Complaint about Arsenal forum moderator Rick B

First, Rick didn't ask me to do anything. And second, it doesn't matter if you know or don't know he's my friend. You complained about a friend and a fellow moderator who was completely within his rights. So I'd be a dick if I didn't back him up.

Because you're complaining about people I know and like here. And a fellow moderator. This isn't annoying - its an attack.
If everyone else says you reek, it might be time to consider some deodorant.

 

Happy to do so. We are hostile to trolls, I'll readily admit that.
But is there something you'd like to say to me about the moderation in the Chelsea forum? Not sure what this thread has to do with it.

So I'm not allowed to comment if this isn't about me? I guess I learn new things about BS all the time.

 

BS stands for BigSoccer, yeah?

To be honest, if this thread isn't allowed to follow the normal mutation and meander off on to slightly different subjects then it's purely between Johan, Rick and the Dark Knight (surely that name demands a crack of thunder after it?) and I think all three of them have said everything they need to say. (Although I've never met Rick, I suspect he's starting to hit the keyboard a little harder with each post ) So why not close it ?

 

I agree clique doesn't help. But there is a big difference in my opinion between that and this issue. Johan managed to annoy more than me on the Arsenal board. You can see that quite clearly in the thread. Therefore those people want to say their piece in defense of the Arsenal forum posters not neccesarily me which Johan has attacked as well. Both sides of the story should be allowed to be heard and as we have quite obviously seen from Johan's posts in the origional thread and this thread - she has absolutly no answer to our/my allegations of why I asked her to leave the thread.

I still think this thread should be closed, every time I open My Bigsoccer it comes up with a new post - can we put it to bed yet?!!!

 

Bingo.

 

I handled it by warning her three times before threatening with a card. I didn't PM her as I explained the thread was moving so fast I took the view she would see the posts before a PM. I should of PM'd her - but I am under the impression my reasons in asking her to stop are correct, plus warning her three times before threatening a card (which is generally two warnings before giving one) wasn't really all that harsh.

Ive also said in this thread I am more than happy for her to post as long as she looks at responses and takes them into account when replying instead of repeating herself constantly.

With regards to warnings I warned the one poster that she complained (in here, not to me direct or by report) about personally attacking her. If I should get a card fro him I will do. See you in another thread in 2 mins.....

Lastly.......charming goes both ways.........This is the 3rd time in 3 years Ive had someone unhappy at how Ive handled them. The 2nd time posted in this thread and ran off when I put some facts to him. The first time was Bill Archer who I subsequently apologised to as I took out on him direct revenge for a kitty killer thread (Freddy Adu) in the Arsenal forum which destroyed every thread for about ten hours.

 

Finally you got the irony I was trying to show!!! I'm shutting up now - and PLEASE shut this thread!!

 

Who said Americans don't do irony?

 

Right, so this has what to do with the moderation of the Chelsea forum? If we're going to talk about "sniping" and the like?

Wow, talk about selective and creative editing. I wouldn't defend Rick if he was in the wrong. There are people on here I like who're moderators with whom I've disagreed. As you know, in fact.
johan raised the question of why I bothered - its because Rick is a good mod and the complaint was unwarranted. And because we're friends. I didn't decide to post here because "oh, Rick is my friend and johan is mean". I hadn't realized I'm no longer allowed to offer my opinion on a subject.
johan routinely pisses people off with her posting style on every forum I've ever seen her post. Oh, should I not have said that?

Or you could ask us not to comment, which would have been easier. Or have moderators dragged through the mud because totallyemo decides his trolling should be allowed.

Close this abortion and have done with it. Otherwise I'm sure Zuras will be back to complain.

 

Dark Knight- Let me get this straight, you're discouraging Mods and Arsenal fans from posting in this thread in the interests of furthering free speech. And you're obviously annoyed when they respond to posts that are clearly aimed at them. I don't see how the irony of your position is utterly lost on you. Maybe you should take your own (and everyone else's) advice and just close this thread before you have to resort to threatening people with cards. And please don't respond to this post, thanks.

 

I don't coddle anyone!!! I stick up for Arsenal posters as you know and they, generally, stick up for me as they like the way I moderate the Arsenal forum.

Anyway, Im off - this thread isn't going anywhere if your not going to let Nicephoras post here.........

 

So let me get this straight. Johan can complain here (without first going through any of the steps suggested in the guidance from Huss btw) and none of the people that had to deal with her annoying posts that were either trolling (Rick and many Arsenal board regulars' view) or as close to trolling as one can get without quite crossing that hazy line (my view) are allowed to make comments here?

Weird way to run the site. So if one of our members wants to complain about johan posts here I assume you'll be sure to restrict the conversation so that nobody that agrees with her can comment, right? I think members of the Arsenal board all have an interest in the outcome of any complaint made against what they obviously view as proper behavior by one of their board's mods. Telling them to mind their own business is unlikely to improve the situation.

