Moderating the Arsenal Forum

[billyho96]

Alright, he (Crest of Stars) had good point until he played the Nazi card. I have been coming in here for a couple of years and have been a member for a while. I post some but not all that much. I do read posts here most everyday, and if you do too, and are honest with yourself, the moderating here has gotten a bit silly.

I know most of the moderators, not personally, but through posting and others whom I have met personally who know them and such and they are top class guys, so this is not aimed at them, this is really becoming more of problem on all the boards.

Get over it guys. If someone needs a card, give it. If someone needs editing, do it. Stop warning people. It doesn't work and its kinda childish. Only the most extremely trolling should be punished (racist remarks, etc.). This is a message board for goodness sakes. Freedom of speach and all. I read the TOS, but come on.

This is a bit like old people complaining about the programming on TV, who just need to turn the channel. If you don't like the thread, don't read it. Nobody is getting hurt. And frankly, it makes all of us seem kinda petty. Especially since there is a troubling amount of editing and warning after a poor result. A little criticism never hurt anyone. Most bad posts are just dumb not malicious.

Billy

[Neo¹]

Alright, he (Crest of Stars) had good point until he played the Nazi card. I have been coming in here for a couple of years and have been a member for a while. I post some but not all that much. I do read posts here most everyday, and if you do too, and are honest with yourself, the moderating here has gotten a bit silly.

I know most of the moderators, not personally, but through posting and others whom I have met personally who know them and such and they are top class guys, so this is not aimed at them, this is really becoming more of problem on all the boards.

Get over it guys. If someone needs a card, give it. If someone needs editing, do it. Stop warning people. It doesn't work and its kinda childish. Only the most extremely trolling should be punished (racist remarks, etc.). This is a message board for goodness sakes. Freedom of speach and all. I read the TOS, but come on.

This is a bit like old people complaining about the programming on TV, who just need to turn the channel. If you don't like the thread, don't read it. Nobody is getting hurt. And frankly, it makes all of us seem kinda petty. Especially since there is a troubling amount of editing and warning after a poor result. A little criticism never hurt anyone. Most bad posts are just dumb not malicious.

Billy

I think the moderators are pretty good, the only one that annoys me is the AJAX guy but i dont think hees on this board/

-Dave Seville

[Przybylinski]

Moderating has been fine with me. Part of pointing things out is to let the newer guys know the do and don't and as of lately there have been a ton of new people signing up and coming to the Arsenal page.

I understand if you've been here a bit that you wouldn't want to feel like your being treated like a child, ut look at the age of the people who are signing up. Mostly 13 - 18 year old kids. My guess is that they all have been watching the Friday Night Soccer show on FSW because those guys refer to BigSoccer all the time. And many of the callers are younger.

I think the Moderators are doing a good lob to keep things in line and not letting in all the trolls and crap posters.

[Rick B]

I accept that on occasion recently maybe I have been a little over zealous with closing threads too quickly. But there are people here from both sides of the court. There are regulars who have asked us to be tougher on trolling and flaming and there are regulars who are saying we are being too tough. Not everyone is going to be happy with every single little thing we do. Thats just a fact of life. But im sure you can appreciate that if you think either myself or Coach have missed something or have reacted too quickly, then it would be nice of you to PM us and point out the post or thread. It would be appreciated much more......

At the moment we have one of the busiest forums on the site. Arsenal it seems are the team to love or hate in equal amounts. This has led to many youngsters coming on to the site and annoying people. Posting things that are against the T of S and inflaming others by making personal attacks. For the main, we try to let as much go as possible, but please remember that we are NOT here to moderate to what YOU think we should be doing. We are here to Moderate to the Terms of Service. Thats decided by Huss, not me or anyone else. Now we have taken it upon ourselves to be much more leniant than other club forums simply because of Arsenal's status. And as many of the regulars know, we will listen to advice/criticism, but also remember that many of the people that we moderate, are those that are causing problems throughout the site in other forums that you might not of seen. Therefore you may not know the whole story. Like manc_sean or Tesos to pick out two recent examples. One other thing that I will say is that a full page of trolling takes people to react ot the troll as well. Regulars are guilty of that, and in the last 48 hours alone, ive had two regulars apologise to me for flaming the trolls. So we need the regulars to help us as well...
Overall though, if you have anything to say - i'll listen. PM me and we'll discuss it.

