I suppose it's about time for my occasional "essay"in the forum...
Someone asked why the moderators were so quiet... I for one have not responded to all this because I find the vast majority of the complaining totally without merit.
I have often observed the various lobbies (with the exception of Tanx) as "guest" and have yet to see any of this horrible behavior mods are alleged to have committed.
Statements have been made repeatedly to the effect that "mods swear and act just as bad (or worse) as the people they ban," yet the best evidence anyone can come up with is pretty tame and lame. Two Tanx mods allowed someone to say "shlt".... heaven help us!
What happens with screenshots... often intentionally.. is that they don't show but a couple of lines of the conversation...which results in the comments being taken out of context. Would I ban someone for mere use of the word "Poo" or "shlt"? More than likely not, but it would depend entirely on the context... if someone literally just typed the word one time... like in the case of the screenshot presented by Pot... I probably wouldn't take any action either... regardless of whether I knew the person or not. On the other hand if the person had also been exhibiting other bad behavior, it might be differant.
There are two arguements being put forward that have no basis in logic or reality. First, is that the language and behavior is actually worse now that we have moderatation. Anyone who says this who has been around for two or more years is either lying or has a really poor memory. Someone actually claimed that people in the "good old days" were all polite and friendly... that's hilarious. The flame wars back then were nasty and intense and the best one could do was try and ignore it because there was no mute feature and no moderators.
The next ludicrous arguement is that moderators actually CAUSE people to curse and act uncivilized. That's like saying the officer on the side of the road there to enforce the traffic laws MADE you exceed the speed limit and that if he hadn't been there, you would have followed the law. I can with a high degree of certainty say that my mere presence in the lobby has never caused anyone to have a sudden and uncontrollable urge to spew filth and vile language and act horribly. That arguement is so without logic as to merit no further rebuttal.
It's interesting that 99% of the complaining is coming from a tiny percentage of the player community. How is it that most players can frequent this site for months and years and never have a run in with the moderators yet this small group claims that the moderators are horrible.
Here is a comparison that comes to mind... who is more likely to hate the police, regular, law abiding citizens, or those that are either on the fringes of the law and/or outright criminals?
Mind you, I don't equate those who won't follow FlyOrDie rules with criminals, but the principal is the same. Those who break the law, or the rules, usually complain about those who enforce them.
As far as I know, moderators are not going away... live with it or find a site that is more to your liking.
Follow the rules... act in a civilized manner and you're not likely to ever have anything other than a pleasant conversation with a moderator.
And if such is ever not the case, by all means, present meaningful evidence. So far there has been none. But if there ever is, those that know me at all, know that I will be the first to call for corrective action.
Mλgιcιλη
Moderator