Any bad forum/message board experiences?

[TheTygerfire]

DON'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE ESCAPIST, THIS PLACE ROCKS

I have one.
The problem was that I was one of the mods up until I left, and I'd make some dick moves in the beginning weeks of my mod run. But most I was appropriately punished for, and ALL I'd apologized for. Then, like three or four months later I started get more crap about all of that, from a user that wasn't even there a month no less. So every just aired out their opinions of me on the main boards, the opposite of what everyone had been told to do. Of course none of the admins came to my defense and no one got in trouble when people flamed me, but I try to defend myself and I get "Call the WAH-mbulace" and all that. Even another mod kept the tension high between everyone, something I was told mods weren't supposed to do. Apparently their idea of a good mod was someone who let people get away with stuff, not someone who MODERATED things. And instead of being given a chance to show I'd been a better mod since the first few weeks, I'd been of all intent and purpose blacklisted before I'd even left.

In the end, about 6 people left the site including me and my boyfriend (also a mod, and also got the business end of the craziness just because of our relationship). I'm confident that no one from that site goes here and I'm not referring to it by name. And even if someone from there reads this, I don't care. Despite the little mini rant I'm over the whole thing, I'm just contributing to a topic I was curious about. The funny thing is that I remember that same user saying I needed that site more than it needed me. Well, I'm doing just fine without it So there.

Anyone else have any?

 

[MsDevin92]

I got into a big argument with some members accusing me of trying to establish a 'role-playing hierarchy' and left the one forum for a while. While I was gone, a friend contacted me via email saying that someone had made a new forum by impersonating me, and was declaring hacking attempts on the first forum to try and get me banned.

*sigh*

 

[OneHP]

I'd make some dick moves in the beginning weeks of my mod run

Mods don't get second chances, quite rightly so.

 

[TheTygerfire]

I'd make some dick moves in the beginning weeks of my mod run

Mods don't get second chances, quite rightly so.

I didn't make any site crippling mistakes, all I'd ever done was warn someone that may not have deserved one.

 

[Ultrajoe]

I did once kill a forum. Long story.

And no, i won't be retelling it.

 

[OverlordSteve]

I'm afraid I've gotten too well known on one small forum to deal with the general anonymity I get here or on other sites, thus, long periods of inactivity. :C

 

[Avatar Roku]

Alright, I've told this story before, bear with me. It was at the GameFaqs forum Mass Effect board. This guy started a topic about what he wants for ME2, most just being things Star wars has that wouldn't fit in ME, like swords and cloaks. It became a flamewar, mostly about the sword idea's viability, within a page, and a religious war for some reason within 10 pages. The mods didn't do a thing to stop it, the thread hit 500 posts and auto locked.

 

[Gitsnik]

I'd make some dick moves in the beginning weeks of my mod run

Mods don't get second chances, quite rightly so.

I didn't make any site crippling mistakes, all I'd ever done was warn someone that may not have deserved one.

I agree with OneHP though. You're a mod, you're meant to be better than the rest. It's like a police officer: it might be ok for a, say, student, to have a joint once in their month, but if a cop did the same thing... You were there to enforce a law, not screw up the interpretation of it.

That said I don't agree with people coming back months later to flame about it, and perhaps the other admin's were away with real life.

Worst forum moment: Actually none, but my most proud is watching my alias (not gitsnik) on another forum - you can follow the path of the postings and see exactly when I matured beyond a cocky security technician to a mature one (though the ego is still there so I am always proud of seeing that.

Well, there was that moment with TD left us. But I tend to be quiet or an elitist bastard who does a lot of the mods work for them, so people don't get to rag on me much.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Ugh...found out the hard way that Fark is no place to post a link to your blog. I was having an awful day at work and was taking it out by screaming my opinion at people on a controversial topic. Someone did a very thorough job of embarrassing me by posting all the photos and links from it and calling me out.

Wil Wheaton was right. It never pays to be a dick on the interwebs.

 

[wilsonscrazybed]

I'd make some dick moves in the beginning weeks of my mod run

Mods don't get second chances, quite rightly so.

A new moderator always has an acclimation period. Normally, they interpret their duties too literally and speak with too much authority. I've seen plenty of moderators get second chances. The moderators who learn from their mistakes do well, the ones that try to control everything, end up seeming like impotent jerks.

I think the story speaks more about the community manager at the site than it does the the OP. A good CM should be able to reel in a overzealous moderator without much drama. Canning someone you just brought on board to moderate says a lot about your recruitment and training processes.

 

[Spartan Bannana]

One a previous forum, there a kid I knew on the site, he got pissed at me and decided to reveal some rather sensitive information about my life, that sucked. Luckily, a mod was online at the time this was posted and so was I. I reported the post and within minutes it was gone.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Most of /b/.

But no, I've never had anything INCREDIBLY bad happen. I did get flamed for two months because I said

Spoiler: possibly offensive

that atheists that celebrate Christmas were hipocrits. (sp?)

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Most of /b/.

But no, I've never had anything INCREDIBLY bad happen. I did get flamed for two months because I said

Spoiler: possibly offensive

that atheists that celebrate Christmas were hipocrits. (sp?)

