A letter about WOTC's Moderating Practices

lusiphur25 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:29 am **Posts:** 17

I have been a long time "watcher" of these and WOTC boards. Now I'm starting to wonder if they might ask me to change my name. After reading this and seeing that religous figures shouldn't be used as name, they might get the imipression that I'm some sort of Satan worshipper or something. In alll truth my name comes from my favorite comic book character, a crazy assassin elf named Lusiphur Malache from Poison Elves. I know I don't post over there much, but with a the stuff Bill, and others are going through with what seems to be very technical violations I'm wondering if I might get a warning or something. But it almost makes me think that if I don't, that it might add fuel to this argument. I mean, Che can be interpreted different ways, but unfortunatly most people see mine and think "el Diablo". I've gotten some pretty bad flames from people on other sites, but since the comic and character really have a lot of meaning to me, (even more since the creator Drew Hayes died last year), I don't change it. The point of this long-winded post is that if they were doing modding evenly on everyone, I don't know why I should be able to keep my name. Not that I'm complaining that they don't, guess I'm just making an observation.

jew3 · **Posted:** Fri May 15, 2009 10:28 pm

NickName wrote:

Tao WAS Che back in 2007 and before becoming a MOD.

After Gleemax killed his brother's account, and since Tao wasn't using the Che account, he gave it to his brother.

Earlier in the thread I posted that I thought Tao was taking it back after the last fiasco and some people (including but not limited to me) confused Che's comments with Tao's since they had been the same person in the past. But Tao confirmed in various posts here that it's still in use by his brother. So that's my mistake, and I apologize for any confusion.

Not positive but reasonably sure enough to post it:

Previously
Tao= Matt
Che= Matt

Now
Tao= Matt
Che= Bobby

Disturbing this information is. Isn't sharing accounts not allowed according to the CoC, and also the reason Tradehouse had to disband.

ender_ · **Joined:** Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm **Posts:** 265

jew3 wrote:

NickName wrote:

Tao WAS Che back in 2007 and before becoming a MOD.

After Gleemax killed his brother's account, and since Tao wasn't using the Che account, he gave it to his brother.

Earlier in the thread I posted that I thought Tao was taking it back after the last fiasco and some people (including but not limited to me) confused Che's comments with Tao's since they had been the same person in the past. But Tao confirmed in various posts here that it's still in use by his brother. So that's my mistake, and I apologize for any confusion.

Not positive but reasonably sure enough to post it:

Previously
Tao= Matt
Che= Matt

Now
Tao= Matt
Che= Bobby

Disturbing this information is. Isn't sharing accounts not allowed according to the CoC, and also the reason Tradehouse had to disband.

AAFAIK, it wasn't until D&DI went live,because there was in fact a community poster which was like a wikipedia article, you pm the account asking for the log in info and then you added your normal name to the sig of user's who've already posted with it. It was even asked about that during one of the Q&As in the D&D area.

ender_ · **Joined:** Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm **Posts:** 265

What the snicker doodle :I've removed content from this thread because Trolling AND Flaming AND Disruption are a violation of the Code of Conduct. You can review the Code of Conduct here: http://forums.gleemax.com/community_coc.php

Due to complaints received about this thread, I've closed it. The thread will be reviewed to determine if it should be permanently closed, re-opened, and/or a new thread or threads created in it’s place.

in the GOWK hypothetical thread... O.o and the orc didn't even lock it ROFLOL

EDIT: I just realized that some one went a little nuts....i'm such an idiot when i just glance at stuff

Bantha Rawk · **Joined:** Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:29 pm **Posts:** 229

ender_ wrote:

What the snicker doodle :I've removed content from this thread because Trolling AND Flaming AND Disruption are a violation of the Code of Conduct. You can review the Code of Conduct here: http://forums.gleemax.com/community_coc.php

Due to complaints received about this thread, I've closed it. The thread will be reviewed to determine if it should be permanently closed, re-opened, and/or a new thread or threads created in it’s place.

in the GOWK hypothetical thread... O.o and the orc didn't even lock it ROFLOL

EDIT: I just realized that some one went a little nuts....i'm such an idiot when i just glance at stuff

Yep, someone is having a little bit of fun over on WotC board... They have hit almost every thread on the front page, and then some...

ender_ · **Joined:** Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm **Posts:** 265

Bantha Rawk wrote:

ender_ wrote:

