Thread: closure on off topic, and objectivity in moderators.

As a new member, I'm shocked at the blatant bias and rough treatment by moderators of senior members. Shouldn't the moderators be neutral, and just moderate? Or does the moderators' bias reflect uppper management's thinking? Is there a place for "off topic" discussion here at all? Perhaps the moderators should be prohibited from participating in the discussions alltogether, and avoid a conflict of interest entirely?

It does not reflect on the "management". First, its a bad and very unique example, rather unusual for us, but an occasional issue for every forum.

I personally find the "Off Topic" forum to be a little, well off topic.

You have a valid point on the moderation issue, but I think as a forum we all learned a valuable lesson all at once, there wasn't much learning curve for the moderators, who rarely need to practice thier craft in here.

I will admit that we haven't had the best of luck in the past with moderators, but they also deserve the chance to learn from their actions. Just like the rest of us.

I must have missed something, though from the sound of it I'm glad I did.

We are reviewing our procedures and are approach to the recent threads that have been closed. Closing a thread of any kind is the last thing we want to do here at SRP. I am hesitant to discuss anything further because we are still coming up with a better game plan for future issues that may occur.

well, I'm as willing to forgive as the next guy. But maybe the "moderators" ought not to jointhe discussion at all, since there is certainly a conflict at work when they have both the power of censure and the freedom to join the "dialogue"..
Or maybe the moderators oughtr to be elected?

I moderate at a couple of DE forums. My job is to keep the peace and help uphold the forum decorum. I'm allowed to participate since I am first a member. Mods are entitled to their opinion and should be allowed to express them. That's what makes a forum a true forum. It they were paid for their services, I might agree that opinions should not be expressed, but since they work for free, disallowing their opinions would defeat the purpose for being here. Yes, what happened is rare here, happens at other forums, and totally got out of line. I'm not disappointed in the moderators. I'm disappointed with everyone involved in the conflict, including the participating moderators. This is a place to come and have fun, and to talk about straight razor shaving. We all should be gentleman enough to moderate ourselves. Unfortunately, that has proven to not be the case.

RT

Originally Posted by Stigmata

well, I'm as willing to forgive as the next guy. But maybe the "moderators" ought not to jointhe discussion at all, since there is certainly a conflict at work when they have both the power of censure and the freedom to join the "dialogue"..
Or maybe the moderators oughtr to be elected?

I appreciate your input, I have brought this thread to the admin's attention. One thing you must keep in mind as you are relatively new, is that this is the first time anything like this has happened here at SRP. The moderators involved and the admin's as a whole are dealing with this issue I assure you.

Thanks Guys,

The only reason, I stepped in was that the action resulting from these threads spilled over and was disruptive and destructive to the forum beyond the threads. As this was a first of it's kind and involved Moderators, we want to be sure going forward that we do our best to present the best razor information available and maintain the open babershop conversation we have had all along.

Lynn

I'd like to say that I enjoy the site thoroughly, and all the member posts...and the striaght razor shave, most of all!!!

...but deleting the "off topic" section entirely would be a sad thing...no?