Although to many users they may seem to be an annoyance, moderators play an important role in the success and continuation of Cyber Societies as a whole. In many ways they are like traffic officers. They do not make the laws, and they do not put people in jail. What they do is observe traffic, and when they see a rule being broken, they simply pull the offender aside and give them a ticket or a warning. In most cases this offender simply complies and moves on.
If a user does not choose to comply with the requests of a moderator, or disagrees with their viewpoint, that person should bring their case to an officer. Fighting or arguing with a moderator will not strengthen your case at all. Sometimes you may find yourself frustrated, and want to be heard. Making a public spectacle of yourself and the issue at hand is never the best course of action. If an officer can not resolve the matter, they should bring it to an administrator for further review.
We are not in the business of making threats to our users. If a moderator sees something that is violation of a rule, or is improper conduct, the following guidelines should govern your course of action:
The moderator will privately contact the user via CS Email stating the problem clearly. If the user's behavior is in direct violation of one of the site rules, a moderator will include this information with the private message.
A moderator can and will lock a related thread, and may leave public messages in public forums regarding the subject matter. However, it is never their aim to embarrass or humiliate people in public.
A user in question should carry out one of the following courses of action. First and foremost, comply with the moderator's request. Secondly, either send the moderator a message conveying an understanding of the matter and intentions to comply, OR at least acknowledge the moderator's requests before emailing an officer or administrator with their thoughts. To reiterate, it is okay to disagree with a moderator if carried out the proper way, but fighting with a moderator will not accomplish anything positive.
We have instructed our moderators not to engage in arguments with users. If you email a moderator with a challenge or argumentative email, you should not get a similar response from them. At this point a moderator will typically email an administrator with a copy of your complaint or challenge. If you have a question that will help you better understand the moderator's request, that is totally acceptable, and we encourage people to discuss such matters with our moderators.
In the case of a major dispute, an administrator will make the final decision. In most cases the administrative staff is in frequent communication and will be able to deal with matters in a timely manner.
If a user blatantly disregards or ignores the requests of a moderator, and continues to act in violation or by breaking other rules and/or making a public spectacle, then an administrator will be notified by the moderator, and the original issue plus the new issues will be dealt with as soon as possible.
Be aware that ONLY an administrator can ban a user, but also keep in mind, that if we feel a member is repeatedly disregarding the rules, jeopardizing the quality of our online environment, or detracting from the site in any way, we will not hesitate to remove them from the site.
