Moderators - Censorship?

[danielw2599]

Personly I think the mods do a great job, and hats of to them for doing so. I know I wouldn't like the job. As Phil and DK say, your damned if you do your damned if you dont.

If anyone or anything should be labled "Censorship" its the anti-critism brigade

[johndibben]

Any volunteers to become mods to see how hard it is ?

*Sticks hand in the air*

No one can accuse UKTS of shielding RSDL after what much if that which I've read for two years and comments by admin and mods.

Doug, Glyn, Ian and John have clearly been doing their level best on these forums over the past month and everyone who wants to criticise has had the opportunity to do so again and again often with the same points being raised. No one can say they've been unable to speak their mind. If mods can't censor posts posts then they might as well not be mods. Some subjects have been raised which are beyond those you'd expect concerning internal matters of Kuju, RSDL, EA and even personal remarks about Derek and Adam which are surely not for these forums which I assume are to get the best out of RS and not bury it.

Releasing anything in the autumn appears unwise with many in a foul mood with the shorter days, bad weather, Hallowe'en, Guy Fawkes Night and then Christmas looming. January 2nd sees happy bunnies all over the place with sheer relief that it's all over for another year

[growler37]

Any volunteers to become mods to see how hard it is ?

*Sticks hand in the air*

I think john would make an excellent moderator.

with kind regards kevin

[stewart]

Any volunteers to become mods to see how hard it is ?

*Sticks hand in the air*

I think john would make an excellent moderator.

with kind regards kevin

So do I.
PS I hope your Dad is doing better John.

[jbilton]

Hi
I must say I could see why the original thread was locked (JD will say I'm creeping again).
Blue Sky announced they would build addons..........then they say they won't be..........nothing to discuss really.
I do however note that the original thoughts were they had tools early, but maybe thats not the case and on downloading the dev tools they re-thought their position.
So that would not make them a 'chosen developer'.
As to UKTS moderators, the current 'balance' seems very even ATM.
Cheers
Jon

[johndibben]

Any volunteers to become mods to see how hard it is ?

*Sticks hand in the air*

I think john would make an excellent moderator.

with kind regards kevin

So do I.
PS I hope your Dad is doing better John.

I was a site mod for over a year

A year of 'literally' looking for trouble every day was enough and I upped and left one day as I kept promising myself that I'd take a back seat for a while but never did. It has a wearing down effect which can be seen from time to time and those who've done it for years have done very well.

Dad's still in hospital, bored and fed up but his leg appears better, fingers crossed.

Thanks for asking and it's much appreciated

[Easilyconfused]

Thanks for those posts John and Jon. Your combined posts have pretty much hit the nail on the head.

The add-on developers announced the cancellation. They don't post here as far as I am aware. Some posts were made that started to compare development regimes under RS with MSTS-1, Trainz and the as yet unreleased MSTS-X. That has been done to death in numerous other threads and we don't in my opinion need another thread to discuss that and I was not prepared to let it descend to that overnight when I was getting my much needed sleep. I don't like shopping on Saturday mornings but to do it in a sleep-deprived state after staying up to watch a potential flame war risks domestic grief.

The locking of the thread was no attempt by me to "protect" RSDL. That is not in my remit as a moderator. As Doug noted we have had complaints we are not hard enough on people criticising RSDL and RS. We have also had complaints the other way as well. The policy is that providing the posts are within the guidelines then they stand but take note of section 3 of the code of conduct about posts being made in good will.

All complaints are looked at seriously by the moderator team. The result might not be what the person complaining wants but it gets an objective review before action. Sometimes time is of the essence and the forum rules allow for that.

As for discussing the consequences of the cancellation - I really fail to see what that achieves ? Commercial developers are unlikely to indulge in posting on these forums at this stage so all that happens is a lot of conjecture / speculation / general angst that eventually boils overs and members get in the focus of the moderator team.

And John beat me to mentioning that he was a valued moderator of this site before I was invited to join the moderator team.

[mikesimpson]

Personally, I do get fed up with all the locked threads on this site. They always happen on interesting threads where I think I can make a contribution, then due to the time difference between the UK and OZland, by the time I get to the bottom of the thread I am greeted with the 'This thread is now locked' banner

I really do not care if the commercial content for the sim never appears, very little of the commercial stuff for the other sim was worth buying compared with the better freeware stuff, and in any case did not appear for the first 2 years of the sims existance. So if nothing commercial appears this year, I will not be getting rid of what I consider a really great fun game.

