Ladies and Gentlemen,
First, I wish to tell you all that I am as upset as many of you about some of the recent things that have occurred here recently, including the banning of some of our favorite members. However, while some of the actions taken recently have been controversial, they were all taken within the guidelines of the forum rules.
If it seems like things have been getting a little more strict lately, that's because it has been, and this is a natural part of the growth and life-cycle of a forum. I have been a member of dozens of forums under a few different names, and I have seen many rise, and many fall. I have seen forums grow from less then a hundred members, to thousands of members, so I feel that I might be able to provide some of you with some insight into our current situation.
When a forum is young, and there are not many members, there tends to be very few moderators. These moderators are usually lenient and only take action when something is really out of line. Because with a small community people speak up and moderate each other to a degree. Also, when you don't have many people you have less instances of rules being broken, so generally the moderators can just let these instances slide.
As a forum grows, more moderators are needed, so a second generation of moderators is brought in. The new moderators want to fulfill their duties and do their job well, so they moderate a little more aggressively then the first generation. These moderators can't let things slide anymore because it would open the door to more rule breaking since there are so many more new members.
When a forum starts to accumulate thousands of members, more moderators are needed, and each new set of moderators has to moderate just a little bit more then the previous group. Additionaly, at this point a forum begins to gain the attention of the public and the media, so keeping an orderly forum and making sure that all the rules are observed become very important in order to mantain a positive image to the public.
For those of us who have been here for a few months, we were lucky enough to have been able to enjoy a more leniant form of moderation, just in the past few months this forum has grown tremendously so unfortunately increased moderation is needed, and believe it or not, it's for our own good.
Don't get me wrong, I've very much against rules and authority, and I don't agree with all of the decisions made lately, but this is the only way to maintain order in a community of 11,000 anonymous people. And at this point in the game, we really need to clean up as best as we can so the public sees us in a positive light in order to prevent the banning of e-cigs.
Also, keep in mind that this is not our forum, this is SJ's forum, and he can allow the moderators to do whatever he wants; remember, we are chooosng to be here. If he wanted everyone who didn't type "All hail SJ" at the end of each post to be banned, then we should accept that because this forum belongs to him, not us.
Despite my feelings about authority, I think we have a good, honest team of moderators here, and they are just doing their job and being as unbiased as possible. For instance, there was a member who had some issues with me, and I wasn't a big fan of him, but now that he is a moderator he has completely put that aside and has been kind, courteous, and willing to help me.
Again, I'm not taking any sides and I don't agree with everything that has happened here lately (especially some of the bans), I'm just trying to explain why it has been happening and why it has to be this way unfortunately.
The honey-moon is over, but eventually we will get used to it. And when that happens we will begin to start moderating ourselves, and then the need for formal moderation won't be so great and most likely things will get a little more relaxed again.
And Spikey, I look forward to seeing you back here soon; we all miss you.
Peace,
-Dan
