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One more complaint, I don't like when mods post one-liners that don't show the OP what he did wrong. In fact, it only builds more resentment towards the mod.

Perfect example right here, new user made a thread about a PM he got. I'm sure he didn't know it was against the rules to do. And FUNKbrs just says he hates him to. How exactly does this even REMOTELY help the BBS besides giving the mod a little chuckle?

At 5/31/09 09:25 PM, Rague wrote: You know, I hate to sound like the immature weasel in this, but I'm intrigued and I hope it tempts others.

Where are Tom and Wade on this? Or are there lives over Newgrounds Offices too busy to deal with "customer services" anymore?

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?
Sorry, had to say it. It fits the situation. We can not rely on staff to help. That's why mods were created, to act for them.
And that's one of the problems I have. The moderators are there to act in place of staff. So why are they mis-using their power, making poor judgments and acting like immature morons? Why?

To be honest, all the "problems" that have been already pointed out already I've become quite accustomed to over the past 5 years. There are a few mods that are complete egotistical dicks though, but they know who they are. Other then about 3 or 4 assholes on the mod team I don't see any significant problems.

At 5/31/09 09:27 PM, Frenzy wrote: That "posting in a spam thread" rule is a bit iffy. There's no definate way to tell if it's spam. I think you should just lock/delete the thread, ban the OP for 3-5 days for making a spam topic, and let the other users slide- let the lost post be their punishment.

Yeah, that option is truly a killjoy. Like Frenzy said, spam can be a really subjective term. If someone is dicking around in a bad thread, go ahead and ban them; if they made a legit post, they obviously weren't posting with poor intentions and don't deserve to be punished.

So really, ban the OP and anyone else who posted obvious shit in a spam thread, just let the others off without a ban.

I don't think that this would solve all the forums' problems but one thing that I think is bullshit is that mods such as Zerok have their own set of rules which they enforce.

I honestly don't have a problem with the rules themselves but more the fact that it is basically impossible to know about them until someone points you to their direction.

I'm not saying that these rules shouldn't exist or that they should be in the main rules page, but at least a link, seriously.

"Some moderators have listed more specific instances which they will punish, such as these"

Threads like these are what usually get to me. There seems to no need to let this go on for more than it has. I'm really, REALLY trying hard not to point it out like this, but I couldn't help it.

At 5/31/09 05:46 PM, aninjaman wrote: But what if a level one user did it as a joke? Do they still deserve to get banned? I've posted memes sarcastically before and Poozy gave me a 5 day ban. A regular does it and nothing happens.

Again, because those people have proven that they are for the site, not against it. You need to prove yourself before being stupid, no offence. I made quite a few of those threads myself.

Also there is alot of latent rage coming out in this thread.

That's one thing we agree on.

At 5/31/09 08:39 PM, yhar wrote: Surely that agrees with the uselessness of a ban.

Not at all. I said it's an insignificant act to ban you from a moderator's point of view, from a user who's receiving the ban it's much more important, you can tell by the amount of PMs we get about it.

At 5/31/09 08:28 PM, Dry-Ice wrote: Blah blah blah...(over my brain capacity)

This is one of the reasons none of us can be mods. It takes a few people to have the attention span to post a huge wall of text like in the example posted by dry-ice.

Anyway, to add on to this thread, I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this before, but there should be an increase in the number of moderators. Don't get me wrong, I'm not just here to say ooooh pick me pick me. I'm here to state that there have been numerous times where there were spam threads put up when no mods were on and they got to almost two pages before they were deleted. All I'm saying is that there should be a little more moderators on the boards. Please, mods, take this post into SOME consideration. Usually there are a maximum of nine total mods on the boards at a time. Shouldn't there be more, seeing as there are twelve forums? The numbers could be increased a little. Thanks for reading this entire post ;)

I mentioned this in the MK3 thread, but I would like there to be the option of having a PM sent to you if someone responds to something you recently wrote, instead of always having to check back and see. By recently, I mean within the last two weeks. I know this is out of the mods' hands, but I'm just throwing this out there again.

