STOP with the thread closures already!

[BobThePizzaBoy]

That's exactly it. There aren't enough moderators moderating. We have... what, four? Five mods? Let's face it, Ed is the only active one. He's bound to make a few mistakes. There just aren't ANY OTHER moderators around here. I know they're busy, and they have lives, etc., but Phil, c'mon, you can keep them on the team, we just need to see more staff variation around here.

Which is really sad. Ed is such a nice guy. He was one of the first people to welcome me to MC, one of the first people on MC I've added as a Facebook friend. But we really need more moderator support.

 

[Super Scooter]

While perhaps posting the video without a warning of some adult content might be wrong, I see no reason a clip like this couldn't be discussed on the forum. We've discussed Avenue Q, vomiting Kermit, Meet the Feebles and plenty of other adult-puppet/Muppet productions. There's even an entire section of the forum devoted to Henson Alternative. Tinseltown and Puppet Up are both far worse in their content than that Robot Chicken clip.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

ugh...really? Closed? Why?

I was actually just about to post about the Dark Crystal parody on Robot Chicken.

Can someone show me where in the forum rules it says we can't talk about things like this?

 

[D'Snowth]

*Waits patiently for this thread's inevitable closure*

I wouldn't go so far as to say that moderation around here is fascist... it's certainly not nearly as bad as how fascist YouTube has been with it's members ever since Google took over, but then again that's to be expected, because Google is a big corporation, and big corporations don't care about the little people.

Now, I really don't want to add more fuel to this fire, but I have admit something I've shared with friends, and now I'm going public with it - I've not been impressed with moderation around here for a while now; like this Robot Chicken issue with Jamie, back last fall with the issue with the Obama thread was a final straw for me, because we had those who supported him celebrating in the thread, then we had ONE member who shall remain nameless ruining the celebration with Doom's Day talk about "oh well, there's always next election", and "as long as there's two parties, nobody really wins", and such... said member was asked by others to please refrain from posting such things if he/she didn't support Obama, then don't ruin it for those who did... who won? Said member, and all posts asking him/her to refrain from the Doom's Day talk were deleted.

I've said it before, YES Muppets are for ALL ages, and as such, we DO have youngens here, but in all honesty, most members here are grown-up, and as such, we really don't need to be treated like little kids when it comes to "heated" subjects; that's not saying MC hasn't had its share of heated topics, but for the most part, we're certainly mature and well-disciplined enough to behave ourselves, and draw our own lines at going too far in a debate or even an argument.

When everybody kept begging me to return to MC, I was hoping things had changed, and it looked for a while they did, but it seems like as of late, things are going right back down hill like they were for a while before I initially left last fall.

Having administrative and moderative experiences under my belt from other forums, I can tell you that constantly deleting topics and closing them isn't exactly a smart idea... truth be told, I would much rather suggest that a private board for members over a certain age can post in for more mature conversations without having to worry about the threat of thread closures and such... though granted, it still wouldn't hurt to keep these sorts of conversations civilized.

Anyshoe, just my half a cent's worth.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

That's exactly it. There aren't enough moderators moderating. We have... what, four? Five mods? Let's face it, Ed is the only active one. He's bound to make a few mistakes. There just aren't ANY OTHER moderators around here. I know they're busy, and they have lives, etc., but Phil, c'mon, you can keep them on the team, we just need to see more staff variation around here.

Yeah. I wanted to comment here, because I wonder where the mods are when we need them. In fact there is someone who often posts on the 'Sesame Street' forums who often criticizes when we try to nicely post our opinion on things (I won't mention any names here, but I think if he reads this he'll know who he is) and I wonder why the mods have kept him on for so long. And about the thread closure thing, I agree that they did make a mistake on closing the thread about Kermit's appearance on 'America's Got Talent,' but they reopened it. So that was taken care of. You can't expect everyone to be perfect.

 

[dwmckim]

Thread closures/deletions bother me too. These are things that should SOLELY be done as a LAST resort. But they're too commonplace when they should be rare. The only time one should ever see them happening a little more frequently is if there's a flamer ruining the board with malicious intent and even then most of the time, you can just censor/ban the specific troublemaker.

Unfortunaely, for me it's MC or nothing - my webtv had issues with delphiforums so i can't visit the Tough Pigs forum like i was once able to years ago unless it's during the small time i get to access the web at the library each week...and it's during that time that i'm checking out the Henson/Muppet videos of youtube, muppets.com etc. Now granted i'm basing these opinions on a place i haven't been able to visit in a long time but that forum isn't exactly a warm fuzzy Muppety welcome mat that's not with some serious issues either. Both places have their own unique problems.

This place through the good and the bad has REALLY been THE place for Muppet/Henson fans to communicate since the popularity of usenet newsgroups have faded. I hate to see people leave because of the abuse by moderators of their duties. I don't see the problem as not having "enough" moderators - more mods just lead to more people making decisions on deleting and closing threads! The problem lies with existing moderators doing thier jobs poorly. People will make mistakes and moderators don't always make the right decisions. Nor is being one easy - they generally have my respect...but such respect can also be lost. When it gets to the point when someone goes beyond making the occasional human mistake to where they're erring way too frequently, it's time for them to step down. When the moderators are making a forum worse than the members they're moderating, change must be made at THAT level.

As Muppet fans, we don't like seeing arms in the shot...so likewise we tend to favor a more "hands off" policy.

There's moderations and then there's censorship. People have forgotten the difference and when one can not make a distinction between the two...and they do so not occasionally, but frequently, they need to not be a moderator. Nothing personal against them; not saying they can't (or shouldn't) be valuable members of the forum...but not as a moderator.

 

[frogboy4]

There's a claim that's often made about Muppet Central that we shepherd young fans until they outgrow being here and they find a place on another forum such as Tough Pigs. I reject that notion and have defended that point of view until lately!

There's been far too much censorship and nursemaiding. Sure, we're a place that must be safe for all different ages and types of folk, but this level of pasteurization is needles.

I don't like games, fan fiction or naming my favorite Muppet hats (Dr. Teeth gets my hat vote). I like discussing Muppet projects, products, performers, parodies and appearances. The fact that it creates controversy is beyond silly. I mean, there are Christian threads here that I find downright out of place or even creepy, but that's the thing with the Muppety spirit. It should all be embraced!

Moderators used to keep one another in check, but right now it appears to be only one against the forum. A huge committee isn't required, but additional moderators bring needed balance. Mods are hard to select. They get busy and burned out. It happens.

I still have hope that MC doesn't require so much sanding off the edges.

And for BobthePizzaBoy: The New Nostalgia Critic Thread credited to you.

 

[Luke]

I noticed the thread closure on Robot Chicken, thought it was a little wacky. Yes its a family forum and sometimes adult stuff needs to be kept off but that means deeply offensive stuff, not freakin Robot Chicken lol. If a threads got out of hand in the past and the topic comes up again you can't judge that on the past one. I love MC .. lets hope all this can be sorted.

 

[Phillip]

Since the thread in question was re-opened this afternoon, this discussion is now a moot point and is being closed.