Thanks,

Rick

[Val1]

One other thing that I will say is that a full page of trolling takes people to react to the troll as well. Regulars are guilty of that, and in the last 48 hours alone, ive had two regulars apologise to me for flaming the trolls. So we need the regulars to help us as well...
Well, that's what WE need to do, the users of this board. Y'know, if no one would reply to crestofstars (just as a recent example), some guy with 25 posts, then he is going to dry up and go away. I'll admit, I don't know what motivates someone to post trash on a board and then get abused by responses, but we're going to get them.

So, please follow Coach's Fourth Rule of Etiquette: Don't feed the trolls. That means ignore them. They'll go away. And we'll be left with the regular non-Arsenal visitors who provide balance and allow us to have someone to brag to.

[dwinkler]

I do read posts here most everyday, and if you do too, and are honest with yourself, the moderating here has gotten a bit silly.I read the posts, I'm honest with myself, and I *don't* think the moderating has gotten silly.

I do think it's a lot tighter than it's been in the past, and I think a big reason is the influx of new posters. Some are good, some not so good, but it's certainly added to the traffic. I mean, 50 posts on the Bolton game before kickoff? Come on.

As far as not reading threads where the trolls play, that's just a weak suggestion. Why should I have to be chased away from an interesting or enjoyable thread just because some troll decides to pop in and act like a jackass?

[nicephoras]

:confused: What's with the freaking soul searching? The moderating here's been fine. Everyone moderates forums differently, as most of moderating is dealing with trolls and discipline. We deal with our trolls with blunt pain and stern warnings. You like to play with your trolls. Liverpool are hideously mean to trolls. And ManUtd......well, having so many trolls based there, I'm not sure how they deal with it. :p

Your moderating is fine. Quit acting like a gaggle of 13 year old girls reading Sylvia Plath and listening to Tori Amos.

[ZANI]

This is the best Forum. I mean it. The best. This is soccer talk. It doesn't have to be all serious like doctor's annual meeting. You all have been to soccer games. It is funny out there, not boring. Isn't it?

This is the forum where you could attack Arsenal and they will hit you back with confidence. I guess because their team is kicking butts.

Go to ManU and criticise them. They are so grouchy and grumpy. They will let you do two posts, the third one they will be calling for your head and they will start forum ban threats.

Go Arsenal board. Bring the fun. Bring it on.

[billyho96]

Okay Okay . . . I wasn't trying to be critical. Geez. My point was that these public warning they give out seem to make things worse. I did not know that they had to give out these warnings.

While I do think ignoring/just skipping over dumb posts is the best policy, I surrender.

Please take me out for my public flogging :o

[billyho96]

:confused: Quit acting like a gaggle of 13 year old girls reading Sylvia Plath and listening to Tori Amos.

I would never:
1. read Sylvia Plath
2. listen to Tori Amos

[yossarian]

I would never:
1. read Sylvia Plath
2. listen to Tori Amos


Aww, I don't know....I kind of dig her creepy version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

[United Forever]

Okay guys. I love to visit this board. As much as I hate you all they are many good debates on here. Hey I am 13 and I am not a troll that is an invalid comment. I only have the trolling problem on the Pool board. Gosh I hate those bastards!!

[mad theory]

Hey I am 13 and I am not a troll that is an invalid comment.

Why do you use your age as an excuse?

[nicephoras]

We deal with our trolls with blunt pain and stern warnings. You like to play with your trolls.

similar to what a certain leader of a impoverished country did in the mid 30's~

Are you saying Hitler spent a lot of time under bridges playing Monopoly? I'm confused.