I'd also appreciate the spelling and punctuation rule to be moved from general conduct to the other rules section, because I feel like I see bad posts too frequently, like this guy. If someone doesn't follow the rule and does it with at least a few of their posts, they should get a warning. Of course, though, I don't know what the mods currently do with users like this. Maybe they already give warnings or mods don't see it that often to really care. However, I just randomly checked the OPs of about 25 threads on the first five pages on the BBS, and I swear at least half of them used grammar like the guy I linked to. So, I think the mods notice, but again, I don't know what they do.

At 5/31/09 09:59 PM, Dry-Ice wrote:

At 5/31/09 08:39 PM, yhar wrote: Surely that agrees with the uselessness of a ban.

Not at all. I said it's an insignificant act to ban you from a moderator's point of view, from a user who's receiving the ban it's much more important, you can tell by the amount of PMs we get about it.

But it's the users right to do that. It's actually a good thing when it's done right. Recently, I had a misunderstanding with a mod and I politely and respectfully presented my case via PM. After only two PMs, we came to an understanding and my ban was lifted. PMs about bans are a good thing as long as the user doesn't just yell and call names.

At 5/31/09 08:54 PM, gumOnShoe wrote: frequent short posts of that nature get to me for reasons discussed earlier in this thread. They aren't part of the discussion. Jonas made a nice point about it earlier. Try to add a little more than hahahaha next time?

Then perhaps mods should freely delete any post they deem not relevant/helpful to the thread, and any post that is far too short and has very little though put into it. I know mods do this now as it is. I don't know if they ban for these kind of posts. But regardless maybe you guys should do that much, much more often. Since post count is held in too high a regard as a stat, if a post doesn't outright break the rules, yet is still utterly useless, a minor "punishment" would be to not allow said worthless posts to exist therefore penalizing the user's post count. The bbs would be a ton cleaner and more focused if all those short worthless posts weren't around.

At 5/31/09 09:27 PM, Frenzy wrote: Stop deleting threads and saying "It should be in your blog." Everyone knows nobody reads them, unless you're a very famous/popular user.

Do we really have to have 30 threads about the most mediocre and mundane things that's happened to people during their day? I sure as hell don't want to read them, and I don't see why anyone would feel those kind of thread have a place in the bbs when that is exactly what userpage blogs are for.

Whenever a thread is made about a video game in the General forum, the first thing someone does is link to the VG forum, because that's the appropriate place for such a topic. The same goes for userpages; they are there for you to talk about your day, shit that has happened to you, plans you are making, school, friends, stuff you want to buy and advice on what to get.

Think of your userpage as your own private thread- you set the topic, you get to moderate it by deleting comments and banning people from replying.

That "posting in a spam thread" rule is a bit iffy. There's no definate way to tell if it's spam.

It shouldn't be that hard to tell what a spam topic looks like. If the op is a level 2 account made today and the topic is about the Barny Bunch, taking a poop on your sister's chest, an obvious troll attempt towards anime fans or nothing but "look at this funneh picture i found" then it's obvious spam. If you are about to post in a thread and as you reach for the post button you have second thoughts, go with that feeling and hit the back button instead.

I think you should just lock/delete the thread, ban the OP for 3-5 days for making a spam topic, and let the other users slide- let the lost post be their punishment.

If the topic isn't obvious spam, then that would be reasonable. But if it literally screams "spam" and only a retard couldn't tell that it was, then the best and quickest way to teach someone not to post in that type of thread is through a ban. If someone is allowed to make mistakes without ever dealing with consequences, then that person will never learn from said mistakes. It took me about two times getting banned for posting in a spam thread to learn what is considered spam and to not do it again. I don't think it's too difficult a concept.

At 5/31/09 09:29 PM, X-TERRORIST-X wrote: One more complaint, I don't like when mods post one-liners that don't show the OP what he did wrong. In fact, it only builds more resentment towards the mod.

How exactly does this even REMOTELY help the BBS besides giving the mod a little chuckle?

The rules are at the top of every forum, there for all to see and read. What more can be done? Do mods need to send a pm to every new poster linking them to the rules of the bbs? Does everyone need to have their hand held and be lead to them like a child? If some users choose to ignore that valuable info in their haste to post, then why should they not pay any consequences? It's not anyone else's fault that some couldn't be bothered to read the guidelines that are freely available to them other than that person.

