A bridge between Mods and Non Mods: Ambassadors

[Pumpkin Row]

Hey.. I've given this some more thought.. How about a counter - proposal that could be simpler and less contentious Phoenix.

What about a single appointed reporter that gets facts, statistics, tips, and news from the moderation staff and writes up a bi-weekly "blog" in a forum. MIght even include news of new members, new features, USMB romance advice, ect... Just knowing how many reports and actions handled or number of warnings, member counselings, meltdowns, thread mergers and moves and such. Would be interesting and useful to the board members?

I like this idea. We probably don't need a go-between in the first place, since we do have two or three mods that don't need to be completely avoided at all costs, but if someone could give Admin/Mod reports and USMB news like you suggested, I think it would be a beautiful thing.

I haven't personally had any problems with any mod, but then, I've only really interacted with flacaltenn .

I'm sure redean would happily be the go between for the two of you, and then you can leave the rest of us out of your Totalitarian Bureaucratic Wet-dream.

I don't know who redean is, but that made me laugh ;-). We're just thinking of a newsletter here, not the beginning of the Fourth Reich .

Self-serving bureaucracies always start with a limited good intention, bub.

I fail to see how there's anything totalitarian about scheduled reports on mod/admin and forum activity. Personally, I'd like to know what those in power are up to, as I have a hard time trusting people in such positions.

 

[phoenyx]

Hey.. I've given this some more thought.. How about a counter - proposal that could be simpler and less contentious Phoenix.

What about a single appointed reporter that gets facts, statistics, tips, and news from the moderation staff and writes up a bi-weekly "blog" in a forum. MIght even include news of new members, new features, USMB romance advice, ect... Just knowing how many reports and actions handled or number of warnings, member counselings, meltdowns, thread mergers and moves and such. Would be interesting and useful to the board members?

I like this idea. We probably don't need a go-between in the first place, since we do have two or three mods that don't need to be completely avoided at all costs, but if someone could give Admin/Mod reports and USMB news like you suggested, I think it would be a beautiful thing.

I haven't personally had any problems with any mod, but then, I've only really interacted with flacaltenn .

So who picks them? And who picks the ones to be picked from?

I'd think people would be nominated, and then there would be a vote.

I thought of that at first, but then I thought, I want to do a colaborative effort, and teams can't be formed via democratic vote. I think people will vote with their eyeballs. If they like a given newsletter, they'll read it, otherwise, they won't.

 

[Ozone]

it's amazing what kinds of rumors and gossip are going around these days... this image comes from another site which was discussing yet another site where it was originally posted, or something along those lines, in reference to the shillary aka correct the record:

sure, it's mostly a non-issue, but this is the kind of creepy shit that mods usually learn the hard way. i know because i've been there. i was a mod on a website before, and i can tell you the shenanigans are like to drive one insane. i'll never do that again. hell, if this was my forum, none of you would even know who the mods were to protect them from certain abuses.

 

[phoenyx]

I like this idea. We probably don't need a go-between in the first place, since we do have two or three mods that don't need to be completely avoided at all costs, but if someone could give Admin/Mod reports and USMB news like you suggested, I think it would be a beautiful thing.

I haven't personally had any problems with any mod, but then, I've only really interacted with flacaltenn .

I'm sure redean would happily be the go between for the two of you, and then you can leave the rest of us out of your Totalitarian Bureaucratic Wet-dream.

I don't know who redean is, but that made me laugh ;-). We're just thinking of a newsletter here, not the beginning of the Fourth Reich .

Self-serving bureaucracies always start with a limited good intention, bub.

I fail to see how there's anything totalitarian about scheduled reports on mod/admin and forum activity. Personally, I'd like to know what those in power are up to, as I have a hard time trusting people in such positions.

For me, flacaltenn humanized the mods here. He seemed like an all around nice guy. In a very real sense, I think he could act as a bridge between the world of the mods and the world of non mods. And I'm certainly willing to help him in this endeavour, if he's interested in working colaboratively.

 

[Pumpkin Row]

I haven't personally had any problems with any mod, but then, I've only really interacted with flacaltenn .

