So, what's up with this staff resentment lately?

[JezMM]

I don't think it's anybody else's business why someone else got banned. It's between the moderator who did the banning and the person who got banned. Of course there's going to be speculation about why it happened, but if you don't trust the moderators' judgment in making the call, are you going to trust their explanation for why they did it?

I think it's completely possible to trust the moderator's judgement while still having a natural urge to satisfy curiosity.

I mean I completely trust that Half-Life 3 is gonna be awesome and it'll be done when it's done but I still am dying to have that confirmed.

[Nepenthe]

In the case of members who have just signed up and only have one or a few posts with no public moderation action to read, it's fairly easy for me to conclude why they were banned: either they're ban-dodging with an alternate account or they posted something bannable that was trashed/deleted. I personally can't even figure out another reason why someone would be axed almost immediately without bringing up reasons that would reflect badly on staff, and I'm never comfortable going down that territory.

Mods have access to a lot of information the normal members don't, so they're going to react to things on the forum in a slightly different context than everyone else. If you're not paying attention or have no moderating experience whatsoever, I can see why it may feel like some actions aren't justified if they're done efficiently and without explanation, but a good staff team is not vindictive or acting on impulse. And frankly, as it has been said before, I don't feel it's in good form to haggle over why someone was banned because it feels like you're being put on the spot and asked to explain yourself to someone who frankly doesn't know better or have the authority to be haggling you.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Well that and they've basically told us some of the stuff that they do in their roles as moderators and the responses they get for it. Yep, they're pretty transparent compared to other staff on the net, and you can't bust them for lying or having a grudge against someone because that would get caught by the Admins for abuse of power. And I'm pretty sure they have discussions on things when they're not sure about handing out strikes.

I have no moderating experience, but even I can tell it can be quite stressing. More so, you don't easily get striked here provided you follow the rules, and even then I've seen them give out no less than 3 warnings in a topic before they up and start striking people.

So yeah...

[Roarey Raccoon]

Typically, if you want information about a subject you do research, if the information you want requires obtaining it from another person....ask them. If you make assumptions and postulate without evidence (which you are completely free to do so, I don't take issue with it specifically) then you are very likely to be wrong. On the other hand, just to make things fair, I also believe that if you decide to run your mouth and start slagging people off (anyone, not just staff) without evidence or knowing what happened, then you ought to have your errors pointed out publicly.

Bright Eyes, whilst you did ask a legitimate question, you didn't ask the staff directly for your answer, you posted the question in a public thread. There's a difference there, so calm down yourself.

[Danj86]

Hmm?

I missed all this. But I think I'm getting it. So I'll add my two pence...what? I can't share my two cents because I'm not american...I don't have two cents...I can only offer my local currency equivalent, which is two pence...

I'm not so sure members need to know why somebody was banned. We all have moments when our brain tells us "Wouldn't it be cool if you..." and it turns out to be completely wrong. What if a member gets banned for something they felt deeply ashamed of and wouldn't want the entire forum to know about it? They could worry that everyone views them differently or talks about them behind there back, if they were to return.

[Ruby CUL Terumi]

I'm not so sure members need to know why somebody was banned.

90% of the time it's just pure curiosity.

Whenever I hear something about bans or anything of the like going on, I instantly want to know the details. (Probably because things got dull without a new Sonic game.) It's just something I have. I usually ask other members about what was going on first, if that doesn't get me anywhere, I ask a mod who's online on Steam or Skype. If nobody's online or they don't want to share it, I just drop it.

Edited October 14, 2012 by Yu Narukami

[a bad poster]

After my ban back in 2006, and after B'man got me back in after 6 months or so of my permaban, I can tell abso-goddamn-lutely that the moderators here are not at all jerks, commies, or what have you. They have helping the community in mind 99% of the time I'm quite certain, and I can assure you I wouldn't have been banned if I wasn't a TOTAL idiot moron that the staff didn't attempt to at least help me out of multiple times

I can say with absolute certainty that bans administered here are overwhelmingly justified and warnings and other administrative actions follow suit