What the snicker doodle :I've removed content from this thread because Trolling AND Flaming AND Disruption are a violation of the Code of Conduct. You can review the Code of Conduct here: http://forums.gleemax.com/community_coc.php

Due to complaints received about this thread, I've closed it. The thread will be reviewed to determine if it should be permanently closed, re-opened, and/or a new thread or threads created in it’s place.

in the GOWK hypothetical thread... O.o and the orc didn't even lock it ROFLOL

EDIT: I just realized that some one went a little nuts....i'm such an idiot when i just glance at stuff

Yep, someone is having a little bit of fun over on WotC board... They have hit almost every thread on the front page, and then some...

i smell a perma ban in the works...

Bantha Rawk · **Joined:** Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:29 pm **Posts:** 229

...and they're gone...

ender_ · **Joined:** Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm **Posts:** 265

Bantha Rawk wrote:

...and they're gone...

I'm sure it wasn't someone directly involved with the issue,no one from what I can tell is that crazy

Crath Lade · **Joined:** Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:26 am **Posts:** 27

Whoever he was, deserves the Nobel.

ORK_Fudgepacker, you will live forever in my heart.

ender_ · **Joined:** Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm **Posts:** 265

Well now i fell like everyone else I got the email form CS for replying to a thread that was deleted and it had a pic of a penguin in it and i did a caption for the penguin.....

In our online communities we strive to create a safe and fun environment for all of our members. We have set up a Code of Conduct to be as fair as possible. You can find our Code of Conduct by clicking here .

In participating in our games and services you will encounter thousands of other members who come from different backgrounds and have many different experiences. Certain languages, information and images may not be offensive to you, but may have an effect on someone else.

We found content you posted on the Wizards.com Community Forums that violates section 6, Disruption of the Code of Conduct.

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=18586577

We have taken the necessary steps to remove this content. Further violations may result in deactivation or termination of your account. We appreciate your cooperation.

We would appreciate your feedback on the service we are providing you. Please click here to fill out a short questionnaire . To login to your account, or update your question, please click here .

Online Community Conduct
Wizards of the Coast

:roll:

Crath Lade · **Joined:** Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:26 am **Posts:** 27

ender_ wrote:

Well now i fell like everyone else I got the email form CS for replying to a thread that was deleted and it had a pic of a penguin in it and i did a caption for the penguin.....

In our online communities we strive to create a safe and fun environment for all of our members. We have set up a Code of Conduct to be as fair as possible. You can find our Code of Conduct by clicking here .

In participating in our games and services you will encounter thousands of other members who come from different backgrounds and have many different experiences. Certain languages, information and images may not be offensive to you, but may have an effect on someone else.

We found content you posted on the Wizards.com Community Forums that violates section 6, Disruption of the Code of Conduct.

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=18586577

We have taken the necessary steps to remove this content. Further violations may result in deactivation or termination of your account. We appreciate your cooperation.

We would appreciate your feedback on the service we are providing you. Please click here to fill out a short questionnaire . To login to your account, or update your question, please click here .

Online Community Conduct
Wizards of the Coast

:roll:

Wait.... who are you?

THEY DELETED MY PENGUIN??!?!?!?! IF YOU WERE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS TRANSGRESSION, I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD.

Oh, and I've heard from reliable sources that ORK_FudgePacker was only banned for 72 hours.

Nivuahc · **Joined:** Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:06 pm **Posts:** 249

NickName wrote:

Tao WAS Che back in 2007 and before becoming a MOD.

After Gleemax killed his brother's account, and since Tao wasn't using the Che account, he gave it to his brother.

Earlier in the thread I posted that I thought Tao was taking it back after the last fiasco and some people (including but not limited to me) confused Che's comments with Tao's since they had been the same person in the past. But Tao confirmed in various posts here that it's still in use by his brother. So that's my mistake, and I apologize for any confusion.

Not positive but reasonably sure enough to post it:

Previously
Tao= Matt
Che= Matt

Now
Tao= Matt
Che= Bobby

Go back and read what Matt said earlier about this subject. Just about everyone on the moderation team knew that Tao/Che = Matt and, up until this event blew up, none of them really knew that now Che = Bobby.

