Requesting a new Super Moderator

I dont think mods need to be these perfectly behaved forum users. John Capital was known to have an outburst here or there and was on the receiving end of a Temp Ban or two while he was a mod. His willingness to speak his mind, I think, is the reason that a lot of forum users respected him as a person and as a mod, even if they disagreed with specific judgement call(s) he made as a moderator.

Some of you remember which thread this is from.

711 said:

JohnCapital will be taking a short break from the forum for his outburst (a well deserved break, considering that he has been handling the lion's share of the moderation of the forum in recent months). While I do not condone his outburst in this thread, I can understand the frustration with some of the members of this forum which caused it. Still, the forum rules apply equally to everyone, and his post is deserving of a temporary ban.

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HardWrath said:

a Temp Ban or two ...

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For the record one and only one temp ban for me. And I hold the distinction (dishonor) of being the only mod to ever be temp banned while on duty IIRC.

However, I'm not sure that bringing that up in a thread complaining about the moderating here is the best idea.

Sunsout Gunsout said:

He knows how much I HATE the popcorn emote...OMG. I hate it. 5$, I swear, some day I am gonna pay someone to dump a truckload of popcorn in your lawn while you are at work, hell, maybe I will drive a truck down there my self when we all have that impromptu meet-up at the fivedolla household we were talking about in TS

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LMAO

Talania said:

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this made me think of one of my favorite movie scenes . hope you like it.

bahahahahahaha

HardWrath said:

I dont think mods need to be these perfectly behaved forum users. John Capital was known to have an outburst here or there and was on the receiving end of a Temp Ban or two while he was a mod. His willingness to speak his mind, I think, is the reason that a lot of forum users respected him as a person and as a mod, even if they disagreed with specific judgement call(s) he made as a moderator.

Some of you remember which thread this is from.

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JohnCapital said:

For the record one and only one temp ban for me. And I hold the distinction (dishonor) of being the only mod to ever be temp banned while on duty IIRC.

However, I'm not sure that bringing that up in a thread complaining about the moderating here is the best idea.

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Here is a good old JC quote that would fit quite well in many of the recent posts:

Fucking whiny ass retarded bastards, the whole bunch of you.

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I think it is great that HW highlights the fact that you don't have to be perfect. Perhaps it will make more people consider the role of being a moderator. It is by far not enough to have one moderator, especially as the administrator activity is near to none.

WhiningSkeptic said:

Perhaps it will make more people consider the role of being a moderator.

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One thing everyone is forgetting:

Mods aren't selected by whoever volunteers. Not a single mod volunteered. We were all recruited. There's a standing rule here that no one that asks to be a mod will be made a mod. The reason should be obvious.

Also, while talk about this place needing more mods is good, and I agree, that doesn't change the wrongs things that Akbar did.



As for that outburst of mine long ago: I knew that throwing the ultimate mod temper tantrum was a powerful, one-time only weapon that I had available to me that could also blow up in my face. I felt that particular thread required such a bomb in order to get snuff out the problems it contained.

Mod's can't go around tossing "Fuck you, you Fucking Fuck"s just because I did. It's not something that will be truly allowed as a common occurrence. They still are required to be professional, even if they are allowed to be personal.

No-one likes the sheriff till they need one


Serica can only enforce the rules of the forum.
If you don't like the decisions made then attack the rules not the only person willing to accept the responsibility (and heat) to keep some semblance of order around here.

The person responsible for the 'boiling point' we have now has always been a bit hot headed and I've always taken that as passion but recent actions show past behaviour in a new light.

It sure isnt a easy task to be a mod i understand that.
Serica and JC has handled the job very well imo, if we just could copy Serica and JC to mutiple mods the problem had been solved
Thumbs up for Serica

I do think that the Calypso user/fanbase would be better served by a group of moderators, each with a smaller role then what we currently see with one primary moderator. It would be exceedingly beneficial if PCF were seen as being moderated by the community for the community. With all of the drama that I have seen (and participated in) since 2005 I do feel that the role of "Super Moderator" is less than ideal in terms of how one person is able to serve the community.

You either liked MindBuster, or you didnt
You either liked 711 when he had a more visible role, or you didnt
You either liked Skam, or you didnt
You either liked MS9, or you didnt
You either liked John Capital, or you didnt.

etc etc.

The role of one primary mod seems to have a polarizing effect on the community, at least to a degree, and no matter how amazing that person is, there will always be a vocal minority that speaks out in opposition.

Perception is reality. With some people their perception is that the enforcement of rules is too tight, thus it is their reality. Whether correct or incorrect, that perception (negativity) spreads like a cancer through this forum and the game.

Its just an idea, but either way, as things are now, my sales and buying threads get results, I am able to engage in fairly heated and blunt debates on this forum if I choose to, societies can have free private subforums, and there is plenty of activity for PCF to function as a vibrant game forum because every few minutes something is being posted by someone.

LAZZ said:

Serica and JC has handled the job very well imo,

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Not sure if you know this mate, but I'm not a mod anymore. I was replying to all this stricly as a spectator, abiet someone with some lesser known general knowledge, but no real insider info about this situation is specific.

HardWrath said:

I do think that the Calypso user/fanbase would be better served by a group of moderators,...

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Again, while that's true, that doesn't change the fact of what Akbar did.

JohnCapital said:

Again, while that's true, that doesn't change the fact of what Akbar did.

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Agreed 100% and I have already condemned his behavior in this thread and also in-game when he confronted me about my comments in this thread. He did not leave our in-game conversation as a happy person.

Im simply trying to move the conversation in this thread forward beyond Akbar's actions because I think that nearly any reasonable person can recognize that what he did was way over the top and completely out of line.

