The purpose of this thread is to keep a record of all moderator decisions that affect the site as a whole and, whenever appropriate, to give some insight into the process behind those decisions. Things like rules updates, adding or removing of moderators, new subforums, etc. will be posted here. Some issues will be able to be addressed in greater detail than others depending on how sensitive the subject matter may be but this will at least give some level of transparency and insight into the process of making these decisions.
All announcements posted on this thread will be done so either by Hannes or by a member of the administrative staff.
To view the entire staff roster and where each moderates, click here: View Forum Leaders
Staff can be contacted about issues pertaining to their areas of responsibility publicly via Moderator Helpdesks or privately via Private Message.
If you wish to engage the staff generally but privately, feel free to raise a thread in the Staff Inbox.
Entertainment has been split into two more subforums: Sports and Printed Media. This change was originally proposed within one of the recent Public Moderator Applications threads. It was agreed that this change could make it easier to find threads on those topics within Entertainment and keep threads on other topics from getting lost amongst them.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"...because without beer, things do not seem to go as well."
The Suspended from Trading usergroup has been pruned. Users who have been in Suspended from Trading status for longer than six months and still had BTR Notifications listed as the reason for said suspension have been banned for failure to resolve their cases. 14 users were banned.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hey all... I'm retired, not dead. Check out what I'm doing these days (and beg me to come back if you want):
Linking or otherwise pointing people in the direction of an eBay auction (for anything other than illustrative purposes) is not allowed. Also, making or soliciting offers for cards or other goods is allowed only in Market Street and only under the specific rules in place therein.
This is to ensure that any transactions facilitated through this site are subject to the rules and protections afforded under the Market Street rules and regulations.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"...because without beer, things do not seem to go as well."
Arnnaria requested to be removed from his position in the Legacy subforums to become a permanent moderator in Water Cooler Talk. His request has been granted.
Korsakovia, Warden, and poppeleseed will continue on as the moderators for the Legacy subforum. At this time, there is no plan to fill the spot left by Arnnaria.
To help streamline the operation of the site, enable faster response times, and reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies, some of the duties of admins will be divided with each administrator taking initial responsibility for dealing with various aspects of the forum.
Annorax will take point on handling technical issues with the forums and MS bannings.
Azrael will take point on explaining site policy, transparency, and user relations.
Yukora will take point on infraction review and personnel management.
In line with this new system, we're tweaking the procedure for moderator complaints to give Yukora closer contact with users, and to become the central hub for responding to user complaints. As always, you should first contact the moderator by PM or helpdesk. If further review is necessary, you should post on Yukora's helpdesk. Alternately, you can send an email to Yukora at [email]yukoramtgs@gmail.com[/email].
It is no longer necessary to contact a global moderator as an interim step to contacting an administrator.
If you are unsure which administrator to contact regarding a problem, please contact the team as a whole.
---
Gutter/Staff Relations Subforum
The staff has also established the guttermod/staff relations subforum.
The arguments in favor of this subforum were to:
- Promote a more harmonious relationship between gutter users and the staff.
- Facilitate the private resolution of controversies between gutter and staff.
Some concerns were raised that this subforum represents special treatment for gutter members. However, the staff believe that the history of tense relations between gutter and staff warrant this arrangement, as much for the benefit of the staff as anyone else. There has also been discussion of creating a similar discussion subforum for the site as a whole.
In the Standard/Type 2 forums, we've established a new Gauntlet thread, intended to provide regular updates on the format's top-performing T8 decklists to keep an eye on.
In general, it's been a busy week, with banning appeals review, moderator apps, staff reorganization and recruitment, catching up on trophy backlog, brainstorming threads, hatching plans to revive the pen and paper inn, division of duties, the gutter/staff sub, and other assorted miscellania. Things are humming.
