Alright, I was otherwise disposed from things CB-related when this discussion initially broke out last week but I’m going to toss in my two cents on this whole matter and I’m going to be rather blunt about it.
This thread is created for constructive criticism and open discussion among posters concerning this blog. I’m glad we have this and I encourage its use. People shouldn’t feel threatened to post in here out of fear of staff retribution. Please, point out one instance where a poster has gotten tossed from Celticsblog for expressing their opinion in here. So this fear that some are supposedly living in is rather unfounded.
I’m reading about a perception problem that we’re facing but I’m having trouble locking down where exactly its coming from and what it exactly is. Let’s see some good old-fashioned concrete examples rather than this vagueness that I seem to be seeing. Also, I don’t think perception is a big problem if one does exact. Speaking for myself, I try and do google searches every once & awhile to see what discussion is going on out there concerning Celticsblog and specifically staff members. I’m not reading or seeing a whole lot of discourse out there. What I often find are individuals who have been banned here for one reason or another venting or attacking our site. I can tell you that these individuals were dismissed for genuine rules violations one way or another. We know who a lot of these people are. Their banishments were discussed by multiple staff members before being instituted. We don’t just “flash-ban” people unless they’re obvious trolls or spammers. Matters are discussed between staff before any judgment is rendered. This prevents one staff member from going on a “power-trip”.
I get the sense that people are more eager to “glance behind the curtain” or involve themselves in some unmitigated drama than to really “uphold the blog to its core values”. Some love to just stir the pot and will use any instance (in this case Nick’s screen-name situation) to jump in and harp on things. This usually leads others to follow and, hence, the multiple pages of dialogue. I think this ombudsman idea stems from this more than anything. People want to “glance behind the curtain”. People seem to think there is this huge inner-working going on between staff members and there are conspiracy theories and such; we’re ganging up on people or suppressing certain individual rights. I’m reading about PMs going around expressing that so & so is going on and the items there are so utterly false. To be clear to everyone, Nick was never a moderator. He never had moderator powers. He was simply given the title of HOF editor and was granted some room to work with. He has never been able to moderate threads or significantly boost TP counts. We all know that isn’t the only conspiracy theory going around but seems to be at the core of what created this storm.
In relation to that last paragraph, we don’t discuss specific user matters with the general public both as a service to the individual and the idea that airing things in public just creates a lot of unnecessary drama. People want to see drama? Go to the ESPN or CBS Sportsline message boards and see how well things going when every little thing is being aired in public.
I don’t know how much of this current drama stems from it but I know in the past that there have been those who have felt overlooked when new staff members are chosen and have taken this “slight” as a grounds to carry a chip on their shoulder. I don’t know what to tell you besides swallow your pride and live with it. It’s a moderator post on an internet website messageboard. There’s not a lot of glory there. If its substantial enough to really boost your ego, I advise you to step back and really take a look at it more closely. There’s not a whole lot of honor there. We take on staff when we feel there is a need and we look at several candidates and try to make a decision that we feel is the best one. Posters get slighted. Sorry, but it happens. I can tell you that a lot of discussion goes into it but not everyone is going to be a moderator.
To wrap things up, I think this whole ombudsman idea is more of a cover for the real issue which is either the fascination with drama on an internet message board or the fact that some people really want to know everything that is going on and are frustrated that they don’t know everything that goes on here aka the whole “glance behind the curtain thing”. If there is truly a perception problem and it’s a big problem, please present the examples or make concrete criticisms here.
Topic: Open Thread on Rules/Restrictions (Read 456066 times)