I would flame you too....

I havent had anything really bad happen to me though

 

[Gxas]

Got banned from the Bungie forums for being a grammar nazi and linking three people to the hooked-on-phonics website saying, "Here, you need this."

 

[tijuanatim]

A local radio station in my area started up a message board, I became one of the regular posters mostly because I was friends with the DJ that started it, it was his idea and I wanted to support him.
Anywho it turns out one of the poeple found out who I was and 'fell in love with me' for a couple months I had an underage stalker had to change my e-mail AND cell number.....good times

 

[TheTygerfire]

Most of /b/.

But no, I've never had anything INCREDIBLY bad happen. I did get flamed for two months because I said

Spoiler: possibly offensive

that atheists that celebrate Christmas were hipocrits. (sp?)

Well most people that celebrate Christmas in Japan are Buddhist......so....

And Santa/gifts/the general message of Christmas is still the their, just no Jesus.

 

[hypothetical fact]

Someone posted that Africa hadn't developed as fast as Europe because Africans were primitives. I argued that they hadn't developed for the lack of available resources and social reasons; but apparently the entire forum agreed with him and I ended up arguing with a forum.

 

[Yog Sothoth]

i once got into it pretty bad with some counterstrike (360 version) fanboys on the official xbox forums... i finally just lost it & i got banhammered for saying:

Spoiler: offensive statement

GO LICK A DOG'S ASS 'TILL IT BLEEDS.

this was about 2003, i've matured a lot since then...

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

Oh man, being a career forum-junkie, since I was about 10, I have a lot of stories. I can chronicle them throughout several posts, as writing them all down now would take the better part of several hours. So, away we go...

Story 1
It was a short time ago that I was acting as a moderator and GM for an now-dead online game. Generally speaking, I existed in that server and forum with the same sort of energy and notoriety that I have on the Escapist. Although, it was slightly more personal, since I got to see many users in-game and spend extended hours in countless one-on-one and group sessions. They were very therapeutic, and I was very happy in that capacity.

The management, both in-game and on-forum, was a mess. I joined the GM Team, and went a full seven weeks before I even got put down for professional training, and eight weeks until I actually got trained. Luckily, with a friend's permission, I learned the important commands by trial-and-error, and had a very firm understanding of the rules already. My job was to be a community servant of sorts, fielding simple support requests and creating in-game events for the players. I took the job very seriously, granting two events a day for the end users.

It was about two months later that I learned I had been doing something slightly wrong, and it was only because of a slip-of-the-tongue from one of my bosses that I even found out. So, I corrected the issue to the best of my ability and continued with my community works, something the user-base loved.

Another month later, and it was pretty apparent that things were a mess, structurally speaking. With some effort, I managed to organize a meeting with all of the lower level GMs (my peers), and we managed to meet and talk once a week in a group session. This was heavily helpful, and ultimately lead to creating a virtual messageboard for us to tack up notices. Eventually, the higher level GMs took notice, and created an official weekly meeting, as well as an official general update board. Every GM had their own section, and communication was much, much cleaner as a side effect.

The meetings also had the unfortunate side-effect of bolstering a chasm between myself and my most immediate superior, the Head GM. Every change he proposed had some form of gaping flaw that I regularly addressed. Not as a form of "Ur doin it rong" or anything disrespectful, but rather argued against to reveal flaws and try to open the floor to problem-solving discussion. Usually this elongated the meetings, but they were often very useful insights that managed to bring a lot to the community without screwing certain groups. Personally, I thought I had been doing well for the whole of the users, if not slightly irritating the Head GM.

All went well until "GM Evaluations," which was an effort to bolster the work ethics and drive of the GMs across the board. It was during these evaluations (which were very professional reports written by an administrator of the server) that I was graded 89%, with an emphasis on attempting to bolster team-efforts instead of constantly questioning decisions of the brass. Although I felt I was slightly misrepresented, I had believed 89% to be a passing grade. And a very decent one, at that.

Upon completion of the report, I was asked by the Head GM to meet briefly for a follow-up with him. He was very polite, and informed me that the GM Team would no longer be in any need of my services. As soon as I had heard this, I withdrew myself from the GM Account, changing the password and sending the account name and password to my boss for relinquishment.

After beginning a lengthy post to the community, my forum account was banned until one of the administrators returned to remove the "Global Mod" status from my account. It was during that time that the forum was hit by a large wave of trolls, and I was berated by the community for failing to do my job.

Shame, because I loved the hell out of the place. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

(For anyone who is curious, it wasn't until 5 months later that I was fired simply so that the Head GM could open a slot on the GM team for his long-time friend. It was for no reason but personal gain that I was fired, something I'm still having trouble not disliking my former boss for. The rest of the team was explicitly told to avoid me, and I effectively withdrawn from all of my friends on the server, despite the fact that I was not banned. I left with nothing but distaste for the whole ending, but fond memories of the friends that I never talk to anymore. If the forum wasn't completely down, I would quite likely still be banned.)

 

[xitel]

Well, up until the Escapist I never posted on any forums that weren't private forums amongst me and my friends, so no, I can't say that I've had any horrible forum experiences.