New Procedure for Staff Termination/Retraining, and Moderator Infraction Tracking
Quote from Azrael »
Its hard to say whether installing globals/admins to continually keep an eye on certain mods is a good solution. I would certainly feel better about not having to terminate anyone, and it avoids any potential bad blood or worries about us being on a vindictive power trip. On the other hand, it might make for extra, unnecessary work for the supervisors. But perhaps I'm underestimating how quickly people can change and improve their performance, if they're told squarely and directly that it's not satisfactory.
Hmm. Here's a slightly different idea, which is somewhat in line with how I would hope to be treated if I were the problematic mod in a similar situation.
1. We post a global/admin to oversee those moderators who we feel are in need of a close eye.
2. We inform that moderator that in lieu of a termination, we're appointing a mentor to retrain, review, and supervise their actions, with authority to overrule them, until that mentor recommends that we either terminate them or return them to normal status.
3. To cover moderators who may accumulate infraction-worthy posts while tenured and insure accountability, we establish a new policy in which we record and date infractions that would otherwise be issued to a moderator, in a thread dedicated to that purpose.
As part of the site-wide revamp, we're moving forward with an initiative that is absolutely no fun at all, but is indispensable to keeping things running smoothly. Moderator performance is the paramount issue in making sure that users are satisfied, feel that they are being treated fairly, and have confidence in our leadership.
In the global and admin areas, there has been considerable hand-wringing on how to handle this area, which is only made more difficult and delicate due to our having a close-knit team, with many personal friendships involved. Nor is it worth ignoring the emotional investment that many of our moderators put into the site. We know that most of our personnel, even when they make mistakes, are seeking to help make things better. Nevertheless, for the good of the site, it may be necessary for us to part ways if it becomes evident that the staff member is better suited to act as an ordinary member of the community.
The first option we considered was ruthless application of our ability to terminate moderators. When considering moderators with a consistent record of reported problems, there are good arguments for making a quick, clean break. That option isn't entirely off the table, and it would also certainly be applied in certain situations where misconduct (flaming, abuse of position, etc.) warrants immediate action.
But in an effort to treat each member of the staff with the regard that we hope would be extended to us in the same situation, we've decided on the policy quoted above. Instead of immediate termination, we will be appointing a mentor to closely oversee and observe moderators who have persistently led site admin and the userbase to question their judgment regarding effective communication with users, good policy-making decisions, and appropriate issuing of warnings and infractions. This mentor will also have authority to recommend the termination of that moderator, but the mentor's recommendation will not be the only factor taken into consideration. In order to maintain moderator status, we would like to see swift and lasting correction of the issues that led to probationary status.
We would also like to begin tracking infractions for active moderators, to help insure accountability. Rather than issuing a warning or infraction directly to the moderator's account (which would block lounge access), if action on the post is deemed necessary, a moderator will issue mod-text to the post, then contact a global mod to add that infraction to the moderator's record in an internal record-keeping thread.
Madding for Standard and Gutter
IBSPathfinder for Commander
Sabett for Rumor Mill
Viricide for WCT
Stardust for Storyline
Parinoid for Magic General
ExpiredRascals for Cube
Gaea's Regent for Magic Online General
N_S for WCT
LuckNorris for Clans/Entertainment
red_0mega for Entertainment
emo_pinata for Clans
Megiddo for Custom Card Creation
Existing Staff Reassignments:
Clock King reinstated as global mod
Kraj added to WCT
Galspanic added to Market Street
1. Lucknorris has left the staff, due to knowing violation of the underage trading rule. Due to an increase in Market Street manpower, moderator activity within that area has increased, revealing a number of underage traders, and a tip from a user alerted us to Lucknorris. Upon investigation of the circumstances, it was agreed that the only even-handed way to address the situation was to trade-ban Luck as with any ordinary user, and to de-mod him based on the fact that for a short period of time he allowed his trading thread to remain visible despite being aware of the rule.
