Forum Moderators Needed!

TallonKarrde23 said:


If you cannot dedicate a period of time every single day to a responsibility you volunteer to take on you should not be given that responsibility or allowed to continue having it. A volunteer job is still that, a job, you get fired from jobs when you are "too busy with your life" and doing other shit to actually work. Even volunteer positions with this much neglect will get you removed. Them having lives is completely irrelevant - if fulfilling their role as a moderator here is in the way of their personal and work/school life then they shouldn't be on the staff in the first place. Using "they have lives" is not an excuse at all, it's just a completely irrelevant statement. They themselves decided "I would like to be a moderator and take on that responsibility" - they have no excuse of "too busy with their own lives" to fall back on when this is a position they volunteered and continue to volunteer to do. If they were forced into the position I could see what you are saying as meaningful, but they weren't and are not - you don't take on a responsibility by your own choice, neglect it, then get excused for doing so. If this is 'as much time as they can' put in, then they need to fix that or step down. And doing your best for 30 minutes every few days in a job you accepted that involved you spending several hours every day on does not somehow become acceptable because you "do your best" during that tiny portion that you do ANYTHING.

Let me remind you - something you volunteer for does not mean it's something that doesn't fucking matter. In fact, volunteer positions are some of the most important because they are typically affecting peoples lives directly. Almost every volunteer position out there is helping - helping means others rely and depend on you. When you say "lol im too busy hanging out with my boyfriend this weekend" to fill your duty, you're actively shitting on every single person who is relying on you to do what you signed up to do.

The only time people in a position they neglect are allowed to continue staying in that position is when there is nobody who can replace them and do a better job because "somebody is better than noboby" - and that's not the case here at all.

"It's hard work", "they have lives", etc just doesn't matter (especially when you have a forum of people who are here 12+ hours a day just 'because' - and no, I don't mean me, as I have too much of a history anyway). They chose to take on this responsibility, this work, this time consuming thing that gets them no appreciation. Nobody forced them into it, nobody is forcing them to continue doing it. Yet they mostly act like a neglectful parent or pet owner, I'm not sure how you can pretend that deserves any respect.

"Oh, that dog I bought? Yeah, I feed and give it water every few days when I remember to - I mean I have a life you know, I can't just sit there with the dog all day making sure it's fed, watered, and given attention. What about me? What about my free time? I can't dedicate my attention to this thing when I could be out with friends. I mean who wants to work all day and then come home to more work? Nobody, so I refuse to let that happen to me, I'm a human being too you know, my life can't be constant responsibilities. Why did I buy it? Because I'm a good guy :)" - apparent great pet owner

If you neglect your job - you are fired and treated as a piece of shit.
If you neglect your education - you drop out and end up a big shit.
If you neglect your children or pets - you have them taken from you, are usually sued by the state as well, and viewed as a horrible person.
If you neglect your significant other - they leave you, possibly sue you if you are/were married, and you are seen as a bad person.
If you go and volunteer at a homeless shelter or church or whatever else, promise to be there every week, then only show up during big holidays - you will be removed from that responsibility and seen as a shitty unreliable person.

So why is it that you believe someone spending a hard-working 30 minutes every couple days (when we're lucky enough to even get that) is something that deserves respect? Not to mention, mods that are around far more than that but end up shitting around talking with friends (and worse, mostly known abusive and spammy problem users) in the IRC while not moderating the site at all, and I do mean the forum mods not the IRC-only ones. For example, Koleare is chatting it up with MellowJello (along with his circlejerk crew) far more often than he's doing any work on the forums.

If they can't dedicate at least a couple hours every single day of every single week of every single month without fail unless of a medical or family emergency, then they should not be on the staff, let alone not respected. Stop praising people for doing the very bare minimum, no, below even that given the bare minimum would be an hour a day, not 30 minutes every 3.

When did unreliability garner respect? When did not fulfilling the responsibilities you CHOSE to take on deserve to be viewed positively? A forum moderator affects the lives of every user of that forum by their actions and - more so - by their inaction. Having an entire community rely on you to help them and help maintain the community is no small responsibility, and definitely not one to take lightly and treat as being about as relevant as not missing an episode of a TV show you 'kinda like I guess'. "It's the internet" doesn't excuse letting down such a large number of people on a daily basis so you can jerk off an extra 20 minutes and get some 'me time'. The community is shit because of how little they do, users are left harassed for days because of it, and there's just no way this is acceptable, let alone something to praise them for.

If someone cannot balance their personal life and hobbies (nobody said they can't have friends or enjoy their free time), their work/school (including homework/projects/etc), AND their optional responsibilities - then they should not continue volunteering for said optional responsibilities nor be ALLOWED to continue. They deserve nothing but disdain for not stepping down or stepping up, and instead waffling in the middle so that the need for more and actually dedicated staff is never fucking given attention thanks to an admin who does the same as them.

I quit giving a shit about this stuff because nothing is going to change, but what you said was way too fucking stupid and blatant ass-kissing to let just pass by without saying anything.