Cycling UK Forum

here's a pm I received from Si tonight . Not the first time that he has singled me out either. Not sure what his agenda is but it certainly isn't fairness hence his closing statement
its not up for discussion so don't bother replying or trying to discuss it, my decision is final
Its easy to abuse a position of power by issuing threats and ultimatums and then leave the recipient no chance to discuss or defend themselves. .The difficult bit about wielding power is being fair and even handed

Please follow the forum rules: you know very well that the abuse that you were adding to this thread is not on. If you feel that someone has abused you then report it to a mod rather than flying in, all guns blazing.

There is no need to reply to this message as who is to blame or whether the offending posts should or should not have been removed is not up for discussion.

thank you
Si

His agenda is to remove posts that contain abuse, which is a major part of the moderators' job. Abusive comments are not tolerated on this forum, but constructive debate and information are welcomed.

If a moderator thinks a post was abusive, the poster is very welcome to post again with a message that is less likely to cause offence. If anyone considers a post to be abusive, they should alert a moderator rather than adding more abuse to the discussion.

Anyone who disagrees with a moderator's actions can contact me, or the board administrator (mbadmin@ctc.org.uk), and we will look into the situation. Please remember that the moderators are volunteers, who merely wish to keep the CTC Forums a nice place to visit.

Happy Cycling!

Whilst acknowledging that moderating is a voluntary task done in his or her own time, therefore time being the essence, I think that it was unfortunate that the thread that peanut might be referring to was cut back so hard that we lost a lot of interesting and well expressed debate. I was part of that debate and we were trying to calm down the more heated quarters. I had a PM from one of the other protagonists thanking me for my efforts to cool things down a bit - that PM was appreciated, by the way; you know who you are...

Another of my old granny's "sayings": always best to engage brain before opening mouth (or in our case, hitting the keyboard). Something we all sometimes forget to do in the heat of the moment.

Please don't take this as any criticism of the moderators - a job that I for one wouldn't have the time or patience to undertake.

The moderators job isn't an easy one and is not one I would ever want to do. Level of interference from a moderator varies a great deal from forum to forum and this level helps to set the overall atmosphere.

There will always be upsets and disagreements wherever groups meet (be it in person or over the ether) and it is much easier to be blunter through the forums than it is in person. Consequently the moderator can have quite a job at times.

I always feel annoyed when one of my posts are removed but I think the best thing in this situation is to stand back and let the 'red mist' pass before revisiting the situation. It helps to become a little more reasoned and no! I haven't always managed this myself.

I do think blunt comments suggesting that it isn't up for discussion are a little dictatorial, but then, as has been pointed out, the moderators are volunteers so why should they spend their own time justifying their actions? Perhaps it could be phrased better though? Blunt comments don't help that much when the red mist has taken hold!

Nigel

There's always 2 sides though - yes, some are too blunt, but some are too touchy.

But like umpires, moderators are human and we should respect their decisions.

Alternatively could the "offending" posts be transferred into a locked area?

Would there be much point? Besides it would end up adding to the workload of the moderators wouldn't it?

Nigel

the difficulty with selective pruning is that you leave one side of the argument intact.

The Mods (I am one) are charged with the task of keeping the CTC forum a nice place to be. That's not difficult, by and large - the forum is a whole lot sweeter than it used to be. We've got a view on how this should be done, and comparison with other, more fractious, forums suggests we're not wrong.

Or just lock it and let it start again, if members feel the need.

Aggro is the exception here.

I wouldn't normally publically comment on the moderation of an individual but as peanut has decided to make this a public thread....

Well, it's a change that I just got the indignant post from peanut this time rather than the torrent of abuse that I did last time that I requested that he follow the forum rules just the same as everyone else.

Is it so much to ask that people follow the rules and don't flame each other? Is it so hard to report any abuse that you think is committed against you to a mod rather than to escalate things on the forum?

That is what I have asked peanut to do...but in his eyes...

You are about as biased as a mod could be . You clearly don't read the thread before throwing your weight around as usual .

I also asked him not to come back and start trying to lay the blame on others (I did in fact also PM the other party involved too) because such things just tend to start the whole spat up again.

He also complains that I sent him a message...well, if he wants me to personally reprimand him on the forum instead then I could do but I have tried to save him the embarrisment by just having a quiet word by PM.

