The 2006 DC United Moderator Poll

I think the mods have done a fine job, but have room for improvement as we all do with any task we set ourselves to.

My only real qualm regarding the mods is some of the thread merging. Now there are times where it is needed and I understand that the merging of threads is an inexact science and subjective.

There were some instances (the Kitten Killing and Rumors thread for examples) where it seemed that instead of allowing any new information to be posted in a seperate thread, the mods took it upon themselves to further their own inside jokes (kitten killing) or move information that included links to sources into an allready jumbled thread (rumors).

Like I said, this is a small complaint as there is no right or wrong answer to these problems. Now that Freddy has moved on, the kitten killing thread is moot, but the simple fact that you couldn't post anything revolving around him, as he was a DCU player at the time, without having a mod brow-beat you with pictures of cats or hint that you were a freddy-lover/basher just for posting information got old quickly.

I am all for fewer threads, but if somebody has information that they can provide a link to, it should stand on its own without being merged into the rumors thread.

The rumors thread is overun with side commentary and jokes between two or three members that it takes forever to find any information.

Besides those two small complaints, I felt the mods have done a great job! Keep up the good work.

 

I have been an active participant in many online communities and listservs. I have moderated several (including some professionally--as part of my job). So I have an understanding of how challenging it is to be a moderator (or part of a moderating team), especially for a large, diverse, vibrant community.

At the risk of sounding superior, I think that the DCU Board and commentary is consistently the best on Big Soccer. That doesn't happen without the Moderators. I don't mean "the mods are part of that" or "the mods play their role well." I mean, we have the most diverse and demanding and greatest volume of posts/participants and therefore the greatest demands on moderators to "get it right." And y'all do.

Sure, Knave (or all of you) sometimes push people's buttons. But we manage to have a Board that encourages crude bashing of other teams and shameless homering (TFKAM scum as only one example), silly humor (yeah for critters), dry and detailed insight (and I have 39 points indicating this is so). Parents of players and next of kind post on this Board more than once. Somehow, all of this manages to co-exist. That's rare for big Soccer. And that diversity and depth and tolerance doesn't happen if we don't have some talented mods who are also willing to draw a hardline at times.

I specifically think of times when we had 2 game threads in the past: one for analysis and the other for "you're scum" "oh yeah, well so are you" kind of exchange. And rivals would post in the first (ignoring the very clear details and expectations laid out at the start), Knave would come down on them and then they'd go crying back to their Forums about how "the United mods won't let opposing fans on their Boards like we do on ours." The Nowak-Ellinger circus could have easily gotten a lot worse and had more impact--I still cringe in thinking about where we might be if Marion Berry had somehow latched on to some of this. We're not just talking ugly, we're talking about the ability of the team to get a stadium built in DC and maybe the future of the franchise.

I'm not looking for a mod to be a good buddy who also will merge a thread now and then. I want a community that is healthy and vibrant, with some clear rules and expectations and the DC United Board is as good as it gets in Big Soccer. NONE of that happens without the Mods. Each of you has your own style and approach and it's all appropriate and welcome and essential and I value each of you. I not only value each of you, but I've got to say that you seem to be a pretty effective team. I don't see public sniping at each other. You seem to do a good job of inserting the right moderator for the right circumstances. That people sometimes complain (either about individuals or decisions "where'd my thread go? Why isn't this thread closed?") is more a reflection of the diversity of our community and the subjectivity of much of your work.

Thank you for making our community what it is.

 

I've got no objection to the moderators at all. They set the conditions and we more or less abide by them. What I object to is the role of hall monitor that certain posters have taken upon themselves.

I'm going to single Jay out here because he's the most objectionable in this regard, but there are others. We've got moderators. Don't help them. Everything does not belong in the NN&R thread, which has been rendered totally unreadable by all the crap that gets thrown in there. If you're going to throw all of the junk into something, create a crap thread so that the NN&R thread retains some viability.

THEN you can crack on everybody and everything that doesn't read the latest update in the NN&R thread.