I'm sure redean would happily be the go between for the two of you, and then you can leave the rest of us out of your Totalitarian Bureaucratic Wet-dream.

I don't know who redean is, but that made me laugh ;-). We're just thinking of a newsletter here, not the beginning of the Fourth Reich .

Self-serving bureaucracies always start with a limited good intention, bub.

I fail to see how there's anything totalitarian about scheduled reports on mod/admin and forum activity. Personally, I'd like to know what those in power are up to, as I have a hard time trusting people in such positions.

For me, flacaltenn humanized the mods here. He seemed like an all around nice guy. In a very real sense, I think he could act as a bridge between the world of the mods and the world of non mods. And I'm certainly willing to help him in this endeavour, if he's interested in working colaboratively.

Other mods don't need to be 'humanized', they're already humans, and humans are mostly malevolent entities that will hurt and mislead others for their own gain. We just need someone we can trust to report on mod/admin activity so that we know what they're up to. Yes, though, I think Flacaltenn would be the best pick for this newsletter.

 

[phoenyx]

it's amazing what kinds of rumors and gossip are going around these days... this image comes from another site which was discussing yet another site where it was originally posted, or something along those lines, in reference to the shillary aka correct the record:

View attachment 90301

sure, it's mostly a non-issue, but this is the kind of creepy shit that mods usually learn the hard way. i know because i've been there. i was a mod on a website before, and i can tell you the shenanigans are like to drive one insane. i'll never do that again. hell, if this was my forum, none of you would even know who the mods were to protect them from certain abuses.

Interesting image. I think the best protection against shenanigans is transparency, though, not secrecy. I think a newsletter could help not only with transparency, but with an attempt at harmony, in the "yes, we have our differences, but we all like USMB" type of way.

 

[Pumpkin Row]

it's amazing what kinds of rumors and gossip are going around these days... this image comes from another site which was discussing yet another site where it was originally posted, or something along those lines, in reference to the shillary aka correct the record:

View attachment 90301

sure, it's mostly a non-issue, but this is the kind of creepy shit that mods usually learn the hard way. i know because i've been there. i was a mod on a website before, and i can tell you the shenanigans are like to drive one insane. i'll never do that again. hell, if this was my forum, none of you would even know who the mods were to protect them from certain abuses.

Very nice, I actually think I'll save that image. You never know what administration is up to, so it's always best to keep those things in mind.

 

[phoenyx]

I'm sure redean would happily be the go between for the two of you, and then you can leave the rest of us out of your Totalitarian Bureaucratic Wet-dream.

I don't know who redean is, but that made me laugh ;-). We're just thinking of a newsletter here, not the beginning of the Fourth Reich .

Self-serving bureaucracies always start with a limited good intention, bub.

I fail to see how there's anything totalitarian about scheduled reports on mod/admin and forum activity. Personally, I'd like to know what those in power are up to, as I have a hard time trusting people in such positions.

For me, flacaltenn humanized the mods here. He seemed like an all around nice guy. In a very real sense, I think he could act as a bridge between the world of the mods and the world of non mods. And I'm certainly willing to help him in this endeavour, if he's interested in working colaboratively.

Other mods don't need to be 'humanized', they're already humans, and humans are mostly malevolent entities that will hurt and mislead others for their own gain. We just need someone we can trust to report on mod/admin activity so that we know what they're up to. Yes, though, I think Flacaltenn would be the best pick for this newsletter.

I don't share your view on most humans, lol . But I certainly think that Flacaltenn would be a great person to head/edit a USMB newsletter.

 

[phoenyx]

it's amazing what kinds of rumors and gossip are going around these days... this image comes from another site which was discussing yet another site where it was originally posted, or something along those lines, in reference to the shillary aka correct the record:

View attachment 90301

sure, it's mostly a non-issue, but this is the kind of creepy shit that mods usually learn the hard way. i know because i've been there. i was a mod on a website before, and i can tell you the shenanigans are like to drive one insane. i'll never do that again. hell, if this was my forum, none of you would even know who the mods were to protect them from certain abuses.

Very nice, I actually think I'll save that image. You never know what administration is up to, so it's always best to keep those things in mind.