I've stayed out of this so far, mainly because Serica is my soc-leader so it would be difficult to claim to be impartial.

Serica does an incredibly difficult job, one i'd certainly not be willing to do. Most players have always had a love-hate relationship with this game, and in the absence of a more visible Mindark community presence, and in the absence of other moderators, Serica has to absorb most of that misplaced hatred and vitriol.

I'm sure some people do have legimate concerns with her forum moderation style, but the fact is those are the forum rules, and as the only moderator, Serica has to apply them as dicated by 711. I'm sure if she was allowed to be more lax in her application of the rules, she would be.

I'd certainly like to be allowed to call someone a fucking idiot, especially when they are one, but when I do that on this forum I do it in the full knowledge that it will probably be promptly deleted.

What Akbar did on the other hand was despicable. Nobody deserves to peronally attacked like that over an internet squabble. Nothing can ever redeem him in my eyes. I hope his stuff does stay deleted, it is fitting that he should have wasted years of his life for nothing.

JohnCapital said:

Again, while that's true, that doesn't change the fact of what Akbar did.

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You fail to see the picture. The thread was up forever but most importantly it was Sericas job to clean to it. That's the problem. I would have been much happier if she had the possibility to choose not to read it all.

Personally I think it is possible Akbar just wanted a reason to stop all the work he has been doing. Blowing up like this is one way to make sure he can't go back to it.

In response to the OP and others calling for changes to the moderation staff on PCF, I will state without reservation that Serica has performed extremely professionally at all times in her role as moderator, and she has my full support. Posts are only moderated or deleted on PCF when they are in violation of the forum rules, and every effort has been made over the years to make the forum rules as clear and unambiguous as possible.

Members who find themselves the recipients of "excessive moderation" invariably turn out to be those who have little regard for the forum rules, yet later complain when their posts get moderated. Akbar is a good example of such a member, and there have been numerous occasions in the last year or so where I have needed to step in and explain to him that his increasingly caustic behavior on PCF is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. See John Capital's post above and Akbar's post history for further evidence of the steady decline of Akbar's forum behavior, mainly directed toward MindArk and PCF staff, but also toward many fellow forum/community members.

Apparently Akbar chose to go "full Akbar" over the weekend, deciding to quit the forum kicking and screaming while flinging highly offensive and immature insults, and defacing the Bestiary section that was under his supervision. As such, Akbar has been permanently banned from PCF due to the highly abusive personal attacks posted this weekend, along with continued disruptive behavior despite several warnings.

The Bestiary section has been moved temporarily to a non-publicly visible forum area while I consider how best to proceed. It is possible for me to restore all of the content that was defaced or deleted by Akbar, and restoring that content is certainly within the scope of the PlanetCalypsoForum Terms of Service Agreement:

PCF Terms of Service said:

Member Content License
For all Member Content you post, upload, share or otherwise make available to the Website, you grant the Administrators and their assigns a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, sell, copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, publicly display, modify, adapt, translate, archive, and store such Member Content, and create derivative works from such Member Content, in any form, format, or medium, of any kind now known or later developed. Without limiting the generality of the previous sentence, you authorize the Administrators to share the Member Content across all websites affiliated with PlanetCalypsoForum.com and the Entropia Universe, to include the Member Content in a searchable format accessible by users of PlanetCalypsoForum.com and affiliated web sites, to place advertisements in close proximity to such Member Content, and to use your Member name, forum avatar and/or Member profile in connection with the use of the material you provide.

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However, I am not yet certain that restoring the old Bestiary content is the best course of action. It may be preferable to start fresh with a new bestiary section, maintained by a set of new volunteer contributors. I will consider the issue based on feedback from the PCF community and staff.

711 said:

However, I am not yet certain that restoring the old Bestiary content is the best course of action. It may be preferable to start fresh with a new bestiary section, maintained by a set of new volunteer contributors. I will consider the issue based on feedback from the PCF community and staff.

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Lets bring the section back, I like the idea of new and improved.

Perhaps a compromise, could be to extract the information, and make it available to the new team, who can then repurpose it in their own way?

Olivia Petty said:

Perhaps a compromise, could be to extract the information, and make it available to the new team, who can then repurpose it in their own way?

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That would be awesome! Can't wait to read Akbars "they stole my shit I do for free look at me" threads on EP.

MachineGun-G- said:

I can agree that Serica is wayy too strict when it comes to deleting posts - a soc m8 of mine made a post + poll about how many Mindark staff is posting on this forum as "regular people" and it got deleted by her

I have not found any rule which would state that it should be deleted, neither did my soc m8 get an explanation from her about why the thread was deleted...

If there was a poll, I'd say ban serica from mod job, her decisions are such that it makes you think - Mindark pays her for them...

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711 said:

Posts are only moderated or deleted on PCF when they are in violation of the forum rules, and every effort has been made over the years to make the forum rules as clear and unambiguous as possible.

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Show me the rule which made Serica delete that thread, please

/mod note/ As Akbar has now been banned, I have deleted from the Gallery the photoshopped pic of me that he uploaded. Thanks to all those who took the time to report it

MachineGun-G- said:

Show me the rule which made Serica delete that thread, please

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If I recall it right (from above) it was because of this rule:

3.8 - Quitting/Leaving
Any threads or posts about leaving Planet Calypso, Entropia Universe or PlanetCalypsoForum, such as “I’m Quitting” or “Taking a Break” whether for positive or negative reasons, will be deleted without notice

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JohnCapital said:

I don't know what the thread the OP referenced is truly in regard to but based on the title in it, forums/showthread.php?268314-Time-to-say-goodbye&p=3319803 I'd guess it's a quitting thread, which is in fact against forum rules.

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