Wade,
I don't see that it's so much of a problem as it's being made out to be. Maybe some mods are getting hit harder then the ones I know personally, but I've not seen anything that I'd consider "harassment" (beyond the incident between Guzzi and some '05er a month or so ago, which constituted less verbal harassment than AIM-crashing antics).
I'm not one to miss out on goings on around the BBS, so I'm sure you're referring in part to that "Alliance" group and their odd ways of dealing with people (namely, Chinese-British female mods they feel are unfairly banning them, to be plainly inspecific).
As I see it, the real problem here is that BBS users are too close to the mods to really respect their position. Certain users feel that being banned once is worth the time it takes to make a "spam" topic, flame another user, or post pictures that are not allowed on the BBS. Not only does being banned for a premeditated offense make the user feel empowered by claiming to his "group" that being banned has absolutely no effect on him because of his level of internet badassery, but the witnesses grow fond of the idea of sticking-it-to-the-man: BBS Authority.
At best, what can happen? They will be banned for a few days, maybe a week, or maybe a month. If they feel that it is an unfair ban, they will whine and whine until they get their way. For example: Ozcar being demodded on April Fool's Day. Though it was pure prank, it was a big victory for those who were against Ozcar being a mod, verified that their cries of unjustice were being heard, and set the precedent for a moderator being stripped of the status (just as Dobio being banned for a certain thread set the precedent of mods being treated as regular users by higher authority). What's next? Mods being demodded for jokingly posting threads which might offend more sensitive BBS users? Newgrounds Affiliates being permabanned from newgrounds for rogue activity on the BBS, resulting in a serious degradation of the work flowing through the portal (also known as: The part of Newgrounds that matters most).
Getting back to the point, it is the modding process that is to blame for many parts of the problem. Regular users are selected to join the mod crew—to help out—leaving behind jealous users who somehow don't get that posting "LOL" in response to someone just to get 20,000 posts isn't a constructive thing, and most likely won't get you noticed as someone who is a trustworthy user and someone who can handle the ability to control the less favorable aspects of the burgeoning BBS populace. They feel that since someone was modded who had signed up after them, had less posts, or was a lower level, they must just be waiting in line to be given mod duties... or that it will eventually come to them no matter what. They transition from posting for fun, and posting intelligently to keep from being banned, to posting for intelligently in hopes that they will be modded. When this never comes, their jealousy of users in a position they have held in exaultation for so long grows into disgust or anger, at which point they strike back at the BBS and its constituant users though spam, alt accounts, and personal attacks against the BBS Mods.
At 1/12/06 00:00 PM, Andersson wrote:
Five dollah
Har har har.
