I know this post will be a bit long, but please try to read it and give some insight. And don't rage on me just because, try to think about it thanks.

1. make moderators responsible for what they are doing. Right now if there is a post they don't understand, or one that crushes their belowed view of the world, they'll just put warn and add 24 hour suspension.
That happened to me two times, once for pointing out obvious hypocrisy, once for helping out someone (ias calculator, i mean, seriously? warn for helping?). The funny thing is that there happened to be discussion about that i linked to the calculator, but i did not want to remove the link. It was harmless, 100% safe, and was solving OP's problem. Only after that some brave moderator came and added 10% to my counter with another 24 hour suspension. There are like 3 topics resolving ias calculation a week, some are having direct link, some are resolved with "google titanseal's calculator". Because there is no discussion about it, there are obviously no warns, because no one normal would warn for helping out, right?
Today another thing - i made a discussion thread about "play to win" attitude, how it applies to d2. Result? I came back few hours later to see topic nonexistent. Load it from browser cache - you do not have a permission to view this topic. Say what? Again, topic had two links: one to some random forum where the short version was posted (link to specific post), one to full version book - of course all legal etc, it's author's site!. Is that why? Fine. But tell me about that! (Ok it's not really fine because the links are 100% harmless and only resolve about interresting topic.)
What's my point? Two things. If the post gets removed, OP should be [automatically or otherwise] notified about who did this. Same with warn - why are they so mysterious, anonymous? Maybe i do not agree with that decision and would like to hear an argument? Even if i cannot do anything about it, i really really want to hear an explanation. That brings us to point number two:

2. Stop the censorship. I understand there are things not allowed on forum, and that's true for any healthy forum. Selling fg vs $$, items vs $$ and so on, i totally understand. But commenting on forum's policies brings us anonymous 10% warn with 24 hour suspension? Talking about things that mods can't get grasp of (i must say in plurar because they are anonymous! so think of it as i'm refering always to this particular moderator), mod is uneducated and ignorant in given field etc etc brings us warn. Why? Because he didn't understand the post and he thought that maybe, maybe it's wrong? I don't understand so it must be illegal? Again, this happens only because mods are anonymous and will not allow any discussion.
Oh yes, discussion. Why is it 100% guarantee to get warn if one questions mod's decisions? Why not stand up and rationalize? Again, stop the censorship and bring us responsible moderators
Automatic censorship strikes too. Some mysterious words that cannot be said (how many e's in ..bay? :)), others that automatically suspend for 24 hours (tho i never had that happening and i don't really want to try... so yeah.).
Back in then it was simply funny how some words were censored, out of fear of competition, but now? JSP is 3rd largest board in the world competition? what competition? Especially that this competition was killing some $$'s... fear not now. Competition is nonexistent.
Censorship happened to me? Yes, in discussion about autoit on programmers' forum i said why autoit was banned back in then long time ago. It must've been huge shock to whoever mod spotted that, so he had to censor it with "inappropriate post content". At least with no 10% this time
After all, it's the community that makes big sites what they are. Please, at least let it speak without fears of being wiped.
This leads us to point number three:

3. Nonsense rules. There are some, and most obvious has been given here in point number two, as you might have guessed, autoit. I don't know what's so special about this language, because the same thing can be made in any other. I won't point out here what i wrote before, don't want the post to mysteriously disappear point is: autoit is forbidden because it is forbidden. Someone made up that rule because [put here self-censored reason], which no longer applies, it's not bot forum anymore but trade/generic forum.
If anyone writes malicious thing in autoit i can probably do it ten times better in any other language. And since binary is not allowed to be posted, what's the harm anyway?
Oh, binary. I remember this topic, maybe from month ago? Someone wanted others to have some fun with debuggers and assembler. Moderator didn't quite get the concept so the topic had to be censored. Awwww.
Nonsense rules is *sometimes* also "no 3rd party program discussion" that is freely expanded to "no talking about ANY program", even if it has nothing to do with diablo 2. Fancy.
My point here? Allow *community* to *discuss* things, take their insights. Making hard stands that no one else understands (no reasons at all! no one to contact for explanation!) looks only a bit funny...

What do you think? Can we even have a polite discussion here or the topic will just get removed with no trace? Or closed with any reason, but with no hopes of futher discussion? Please, can we?
Can we give at least a chance for a few people to speak, and maybe even some moderator? Thanks!


edit: oopsie, my poll is a bit broken :/ should of course be "yes and i do not agree" in second option

This post was edited by Einzeinbleth on Jan 24 2011 09:47am

Voted yes; I agree.
Might add particular input in response to other posts.


This post was edited by MidnightRider on Jan 24 2011 10:02am

The reason anonymity from moderators exists is because of the notion that every action taken can be justified as enforcing some rule on the site. Any moderator should be able to look at the warning/closure and explain why the particular action was taken. If they can't, it shouldn't have been made in the first place (except in the case of early reposting to avoid the bump rule, since there is no way to reference another thread when it is closed).

There are also delegates responsible for answering questions and clarifying actions taken, to avoid harassment of individual moderators by the public. I can tell you that although you cannot see it, moderators are responsible for their actions, and are managed on a tighter leash than you would probably guess.

What it really comes down to is your affect on the general public. If you act in a high profile manner, and are looking to damage the general flow of things, whether you are targeting random individuals or the moderator team, you are going to catch more attention than others. Basically, if you look for trouble you generally find it, quickly. This thread will be deemed as dangerous to the community and will be acted upon as a priority.

Thanks for reply and some clarification!
I understand one of the reasons moderators are anonymous - raging kids pm'ing them, sending endless spam etc etc. But that should be dealt with as well, right? Was only thinking that it's more important for the community to have some way to contact moderator and ask for why (apart of some obvious things like spamming, then one see the warn coming and no one is surprised). But if you say any moderator can explain any other's actions (we're talking about polite asking here, waiting for reply and such, no stupid talk or whatever ;)) then I guess it's good.
I only have to disagree with the last words, this topic is not dangerous to the community. In this topic i want to ask for discussion, that can never hurt anyone in any way, there are two outcomes: nothing will be changed, or people will be allowed to express their thoughts. I hope your predicament will not come true... too soon?
Your post did give me some hope about how it works, tho.

I think you mean to say "effect"?
Nonetheless I totally agree! If you're a random and make one or two off-topic posts, nobody will care, but if you are a repeated spammer, instigator (or troll as you may call it), then you should be well prepared to deal with the consequences of your actions.

You're right, I originally typed "What it really comes down to is how you affect the general public", and apparently didn't proof read well enough my second time around.

However, my grammar is about as irrelevant as my opinion on the matter. I am not part of the administration, so I am not the professional when it comes to how the site should be run and how the moderators should be managed. When you make a thread that immediately undermines that authority (whether or not it was your intention), you have already lost the battle. There is as much of a personal aspect to this situation as there is a professional one.

This post was edited by hedonism on Jan 24 2011 10:43am