Thread Closings
 

I think that we need to establish a system whereby when a mod closes a thread or thrashes it, they should post thier reasonings, so that others can know what to say and not say. This might aleviate some of the repetative posts about the same issues, and the resulting flamings. My case and point is this thread here - http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=21447 . This person was posting about what everyone else complains about. Maybe if others see these things - we might have a little less of the nonsense everyone complains about.

Most mods usually do post up there reasons for locking it, (from what i'v seen anyways) maby they just forgot for that one.

Erik

No, I've seen a lot where they lock it and don't say why, and I do see what ATREYU is saying. There're a few mods that give a reason, but not all, and they don't always. *shrugs* I'm a mod on other forums and I understand it, it's just not always possible to put the reason, or it's blazingly obvious why it got locked (IE it turned into a shitslinging contest or whatever) Other times it's nice to get that last remark in, or they feel the conversation is over and it can be finsihed.

Or they don't like the topic or the someone involved in the convo. Let me ask this since i was asked - when a thread is deleted, does that take a persons post count down, or is that something else a vindictive mod can mess with?

The posts in the trash don't count for your post count, so if a thread gets moved to the trash, you lose the count from those posts. Say you had 10 posts in a thread, it gets trashed, you lose those 10 posts from your post count.

But yes, I have seen some vindictive modding, but you have to remember, they're still human.

Woah. My thread got deleted? That's weird.

Post count means dick all.

Mods can do what they want and give a reason or not. They're decision.

There's a lot of crap that comes through here when new players ask to see pics of everyones guns, or ask what to do to make their gun shoot 400fps.

Just wondering - how does someone who has a problem with a "vantictive mod" handle it? PM Hojo? Another Mod?

While I have never really had a problem with a Mod, I have seen a mod boderlining a few rules themself.

I agree they are human - but thats just it. They have final say and I guess we'll just have to live with it. I think a Mod poll would be awesome (whos hot, whos not) :)

And if a mod is just getting ready to PM me with a warning ... Please note: I didnt say anything bad towards a mod - nor troll - just sharing my thoughts

Exactly.

----

Troz, I would say if you think a mod is being unfair, PM them, ask them why they did what they did, they can chose to explain it to you or not.

A cop pulls a man over who is speeding, however he is merely keeping pace with the rest of the traffic, when he protested to the cop, saying "But I was just going the same speed as everyone else!"
The cop asked, "Ever go fishing?"
The man replied, "Yes."
"Ever catch ALL the fish in the lake?"
"Oh."

I highly doubt any of the mods would bother wasting their time e-hunting particular individuals. I sure don't. I trash lots, and I mean LOTS of threads. I don't mind seeing people asking questions, and I don't mind people chatting, but far too often threads not only get off topic, but nasty or just plain pointless and then I push my big red flush button.

Also, with regard to post count. First off, it should not matter. Secondly, when I remove a thread that has out lived it's usefulness (expired buy & sell ads for example) your post count remains intact. When a post goes into the public trash, you loose credit for all posts within that thread. Mods included. Another point I'd like to make, if it were up to me no one would have their post count visable.

If I did not trash as many threads as I have been, this place would become a disorganized, unreadable, confusing mess.

I do agree with that.... this place would be a zoo..

Also, some threadss get trashed for no reason as well. This thread: http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=20985 as an example, nothing was outlined why. Just gets sent to the trash bin for no reason.

Another issue is those that get a temp banning for whatever reason, why isn't that person notified about why and how long? I remember Droc getting a temp ban, it took a couple of us that still had access to get to the bottom of it, then he cleared it after on MSN Messenger. So if a person gets banned to learn what not to do or say on the forum, how does he/she learn what the banning was for? Or even that they did in fact get banned, and the server isn't down for repairs?

Granted - and I have noticed you DO clean up a lot. It needs to be done. My only issue is to see why some threads got closed is all. I'm not abdicating keeping them all open, but a reason for closing might deter other people from rehashing an old subject - knowingly or unknowingly. The mods do have a job to do, and they keep idiocy from being contagious.

**Edit - Alex this is not directed at you or any of the other mod's personally**

Stalker, good question ... I can't be bothered to email everyone that gets banned.