People were calling for this thread to be closed because there seems to be no advantage to going over and over this incident. Nothing Johan says will change how her posts were seen by the vast majority of people on that thread. Sure it would have been better for people not to respond to the "troll" but I'm not sure what rehashing it over and over again will serve. However, if you would like to keep this topic going, could you please explain how your current stance compares to what you first said in this thread?

Do you now think that her behavior can't possibly be reasonably considered trolling? Are you now saying that the community guidelines that allow board mods to determine where the line between just poor, impolite behavior and trolling on "a forum by forum basis" should not apply here? As your final paragraph acknowledged, Rick felt a need to get invovled because of the character of Johan's posts (a pattern which you admit can be seen as trolling) and the (negative) reaction they generated from nearly every other person on the thread. It probably escalated too quickly and too far but I think you'll find the all parties made that mistake and would probably handle it differently next time.

I'd also suggest that if you have a problem with the way the Arsenal mods run our board you might want to address those concerns to the mods in private before making silly statements here about "coddled" members being unable to handle dissenting voices and group attacks. Isn't that the way you normally would bring up such concerns? I'll be happy to point you to thread after thread full of dissenting voices (both within the club and beyond including a fair amount of activity from Chelsea, ManU, and even Spurs fans) that did not follow the pattern seen after Johan's inflammatory repetitive posts. I think you also realize that tolerance levels for trolling (and posts either side of that hazy line) varies signifcantly across Bigsoccer. You'll find our board's overall treatment of "guests" falls well within the norms seen across BigSoccer especially for a very active board. If you'd like to improve the standard of behavior across the site (not a bad goal), I'd apreciate it if you addressed your comments in a way to make it clear you aren't targeting the Arsenal board which was the impression I got from your recent posts here. Thanks.

 

Don't worry I did. I know you well enough by now. Hence I added the "not letting Nicephoras post" bit. I think you know by now my sarcastic humour........

 

I still think the complaint at the heart of this thread should be about Rick B's avatar with that oddly giant head and eerily blinking eyes.

 

But I just found this Mr Knight!!!

Thread Complaining about Dark Knight!! which you closed.........

How come you can do that eh, eh, eh?

Now re your long post, I'll quickly "Nicephoras" it (thats the term we use in the Premiership forums for picking it to bits and making lots of little posts which clog up forums......!!!!! )

Agreed, but you know as well as I do that if certain people are perceived to be "attacked" they will get people backig them up.

Secondly and more importantly, what Cannon has said is quite correct - Johan complained about not just me. Therefore those people who came on the thread have just as much right to complain about her antics on the Arsenal forum. Surely it's better for them to complain in a thread directly dealing with the issue rather than start another thread altogether?

As you, and probably most people know, I am more than capable of arguing in my defense. In my opinion they were mentioning me, but more arguing in defense of themselves who had been criticised by Johan and in defense of the Arsenal forum in general. A forum that has been taken from a small one to being the 2nd biggest Club forum and the 5th biggest forum in total on the whole site. It's like telling Madonna she did something wrong.......

Also remember you insinuated I had asked people to speak in my defense. Now I know fully well that had I put a simple thread on the Arsenal forum like "I'm being unfairly criticised as a Mod" - you'd of had a fair few comments in defense of me being a good mod. But then in all honesty I don't think you distrust me as Mod anyway considering our past conversations over the years.

I have said the way I could of handled it differently would of been to PM Johan rather than put it in posts on the threads. You have said on page 1 in post 13 here that I had a fair point that I had asked her to stop 3 times before threatening any punishment. I therefore don't believe I escalated it too quickly and thought you were in agreement with this? In that post as well you suggested I should shut down the thread. I decided against that as I wanted to see if the discussion could be turned into a proper debate between the two players attributes.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!!

I did take it in that spirit and can handle it.
As you know, the Arsenal forum is a big forum - we get a lot of trolls, therefore it's more important to me to make sure that my very high numbers of regular posters are happy rather than one poster who (and Ive tried my best to refrain from saying this, but as others have - I'll be a little less diplomatic) is well known accross BigSoccer for being a pain in the arse, who often trolls, who goes out of her way to annoy Mods because she (openly addmitedly) doesn't agree with authority, and who manages to get away with a heck of a lot more than most trolls because she has a lot of friends who will stick up for her.

I can assure you that this isn't a problem on the Arsenal board. Have a look at new signups and where they post their first post. I think you will find a high proportion of them are Arsenal. This is from something we have done at Arsenal America where we encourage all our members to sign up to BigSoccer and everyone who gets a ticket through me (which as you know I run from the Arsenal board) has to become a Bigsoccer member. We even have links to the first 5 threads on the Arsenal forum in the Arsenal America homepage so therefore there is absolutly no way we are going to be too harsh on newbies or guests. All of the mods are members of Arsenal America as well. 3 out of the 4 including me are Board members. The only thing we are harsh on is if people piss off and annoy the forum. This being a prime example.

 

The really funny thing is I had the smaller version until the avatar images could be enlarged a year or so ago and Riz (Chelsea Mod) made the image bigger and made the eyes blink quicker......!!!!! It still freaks some people out