As it is, it simply doesn't make sense for non-moderators to spend their entire lives policing the board for folks who don't bother with the NN&R thread. It's petty and it's irritating.

I have spoken. Make it so.

 

Some thoughts:

- I do pay for this! Yes, I pony up money every year for Ad-Free membership (call me a sucker I know but I hate banner advertising). So, yes, I expect Bigsoccer.com to provide quality service.

- I know how much fun and the difficulties of being a moderator are - I used to be one on this very board.

- I think there are other ways to moderate this board without losing the quality of posts and posters.

- While all the moderators are party to the actions that get taken here on the DC Boards and discuss all the situations, a forceful and determined minority can and has dominated the approach to moderating this board. The tone has been set, reinforced, and codified. This has led to a style of moderating that appears to some users as heavy-handed and often arbitrary or capricious.

- As a user, I don't expect equality, I expect fairness. What does that mean? That means, not all situations are equal or should be treated equally. The compiling of duplicate threads into one should be done with common sense not with a uniform policy. The elimination of off topic threads shouldn't be handled without regard to the content of the thread. The "DC Implications" tag shouldn't be used on every thread about MLS to bring the discussion here. I expect that moderators will treat everyone fairly but will handle situations differently. Frankly, I feel that as I look around this board, there is one stamp that gets put onto every situation, regardless of the factors. We've seen the backlash most recently with the dupe and mega thread discussions. It has happened before.

- It is this striving for uniformity that I believe Knave drives to the detriment of this board. There appears to be a lack of evaluation and a knee-jerk reaction of pounding square threads into round holes until they fit. If the posters involved get upset, oh well, "it is just the off-season" or "it is just the summer doldrums after we've qualified for the playoffs" or any number of other dismissive statements about posters getting annoyed.

- Don't believe the hype about this being the best board. There are plenty of other great boards out there on Bigsoccer.com (stay away from the US National Team boards though!!). They just run differently and posters are used to a different level of moderating and etiquette. Frankly, I see this board as getting progressively trite and irrelevant. Posters have better soccer discussions on other boards, posters are more reasonable and open to discussion in other threads, and posters aren't divided into separate and intrasigent sects (i.e. pro- anti-Convey/Marco/Jaime/Carroll/Erpfu/Gros etc.). There are reasons that we continue to shed our veteran posters in favor of newbies. Are the moderators soley responsible? No, of course not, but they have culpability in that regard (I certainly do from my time as a moderator and as a poster).

- This probably doesn't fit into your ideas of generic feedback that ends up being completely meaningless other than to say "yea team".

 

You guys suck!

Seriously you all do a great job, I question some of your thread closures and merges sometimes but hey, I'm too lazy to be a Mod myself so who am I to judge.

 

In my opinion, the decline in the quality of the discussion on this board has everything to do with an influx of newbies and little to do with the moderating. Don't get me wrong, newbies are good. Newbies are growth. But the culture is bound to change, which can make long-timers unhappy.

 

And Mike! Don't forget Mike. I certainly haven't, despite unfortunate circumstances.

Anyway, I'll never entirely abandon this board because since I moved away, I need it for news. And to keep up with the peeps.

But I remember meeting Chico at Kilroys and he was incredibly friendly and welcoming. DC United might just be a sports team but it's brought together a lot of people who never would have met otherwise. How many couples do we know who met because of DCU? I can think of three without even straining myself and I'm sure there are lots more.

 

I can't be bothered to read massive all inclusive threads. I like for a thread to have a headline that compels me to read it. Thus, I never open the Off Season, Near News and Rumors threads. That's a moderating decision that makes the board less compelling to read to me. BS takes itself too seriously for me and that's why you don't see me around much. It's not much fun and it's too much trouble to bother with.

 

I do think that all of you have a tireless job that gets little thanks...I do appreciate all of you, for all of you time and effort that you put into this site. It could be much worse. So, Thank you! Each and every one of you.