I don't know if FUNK or any other mod finds making a non threatening, harmless lock post such as that fun. But if they do then telling them they can't do that is hypocrisy, tantamount to the posters complaining the mods are trying to kill their fun. And considering I've seen many users make a post saying far, FAR worse to other users than what was said in FUNK's post, this complaint seems almost laughable.

As far as holding resentment towards someone for something they posted on a bbs, that's just silly. It's one thing to think someone is a bad poster who shouldn't be allowed the privilege of posting because they abuse the system, but it's another thing to hate someone as a person for something they said over the internet.

At 5/31/09 10:09 PM, Toiletpaper wrote:

At 5/31/09 08:28 PM, Dry-Ice wrote: Blah blah blah...(over my brain capacity)

This is one of the reasons none of us can be mods. It takes a few people to have the attention span to post a huge wall of text like in the example posted by dry-ice.

If only a few paragraphs of text weren't regarded as a "wall of text" around here, maybe the collective IQ would go up a few points. (I'm not making any remarks towards you, Toiletpaper, just using your post as a springboard.) The term "wall of text" means a lengthy post with no discernible breaks in between thoughts. Its meaning has been misinterpreted and twisted by the lazy of mind. If a dozen sentences organized into a few short paragraphs is what is now considered a wall of text, I wonder what some of you would call books then. They must be like climbing a mile high sheer rock cliff to you.

At 5/31/09 10:11 PM, WeHaveFreshCookies wrote: But it's the users right to do that. It's actually a good thing when it's done right.

Exactly. Maybe I didn't emphasize the part of my post which said "...when a user asks nicely..."

I'll admit to not having read through this, but I'll just shove my two cents in.

What lead me to find the BBS interesting in the first place is generally not allowed anymore. MickTheChampion, TheAbominableMatt, Williwowza, HotActionYiffFur, BigExplosions and quite a few other users made me laugh with their threads. Those threads would normally be instantly locked and/or deleted now.

Have a look at my userpage. I've linked a load of threads that made me love this place.

But now I feel like making any of those threads or posting in a thread like them is an insta-ban and the threads left open are 12 year old kids talking shit like 'omgz my teecher told me to go to datenshun' and 'i like a gurl what do i do?' as well as parody threads (which are never fucking funny) parodying threads that aren't any good in the first place.

It's hard to summarise. Basically when I go online I'd normally come to Newgrounds because I find it funny but now it just seems like a place where I come to see if I get punished for small crimes.

It's like telling the police to come watch you jaywalk so that you can be fined for it.

At 5/31/09 10:18 PM, THEJamoke wrote: If only a few paragraphs of text weren't regarded as a "wall of text" around here, maybe the collective IQ would go up a few points.

I'm sorry. If one post takes up an estimated third or fourth of a page, then I skim it, not read it. Too much to go through. Anyway, I was using it as an example for the rest of us. It pertains to the rest of my earlier post.

The term "wall of text" means a lengthy post with no discernible breaks in between thoughts. Its meaning has been misinterpreted and twisted by the lazy of mind.

Lazy it is.

If a dozen sentences organized into a few short paragraphs is what is now considered a wall of text, I wonder what some of you would call books then. They must be like climbing a mile high sheer rock cliff to you.

Books are different. They're worth reading, unlike most people's posts. ;)

At 5/31/09 10:23 PM, Dry-Ice wrote:

At 5/31/09 10:11 PM, WeHaveFreshCookies wrote: But it's the users right to do that. It's actually a good thing when it's done right.

Exactly. Maybe I didn't emphasize the part of my post which said "...when a user asks nicely..."

Ah. Sorry. I didn't see that before.

As you were...

And Sanjay is a fucking idiot lmfao.

While I was already banned he gave me a ban that was entitled something like "POST SPAM. 2ND WARNING" while i had 25 days left of my current ban, and he gave me a 15 day ban, shortening my ban by 10 days.

Congratulations Sanjay i guess!!!!

I've only skimmed this thread and it's late so my post may not be read but I'm putting in my 2 cents regardless:

More warnings. People who have been around for quite some time KNOW the rules, it's not like they are still learning. A reminder would be better than an immediate ban.