I guess no one wants to believe that their own mods would practice dis-info, but it's certainly possible.

 

[Kat]

it's amazing what kinds of rumors and gossip are going around these days... this image comes from another site which was discussing yet another site where it was originally posted, or something along those lines, in reference to the shillary aka correct the record:

View attachment 90301

sure, it's mostly a non-issue, but this is the kind of creepy shit that mods usually learn the hard way. i know because i've been there. i was a mod on a website before, and i can tell you the shenanigans are like to drive one insane. i'll never do that again. hell, if this was my forum, none of you would even know who the mods were to protect them from certain abuses.

I have been there as well.so know what you're saying. But, I still wonder if this is a viable solution. Guess I would have to see it in action.

 

[tinydancer]

I'm not getting this at all. Call me late to the party. More unisom and I don't have a clue why I'm not able to sleep but ready to break out a two shot of Nyquil but are we discussing flacaternn sp? Great mod. Gave me a warning about some comment I made and we ended up in a really good discussion about what should be posted or what should not.

Excellent conversation. Great mods on this board. But this one will engage and I appreciate that.

 

[tinydancer]

it's amazing what kinds of rumors and gossip are going around these days... this image comes from another site which was discussing yet another site where it was originally posted, or something along those lines, in reference to the shillary aka correct the record:

View attachment 90301

sure, it's mostly a non-issue, but this is the kind of creepy shit that mods usually learn the hard way. i know because i've been there. i was a mod on a website before, and i can tell you the shenanigans are like to drive one insane. i'll never do that again. hell, if this was my forum, none of you would even know who the mods were to protect them from certain abuses.

I have been there as well.so know what you're saying. But, I still wonder if this is a viable solution. Guess I would have to see it in action.

Mod hell? I lived it. Picture it. Small town. I thought I'd help out the new message board. OMG! These people were freaking animals.

I've been a boarder for a couple of decades. These people went wild. HuffPo would have banned them in two freaking seconds.

So I'm the new mod. But because it was a Christian board I wasn't allowed to ban anyone. Holy toledo all I wanted after the first 24 hours was mega smiting.

It was a nightmare. I appreciate moderators and how they deal with all of us. My hair was on fire for at least the first week.

Bless your mods and hold them close to your heart.

 

[Alex.]

What is the criteria in selecting these "ambassadors"?

Is there an educational requirement;

Min Max Age;

Life experience;

Political leaning;

Sense of humor;

gender;

Height;

Weight;

Personal hygiene.

I was thinking simple popularity would do. It's how we elect presidents. Ranked voting is a step up from what happens in most democratically elected countries in my view. The difference here is that mods would have veto power over anyone they felt they wouldn't be able to work with. The current system works, even if imperfectly, which is why I think it makes sense for that system to have veto power.

Popularity...you are asking for a great deal of trouble.

Critical thinking, judgment, ability to be unbiased and objective....someone who would act and a true bridge rather than a layer of bureaucracy.

Yeah, that would be the ideal, but who decides who has these qualities? Anyway, after reading what everyone here has had to say, I've come to believe that flacal has the right idea, in terms of perhaps creating something like a weekly or biweekly newsletter for USMB.

Your enthusiasm is admirable as is your concern for the welfare of USMB.

 

[koshergrl]

How about a counter proposal

After a long discussion with flacaltenn, one of the mods here, I've decided to go public with an idea. He said (and I quote): "We're always around with the fire extinguishers and the Hazmat suits if it doesn't go well."

So there's that .

My idea is create a new forum for atleast a few non mods who are interested in why mods make decisions if they get to pick which people are included. flacaltenn said they'd be tarred and feathered if the mods got to pick them outright, so I'm thinking maybe non mods would vote for who they would want in this forum, and the mods would have the power to veto anyone if a majority of mods didn't want that person in the group.

Perhaps these individuals could be called "Ambassadors", clearly not mods (no power to alter/delete posts/threads), but being able to see a little more then normal non mods in that they can question any decision a mod makes in a special forum that only they and mods can participate in.

