StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Just a couple points.

1. Two moderators because History is a low maintinence forum. The reason for three and four are for places that in past attracted flames and still do. Same reason a couple have only one and barely need that.

2. The choice to become a moderator has more to do whether the person is actually doing what the admins see for moderation, with the bonus being that they have knowledge in the subject. Simply having knowledge would make the moderation landscape look far fucking different to be honest.

Ghost Rider wrote:Just a couple points.

1. Two moderators because History is a low maintinence forum. The reason for three and four are for places that in past attracted flames and still do. Same reason a couple have only one and barely need that.

2. The choice to become a moderator has more to do whether the person is actually doing what the admins see for moderation, with the bonus being that they have knowledge in the subject. Simply having knowledge would make the moderation landscape look far fucking different to be honest.

Seconded. One of the few people who really moderated my post is Thanas and Stark. Both of them has help me by cutting down the amount of stupid stuff I posted.

Moreover, through their moderation, I have actually learned quite a lot from them.

I was originally going to recuse myself from this topic, but I think I have to clarify a few things.

Lonestar wrote:Well, when I think of "History nuts" on this board, Shep, Zeon, and Stas come to mind(and Skimmer as well). I didn't even know who Thanas was when I saw the half-started recent match.

With respect, but you must not have wandered into any topic about History up to the eighteenth century if you did not know who I was.

Enigma wrote:

Thanas wrote:It was definitely intentional.

Care to explain? Your response alone to me sounds like an intentional jab.

I was running low on time so I just posted that response. It was not meant to be a jab or anything, just a clarification. Your insinuation is pretty insulting.

That said, let me state the following:

I am sorry if anybody feels that I am not qualified to do the job. Although I will not go into any great detail, let me state that I am in fact a university-educated historian who holds university degrees in both history and law and who is currently active in the field as well.

I want to make the following things as clear as possible:

- I was asked if I wanted the job
- At no time did I ask anyone on the staff to disregard the vote in the HoC
- Although I was not privy to the discussion, I am pretty sure this was not a snub at Shep, but as other people have already said an attempt to balance the skillset of the forum moderators

Shep, I am sorry if you feel cheated or if you are hurt right now. Please believe me when I say this was not my intention at all when I accepted the offer. I do believe you to be one of the best posters in the History forum and please do not let the fact that you did not get to be a mod deter you from posting. I value your posts and I would miss them dearly.

Finally, I will try to be as fair a mod as possible and both Stas and I will always be available via PM if anybody has any questions about our moderation of the forum.

Thanas, to be blunt, you were asked to moderate by those in charge, and the whining of those not in charge is irrelevant. I look at the list of HoC nominations for Senator and I just shake my head, thankful this board isn't a democracy.

If I were you I'd just ignore everyone and do my job

SancheztheWhaler wrote:If I were you I'd just ignore everyone and do my job

Oh, I'll certainly won't let anyone dictate my actions. But I think Shep deserved an explanation.

Me wrote:Raw knowledge of history or your own personal familiarity with the candidate?

Lonestar wrote:Well, when I think of "History nuts" on this board, Shep, Zeon, and Stas come to mind(and Skimmer as well). I didn't even know who Thanas was when I saw the half-started recent match.

I think I'm answered.

But as long as we're talking about educational background being important(forgetting for the moment that the historical method isn't unknown to Shep, he goes out to college campuses and research centers on his own to look up archival stuff),

I wasn't suggesting that Shep doesn't know history, I was pointing out that Thanas is at least as knowledgeable with respect to his own field.

Thanas wrote:I was originally going to recuse myself from this topic, but I think I have to clarify a few things.

Lonestar wrote:Well, when I think of "History nuts" on this board, Shep, Zeon, and Stas come to mind(and Skimmer as well). I didn't even know who Thanas was when I saw the half-started recent match.

With respect, but you must not have wandered into any topic about History up to the eighteenth century if you did not know who I was.

Enigma wrote:

Thanas wrote:It was definitely intentional.

Care to explain? Your response alone to me sounds like an intentional jab.

I was running low on time so I just posted that response. It was not meant to be a jab or anything, just a clarification. Your insinuation is pretty insulting.

You didn't explain yourself and thus your reply was open to interpretation. If you posted something like "It was the admins\super mods\whatever's decision to go that route."

Instead, to me at least, those four words you used could easily been interpreted as being a jab.

Personally I have nothing against you being one of the History mods and I bet you'll do well, it is just that reply didn't sit well with me. No hard feelings eh?

It's been pointed out before, but I mentioned in the polls I ran that the results were going to be seen as suggestions for the Admin staff to consider, and that other factors (which may or may not be obvious) will influence their decisions.

I don't think think there's any doubt that Shep would be an excellent History mod; but for the purposes of the Admins, Thanas appeared to be the better choice. We're well past the point where Shep needs to "prove something" to anyone.

I think we need to clarify something about the House of Commons and the Senate. The reason for their existence is that we had a longstanding moratorium on people complaining about board policy, because so many trolls did that, especially in the early history of the board.

However, this meant there was no way for people to voice criticism or feedback, so the idea was to create forums specifically for people to do just that. And in the case of the Senate, votes were considered binding unless I personally intervened, which I am generally reluctant to do.

As for Shep not getting the History mod spot, I'll go on record saying that I think he would have been a fine choice since he did a good job in other similar positions. However, I was absent when the decision was made and at the moment I'm not sure how it was made.

Update: some of you may have noticed that I added Shep to the moderator list for the History forum. This was NOT done as a slight to Thanas or Stas Bush in any way, nor was it a comment on the stability of the History forum or a negative comment on the job they've done so far. It was mostly done because I didn't think it would do any harm, because Shep wanted to help, and because he's been reliable in the past on such matters. Please do not read anything deeper into it.

Congrats Shep!

Congratulations, Shep.

For those who may have concerns: Back when I ran a general discussion board (it died a couple years ago after Librium Arcana moved to its own server, but that's neither here nor there), I made Shep a moderator over the Politics forum, which is of course a more volatile subject than history. I was told I was nuts, but he never once abused his power or gave me any reason to doubt my decision. I have every confidence that he'll do his job well.

And I know that means jack shit to most of you. I just thought I'd add my vote of confidence.

Yeah, Shep's a good mod; he moderated the fanfics section at DS.com just fine when I was running that board, without ever having a problem, and I do trust him. Hell, if I started my own board again, I'd invite Shep back to that position, except that he refuses to talk to me right now.