I did not accuse peanut of starting the whole thing I merely asked him to curtail the nastiness. However, if we want to play the blame game then what appears to have started it off is when another member agreed with something that peanut said and peanut took offence to being agreed with! Go figure!

Peanut is also unhappy that I've selectively semi-culled the thread: suggesting that I removed only his bad behaviour, yet I removed the comments that upset him, indeed, it was peanut that asked, on the thread, for the thread to be removed.

It woulod seem then that the only questionable thing that I've done is to remove some posts that weren't by either peanut or the other party involved. This I appologised for at the time but when time is limitted I'd rather remove too much than let the abuse stay there and thus risk it carrying on.

So peanut, if you don't like the rules, that everyone else has to obey, being inforced then you might find life happier elsewhere on a forum with laxer rules. I'd rather that you stayed and continued to contribute positively to the form but we won't tolerate abuse.

There I hope (we can all dream can't we) the matter can rest. If you are still unhappy you have been told how to make an official complaint rather than carry on here.

nigel_s wrote:Whilst acknowledging that moderating is a voluntary task done in his or her own time, therefore time being the essence, I think that it was unfortunate that the thread that peanut might be referring to was cut back so hard that we lost a lot of interesting and well expressed debate. I was part of that debate and we were trying to calm down the more heated quarters. I had a PM from one of the other protagonists thanking me for my efforts to cool things down a bit - that PM was appreciated, by the way; you know who you are...

Another of my old granny's "sayings": always best to engage brain before opening mouth (or in our case, hitting the keyboard). Something we all sometimes forget to do in the heat of the moment.

Please don't take this as any criticism of the moderators - a job that I for one wouldn't have the time or patience to undertake.

Yes, I appologise for removing some good posts....problem was two fold. Firstly I only had limitted time when I did it - so it's better in my view to remove too much than too little and risk spat-inflaming comments staying. Secondly there was a little trouble with the software and it ended up removing some posts that I didn't ask it too - this I raised immediatly in the mod's log of the incident, I didn't at the time have the oppotunity to try and return any that I wasn't intending to remove....Fondant has said that he will see if anything can be done but I'm not sure that the software will let comments be inserted into a thread.

No worries. No point in creating extra work. Leave it as it is.

As I said before, it's only an internet forum.

gone - this isn't the place to lose your rag. Do it by pm please

I've just three comments.

One is that if I've ever offended in this way, I would appreciate being told - helps me to improve myself. The only time I feel abusive is when I think about motor vehicles.......

Number two is that I wouldn't like us to return to earlier times when at least one certain character was unreasonable to the point of being beyond belief, and he was so thick skinned that one couldn't shut him up. My message to the moderators is "keep up the good work".

The other is that on two occasions now, I've received a "topic reply notification" by e-mail, telling me that I have a personal message, but the personal message never appears. This may not be the thread to raise this, but at least I know that some moderators will have read this, and they can pass it on to the appropriate persson.

I see my reply to Si's full and measured response has simply been removed by Simon.

It would appear that there are rules for Mods and different rules for the rest of the community .

I wasn't aware that I `lost my rag' as Simon puts it. I did however attempt to correct Si's incorrect assumptions and accusations calmly and carefully

.This confirms my point that ordinary members have no opportunity to defend themselves against unfair accusations or actions by the mods.

This ill-thought out action by Simon confirms my suspicion that there is no such thing as fair moderation on this forum.

This thread has clearly demonstrated my point and has therefore served its purpose. I thank all of you that have read the thread and taken the time to respond. I respect and value your opinions whether for or against. Hopefully now we can get back to business as usual.

peanut wrote:This confirms my point that ordinary members have no opportunity to defend themselves against unfair accusations or actions by the mods.

This ill-thought out action by Simon confirms my suspicion that there is no such thing as fair moderation on this forum.

Come on, I don't believe in conspirancy theories. The phrase "get a life" comes to mind. It's only a forum for heavens sake

peanut wrote:This thread has clearly demonstrated my point and has therefore served its purpose. I thank all of you that have read the thread and taken the time to respond. I respect and value your opinions whether for or against. Hopefully now we can get back to business as usual.

Let's hope this means keeping cool.