Greetings!
I wanted to share with you a scenario. Phil decides to visit the board after yet another complaint about the behaviour of one or two individuals. He then looks at the board, looks at his bank account and thinks "It's not worth it".

By my rough guess we only have around 10-20 active members now. I have no idea how much it costs Phil to maintain this board (to be honest, given that the board isn't being maintained I can't help but wondering where the money goes and who is benefitting from getting money for nothing).

This small number of members means that there are a number of moderators who generally have little to do except put out spot fires here and there, thus saving Phil the hassle. When the board had a lot more members, there were certain boards where the activity was intense (Political and Religious musings spring straight to mind) and those mods had an absolutely thankless job. I remember many days where the last day chart was massive.

Sadly, the anger of the world and the general uncertainty and paranoia seems to have filtered even to here and I am scared that not only are there too many silly arguments and flare ups but that the wrong people are modding- or at the least, not holding themselves accountable.

Case in point, Tim recently responded to Natalie posting an on-topic and benign post on the Trump board with a snarky, rude comment. When he was called on it by Francois and myself, he backed down. Natalie, true to form, responded back to Tim with a verbal spray. Tim jumped up and down pointing fingers and hollering that Natalie had broken the rules. Again, the two of us were forced to remind Tim that the only reason she did was because of his initial reaction to her perfectly fine comment.

Rather than admit his fault or even apologise, he quietly shuffled off to Phil, became mod of PM and removed his posts (or as he likes to refer to them- "nuked them"). Ironically, he got angry at Natalie for doing exactly the same thing on the RD boards a few months back and then when she did it again in the garbage dump.

I've had battles with both Natalie and Tim and Lord knows, I'm no pillar of virtue- there's more than enough evidence here and there. Whilst Tim was right in removing those posts it was the lack of moving them to the garbage dump that has got my back up. It was almost like he simply didn't want to be held accountable.

Unfortunately for him, the exchange was screenshotted and is now stored elsewhere. I began doing this earlier on after Natalie went off the rails. If mods are too cowardly to own their mistakes and apologise then it seems we need to take action into our own hands.

Therefore, I am asking you all to please screen shot any offensive conversations you see (no matter who it involves) and keep them handy.

We ALL need to do better if we want our little corner of the internet to stay active and as mods, we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard- that includes apologising for rude comments made at other posters.

Thank you.

"When he was called on it by Francois and myself, he backed down"

He did not - he said "comments are duly noted" which is neither admitting fault or apologising.

The comments were "duly noted" but completely ignored.

Tim has emailed me rather than answer the questions publicly. He knows he mucked up. If he was totally in the right he would be on his soapbox again.

Ok- that's enough from me. I'll leave it others to comment further.

Okay, Rodney, I'm going to throw my cards on the table here.

Do you think I'm a bad Moderator (going back to your comment that you think that the "wrong people are modding")? Yes or no?

If the answer is yes, then why not just report me to Phil? I don't know if he would fire me, or just warn me to watch what I say in the future.

Probably the latter, as Natalie is still a Mod here, despite her numerous transgressions, which are far worse than this incident is. In fact, Phil himself has been called in a few times to address the issue, something that has never happened in my case.

Perhaps my "the cat dragged in" comment (which started this whole mess) was a bit over the line. Fine, I admit it.

However, answer me this, Rodney, since we've had a few disputes, have you, to your knowledge, ever seen me resort to verbal abuse and name calling? Yes or no?

While I await your response, I want to address this statement you made:


Ironically, he got angry at Natalie for doing exactly the same thing on the RD boards a few months back


That was an entirely different situation, Rodney, and you know that.

However, for those of you unfamiliar with the incident in question, here is a history lesson.

Back at the start of the year, I got this e-mail from Phil which basically said "Congratulations, you're now the Mod or the Red Dwarf forum". Natalie had, for reasons that were her own, decided to resign as Mod of the RD forum and must have suggested me as a replacement to Phil. As you all know, I accepted the position.

Anyhoo, as time went on, I began to notice that some posts had mysteriously disappeared. I was baffled, as, aside from myself, only Butch, our last Roving Mod, should have had the power to do that. Yet, he couldn't have because:

1. He would have had no reason to delete the posts in question.

2. He had not been here on the days in question.

So, I decided to investigate the matter. I got in touch with Phil and explained the situation to him. I requested he send me a list of all those who have Mod powers in the RD forum. He sent me said list. On it were Butch and myself, a bunch of people who haven't been heard from in years, and, Natalie!

That's right, despite having resigned as Mod of the RD forum, Natalie not only still retained her Mod powers there, something she failed to inform me of, but she was messing about there, and was doing it behind my back!

