On Moderator Abuse

[SmokeyJoe]

Hello all,

Since the inception of e-cigarette-forum, we have tried to keep moderating to a minimum. This was a conscious decision, as I believed the best way to run a forum was for everything to be kept in the open, with members having the biggest part to play in how the forum is run.

I still hold this to be the case. However, the forum is now quite large, and the e-cigarette market is increasing and changing all the time. This presents a set of challenges for the way in which the forum is run.

Clearly the most important things are defeating spammers and maintaining community cohesion. The only way to do this is by having a team of moderators who are prepared to kill threads, move posts, delete posts and ban users when appropriate. It's an unpleasant business, but it has to happen on a forum of this size.

Now, it's simply not possible for the moderators to do this and not, occasionally, upset people.

However, that said, it is not acceptable for members to insult and abuse moderators in threads when they feel wronged. If anyone feels they have been unfairly deleted, banned, or given infractions - they must report this by Private Message to me, SmokeyJoe - and NOT start threads, or make posts on the issue.

Over the next little while more moderators will be joining the team. Some will doubt my judgement on the selections I (along with the other current moderators) make - but please, out of courtesy, keep these thoughts to yourself, or send me a message explaining your worries, I do read all PMs and take all concerns into account when making decisions.

Thank you for reading and, as ever, if you have any complaints or suggestions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Regards,

SmokeyJoe