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« on: May 06, 2008, 08:01:14 am »
I'm going to second everything that has been said thus far by my fellow administrators and go one step further.
There are a few things that I ABSOLUTELY will not tolerate.
If someone else has pushed you to the breaking point, and your last nerve is worn so extremely thin that you piss yourself at loud noises and can't sleep at night, this does not give you the right to call them out in thread. If someone's being a dumbass, then by all means, feel free to point it out to them. Like contingencyplan said, don't do OUR job, but feel free to call them a dumbass.
What I don't want to see is a thread labeled "100 reasons that <random user> should be banned from the forums".
If you're pissed about something to that extent, you come to the mods. I'm almost always online, and if I'm not, I check my PMs daily. You can even email me if you need something. WE WILL HANDLE IT. It is not to be dredged up in front of everyone. Someone on another forum I run tried to pull this, and it's not appropriate. All you do is turn the general community against someone without allowing that person to make his/her case and be heard by somewhat objective ears.
Not only shouldn't you do our jobs for us, DON'T TELL US HOW TO DO OUR JOBS. We've got things well under control, and we have something like 16-17 years worth of combined experienced administrating forums. If someone IMs me with "So and so needs to be banned" as opposed to "So and so did this", you will likely not live to see the fallout from your decision to tell me how to do my job. Of all the mods, I'm especially touchy about this. I know what I'm fucking doing, don't tell me what I did wrong.
Also, I will warn you now, my greatest weapon against stupidity will be to let windshipper loose on you and then join him. We did this to someone already, and this person was somewhat hurt by it. I apologize for letting it get a little out of hand, but let me say this: if we start editing your posts in a manner that is less than playful or if we start doing things that you think go beyond having fun and joking around, there's probably an EXCELLENT reason for it, and we're trying to make a point.
The admins are not assholes who will abuse their power whenever they feel like it, we abuse our power when we feel it is necessary to teach someone a lesson. Remember, guys. I'm a teacher in real life, and I don't just come out and say "NO"; rather, I will sit you down and show you WHY you shouldn't do something, often by making you feel the way we feel.