The golden rule is that we (mods) already warn people in advance before they are banned. I'm not going to get into the whole Droc thing here but he is no angel and although I'd like a level playing field, established users get cut more slack. He knows that and if not should have a gander at the rules.

Why do established users get cut more slack? Because they have at least offered something good to the airsoft community as a whole. New people who show up and start lipping off right away get dumped almost immediately.

So, in part, usually someone has a general idea of why they may have been banned. Some rules are very obvious ... no porn, and no images or videos depicting death. While some rules can float into the grey area, these are clear cut no no's. Let me not forget death threats or threats of physical violence, those are also lame and frowned upon.

One example? I banned the same shit three times on Sunday alone. He kept creating new hotmail accounts and new ASC accounts. How much time do I need to waste on people who can't repect the rules of this site.

I used to make a comment when I flushed or locked threads but I felt like I was starting to look like one of those pricks that always needed to get the last word. I didn't like that.

Good answer! Hehe, as I tell people, the only reason I'm kept around here is because I'm nice & useful to new players with questions. Otherwise I'd have probably been banned years ago. Hey, when Greylocks tells you that "You are a true saint online............" has to say something!

And regarding your last comment, I agree that it tends to have a last word bit about it, but at least the message becomes crystal clear. Just sometimes it seems closing threads without a reason mentioned has other results.

Oh ya, I KNOW Droc is no angel!!!! Then again, neither am I. A saint maybe, but no angel............ ;)

I think a mod's opinion is as much a part of a topic as the one who started it...ergo - the mods should tell the person who was in the wrong why they were. As you said the mod's and the established members are the "old men" of these boards. Maybe a bit of that wisdom can brush off on our newer members.

As FF has already said, threads get trashed when they get off topic and/or stupid. I trashed one the other week where someone was saying Schindler from Schindler's List was sniping Jews from a guard tower. It was getting stupid. When a mod trashes a thread, there is a reason, even when we don't post it, which most of us do. If its not obvious to you why, we're sorry, but we don't always have the time to explain in detail why we trash things; generally I would like to think its pretty damn obvious.

One thing i have noticed about locked threards though, is once its locked, it should be LOCKED meaning NO ONE else should post in it. It's kind of annoying when after a post has been locked and trashed you see other mods tossing in their 2 cents or additional jabs, whatever the case may be.

Thanks for pointing out that I seem to be the Resident Nasty. Some folks are starting to think I'm a moderator.
Please let me kill that rumor right now; I'm not. I'm just the generic tired old fart who'se blunt as a brick.

I have, again, a repeated suggestion for all posts moved to the trash; they should be immediately locked with no further comments.

I also think that a person's # of warnings should be visible to all. Maybe it would help to correct their attitude if it was visible.
Then again, I'd probably have hundreds of warnings just for being too mean to folks who refuse to read even after being pointed in the right direction ;)

Just a simple explination for a trashed tread would be helpful. If its a flaming thread, or something thats painfully obiouse, then no need, but, for example, if its a thread on gun springs that turns into a battery thread, if it gets trashed, an explination should be given.

I dont see the need to display warnings. To much like the Jewish yellow star markings. Publically displaying it wont solve anything, only brand the person forever.

As for banning. New people get banned all the time, it happens. But for people who have been around for awhile, something should be said. In my case, I was banned and couldnt access the boards, or contact anyone for the reasons. Took alot of effort from alot of people to get me an explination. Explination? Droc needs a banning explination? Well, I was told that my banning was for something posted a week earlier and only decided to ban for it a week after the incident, which I though was cleared up, and turned out to be a misunderstanding. Thats fine, but I had no explination and no way to contact anyone about it. Since it was over a misunderstanding, a simple explination would have cleared things up instantly.
For someone like me, who is always on thin ice, and will stay that way regardless. I may be a problem to some people here, but Im a regular player on the field and spend most of my time here trying to help people in the discussion areas. Im not here to make life harder for everyone, I just speak my mind, give it where its deserved and do my best to help new people get the right info. I do what I can, I donate what I can to our field when I have it, I do my best to help everyone that I can. Now Im told the admin section has urber-discussion about me, yet aside from 1-2 private messages, no one says anything to me. Most people here are very understanding, and everyone has a reason for what they do, so in my case of the banning, someone actually talking to me could have sorted everything out. All Im saying is if there is a problem, it should be delt with the person, not behind their back.
but thats all another matter, I dont mean to vent or pleade my case, and it doesnt need to be discussed here further.

