Moderator Abuse of Power and Priveledge

I have been here just as long as you We both joined in October of 2004. I shouldve worded the comment differently then. It would be interesting to see who voted yes....quite a few of them probably joined today and have 0 posts. If there is a poll it should be public or have no poll and people can post yes or no.

 

I've never understood the whole "seniority by post count" thing anyway -- all it means is that you know how to type a lot, or are reserved in what you say. Seniority is something that's earned by WHAT you say. Also, WHAT "mahwon" says looks mightily famility to what a former fchatter used to say (and how he said it). I agree he's probably done a "little research".....but whatever....

Man, this is worse than president Bush talking about Iraq & 9/11 -- Again, I think we need to stop trying to link Vik solely to the change in the NYTS. He's a moderator, and he dealt with a major problem this place had (constant bickering, fighting, arguing) and with the exception of this thread, that's pretty much gone.

Remember what moderation means -- "To lessen the violence, severity, or extremeness of.; To preside over." Vik is presiding over NYTS, and this thread excluded, there's less violence, severity, and extremeness here. I don't see anything about "equality" or "fairness"....

Yes, perhaps he was a bit trigger-happy with Hubert's banning and the whole thing could have been handled with a bit more tact, but even SAM makes a mistake from time to time....

 

I wonder if having anonymous moderators would be a solution to this problem and make the interaction between mods and users less personal. The mods would have to make their posts in their own user names, but switch to the anonymous mode for their mod "duties". Only the administrators would know who the mods are. I've already thought of several positive and negative reasons for and against this idea, but it might be good for discusion.

vik, I'm sorry that you took my post personally too. If mods were anonymous and I had said, "Moderator #4 's style of moderating is getting a bit too intense and I think he needs to take a break from his duties", you might have looked at your actions on here a little more objectively. My comments had nothing to do with friendship or how we get along in person, but its hard to keep any type of criticism from feeling personal.

 

I've met Vik only once, and I found him very passionate about his new car as we all are. At the same time he struck me as someone who takes his task as moderator very serious and even handed.

I pretty much missed what happened with the EC crew, so I have no opinion about that.

I think it's impossible to please everyone, and I would not want to be a moderator. I think he is doing a great job.

 

Vik stepped in because the NYT section devolved into the Wild West. He stepped up to the plate and volunteered to be the bad guy. He did stuff I probably would have had to do if he didn’t, or I would have had to quit. Do he and I agree on everything? No, of course not. I am more hands off and he is “by the book.” So he is unpopular? Most guys who have to take a hard stand often are. That’s all I have to say. IF people do not like Vik’s style, or for that matter mine, or anyone else’s, by all means, says so. I do think this thread has remained civil. But is Vik unfair? I don’t know. It is a chicken and egg thing. There is enough blame to go around. Are his actions reasonable under the circumstances? That’s what must be decided.
BTW, he could have demanded this thread be deleted, but he did not.

 

Yes NY is not what it once was. I also received a 3 or 5 day ban (dont remember) for expressing an opinion on NY that I didnt think I deserved. Not just my opinion either others stepped up and said "what are you doing"? "Why was he banned"? If Im wrong please forgive but I believe Pchop was one of them.

 

If you don't like Tri-State now, you should have seen it before a certain Ego Crew left the site.

Yes the site isn't what it used to be. This place is called "The On-line Ferrari Community" but you couldn't tell that from many of the Tri-State posts. How many posts don't relate to Ferrari, Ferrari events, or gatherings of the site participants? Is that Vik's fault?

Vik has initiated lots of threads in the interest of adding content to the site and yes, he has an opinon on how Tri-State should be run. I would be more interested in seeing an objective assessment of his performance against Rob's stated rules and policies of the site. That would be more productive than a popularity contest or whining about an action he has taken.

I wish there was a selection in the poll that allowed you to disagree with the choices. I don't think Vik has been unbiased (he's human - I think), I haven't noticed a disturbing trend, and I do wish to answer.

 

I say shut down the whole dang website...much less bickering that way.

 

Yeah, I should have banned you long ago...I'll fix that now..

 

There is always that.
Or, let's have a "sit down!" Then we can decide if Vik gets whacked. That's the only way to get rid of a made guy.

Seriously, the irony here is that Vik and every single person I have met for or against him are great people in person. If this could be discussed, yes even pointedly telling Vik and me what you like and don't like, much could be resolved.

 

Looking at the pole it seems almost 50% of the people who use ferrari-chat NYTS section do not like how Vik moderates. It really does not matter if these individuals like or dis-like Vik personally, these are the people who use this site and this is how they feel about him as a moderator. I think the pole should be made open so everyone can see who voted where, because peoples general feeling pretty much point to the direction they voted already.

Personally anybody who is thought to be un-fair by almost 50% of users should NOT be a moderator.

 

Bill I was banned from the EC for "safety" reasons nothing personal back after IE aired. The site just didn't want to be associated with street racing, however to no surprise it was personal now I am referred to as a ******-bag. Jim is wrong, even though I was banned for some reason I can read the site, I just cant reply. This is defenatly spill over from the EC, you can tell by the number of page views of the thread, and the return of people who haven't posted here in months. I don't know if I matured or I just have too much going on in my life to care, but this internet bickering is a joke and no longer evokes any emotions from me.

 

Can we not care about this thread and get on with life? Let's go out and drive our cars, who cares about when who got on Fchat and who has so many posts.