[nicephoras]

I would never:
1. read Sylvia Plath
2. listen to Tori Amos

I will actually admit to liking one Tori Amos song. Perhaps I should have used Ani DiFranco or Bjork.
On an unrelated tangent, God do I HATE Bjork. When I was in undergrad, these two really annoying gay guys across the hall would leave their door open and blast Bjork. And we all HATED Bjork. So one day my roomate and I decided that my stereo was louder - so I'd shout them down with Dave Matthews. They really hated me for that, although it took them a good 3 months to figure out that I'd turn off my stereo as soon as they closed their door.
The lesson - Bjork deserves to be poked in the lung with a rusty spork.

[Coach_McGuirk]

If anybody thinks that modding this board isn't a pain, I invite you to take a look at how much crap I have to go through on a daily basis.

Do I like deleting posts? No. Do I enjoy closing threads simply because one idiot has chosen to spew venom? No. In fact, the only reason I started to mod this board is because we were trying to get a thread stickied for 2 days and it hadn't happened, so I volunteered.

Every thread I close and every post I edit brings a PM or 2 wanting an explanation that I have to deal with. That's in addition to the PM's from other mods I respond to concerning Arsenal posters trolling other boards. All this, and I know that there will be people who won't be happy no matter what I do.

[Motterman]

Go to ManU and criticise them. They are so grouchy and grumpy. They will let you do two posts, the third one they will be calling for your head and they will start forum ban threats.
As always, ZANI, you are a special case.

You don't post anything new or fresh, you just parrot cheap ABU crap. And when rebutted, you just keep posting the same tired crap over and over. You are like a black hole or something...

There's being tenacious and sticking to your guns, but then there's just beating a dead horse. Arguing with ZANI should get you in trouble with the ASPCA.

And as for other United fans, they see what's said about their club by trolling members of other forums, and come here or somewhere else to reply in kind. I do what I can to keep things from getting out of hand in the United forum, but some people think they can come on our board, call our player a twat, and then not expect somebody to get upset enough to come back here and call your player a cnut. But only our poster is a troll? Oh please. :rolleyes:

I tend to think that being a good Moderator is akin to being a good Ref, if you don't notice them, they are doing a good job. It's just sometimes certain people leave you no choice.

[Miles Brasher]

As a newbie, I think the Moderators have got things about right. I've been on many forums in quite a few years, and a common theme is always 1/2 the board complaining about the 'my gun is bigger than your gun' chat from the other 1/2, whilst they argue back with the 'its a free world' defense. Debate is good, banter is good, even the occasional insult can be good, and I think that's what you've got here. I actually like most of Zani says, as although he's always derided as boring/stupid, he always gets someone to bite, and some of the worst offenders have a point to make some of the time, it's just when the insults start flying it gets boring and not worth reading. The recent thread about Rooney joining ManU (might have been on the Manu board) was really good IMO until the swearing took over. I don't think the U.S. readers understood quite the depth of 'almost childish' feeling that can overcome you when a badge kissing player joins a rival team. It stuck in my mind as only a few weeks ago I saw a picture of Sol in an Arsenal shirt and thought it still looked 'wrong', and I'm the most balanced person I know. It's a shame that the English lot couldn't keep it friendly-ish.

BTW my gun IS bigger than yours

[Detlef]

Quit acting like a gaggle of 13 year old girls reading Sylvia Plath

didn't she commit suicide by sticking her head in an oven?

Mods, this should be the punishment for any poster who flagrantly violates the TOS...who needs cards! :)

[yossarian]

I will actually admit to liking one Tori Amos song. Perhaps I should have used Ani DiFranco or Bjork.
On an unrelated tangent, God do I HATE Bjork. When I was in undergrad, these two really annoying gay guys across the hall would leave their door open and blast Bjork. And we all HATED Bjork. So one day my roomate and I decided that my stereo was louder - so I'd shout them down with Dave Matthews. They really hated me for that, although it took them a good 3 months to figure out that I'd turn off my stereo as soon as they closed their door.
The lesson - Bjork deserves to be poked in the lung with a rusty spork.

I'm not a big Bjork fan but I did like the Sugarcubes when they first came out. Right now I'm really into the Shins. Anyone else? Oops, sorry Coach, Rick, Andy.....if you have to delete me for off topic. ;)

Btw, I think the mods here do a good job and I'm not just sucking up....did I mention that all their posts are very scholarly as well? ;)