I hate the autoban for posting in a spam thread. It's not always blatantly obvious that something is a spam thread. It at least should be more clear. Sometimes I'll think something is okay, make a good post in it, and then find out it got me banned. Other times I'll think a thread is obvious spam, but it will be allowed. For a while, I was only posting in iffy threads if a mod did so before me. But you can't do that with every thread and even then it's not a guarantee of safety.

Some mods could be kinder. Sure, it can be annoying dealing with the "idiots" all day, but you've got to remember that those "idiots" are people too. I just went through my old PMs the other day and saw a PM where I must have had a link in my sig that wasn't acceptable and when I asked for clarification of the rule because I didn't fully understand it and wasn't very internet savvy, dude was impolite. New users are just learning the ropes usually. A ban is like GTFO. A guiding hand in the right direction is like "you did something wrong, this is how you correct it, and you are still welcome here."

You're here to help people, not to ridicule them.

I agree the backseat modding rule should go. If someone does something against the rules, and a few users explain why before a mod gets there, that should be a good thing. It means the bbs can regulate itself when mods aren't present. It's like when a teacher steps out of the classroom. The kids can either behave or they can go nuts and start throwing shit all over the place and going through the teacher's desk.

I do agree with what gOS said about it though. It can be annoying and not very helpful when people act as if they've got the authority to tell others how to post. It works if done correctly, and simply PMing the person isn't a bad idea either.

Also, mods shouldn't hold grudges against people and go after them every time they post.

And I remember hilarious and fun threads by people like HAYF and Williwowza that would get locked and sometimes deleted. But the 324324 stupid threads about OMG I TOUCHED A GIRL and TEH BBS SUCKS NOW are left alone. What gives? Another fun thread that got a lot of positive attention but was locked are those ones by AlphaCentauri and bus rides or whatever, where we'd pair up and then go to Africa and stuff, lol. But now I've digressed from my main point, if I even had one.

I'll shut up now because people don't like to read here.

I read your post, Dry-Ice, and I don't mean to jump on the bandwagon, but like a few other users said, it is a bit hard to identify a spam thread. Threads that I've learned to never, ever post in, are ones that quote a joke from a movie or TV show and other users post jokes from said movie or show.

Sometimes, a thread that asks a question is deemed as a spam thread, meanwhile it is just asking "Why is whatever bad/good"?

Threads that I've been noticing as of late which SHOULD be deemed spam threads are the ones that go like "What is this rash" or "Why do I have bumps on my arm" We're Newgrounds, not WebMD, and if you really think you're hurt, go to a doctor.

I thank the Mods for reading and giving input to posts.

Mods are insanely overrated. You've gotta be pretty pathetic if you can't handle spam on the internet. There's a lot of worse things in the world. Like fat chicks.

At 5/31/09 10:45 PM, Sensationalism wrote: I've only skimmed this thread and it's late so my post may not be read

Just so everyone is aware I have read and will continue to read every post in this thread. I'm sure I'm not the only mod doing so.

I have been banned by saying a one liner and a one word post before, are either of those considered ban worthy?

At 5/31/09 07:31 PM, LynchedJohNNY wrote: And Malachy needs to stop being an opinionated prick.
I left General and went to Wi/Ht and politics but in the politics forum it seems that Mal deletes well written responses that argue his views.

this is the only post out of the bunch that I want to respond to...simply because I have no idea what you're talking about.

The only thing I really have to say is that I am not that opinionated. I don't really understand where you get the idea that I am, considering I rarely get into a strong debate in the politics forum.

The only thread in recent memory in which you posted in and I moderated was:

How is gay marriage a threat? - which I locked simply because it was a clone of the thread If you appose gay marriage, why?. I at no point voiced my opinion on gay marriage in that thread or the thread I linked to. That was simply a house keeping issue, not a personal one.

I don't recall ever having a debate with you in the forum. And the only ban I gave you was for leaving a post consisting entirely of "seconded" half a month ago. So I don't see where I have come off as opinionated to you.

A post may be deleted for any number of reasons. If I see a troll running amuck in a thread, I will delete replies to keep the conversation civil and to avoid the troll coming back and restarting shit with those who argued with him when he gets off his ban. If your post was not all that mature or even well thought out, it may be deleted. The politics forum isn't for the quick and "witty" remarks you see in General. Finally, your post may not be deleted by the moderator who locks a thread or posts in a thread. We can all moderate all sections of the website. A thread that I may not lock, may be locked by another moderator. One moderator may delete a couple of posts before I lock a thread, etcetera.