 

I cannot get around the fact that almost all of the objections to Vik seem to originate with, and be supported by, people who have not posted here in quite along time, largely because many of them left in protest after the banning of Woodear.
And, while I know Jim has claimed that this is not emanating from the EC, I find that hard to believe. If it is emanating from the EC (as I think it is), I think a few questions are in order:
The discussions I had, online, with various EC members here, made it abundantly clear that they had contempt for this site and came here for comic relief.
There was a strong 'gang' mentality among the EC which may or may not remain today- it's not my business, and as long as you guys are not interfering in my life, you can worship PeeWee Herman for all I care- not my issue.
But when you were here, you were hostile and disruptive, and all the 'code speak' was meant to keep people out, rather than welcoming them. I'm not saying you have to share my values, but you guys seemed pretty unwilling to accept others. In fact, that was the whole point, I thought, of Brad's starting his own site- a place where you didn't have to be constrained by PC rules of politeness and cultural biases which you felt ignored what you guys shared, as unique to your group. More power to you- not dissing you, just observing a fact based on what I've seen many of you post in the past.

And, after your mass exodus, prompted by Brad's request for a 'ban,' this place has been a much less hostile, more inviting place for some of us. We have not, at least to my knowledge, said anything negative about EC here, because (and I know you'll find this hard to believe), this section is not about, devoted to, or even concerned with, the EC. Zero issues with you guys here, until now.
This sudden call for deposing Vik seems to come from the old 'EC' crowd. Where is the falsehood in anything I've said here?
To me, this has less to do with Vik, per se, than with some desire by a group of past members to reemerge after leaving, en masse. Why the need to come back?

 

Sorry to pick on you here Dan but I would like to address what I see as a major problem with this call for Vik to be removed. As I said before I don't normally pay much attention to the NY section but I am pretty active on the board and see and hear a lot of things. I know a lot of the Inside the EC were unhappy with Vik over his initial crackdown which is the understandable response to any new Sheriff coming into town. What I haven't seen is a further history of complaints about Vik being unfair, there hasn't been anything in the mod section at all. Rob gets complaints about my moderation on a semi regular basis (Rivee and Don Norton just love me) and in every case I have set out the rational behind my actions. If there are percieved problems with Vik's moderation then something should have been said so he could be given the chance to address the complaint and there would be some kind of history if he did have an agenda against certain members. As far as I can tell there is no established history of complaints about Vik (I spoke to Rob about it this morning) so it's hard to get past the impression that this is a strike back against Vik for his original crack down in the NY section. The banning of Hubert was an unfortunate and honest mistake and, in my opinion, shouldn't be taken as evidence of an agenda against anyone. I do respect your and Jim's opinion so I certainly won't pass all this off but I (of course it's Rob's board) really couldn't see yanking Vik's mod status based on this thread. I think it would be safe to say that Vik's moderating will probably be scrutinized by quite a few people and he will be very carefull in what he does but if there is anything that appears unfair then please bring it to my attention immediately.

 

Brad? Brad who?

 

was about to smoke a cigar but it rained.

whoops, sorry to hijack!

 

remember the ALAMO steve f is watching and reading this thread

 

Mark

I did bring what I preceived to be improper modding re: the Ferrari bashing thread that Vic should have never started in the NY section and should have moved to the Lambo section but justified not moving because two people who live in the NY area were arguing, to Rob's attention and I'm sure he's watching this now. The bottom line is Vic's Ferrari Bashing Bias is driving people like me, Dan, Zach,Eli, and others out of the NY section and that is not good for FCHAT. When those threads are in the Lambo Chat section that's fine but they have nothing to do with NY and a Mod who can't understand that should be removed IMHO.

Best

 

I haven't been a member very long on this site and I'm not even sure if it was Vik who was the one put an end to all the "GaNsTa PlAyA In Da HoUsE" banter but if it was Kudos to him!! That wannabe gansta writing/talk drove me nuts....Just my two cents.

 

Agreed.

 

Oh SpLiF

 

i am sorry it has everything to do with Vik as a moderator and not as a person. I am not going to get into the fact that there are some members on f-chat that seem to have hostility towards the so called EC gang which is within their rights.

The hang up here is not with Vik as a person but again as a moderator. i have met Vik on a few occasions and found him to be one the nicest people i have met and have the highest respect for him but that does not constitue him being a good moderator.

moderator should be bias and thick skinned (aka SAM) and not take sides in my opinion. As a moderator of a very large based ferrari based website he certainly does not have the passion he used to have for ferrari which is very obvious from his recent posts. I have not posted on the tri state section because nothing is intersting to me anymore. it feels more like lambo chat than ferrari chat. all you have to do is look at all of his threads for the past month or so.

i don't think there is anything wrong with it but it should be done in an appropriate forum. i believe that he clearly has an issue with few of the EC crew and does not approve of the members there which is fine. i just think that he is taking it too far and is making it personal and ruining it for many other members of F-chat.

Vik , again my post is not to bash you in anyway but for you to take note of the criticisim here from unhappy members and use your judgment to make this site better for everyone .

 

i have never seen anything wrong in vics decisions. i personally think he is a good mod. i know vic on a personal level as well and my feeling is he is very down to earth, easy to talk to and fun to be with person. as far as his mod qualities, i think he is one of the best here. rates up there with mark pdx.

 

In the real world, 50% of the people love ya, 50% hate ya...that's the world we live in, so I'm not sure I'd jump to the conclusion that 50% against is a deeply meaningful stat...that coupled with the possibility that some folks are using mulitple profiles.

Silly aside...Bush won the 2004 election with only 50% approval ratings and now with about 39% he remains President...go figure.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2005/04/25/GR2005042500945.html