In the end, threads need to be trashed, and the mods have their hands full as it is, but in threads where the reason isnt clear-cut, an explination would be nice.

as for the linked thread that Atreyu posted in the topic opener, its an airsoft revelant thread.
I would almost suggest another discussion section. Now, we can talk guns, gear, etc. But not games.
We already have post-game reports.
But what about a discussion section "Games" for game ideas, tatics, suggestions, incident(no name) discussion(lots of incidents happen on the field, so long as no names are mentioned, Id like to see someplace to discuss/debrief the incident to learn/prevent it from happening).

Why am I not surprised to see Droc posting RIGHT AFTER GREYLOCKS!?!!?!! Lmfao, ya, coincidence. Just recall the irony that part of Droc's banning was because, well you know, he always posted AFTER Greylocks said his thing. Sorry, too much iron(ic) in my blood today.

I think he secretly likes me.

Okay... I just scared myself.

To return to the subject at hand; I understand that the moderators dont have time for explanations, specially after warnings are given. Too many problems to fix.

However, locking a thread as it goes in the trash is just one more keystroke.

The visible warnings? I doubt they stay forever. But who knows? It may solve a few problems quickly.

This is Airsoft Canada, not Airsoft Toronto, or Vancouver, or whatever... after game debriefings should be area specific because let's face it, it'd get hella cluttered with threads that not many people read if every area posted their game debriefings here. Thats why we have local forums. That stuff is localized and doesn't need to be in the Airsoft Canada General section.

Id like to think field have stuff to share, issues to resolve. My point was to keep stuff outta the general section and give the discussion area its own section for game talk....not post-game talk. but game ideas. We already have post-game reports. I mean if someone has an idea about something to do on their field, a place to ask other players from other fields how things have worked for them. Heck, I have placed on a bunch of fields and all have different rules and ways of doing things(from fps to dealing with minors).
For example, at the LZ, the issue of explosives have come up, and its been a year of trial and error with rules and such. Being able to discuss rules/events with other people from other places can help.
Heck, Id LOVE to know how some of the fields out west do with +400fps limits.

well tac-ops rules on FPS and i quote from they're website "Outdoor events - 420FPS for AEGs, 470FPS for bolt action and semi-only guns." we do fine but a hit will wake you up if you do get it.

now back on topic. i've had one of my threads trashed you now the question was somewhat dumb to ask but i some outside thoughts on the matter and after the 4th page it became a shithole of a mess and FF the one who trashed it gave a reason i thought was understandable and after reading the thread right through i was like holy crap come off topic but my answer was there. but if a topic becomes off center is a like a wounded animal just put it out if its pain and the mod's i'm sure have to think if a thread should be trashed so give them some ced there.

ATREYU are you really the moron you sound like? Droc get a life man.

Geez, here we go again.

Man, thats my bro and friend your talking to like that. So really, piss off.

Fonger, Welcome to my Shit List.

Fonger, if you dont have anything intelligent to add to the topic then dont post at all.

As for my brief 2 cents on this topic, For the most part everyone has very unique views on how things should be dealt with. Now there has got to be ways to satisify everyone? I would like to know what a mod would do when a actual airsoft related thread with some purpose gets hi-jacked? Do you just delete it? If so thats not fair to the poster who actually was looking for the information. You just took away an avenue from him/her to attempt to get that information. Why not just clean it like some do for the buy/sell.

There honestly has to be a better way. I agree with Droc on a games section. Your right this is ASC not a local site, but your telling me that local fields have no right to post on here about their problems? How the hell does that work?

No, I think problems are fine to post here, if they're dealing with issues that could affect other fields across Canada... however, complaining about some noob who was a loser on the field isn't really legitimate IMO. If it's a localized problem, deal with it locally. if it's somehting that could affect all of us in the future (ie cops busting all of you at the field for carrying replicas because Paul Martin told them to do it) then feel free to post here and we'd gladly hear about it/deal with it with you.

Unfortnatly, noobs are everywhere, and this really isnt the first time something like this has come up, so I see it in my opinion as a recurring problem and requires relevant discussion.

Sorry about your luck

I've pm'd fonger, so everyone cool for a bit.