After being subjected to some heavy-handed "moderation" this morning, I found this thread. I'm gonna post my peace, and then I'm leaving. I won't be posting here anymore because I feel the attitude of the bulk of moderators here (from what I've seen from this thread), this isn't a place I want to participate in.
I spent EIGHT YEARS running forums of my own. Powersports-based forums. I got tired of the BS trying to find QUALITY people to help run them, so I sold the most popular ones and shut down the rest.
The problem is that there are too many people, as evidenced here, that LOVE having "power" and "authority." The same thing applies to cops. People become cops because they like the authority they're given, and the "instant" respect they think it gets them. Many people become moderators for the same reason.
I was always taking issues with my moderators who liked to ban first and ask questions later. Or who would enforce the LETTER of the rules instead of the SPIRIT of the rules. Again, the same problem exists with cops. Traffic laws exist for the safety of everybody on the road. But the cops will enforce them to the letter, not only because they LIKE to, but because it generates revenue for local government in terms of fines.
While there are no fines here, the moderators have the same attitude. I'm sure there are some good ones out there, but they're few and far between.
Let's remember that these forums exist BECAUSE of the users. If it wasn't for the users, forums wouldn't exist. Many sites end up running off many of their users due to over-moderation and crap like I'm seeing here.
There is one other site I used to visit (which will remain nameless) that's even worse. Their answer to ANY rules violation is a Ban. Not necessarily permanent, but a ban nonetheless. There are no warnings. You do ANYTHING wrong, you get banned for some period of time. That's so over the top that I haven't been back in nine months, and I can name a dozen more people who haven't gone back either... in fact, it's caused 3-4 new sites to spring up as a result.
So, that's it. I'm done. Moderators, enjoy your position while you have it and the site while it exists.
Rob