FORUM MODERATOR ANNOUNCEMENT
Posted: July 30th, 2005, 2:16 pm
As many of you know, I tendered my resignation as moderator of this forum three days ago. The response was immediate and overwhelming, to say the least. That tender was based on my impression that I was unable to do what I felt was necessary to protect the integrity of this forum...the one that you, the members have created, molded, and made into a leading example of how a successful forum can operate without friction, without in-fighting, and without outside interference. After being contacted by Jim, my initial lack of understanding of the authority that lies with a moderator was brought up to speed. In fact, any moderator on this website has the authority to do what they feel is necessary to maintain their forum as they see fit. Jim made that perfectly clear. We are also given the authority to head off trouble if we have reason to believe that an individual or group of individuals might bring stress and strife into an otherwise stable forum environment. All of you will recall that I did not ask for this job, and in fact, recommended that the walleye forum had no need of a moderator because of the quality of the people who posted here. Eventually I agreed to take the title, never expecting to have to actually do any moderating. All that changed when a person that I have crossed paths with began posting on this forum. The alarm bells went off, and I took the first immediate action available at the time. I removed two threads that contained this individual's posts. There was nothing out of the ordinary with those posts, but I have been down this road before. I have watched as this person repeatedly browbeat other people on the Conservation Cafe. I met a fine gentleman at the Springfield Power Plant one day who knew my handle. When I asked his, he told me, but added that he didn't post anymore because he and his friends were afraid to say something for fear of being attacked by the internet thugs on the Cafe. That man, who went by the handle of "Old Man" had terminal cancer and his computer was a source of enjoyment until that was taken away. Old Man is gone now, but I never forgot what he told me that day. Fast forward to another website operated by Mr B, who is an occasional visitor here. The same personal attacks started up over there in the duck hunting forum and then moved into the fishing forum. Several people who have fished our walleye get togethers can tell you in no uncertain terms that they were chased off the MWT site by this person. I count myself among that distinguished group.
Now the time has come to make a stand so that nobody else will go through what Old Man, Billy, Gary Smith and many others suffered through. THE BUCK STOPS HERE.
This is my decision: I cannot in good conscience put the walleye forum at risk by allowing DSG to remain as a member.
Therefore, effective immediately he is banned from further posting on this forum. My initial thought was to ban him from all forums in the fishing half of the site, but I have no wish to tread on the authority of any other moderator.
how they handle their forum is their responsibility. The walleye forum is MY responsibility, and there is no appeal to this decision.
I will add two things: (1) my sincerest thanks to all of you who sent me a PM of support. At last count, it was up to almost 50. Perhaps the most gratifying was the complete support of the moderators in the hunting section. We jab at each other sometimes, but when the chips are down, those are some solid people you can count on.
(2) Against my better judgement, I am going to arrange for DSG to earn his way onto this forum. The criteria is extremely tough, but the opportunity will be there for a limited time. I'm not hard to find if you are interested.
A word to all you "anonymous" lurkers who have been watching to see how this would turn out: this is walleye forum family business. I intentionally did not go into a lot of detail in spite of having been challenged to do so.
This could have been dealt with a long time ago, but it was not, so it fell to me to deal with what I perceived as a threat to this forum. If a similar perceived threat pops up again, I will not hesitate to take the same extreme measure to deal with it. This in no way is meant to suppress free speech on this forum...that has never been a problem because of the self restraint shown by the members. We have always welcomed new members who come to us with clean hands.
That policy will not be changed. However, there is always somebody who gets off on creating controversy , or "stirring the pot" as some people call it. As long as my watch continues, that will not happen here. There are some electronic switches to turn off or turn on to enforce this decision, and that may not happen for another day or two, but in the meantime I will monitor the forum to insure there are no unauthorized postings. If one does get through, the entire thread will simply be removed as if it never existed.
CW
Now the time has come to make a stand so that nobody else will go through what Old Man, Billy, Gary Smith and many others suffered through. THE BUCK STOPS HERE.
This is my decision: I cannot in good conscience put the walleye forum at risk by allowing DSG to remain as a member.
Therefore, effective immediately he is banned from further posting on this forum. My initial thought was to ban him from all forums in the fishing half of the site, but I have no wish to tread on the authority of any other moderator.
how they handle their forum is their responsibility. The walleye forum is MY responsibility, and there is no appeal to this decision.
I will add two things: (1) my sincerest thanks to all of you who sent me a PM of support. At last count, it was up to almost 50. Perhaps the most gratifying was the complete support of the moderators in the hunting section. We jab at each other sometimes, but when the chips are down, those are some solid people you can count on.
(2) Against my better judgement, I am going to arrange for DSG to earn his way onto this forum. The criteria is extremely tough, but the opportunity will be there for a limited time. I'm not hard to find if you are interested.
A word to all you "anonymous" lurkers who have been watching to see how this would turn out: this is walleye forum family business. I intentionally did not go into a lot of detail in spite of having been challenged to do so.
This could have been dealt with a long time ago, but it was not, so it fell to me to deal with what I perceived as a threat to this forum. If a similar perceived threat pops up again, I will not hesitate to take the same extreme measure to deal with it. This in no way is meant to suppress free speech on this forum...that has never been a problem because of the self restraint shown by the members. We have always welcomed new members who come to us with clean hands.
That policy will not be changed. However, there is always somebody who gets off on creating controversy , or "stirring the pot" as some people call it. As long as my watch continues, that will not happen here. There are some electronic switches to turn off or turn on to enforce this decision, and that may not happen for another day or two, but in the meantime I will monitor the forum to insure there are no unauthorized postings. If one does get through, the entire thread will simply be removed as if it never existed.
CW