As to their selection, first we could start with a number: there are apparently 7 mods, so perhaps there could be 7 Ambassadors, atleast for starters. Here's how I think it could work- prospective Ambassadors could put their hat in the ring by saying they'd be interested in being one. Let's say we give a week to people stepping up as prospective Ambassadors.

An Ambassador would need a certain amount of people to vouch for them to even be seriously considered. I'm not sure what that number should be, would like to see how many votes initial candidates get to be able to come with up with a good number. Once the serious contenders are chosen, we could start making polls for individual candidates. Note that we don't need to even have 7 candidates right away. If there are only 1 or 2 serious contenders for starters, that would be fine, if other serious contenders come later, they could get polls done then.

Next, a thread is made, with the names of all of the candidates. Voters would engage in ranked voting, of the instant run off variety with as many ranks as there are candidates (because the 'serious contender' can be set at whatever level, it could be made to make sure that there are no more than, say, 14 contenders).

Finally, once the top serious contenders have been chosen, mods would have the ability to veto any given choice if a majority of mods felt that a candidate would not be suitable to be an Ambassador.

So, what do you people think?

Hey.. I've given this some more thought.. How about a counter - proposal that could be simpler and less contentious Phoenix.

What about a single appointed reporter that gets facts, statistics, tips, and news from the moderation staff and writes up a bi-weekly "blog" in a forum. MIght even include news of new members, new features, USMB romance advice, ect... Just knowing how many reports and actions handled or number of warnings, member counselings, meltdowns, thread mergers and moves and such. Would be interesting and useful to the board members?

I like the general idea of this, and skimming through all the responses, I agree that my original idea had some flaws.

I am not reallt saying it is a horrible idea, but I am not understanding how you want to go about accomplishing this.

I think I should start by saying that I've changed my idea- I think flacal's counter proposal is simply better then what I originally had in mind. My understanding is that he's suggesting USMB get a newsletter, talking about important things that have happened in USMB every week or 2.

Now THAT would be fucking funny.

 

[koshergrl]

Hey.. I've given this some more thought.. How about a counter - proposal that could be simpler and less contentious Phoenix.

What about a single appointed reporter that gets facts, statistics, tips, and news from the moderation staff and writes up a bi-weekly "blog" in a forum. MIght even include news of new members, new features, USMB romance advice, ect... Just knowing how many reports and actions handled or number of warnings, member counselings, meltdowns, thread mergers and moves and such. Would be interesting and useful to the board members?

I like this idea. We probably don't need a go-between in the first place, since we do have two or three mods that don't need to be completely avoided at all costs, but if someone could give Admin/Mod reports and USMB news like you suggested, I think it would be a beautiful thing.

I haven't personally had any problems with any mod, but then, I've only really interacted with flacaltenn .

I'm sure redean would happily be the go between for the two of you, and then you can leave the rest of us out of your Totalitarian Bureaucratic Wet-dream.

I don't know who redean is, but that made me laugh ;-). We're just thinking of a newsletter here, not the beginning of the Fourth Reich .

He also goes by rtard.

I find your naked desire.to write yourself into the management amusing.

 

[phoenyx]

Hey.. I've given this some more thought.. How about a counter - proposal that could be simpler and less contentious Phoenix.

What about a single appointed reporter that gets facts, statistics, tips, and news from the moderation staff and writes up a bi-weekly "blog" in a forum. MIght even include news of new members, new features, USMB romance advice, ect... Just knowing how many reports and actions handled or number of warnings, member counselings, meltdowns, thread mergers and moves and such. Would be interesting and useful to the board members?

I like this idea. We probably don't need a go-between in the first place, since we do have two or three mods that don't need to be completely avoided at all costs, but if someone could give Admin/Mod reports and USMB news like you suggested, I think it would be a beautiful thing.

I haven't personally had any problems with any mod, but then, I've only really interacted with flacaltenn .

I'm sure redean would happily be the go between for the two of you, and then you can leave the rest of us out of your Totalitarian Bureaucratic Wet-dream.

I don't know who redean is, but that made me laugh ;-). We're just thinking of a newsletter here, not the beginning of the Fourth Reich .

He also goes by rtard.

I find your naked desire.to write yourself into the management amusing.

