reported post will ever go ignored even for a few hours - and all will be addressed swiftly with priority treatment. That is not to say that reported posts were ignored before, but because our moderation crew all operates on different time schedules, administrative oversight will GREATLY help improve response time on those posts in question.

Any further insight, suggestions, or recommendations - do not hesitate to contact us directly (Jon Raiker - jonraiker@theory11.com or via PM) and we would be glad to discuss. Overall, do know that we soak in the feedback and appreciate the concerns vocalized within this thread. We always use your feedback to improve and evolve, and I can promise the same in this case.

I second all of this (naturally ). Always available to chat.

 

[William Draven]

Thank you. Wow.. swift work there gentlemen.

 

[chriswiehl]

i think it really has to be a user responsibility. if we could all just be like oh well and take criticisms here none of this would happen. but too much of our esteem gets in the way and makes every opinion wrong and every comment a dis. cmon its a put down pass it around deal. we all learned this in highschool. its not common sense that people have opinions, being wrong or right. and yea there are those kids who think they are right all the time. ( like me for example) i would love to think i am right all the time, but we have to swallow our pride sometimes and just admit defeat. like in the post example will you posted.

yea the kid was actin up and not taking suggestions and such. but sometimes even those who know what is right need to throw in the towel and just admit to ourselves that the person is just digging a deeper hole for themselves.

i know its hard to do, but if we just try to keep to ourselves sometimes things wont get out of hand. i have had to do this on many occasion, and after an hour or 2 i dont even think about it again.

thats just a suggestion tho so yea dont take it to heart if you dont want to.

 

[shinichikudo992000]

Will,

Mad love, but your previous post I removed myself as 50% of the content was "I did save a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Gyco." I do believe it's Geico, by the way, as Gyco - I'm pretty sure - is something entirely different and gynecological. I digress, but the reason it was removed - within 90 seconds I might add - is self evident, and some swift moderation on our part. I realize you meant it in jest, but keep in mind that our moderation team is a limited, volunteer force, and every post that our core team has to moderate - myself included - is time away from our core focus in filming, production, podcasts, etc.

We have a small team and a large community, and we try our best on all fronts to be alert and on point. Regarding the other post you cited - I have not personally reviewed the content therein, but keep in mind that this is a forum and consists entirely of user generated content. Our moderation crew is here to keep things civil, professional, respectful, and on-topic as much as possible. Because this is a very active community and we have but a limited moderation team, we are not perfect and will not catch every post of offense. We need your help and that of the community to help us guide things in the right direction.

If you do ever have a concern, feedback, suggestion, anything - contact our crew directly and let us know. You can always PM our core team, or send an email direct to jonraiker@theory11.com for immediate attention. We always listen and always respond.

JB if the number of law enforcer is low, then I will volunteer my self to be a mob. I want to make this forum a better forum for the community, or how bout u make Will a mob? I pretty sure he have the most education compare to most ppl in this forum. My point is if the mobs are low, then y don't we recruit more?

 

[RDChopper]

JB if the number of law enforcer is low, then I will volunteer my self to be a mob. I want to make this forum a better forum for the community, or how bout u make Will a mob? I pretty sure he have the most education compare to most ppl in this forum. My point is if the mobs are low, then y don't we recruit more?

I can be the godfather if you guys want. The mafia isn't that big. We should make the family strogner.

 

[Chrisfecto]

I barely post here but let's just say i read more than I contribute- for one reason or another.

Basically I just subscribe to the RSS feed for the forum and get them right in Apple Mail so I read them all as they come in.

I just wanted to throw my hat in the pile for requesting more mods. I have personally felt that the ratio of mods to members is really not fair to either side. I think the mods are doing the best job they can with how few their are. However with how big this community is and the current issues arising I feel as though the attention this forum needs is basically demanding at least 1 more mod.

I see both sides but I feel the only solution or suggestion would be more support.

 

[JDENredden]

I think we need a changing of the mods. The mods are not active enough, I think. Some times there may be no mod for a few days.

Just a thought.

J.

 

[Mr.MadMan]

I think we need a changing of the mods. The mods are not active enough, I think. Some times there may be no mod for a few days.

Just a thought.

J.

I think that the mods are actually very good but we should add another from the active members of our forums. People who really know what the direction of the forum is and what the current state is. Someone who can make good threads and gets along with the other guys here, someone who know what he is talking about.

Mikk.

 

[RDChopper]

I barely post here but let's just say i read more than I contribute- for one reason or another.

Basically I just subscribe to the RSS feed for the forum and get them right in Apple Mail so I read them all as they come in.

I just wanted to throw my hat in the pile for requesting more mods. I have personally felt that the ratio of mods to members is really not fair to either side. I think the mods are doing the best job they can with how few their are. However with how big this community is and the current issues arising I feel as though the attention this forum needs is basically demanding at least 1 more mod.

I see both sides but I feel the only solution or suggestion would be more support.

Just for future reference. This is not the first time that something like this happens, the forums have been in some bad shape of late and it looks like it isnt going to change. Take a look at this thread please.

http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=20254

It was from 2 months ago, it is a vicious circle, everytime that the forums degrade themselves a little more, threads like this pop out every so often.

Now, onto the mods thing. As the thing above, this is also something that has been discussed in the past, actually Sinful gave some pretty good answers and reasons of why we shouldnt have more mods. Take a look here:

http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=15682

Now as much as I agree with Sinful here, some time after that T11 named Zachmonkey a mod. Weird.

Seriously, stop with all the "Hey if you guys want, I could be a mod" really. Im sure neither of you have the maturity to become one, and actually its a hard thing. I know how much you people want William Draven to become a mod, and the same thing happened with Praetoritevong back in those days, everybody wanted him to become a mod (and I actually wanted that also). But what happened?

Out of nowhere we got a mod that nobody of us expected.

Ladies and Gentlemen that's magic.

 

[j.bayme]

I think that the mods are actually very good but we should add another from the active members of our forums. People who really know what the direction of the forum is and what the current state is. Someone who can make good threads and gets along with the other guys here, someone who know what he is talking about.

Mikk.

We are always on the look-out and should we feel that that is the next proper step, we will absolutely take it. We will discuss internally and continue to take feedback into account.

Some times there may be no mod for a few days.

I can personally verify that that is not and has never been the case, as rarely does a day go by when I don't personally speak to each of our moderators directly. Just earlier today, I reviewed notes on the Genesis trailer with Doug and Zach. Further, our core team is here as well. With that, and the guidance of the collective community (you guys), I think we're in very good hands.

 

[William Draven]

JB: Depending on where you are in the world it is anywhere from midnight to 4am..

What the hell are you doing up this late? Don't tell me you have insomnia too?