Thanks Jon,
You bring ssome valid points to the table and I respect your input.
We are a bit heavy handed occasionally when it comes to Moderating our Forums, it runs in cycles based on the activity of a select few. Considering the volume of posts per day I think we are fortunate to cover as much ground as we do each day and for the most part I think that 98% of those who are active here are pleased with our efforts. The 2% that are not pleased we will never be able to please and I can live with that.
I doubt that many of the 2% will spend their time searching our archives to review threads that went South just to see what not to do, their time is to valuable. Many of the 2% will not even read a response that we post or try to understand our reasons for the decisions we make. Their minds are made up and they don't want to be confused with the facts.
Our Moderators and Administrators time is also valuable, they are already giving up countless hours volunteering without benefit of compensation. On any given day if their workload is particularly busy here they will soon get to the point of just removing a thread rather than take an hour to clean it up because they must cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. It is so easy for everyone to request an explanation of why we did this and why we did that, they refuse to recognize that we are a small number who serve thousands and their request be it public or private takes time and is one of many that must be dealt with every day.
Sounds like we are overworked doesn't it. Nothing could be farther from the truth, the honest inquires that are made here are a pleasure to respond to but the demands and whining of a select few make the job tough some days. We don't have a Trash Bin so we transfer threads to our Moderators Forum which is not available to the general population. Our archives will not be cluttered with violations of our Terms of Service which quite possibly will backfire and encourage the 2% to continue misbehaving. The 98% of our Members who enjoy SMC feel their time is valuable also and they don't want to be bothered by those who can't or won't abide by the rules of our Community which is exactly what our Terms of Service are and I am surprised daily how many are incapable of understanding this very simple idea.
Once a thread is moved to our Moderators Forum we have an opportunity to review it offline and discuss the content amoung our Staff. There is very much to gain by sharing a review of any action we take and the comments of our Staff are almost always right on track given their understanding of what our Members feel is important. The Moderators we invited to serve our Community were not selected based solely on their woodworking expertise but their sence of Community and understanding of our goals to keep The Creek running as smooth as possible. These are solid citizens every one and they care deeply about The Creek and our mission to remain true to the promises we made on day one.