2. The underage trading rule has been stricken from the MS rules, additional announcement to follow, after MS staff preparation for an appeals process for the significant quantity of users previously trade banned under this rule. A revised version of the rule is in the works, which will apply to users under the age of thirteen.
The rationale for the original rule was based upon a misunderstanding of minors' rights in relation to contract law. Minors have the ability to enter legal contracts, those contracts are simply voidable (which would require the minor to send back the goods or funds which they received, and would not allow them to keep them.) With that misunderstanding corrected, the rule was deemed no longer necessary.
Korsakovia has been removed from staff and banned from the site for violating staff confidentiality, & encouraging malicious activity against Salvation staff & members.
Background info:
1. A user known as Weaver has made various threats against Azrael and another user, DCD, stating that he has a setup that is either complete or almost complete which will "ruin people's lives". "My set up is almost 100% complete. Then Az, DCD, and many others will see just how serious I am. Months of planning and waiting, and I can finally start ruining lives."
2. Simultaneously, Weaver made various comments such as: "I crave death above all else", "The choice has been made, hopefully my brains and blood won't stain the new paint", as well as other comments in a similar vein which I will leave private out of consideration for Weaver. Sufficed to say, there are concerns about Weaver's mental health, stability, and the safety of everyone involved.
3. Discussion of these comments took place in the mod cave, and one of our moderators provided Weaver's contact information, in case we needed to take action.
4. Korsakovia contacted Weaver, sympathized with Weaver's views, and leaked the contents of the mod lounge conversation to Weaver, including the name of the moderator who provided Weaver's contact information, resulting in that moderator also receiving a threat from Weaver.
Basically his reasons for leaking info amounted to hatred of the gutter, gutterites getting modded, and Az hitting admin. To that extent, all for an online card forum, Korsakovia was willing to fuel an unstable user's vendetta against the staff. It was really despicable and petty stuff, and all over what amounted to long simmering anger. That's about all I can say, but I am really appalled that someone would go to those lengths just to promote their own version of how a card game site should be run.
Quote from Azrael »
I know several of you have expressed frustration with the amount of disclosure regarding this situation, and I certainly sympathize with that. However, I don't think we can (safely) reveal much more than what Korsakovia and Weaver already know, as additional leaks are not beyond the realm of possibility and could be very damaging. That's why we're tiptoeing around so much, as well as wanting to keep our sources of info and evidence protected.
One critical piece of the puzzle that has not been revealed yet here, but that Weaver and Kors both already know, is that [a moderator] revealed Weaver's contact information so that we could potentially take some kind of action, in the GRR thread. Korsakovia leaked that information to Weaver, along with other comments, resulting in [a moderator] also receiving a threat from Weaver and being put into jeopardy of retaliation. So Kors has wound up potentially hurting a lot of people in a very serious way, if Weaver is truly a psychotic threat. And we don't want anyone else being put into that situation.
The purpose of this thread is to keep a record of all moderator decisions that affect the site as a whole and, whenever appropriate, to give some insight into the process behind those decisions. Things like rules updates, adding or removing of moderators, new subforums, etc. will be posted here. Some issues will be able to be addressed in greater detail than others depending on how sensitive the subject matter may be but this will at least give some level of transparency and insight into the process of making these decisions.
All announcements posted on this thread will be done so either by Hannes or by a member of the administrative staff.
To view the entire staff roster and where each moderates, click here: View Forum Leaders
Staff can be contacted about issues pertaining to their areas of responsibility publicly via Moderator Helpdesks or privately via Private Message.
If you wish to engage the staff generally but privately, feel free to raise a thread in the Staff Inbox.
6.16.11
Entertainment has been split into two more subforums: Sports and Printed Media. This change was originally proposed within one of the recent Public Moderator Applications threads. It was agreed that this change could make it easier to find threads on those topics within Entertainment and keep threads on other topics from getting lost amongst them.