Which might go a long way in explaining why Bobby/Che hardly ever had his posts removed or edited by a mod and, quite possibly, why responses to Bobby/Che were treated with more severity than others. As far as most everyone on the moderation staff was concerned, it was Matt/Tao/Che making those posts. Which is completely unfair and something that I'm sure Bobby/Che abused as much as possible. Matt seems like a pretty nice and reasonable fellow (until you either disagree with him or point out flaws in his logic, then he accuses you of being irrational and stops conversing altogether * ) and it's a shame that his brother has sullied his good name with all of this.

ender_ · **Joined:** Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm **Posts:** 265

Crath Lade wrote:

ender_ wrote:

Well now i fell like everyone else I got the email form CS for replying to a thread that was deleted and it had a pic of a penguin in it and i did a caption for the penguin.....

In our online communities we strive to create a safe and fun environment for all of our members. We have set up a Code of Conduct to be as fair as possible. You can find our Code of Conduct by clicking here .

In participating in our games and services you will encounter thousands of other members who come from different backgrounds and have many different experiences. Certain languages, information and images may not be offensive to you, but may have an effect on someone else.

We found content you posted on the Wizards.com Community Forums that violates section 6, Disruption of the Code of Conduct.

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=18586577

We have taken the necessary steps to remove this content. Further violations may result in deactivation or termination of your account. We appreciate your cooperation.

We would appreciate your feedback on the service we are providing you. Please click here to fill out a short questionnaire . To login to your account, or update your question, please click here .

Online Community Conduct
Wizards of the Coast

:roll:

Wait.... who are you?

THEY DELETED MY PENGUIN??!?!?!?! IF YOU WERE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS TRANSGRESSION, I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD.

Oh, and I've heard from reliable sources that ORK_FudgePacker was only banned for 72 hours.

I liked the penguin.. all i did was put a caption saying "what the penguin is thinking... "I'll get that batman"

and furthermore my asking of whats going on in the moderation thread disappeared too....

billiv15 · **Posted:** Sat May 16, 2009 12:39 pm

ender_ wrote:

I liked the penguin.. all i did was put a caption saying "what the penguin is thinking... "I'll get that batman"

and furthermore my asking of whats going on in the moderation thread disappeared too....

Well Trappedslider, now perhaps you understand exactly why the report button, and the way the ORCs respond is problematic to the good of the community.

The lesson to be learned here, is if you don't like your funny jokes to disappear, then you need to be more careful how often you push the report button as well.

S1AL · **Posted:** Sat May 16, 2009 12:51 pm

LoboStele wrote:

@ S1AL...

Maybe you weren't around much before the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tosche Station sections were set up. There was a few months were ANYTHING remotely off-topic was being deleted or moved over to the generic WOTC off-topic section, which was A) nearly impossible to find, and B) 99% non-SWM people. So when threads got moved over there, they died immediately. A large majority of those threads would've fit into your 2nd and 3rd categories (if categories even exist, as I tend to agree with Boris on that aspect, per the emails we've been seeing from WOTC personnel).

I have to wonder if you're even reading anything I'm writing here. I just said the exact same thing, except that I didn't bother to mention stuff being moved to the general off-topic forum.

Quote:

So yes, threads about GenCon were getting moved to the general Off-Topic section of the boards, where nobody could ever find them again. Threads talking about Star Wars characters, or what other Star Wars books would be good to read, etc. were getting moved over there. So, posts/threads that were 100% Star Wars related, were getting moved to a section of the forums were probably 90% of the regular visitors to that section, didn't give a flip about Star Wars. To many of us at the time, those posts seemed more off-topic in the Off-Topic section, then they had in the SWM General board!

It's impossible to be "off-topic in the off-topic forum," but OK. Again, let me say that I was one of the main people pushing for the off-topic forum.

Quote:

So that's why they eventually started the Tosche Station and MEC. So yes, the post Nickname made about GenCon is OFF-TOPIC for the section of the forum it is in. It should be in either MEC or Tosche Station. As should Moses' OP thread probably, since it's talking about events and such.

Not disagreeing.

Quote:

The whole point is that Wotc_Erik, Tao, ORC_Chaos, the WOTC Customer Service people....they are ALL telling us that people only get warned/banned because they get reported, and that they desire to have consistency on the forums, but it requires the community to be consistent in reporting. Well, that's all Bill and Boris are trying to do. Be consistent. So, for the same things that they got reported/warned/banned for, they are being consistent and reporting those same types of things in other threads.

