Say Hello to your Super MODS!

[complich8]

That's hardly the issue. This is not military but an anime forum. The difficulty here is quite reverse: Moderators should be good boys and girls and follow the rules, that is, represent to the letter obedience to the rules of the forums, and also the spirit of the forums (I'm not entirely sure what that might be here), and be unbiased in quarrels (until the thread gets locked, but until then everybody always wants to participate if only to joke around).

So, this change doesn't affect other people at all, unless you have some troublemaker who would anyway deserve to get banned for insulting others - mods or regular fellows. So, the problem is that mods can't be free if they are visible.

This is essentially why I always say being a mod sucks, and is vastly overrated. I don't view myself as a toublemaker, but I rather reserve the right to be one than not.

Basically, what you're saying is only one piece of the puzzle.

Participating in a discussion as a moderator has several effects. The first is what I'll call the "biggest ship" effect, and is what I was addressing before. That is, without even trying, just by passing through moderators can make big waves, totally disrupting discussions by making a single post. This is usually a bad thing from everyone's perspective. Ninja-mod solved this problem entirely ... since nobody knew who had power, nobody acted like anyone did.

The second is what I'd call the "chained god" effect. That is, you've got all this power, but you're constrained such that you can only behave in a certain way, precisely because you've got that power. This is the sort of thing you're talking about, and ninja-mod helped with this a bit too, because the mods could be regular users, so could behave like assholes if they wanted to -- as long as they didn't do so while wearing their moderator masks.

The thing is, neither of these effects is necessarily inevitable. I'm hoping that the "biggest ship" effect doesn't show up at all, simply because we've had a pretty substantial volume of discussion involving those moderators -- they're pretty much a cross-section of the most active posters on the board.

"chained god" is a bit tougher. Basically, if we take a strict interpretation of moderator as essentially forumgoing saint, then yeah, they'll suffer from that. But that's an imposition of that particular interpretation of the moderator role. If the mods can maintain a healthy separation between "posting" mode and "moderating" mode (which the ninja-mod system somewhat enforced), then they're free to behave as normal users given normal discussions.

Basically, my personal interpretation of the moderator role is that mods are sort of like house-sitters. They feed the cat (guide discussions), they water the plants (warn/ban idiots, edit out spoilers), and in exchange they get some privileges ... like, dibs on whatever's in the fridge (higher pm quota), access to the nice tv (no gallery quota), etc. Sure, the privileges afforded may not make up for the inconvenience of the responsibilities, but at the same time, they're not such onerous things that you wouldn't do them for a friend (or for the sake of a place you like spending your time).

[Kraco]

You are right. I was actually dismissing the biggest ship for two reasons: The one you mentioned: The mods are, even now that they are revealed, people who have all the time participated in perfectly normal discussion. For older members here it's easier to continue behaving as if nothing changed than suddenly start to be cautious when those newly exposed mods are around. And secondly because of the long traditions and relationships the mods hardly suddenly change their attitudes towards those same older members simply because they aren't ninja mods anymore.

Yeah, mods are people as well. Nobody comes here for any other reason than have fun. And thus it would foolish to expect the mods came here to do boring work. Sometimes fun is increased by stretching the rules a little bit, as rules must be strict for serious things mainly, not for things everybody could interpret as jokes. However, mods are the ones who define the limits of the rules. They are the ones that set the precedents. If mods set different standards for themselves, except for technical things, then the system starts to rot from inside.

The only exception to everything is the guy who pays the bills. He can do anything without responsibility. We are all here as his guests. And he would be paying the bills even after everybody fled the sinking ship.

[Assassin]

Participating in a discussion as a moderator has several effects. The first is what I'll call the "biggest ship" effect, and is what I was addressing before.

The second is what I'd call the "chained god" effect.

comp, your metaphors never cease to amuse me

However, mods are the ones who define the limits of the rules. They are the ones that set the precedents. If mods set different standards for themselves, except for technical things, then the system starts to rot from inside.

Actually Ciber and Wilik define the limits to the rules, and those rules apply to all members, including the mods. We dont and shouldn't get special treatment just cuz were the enforcers.

[Kraco]

Aye. But theoretical rules and rules in practice are two different things to an extent. And of course they aren't really all fixed, either. Theoretical rules can be whatever, what matters how they are enforced, and that's where the mods will define them.