 

FWIW

1. I echo many statements about mega-posts. These decisions (to bunch everything together) are often arbitrary, frequently lazy, and extraordinarily unhelpful.
   
2. Too often mods fail to meet this component of the Community Forum Guidelines:
   
   
   Our Moderators will be held to the highest standards of behavior, such that they may be an example to all the members of our community.​
   
   Keeping it short: the moderators get in the mud too often. Demeaning language, insults, and dismissive comments are not examples of the "highest standards of behavior". While I recognize the challenge faced by the mods, the high road should always be taken. That is the responsibility you committed to when you volunteered.
   

 

I would like to ammend my vote down to a "D" - the sheer desperation the moderator team displayed in adding Sachin undercuts whatever faith I had previously had in them.

 

Kudos and applaud for our moderators. My idea of a perfect mod is probably different from others so I think they spend hours of their lives doing a thankless job because they love it. Can't knock that.

If there is one thing I would like to see based on the increased competition from many blogs today, it is removing the mega blog threads and allowing us to discuss the different topics on a blog as separate threads. Many of the blogs have their own comment section and I prefer not to use them but rather talk about them with this community. What happens with the mega blog thread is that there are several topics being discussed at the same time in which one essentially takes over. It is hard to keep interest in a thread that jumps across several subjects.
Otherwise, thanks to the mods for their tireless work!

 

I agree re the mega blog threads.

 

It was just an idea.
There were two, one for each blog, and they lasted what - one blog posting, maybe the start of a second before it was easily figured out that it didn't work. Neither thread got very big at all - there have been more posts whining and complaining about those threads than there were actual posts (or probably even views) on the threads, they have become nearly mythical in proportion.

 

I forgot to say thank you to the mods for their hard work. The DC forum is always welcoming and is one of the main reasons I became a fan of DC United.

 

I gave ya'll a B. The only reason that I know there are mods around is because everyone bitches about them--I've never had a post altered/deleted/modified and while I understand the problems with arbitrary rule enforcement, I simply don't see the problem that many seem to--people that like, even.

It slays me, it really does.

So, mods, quit pissing people off. So, people, quit being pissed off. Damn.

And, for the record, I still honestly don't care about megathreads vs. nonmegathread, not even a little bit.

 

I gave them a B as well. For the most part they have done very well all around. It' a difficult position to have to smack hands with a ruler and have people who were once your peers not want to kick your ass. Some carry themselves much better than others. My only concern is when someone in this position of authority stoops to the level that they should be correcting. They contradict themselves and are not at all respected.

 

Isn't that what you said when your brother moved out?

This is grad school.. A..B..C..F, or in law school: A...B...C...Congress

If you want critter crap, just look at RBNY's signings. Hell... that goes for any kind of crap.

Well... we feel the same way about you guys, and Lazo Alavanja.

Of course, you realize that most of what they want to say on our boards makes MLS officiating seem almost prescient by comparison.

Shhh.... jacknut.. you're making too much noise, goat goy.

Stop talking about the other posters this way. That's not nice.

We don't expect thanks. We expect beer.... NOW. Shake a leg and get moving... YOU MAKE CLAUDIO REYNA LOOK LIKE DAMARCUS BEASLEY.

Finally, someone who understands. Seriously, isn't fairness subjective? What may seem fair to us, isn't fair to you. After all we get feedback from multiple posters, who don't all make their POV public.

You gotta have faith uh faith uh faith....

Hush you!

Never mind... welcome back.. .now get back to your studies

Fixed your post.

Wow.. that was a brutal mod initiation.... now may I have my jackboots, Riz?

Thank you all for your feedback, both here and in other threads. As always, we strive to make this forum welcoming for all DC fans. Don't hesitate to send me your feedback via posts on the forum or through private messages. And don't hesitate to tell me what you thought of MikeLastort2.

Sachin

 

I think the DC mods are very sexy but need to show more skin.

 

Oh, he's gonna be the talky one.

 

Thanks for your feedback and comments -