At 5/31/09 11:33 PM, Jercurpac wrote:

At 5/31/09 10:45 PM, Sensationalism wrote: I've only skimmed this thread and it's late so my post may not be read

Just so everyone is aware I have read and will continue to read every post in this thread. I'm sure I'm not the only mod doing so.

I have as well, but that may have been obvious. I'm sure most mods are lurking.

At 5/31/09 11:40 PM, x-factor11 wrote: I have been banned by saying a one liner and a one word post before, are either of those considered ban worthy?

Yes.

One of the bans I received was for posting in a "spam" thread that was not obvious in the least. I posted legitimate advice and was banned for three days. I know it's much more convenient to ban everyone in a spam thread, but I thought it to be a bit harsh when I didn't fan the flames. The kid seemed to have some sort of medical problem and he really didn't appear to be trolling or partaking in anything of the sort.

The only thing i have seen wrong with the BBS is that users rarely take the blame for themselves when they do something wrong. Each person lately who has been banned all comes back with "(insert mod's name) is a dick, he is a cunt, he is this, he is that(and sometimes she), while without taking the blame. Mods give the reason why each user gets banned, but yet they don't get this. I have been banned 4 times now, each time i have deserved it, or requested it. I don't blame the mods, they were correct to do so, as it is there job to do so.

HOWEVER

Mods need to keep there job on the BBS. one person I know on here got banned from the BBS because of something they posted on another users Blog. It even said so in the "Reason for Ban".

I get banned for making threads I think are funny, but mods don't. This leads to me asking myself, "should I make this thread? If the mod doesn't find it funny I'll be banned." Since all of my threads are comedy gold, I feel the BBS is missing out.

Seriously, with all due respect, you don't need to enforce good behavior by banning. It's ridiculous. I get banned here more than I do on 4chan, and on /b/, mods don't even need a reason to ban you, they just do

Also I've been talked to like shit by avie, and some other former mods, and I can't talk back to them, because I can't treat them like they treat me. After getting into an argument with cellardoor6 a real long time ago, started from a joke about the ion cannon that cd6 took seriously, Wade mocked me when he banned me, saying I should go work on that. I may be a dick sometimes, and I deserve most of the bans I receive, but I would like some fucking respect.

Also I demand casual Fridays and an official caturday thread so I don't have to wade through the gore on /b/ to post cat pictures. I love cats. Give me a thread to post them in. Come on.

kthx for listening. Much appreciated. I feel better.

Here's a cat :3

At 5/31/09 11:58 PM, jmalouin7 wrote: Mods need to keep there job on the BBS. one person I know on here got banned from the BBS because of something they posted on another users Blog. It even said so in the "Reason for Ban".

That's a legit concern, but the moderation tools for user pages weren't implemented, so occasionally we use the bbs bans as a lure for them changing it. Its either that or (if the offense is serious) having wade threaten to delete their account :X

Between the two, I prefer the first. Now, I don't know what the original circumstances were so I can't say more that that. The only other time I've heard of a user being banned for a user page was when they were complaining about bans and stuff, and that was a very special case that I don't even remember well.

I don't think I've ever banned a user for their userpage though, and I agree that in almost all circumstances it doesn't make sense to do it. There are rare exceptions. Like, if a user said he was going to raid the forums and was gathering users together on his page, I might ban him preemptively the day he was going to try...

At 6/1/09 12:03 AM, gumOnShoe wrote:

At 5/31/09 11:58 PM, jmalouin7 wrote: Mods need to keep there job on the BBS. one person I know on here got banned from the BBS because of something they posted on another users Blog. It even said so in the "Reason for Ban".

That's a legit concern, but the moderation tools for user pages weren't implemented, so occasionally we use the bbs bans as a lure for them changing it. Its either that or (if the offense is serious) having wade threaten to delete their account :X

It wasn't a threat, it wasn't anything illegal or bad, or even on a mods user page. it was something one user said to another user, and this mod saw it, and thought it deserved a weeks vacation from the BBS.

now, what they said, wasn't abusive towards any mod itself, but it was exactly what we are discussing in this thread now.