But lo and behold, when the reports get to the WOTC Mods, they aren't taking any action on them. So, they obviously AREN'T being consistent if Boris gets a 24-Ban for an off-handed comment, and yet posts like mine here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=128) go not only un-edited, but I didn't receive a warning, or a ban, or anything. I have a hard time believing that people reported posts in other threads, and yet didn't report mine. And I'm sure that ORC_Chaos was reading the threads. If Boris posted a simple observation of fact, with a single sentence and no malice in it all, then how is my post ANY better at all?? I was personally SHOCKED when I logged in earlier this week and didn't get a notice that I'd been banned. Not that it would have mattered to me much, but that's probably the worst I have EVER blown up on a forum.

Off-topic posts in the middle of off-topic threads have ALWAYS been treated differently than threads that are simply in the wrong location. This is not news to anyone who pays attention at the WotC forums.

And frankly, like NN said, Boris has a history of being excessively critical of the mods. Eventually, it's going to get reported (and in fact, I'm aware of who reported it).

Quote:

I just don't get it. It is NOT consistent. Anyone who thinks there is consistency is either turning a blind eye to it all, or is just plain stupid, IMO.

Guess I'm stupid, then :roll:

.

EDIT: As to why your posts didn't get a warning... probably because it was locked very shortly thereafter. Upon seeing that a thread is locked, I really don't bother with anything there at all; the same is probably true of most.

ender_ · **Joined:** Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm **Posts:** 265

billiv15 wrote:

ender_ wrote:

I liked the penguin.. all i did was put a caption saying "what the penguin is thinking... "I'll get that batman"

and furthermore my asking of whats going on in the moderation thread disappeared too....

Well Trappedslider, now perhaps you understand exactly why the report button, and the way the ORCs respond is problematic to the good of the community.

The lesson to be learned here, is if you don't like your funny jokes to disappear, then you need to be more careful how often you push the report button as well.

In their defense i can see how the thread was disruptive to the CB forum,but it would have been moved to the station....on the downside this really kicks any future plans for being a VCL ever again out the window,lol

Tao · **Joined:** Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:47 pm **Posts:** 24

Nivuahc wrote:

Go back and read what Matt said earlier about this subject. Just about everyone on the moderation team knew that Tao/Che = Matt and, up until this event blew up, none of them really knew that now Che = Bobby.

I'm not sure that I implied that, but I didn't mean to. Because of a high turnover rate, the merging of the WizO and adept teams, and the fact that the Admin and Star Wars teams were pretty separate from the other WizO teams, there aren't many people who know my past work history. In fact, I am the last member of both the Admin and Star Wars WizO teams, so no other ORC currently on the team really knew me prior to the merging of the teams (long after I had abandoned the Che username).

Nivuahc wrote:

Matt seems like a pretty nice and reasonable fellow (until you either disagree with him or point out flaws in his logic, then he accuses you of being irrational and stops conversing altogether * )...

I'm still checking in and answering questions. I've just decided to not attempt to rationalize or excuse things that are outside my ability to rationalize or explain. Doing so is just going to make things more unpleasant for everyone, which is the exact opposite of what I want. There are some things I'm just not going to be able to fix, and I need to be willing to accept that.

I definitely did not mean to imply that anyone was being irrational nor did I mean to make myself unavailable. I just don't want to contribute any further to anything unpleasant.

Crath Lade · **Joined:** Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:26 am **Posts:** 27

ender_ wrote:

In their defense i can see how the thread was disruptive to the CB forum,but it would have been moved to the station....on the downside this really kicks any future plans for being a VCL ever again out the window,lol

Not that there.... .y'know..... were

ender_ · **Joined:** Wed May 13, 2009 3:30 pm **Posts:** 265

Crath Lade wrote:

ender_ wrote:

In their defense i can see how the thread was disruptive to the CB forum,but it would have been moved to the station....on the downside this really kicks any future plans for being a VCL ever again out the window,lol

Not that there.... .y'know..... were

actuily i was hoping that when the relaunch d20 modern,that the forum would be on its own and gets a VCL...but since this incident I doubt that i would be picked for it.

StriderRe80 · **Posted:** Tue May 19, 2009 6:13 am

right here is another example were they delete a post and yet they do not read the rest of the thread and look I have a quote from the deleted post

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1191562

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A letter about WOTC's Moderating Practices

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