6/19/11
The Suspended from Trading usergroup has been pruned. Users who have been in Suspended from Trading status for longer than six months and still had BTR Notifications listed as the reason for said suspension have been banned for failure to resolve their cases. 14 users were banned.
https://twitch.tv/annorax10 (classic retro speedruns & occasional MTGO/MTGA screwaround streams)
https://twitch.tv/SwiftorCasino (yes, my team and I run live dealer games for the baldman using his channel points as chips)
GI Joe and Yomako have been confirmed as permanent moderators for Market Street. Memnarch has been added as a Market Street moderator.
Store Discussion Subforum Added
There has been a subforum added to the Market Street Cafe for discussion of online and offline stores.
https://twitch.tv/annorax10 (classic retro speedruns & occasional MTGO/MTGA screwaround streams)
https://twitch.tv/SwiftorCasino (yes, my team and I run live dealer games for the baldman using his channel points as chips)
Language has been added to the Forum Rules specifically addressing eBay and making offers outside of Market Street:
This is to ensure that any transactions facilitated through this site are subject to the rules and protections afforded under the Market Street rules and regulations.
rianalnn has been added as a moderator of the Artwork subforum. Expect more changes to be made to the Artwork team in the coming days.
Arnnaria requested to be removed from his position in the Legacy subforums to become a permanent moderator in Water Cooler Talk. His request has been granted.
Korsakovia, Warden, and poppeleseed will continue on as the moderators for the Legacy subforum. At this time, there is no plan to fill the spot left by Arnnaria.
Extremeicon has retired from his administrator position. We thank him for his service.
https://twitch.tv/annorax10 (classic retro speedruns & occasional MTGO/MTGA screwaround streams)
https://twitch.tv/SwiftorCasino (yes, my team and I run live dealer games for the baldman using his channel points as chips)
It is with great pride that Annorax and I welcome Azrael into our ranks as an administrator.
To help streamline the operation of the site, enable faster response times, and reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies, some of the duties of admins will be divided with each administrator taking initial responsibility for dealing with various aspects of the forum.
Annorax will take point on handling technical issues with the forums and MS bannings.
Azrael will take point on explaining site policy, transparency, and user relations.
Yukora will take point on infraction review and personnel management.
In line with this new system, we're tweaking the procedure for moderator complaints to give Yukora closer contact with users, and to become the central hub for responding to user complaints. As always, you should first contact the moderator by PM or helpdesk. If further review is necessary, you should post on Yukora's helpdesk. Alternately, you can send an email to Yukora at [email]yukoramtgs@gmail.com[/email].
It is no longer necessary to contact a global moderator as an interim step to contacting an administrator.
If you are unsure which administrator to contact regarding a problem, please contact the team as a whole.
---
Gutter/Staff Relations Subforum
The staff has also established the guttermod/staff relations subforum.
The arguments in favor of this subforum were to:
- Promote a more harmonious relationship between gutter users and the staff.
- Facilitate the private resolution of controversies between gutter and staff.
Some concerns were raised that this subforum represents special treatment for gutter members. However, the staff believe that the history of tense relations between gutter and staff warrant this arrangement, as much for the benefit of the staff as anyone else. There has also been discussion of creating a similar discussion subforum for the site as a whole.
Kraj has returned to the staff and taken up his old position as a Global Moderator.
MandersHex has been added as a moderator of the Mafia subforum.
In general, it's been a busy week, with banning appeals review, moderator apps, staff reorganization and recruitment, catching up on trophy backlog, brainstorming threads, hatching plans to revive the pen and paper inn, division of duties, the gutter/staff sub, and other assorted miscellania. Things are humming.
Sene and viperesque have both been added as members of the Global staff.
Koopa has been added as a moderator to the Standard forums.
As part of the site-wide revamp, we're moving forward with an initiative that is absolutely no fun at all, but is indispensable to keeping things running smoothly. Moderator performance is the paramount issue in making sure that users are satisfied, feel that they are being treated fairly, and have confidence in our leadership.