[MaxFreak]

Any volunteers to become mods to see how hard it is ?

Offence not intended ... but , after visiting this board for some time I think the job here is reasonably easy .

Elsewhere , at the time of this post ..

Active Users - 1543
Members - 681
Visitors - 862 ( limited posting privileges )
Active topics - 359
Moderators online - 3 + 1 Admin
Moderator Activity - 33 topics
Bans - 4 ( 24 hours - repeated language ) 24 hour cycle
Warns - 7 ( various ) 12 hour cycle

Would care to come and join the fun ??

~A~

[phill70]

Mike
If you find you could add something to a thread thats locked, let us know and we will unlock the thread for it to be posted, and possilbly leave it unlocked.

[AndiS]

Comparing forums does not lead anywhere, because you can't compare them.

This is a very intensively moderated forum, with all the benefits and disadvantages.
Other forums (most of them) are loosely/sloppily moderated, with all the benefits and disadvantages.

The decision is with the owner of the forum.

The good thing is, you can choose where to post.

(Mike, it happened to me, too. At the same time, there were threads where I wonder why they are not already locked. The point is, the moderators cannot ask everyone (and it would not lead anywhere), it must be enough management overhead to bring forward a consensus between the moderators available at a given time.)

Maybe with Web 3.0 around the corner, we get some form of parallel universe in forums where you can lock threads yourself and see the forum as if the thread were locked. Should work better than the current feature of not showing "foe" posts, but seeing the replies to them (I guess - never tried, TBH).

[johndibben]

Comparing forums does not lead anywhere, because you can't compare them.

You did with myself in private and said German ones were far more combative and that I shouldn't complain about the RS Forum.

As for Mr. MaxFreak, his experience with gamers is hardly what we'd want here unless I'm mistaken. We have certain standards Moderator standards are also probably far higher in most cases as mature adults. Well as mature as anyone who pretends to drive trains can be Most give their correct names for a start. They've all contributed in some way to UKTS before becoming a mod. They are 'chosen men' by Matt. In six years I've never seen Matt lose his cool once in public and sets a very good example in this respect. Not even barking 'Get a life!' and no personal remarks. No differentiation between remarks made as himself or admin. This is an area I've contended as members will make the connection even if the mods deny it as we don't see what's said in private. It's Matt's site though and I've the same choice as everyone else which is to accept the rules or unsubscribe.

It is particularly difficult when dealing with commercial interests. When BA and MT had their own forums here they were pretty much no go areas for site mods and I would liase with Mike Hambley. You're potentially affecting people's incomes. On this forum there's even more at stake. Unless you've been a mod and seen all the interests which have to be weighed up and treat everyone as equally as possible then people have no idea what it's like. What we see is the tip of the iceberg. Reckon it's best that way. Trainsim politics can ruin people's enjoyment of trainsimming. After six years, there's loads excess baggage which makes matters worse. At the end of the day, you're responsible for the reputation of UKTS, day in, day out, shape how it's perceived and ultimately for the success or failure of that which isn't yours and without any reward. A Christmas present as a thank you may arrive though A great sense of satisfaction can be achieved if you gain people's respect even if they don't agree with you. Start to lose it and all authority is lost.

Back on-topic and regarding locking threads. I agree with Mike and have wanted to add something to a locked thread. Starting another thread is against the rules. There's a good reason for this and Glyn's suggestion appears to cover it. Threads can also be split.

As Bazza remarked on the MSTS2 Forum, this isn't a democracy.

I'd not have said that in public but it is essentially true

[phill70]

Great post John, and Andi.

I have been a mod here since 04/04/04, lots of things have changed in that time, the most important is libel, this is Matt's site, and as such he is responsible for everything that is posted, so please remember that.
So its not simply a case of flames, its far more than that.

"The moderators decision in all matters is final" went out of the door 18 months ago, thank god, my mistake
We are not nasty, if you don't agree with something we have done, then tell us, we will not ban you for telling us that you think we have made a mistake.

Yes we do get a little pressie, this year it was early, a copy of railsim great pressie that turned out to be
Only joking

[AndiS]

Comparing forums does not lead anywhere, because you can't compare them.

You did with myself in private and said German ones were far more combative and that I shouldn't complain about the RS Forum.

I just need to add that I did not say it exactly that way. What I said and still say is that there are more combative or otherwise less cosy forums than UKTS, be it in German or English language.

[kimdurose]

Commercial developers are unlikely to indulge in posting on these forums....

Highly unlikely, seeing as we are banned from doing so......(in a commercial context anyway)