Actually, what I wanted was for there to be more communication between the mods and everyone else. I think this newsletter that flacaltenn suggested may be the best option.

 

[Darkwind]

This strikes Me as the 'inmates wanting to run the asylum' kind of notion. Or employees who think they can do a better job at running the company, only to run it into the ground within five years.

Who cares how they reach their decisions? You have two choices. Abide by their decision, or leave. This is the way it works.

 

[Grandma]

YOU want power? Fine YOU EARN it like ANY other member here.

How to send Narc Furry into a meltdown: Come up with a better idea for getting a bit of token power on someone else's board.

Phoenyx, you're a star!

Getting elected could be said to be something that is earned.

Ain't no member with a thousand posts going to come in and tell me he is going to be my leader.

In case you missed it we HAVE people here with higher post counts and higher rankings then yourself. Some of them have been on the net for a decade or more.

You simply cannot promise the members leadership when YOU have never been in the trenches.

I vote NO and would fight your effort tooth and nail.

Fury

This from the guy that tried a coup d'etat in the Flame Zone while Mani was gone.

The Flame Zone.




(yeah, I know...#inbeforethelock)

Hey.. I've given this some more thought.. How about a counter - proposal that could be simpler and less contentious Phoenix.

What about a single appointed reporter that gets facts, statistics, tips, and news from the moderation staff and writes up a bi-weekly "blog" in a forum. MIght even include news of new members, new features, etc... Just knowing how many reports and actions handled or number of warnings, member counselings, meltdowns, thread mergers and moves and such. Would be interesting and useful to the board members?

No.

I'm okay with the concept in a high-school newspaper kind of way, but it really won't do anything but add to the bandwidth usage. That is, for a few weeks, after which it will be abandoned.

I had a more useful idea, which has already been shot down: a sort of mini maudes to tidy up the site and help with the flow. They'd merge all the tons of threads on a single topic into a few, move threads into the appropriate forum, block/delete the spambots, all that kind of thing. Also they'd act not as ambassadors, that's way too lofty sounding, more like lackeys, to clarify unwritten rules, temp-lock out-of-control threads until a mod can review, thread-ban trolls until a mod can review, and so on.

I think 'lackey' should be their official title. All are mod-appointed.


Adding this in, unrelated:

it's amazing what kinds of rumors and gossip are going around these days... this image comes from another site which was discussing yet another site where it was originally posted, or something along those lines, in reference to the shillary aka correct the record:

(attachment deleted to save space)

sure, it's mostly a non-issue, but this is the kind of creepy shit that mods usually learn the hard way. i know because i've been there. i was a mod on a website before, and i can tell you the shenanigans are like to drive one insane. i'll never do that again. hell, if this was my forum, none of you would even know who the mods were to protect them from certain abuses.

The attachment is quite a few years old and was written to show how shill sites like Above Top Secret, Godlike Productions, and Infowars operate.

It has nothing at all to do with Hillary.

 

[rightwinger]

What is the criteria in selecting these "ambassadors"?

Is there an educational requirement;

Min Max Age;

Life experience;

Political leaning;

Sense of humor;

gender;

Height;

Weight;

Personal hygiene.

Maybe I can trade in some of my "Trophy Points" to buy an Ambassadorship

 

[boedicca]

I like this idea. We probably don't need a go-between in the first place, since we do have two or three mods that don't need to be completely avoided at all costs, but if someone could give Admin/Mod reports and USMB news like you suggested, I think it would be a beautiful thing.

I haven't personally had any problems with any mod, but then, I've only really interacted with flacaltenn .

I'm sure redean would happily be the go between for the two of you, and then you can leave the rest of us out of your Totalitarian Bureaucratic Wet-dream.

I don't know who redean is, but that made me laugh ;-). We're just thinking of a newsletter here, not the beginning of the Fourth Reich .

He also goes by rtard.

I find your naked desire.to write yourself into the management amusing.

Actually, what I wanted was for there to be more communication between the mods and everyone else. I think this newsletter that flacaltenn suggested may be the best option.

More communication between Mods and Everyone Else????

That's rather like asking for More Audits by the IRS or More Cavity Searches by the TSA.



No thanks.