While I agree, mod rules might be nice to have, I don't think they are necessary or an item that takes the top of the action list. The Mods on this board have been perfectly fine and just like any other poster, they can get passionate. We can't just put a hold on their opinions or emotions just because one poster can't handle it.
NotLD, I believe incidents, like the ones recently, are bound to happen if there are no guidelines to govern peoples' behavior. Even though I am not proud of what happened, not once did I think it was technically "crossing the line" because a moderator was behaving in the same manner and frankly, if he could do it, then I didn't think I would be in trouble.
And now I think to myself, would I even have made it on another message board? Probably not. Better yet I likely wouldn't have pushed the envelope because there was a code in place. Really all we have here is one person's judgment, and honestly it's not fair to just leave it up to him because he is judge/jury/executioner but without any rules to enforce.
Regardless of your personal feelings about me, if the hope is to have this board grow and attract new members, then you are going to get people who want to feel like they aren't threatened when they post. You will get people that want to feel comfortable reporting to moderators. I freaked out the other night because I was having a flame war WITH a moderator and I didn't know what the hell I could do about it. It's not like there was a clearly labeled process - how was I supposed to know I could appeal to a higher authority?
And the whole war of words instantly ended in my mind when a mod just came out and told it like it is, without including any personal observations or comments that could be misinterpreted as insults. He just did his job and the board is all the better for it now. He acted like a moderator should, IMO. And really that's what I was hoping for all along - for a moderator to just do his job and rise above the personal BS. Hopefully I see more of that in the future.
