Guys, I think I'm starting to see a pattern here… I'm not trying to start any trouble at all, I just want to see if anyone else has noticed this fact.

In the GBMB's current incarnation, as well as in its past lives, we have faced numerous problems, most of which we as a community have managed to surmount and overcome in time, largely thanks to the efforts of the moderating staff.

However, I have begun to notice a problem in the way other problems are solved, and our usual solution won't work on this one. It has come to my attention of late that several of the moderators have become rather liberal with their powers, locking topics simply because they, the individual moderator, have become bored with them. Several key members of our posting community have been banned in the past, often for minor infractions or for doing something they didn't know was wrong. I suggest that perhaps there is a tendency toward rudeness and unnecessarily strict behavior evolving, albiet slowly, in the moderative castes of our beloved web site. My suggestion for the rectification of this problem is threefold. First, please start issuing warnings, rather than locks or bans. Second, please consider the use of twenty-four-hour or one-week bans, rather than lifetime restrictions that allow no hope for repention. And, third and last, please allow us to converse as we will, as long as the subject matter of the thread is appropriate to its category and the values of the message board as a whole. Nobody is forced to read or participate in any thread, and, if we are enjoying ourselves, then I see no reason why we should be forced to leave this, our preferred medium of communication, to continue in doing so.

Please remember that, although some of us may be a moderator and some of us may not, we are all equals here. None of us is superior to any of the others, and I would like to see this ideology reinforced in the future.

Thank you for your time
-the Xenographer

well to address some of your concerns: mods have nothing to do with banning people thats the admins jobs. second I believe the current mods are doing just fine theres just not enough of them. as for locking threads because there bored of them? show me an example.

Very well.

http://www.gbcentral.com/viewtopic.php?t=498&start=15 : This thread was locked because in it, somebody professed a love for Ivan Reitman's mid-80's sci-fi/comedy movie “Ghostbusters”, of which you may have heard. Honestly. Read the last post in that thread.

And here's another: http://www.gbcentral.com/viewtopic.php?t=1551 . I for one was thorougly enjoying this thread; it woke some people up and got us conversing actively. There wasn't a thing wrong with it, save maybe for the fact that its relationship to GB has become somewhat tangental.

I disagree that there are too few mods; I simply think that there are too few active mods. Besides yourself and a few others, most of our once-extensive repertoire of moderators have become scarely seen, save for an occasional cameo made solely for the purposes of locking a fairly benign thread.

And, lastly, I apologize for the mod/admin confusion, but I tend to use the word “moderator” as a blanket term.

http://www.gbcentral.com/viewtopic.php?t=498&start=15

the thread was locked because of petty arguments between members. personally I dont think I would have locked it, but you have to respect each moderators judgment,

http://www.gbcentral.com/viewtopic.php?t=498&start=15

as for this thread I dont know, I can tell you it was getting very silly and pointless, also the thread started was a member who is on thin ice as it is still no reason for the lock that I could see but then again I didnt have the patience to read through 12 pages of that garbage.

and I agree with you maybe there is enough mods just not enough active ones.

I didn't think you would; I didn't have you in mind while writing the above rants. I just wish there were a more democratic way of doing things… perhaps a concurrence by three mods (and maybe a couple standard members) should be required before locking a thread, and the decision to ban a user for minor infractions should not be left up to one man and one man alone.

It is said that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is my sincere opinion that there is no safe place to invest individual power.

there is a place you can invest idividual power refer to my sig message. as for banning, as long as chad is the admin im afraid it will be up to one man and one man alone. as for a mod concurrence its something to look into but that would just take more time to get things done, and this place already is to slow on action. I dont know what else to tell you anymore man.

ps, there is one being that breaks the rule of power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutly and thats god. not to get preachy or anything and even though chad is a good person and a good webmaster, I must say this, I know god, and Mr. paulson, you are no god.

I must say that I agree with you, and think that you have every right to get preachy, if being “preachy” entails spreading the truth of the Word of God… if only He were a Ghosthead.

Gozer: "Are you a god?“

God: ”As a matter of fact, yes.“

Gozer: ”Oh… well, shit. I guess I'll be going, then."

just for the record , even though i was opposed to the fight for egons love thread because it's very nature is to cause trouble i'm not the one that locked it .

Well, to be honest, it seems to me that the threads that have been “unfairly” locked had nothing to do with making “suggestions on how the boards should be run”, as the section's name implies, and everything to do with people complaining about how things ARE being done…without ever any real constructive criticism or offer of help.

As for the rest, well…the simple fact is that “freedom of speech”, such as it is, doesn't apply here.

Yes, you absolutely have the right to say whatever you want to, and were this a truly public forum, I'd be behind you 110%. But this site does still belong to Chad, and he has his rights too. It is his right to have control of his board, and no matter what the legacy of that board might be, it IS currently his. You have the right to say what you want, Chad has the right to delete it. Just like you have the right to walk away if you feel he is doing a bad job of it.

Best thing I've ever heard said on the subject came from a friend of mine when talking about, of all things, abortion…and some of the fanatical sides that have risen up on the subject: “Why is it that the people that complain the loudest about their rights always do so at the expense of the rights of others?”

And before people start questioning my use of a quote about abortion…I assure you, it applies here too.