In the global and admin areas, there has been considerable hand-wringing on how to handle this area, which is only made more difficult and delicate due to our having a close-knit team, with many personal friendships involved. Nor is it worth ignoring the emotional investment that many of our moderators put into the site. We know that most of our personnel, even when they make mistakes, are seeking to help make things better. Nevertheless, for the good of the site, it may be necessary for us to part ways if it becomes evident that the staff member is better suited to act as an ordinary member of the community.
The first option we considered was ruthless application of our ability to terminate moderators. When considering moderators with a consistent record of reported problems, there are good arguments for making a quick, clean break. That option isn't entirely off the table, and it would also certainly be applied in certain situations where misconduct (flaming, abuse of position, etc.) warrants immediate action.
But in an effort to treat each member of the staff with the regard that we hope would be extended to us in the same situation, we've decided on the policy quoted above. Instead of immediate termination, we will be appointing a mentor to closely oversee and observe moderators who have persistently led site admin and the userbase to question their judgment regarding effective communication with users, good policy-making decisions, and appropriate issuing of warnings and infractions. This mentor will also have authority to recommend the termination of that moderator, but the mentor's recommendation will not be the only factor taken into consideration. In order to maintain moderator status, we would like to see swift and lasting correction of the issues that led to probationary status.
We would also like to begin tracking infractions for active moderators, to help insure accountability. Rather than issuing a warning or infraction directly to the moderator's account (which would block lounge access), if action on the post is deemed necessary, a moderator will issue mod-text to the post, then contact a global mod to add that infraction to the moderator's record in an internal record-keeping thread.
Madding for Standard and Gutter
IBSPathfinder for Commander
Sabett for Rumor Mill
Viricide for WCT
Stardust for Storyline
Parinoid for Magic General
ExpiredRascals for Cube
Gaea's Regent for Magic Online General
N_S for WCT
LuckNorris for Clans/Entertainment
red_0mega for Entertainment
emo_pinata for Clans
Megiddo for Custom Card Creation
Existing Staff Reassignments:
Clock King reinstated as global mod
Kraj added to WCT
Galspanic added to Market Street
rianalnn has been added as a fourth member of the administrative team.
TK-421 has been added as a moderator for the Rumor Mill and its child subforums.
2. The underage trading rule has been stricken from the MS rules, additional announcement to follow, after MS staff preparation for an appeals process for the significant quantity of users previously trade banned under this rule. A revised version of the rule is in the works, which will apply to users under the age of thirteen.
The rationale for the original rule was based upon a misunderstanding of minors' rights in relation to contract law. Minors have the ability to enter legal contracts, those contracts are simply voidable (which would require the minor to send back the goods or funds which they received, and would not allow them to keep them.) With that misunderstanding corrected, the rule was deemed no longer necessary.
Annorax has stepped back from Market Street to focus on his technical duties & The To-Do List Of 1000 Days.
Background info:
1. A user known as Weaver has made various threats against Azrael and another user, DCD, stating that he has a setup that is either complete or almost complete which will "ruin people's lives". "My set up is almost 100% complete. Then Az, DCD, and many others will see just how serious I am. Months of planning and waiting, and I can finally start ruining lives."
2. Simultaneously, Weaver made various comments such as: "I crave death above all else", "The choice has been made, hopefully my brains and blood won't stain the new paint", as well as other comments in a similar vein which I will leave private out of consideration for Weaver. Sufficed to say, there are concerns about Weaver's mental health, stability, and the safety of everyone involved.
3. Discussion of these comments took place in the mod cave, and one of our moderators provided Weaver's contact information, in case we needed to take action.
4. Korsakovia contacted Weaver, sympathized with Weaver's views, and leaked the contents of the mod lounge conversation to Weaver, including the name of the moderator who provided Weaver's contact information, resulting in that moderator also receiving a threat from Weaver.