So, yes, I got mad at her for that. Because, when she resigned as RD Mod, she gave up any rights to mess with the forum. I was the Mod of that forum now, and the right to alter or delete posts was mine and mine alone (as well as Butch, should he ever need to do so).

When I confronted Natalie about this, not only did she not admit it, but she tried to shift blame (saying that perhaps Butch had done it, a claim I quickly shot down when I informed her that Butch had not been here in the days in question). I had caught her red handed, standing over the corpse, still holding the smoking gun. There was no way she could lie her way out of this one.

Anyway, I got back in touch with Phil and requested he revoke Natalie's Mod privileges in the RD forum. He did so, and that was the end of that.

Anyway, Rodney, as I said, you are well aware of that incident and how and why it happened. Why are you doing this Orwellian re-writing of history on the matter? Explanation please.

Ah well, if any good came out of all this, it's that the PM forum is now Moderated, which it hasn't been since Luigi stepped down in 2014. Rodney took one for the team when he decided to become the Mod of RM (and, by the way, Rodney, I think you're a good Mod), a few months ago, only fitting I do the same for PM now.

You still haven't answered Rodney and Francois's question, Tim:

"Do you want her permanently banned from this site"?

(who's trying to wriggle out of something, indeed...)

Perhaps moderators having problems with other moderators should do it in the Moderator Messages section instead of out in public?

Okay, you want an answer...

Yes, I think you should be kicked out of here, in fact, you should have been kicked out of here long ago.

For far too long, we have had to put up with your antics, including your constant inappropriate posts. Worst of all is your frequent violations of Phil's rules and guidelines by your personal attacks, verbal abuse, and name calling (which you have been warned about, again and again).

As I have said, many, many, MANY times, as a Mod, you are supposed to enforce the rules here, not break them yourself. But you never listen, do you. You just keep making the same mistake over and over again.

Emily gave you chance after chance to quit with the racist posts, chances you kept throwing back in her face. And when she finally dropped the ban hammer on you, did you admit your fault? No, as always, you tried to shift blame, saying Emily was at fault because she "didn't get you."

And ask yourself this, Natalie, why do you keep getting booted out of other sites, like Gallifrey Base? If you behave the same way there, as you have, then I can see why.

And then there is Glued To The Screen. When you joined there, I vouched for you. I promised Betty that there would be no problems. Well, you sure made a liar out of me there!

In my opinion, Natalie, you have long since used up any goodwill and sympathy you may have had here.

Anyway, banning you from this whole site is not my call to make. That lies with Phil and Phil alone.

Well, Natalie, you wanted my answer, you got it.

Didn't see your post, Keith.

You clearly posted it while I was still working on my response to Natalie's post.

Reading Tim's post, I'm getting an image of that scene from the Simpsons where Homer gets stuck in the water slide and the kids following him get trapped in his blubber.

You asked me if I wanted you banned from this site, Natalie. I gave you my honest answer. End of story.

It's hardly my fault if you don't like it.

Tim - Anyway, banning you from this whole site is not my call to make. That lies with Phil and Phil alone.

Actually we mods can discuss it and if the majority agrees someone should be banned we can tell Phil and he will do it. There have been several such discussions through the years.

Do you think I'm a bad Moderator (going back to your comment that you think that the "wrong people are modding")? Yes or no?
No. I think that you whilst you don't resort to name calling, you do show a lack of standard in other areas that you hold in such high regard. When you get your hackles up you lose all sense of diplomacy and tact.

Perhaps my "the cat dragged in" comment (which started this whole mess) was a bit over the line. Fine, I admit it.
It wasn't "a bit" over the line. It WAS over the line. She didn't provoke you or even address you. Instead you basically made a snarky rude comment.
Let's swap it around. Let's say you posted a comment like "I like this episode" on one of the Who boards. If Natalie responded with "Oh look who crawled out of his mother's basement" how high would you jump to claim abuse and to point fingers? The answer is you'd set a world record if you could.
You're right, Phil is unlikely to remove you as a mod, nor should he. As far as I can see, you are modding the boards you control well. It was the fact you removed the more incriminating posts in PM as your first action that got me fired up.... which leads me to....

No, I was linking your actions in deleting your incriminating posts to her doing the same thing in the garbage dump.


Anyway, Rodney, as I said, you are well aware of that incident and how and why it happened. Why are you doing this Orwellian re-writing of history on the matter? Explanation please.
It wasn't the background to the incident I was comparing it to and you know it (now who's doing Orwellian double speak?). It was the fact that both of you removed incriminating evidence against you to avoid any future issues.

Perhaps moderators having problems with other moderators should do it in the Moderator Messages section instead of out in public?
There are very few people here who aren't moderators, it almost seems redundant. That being said, my initial message was a message to all. I realise you're probably tempted to hit the big ol' delete button on this thread but I'm going to ask you to reconsider. I think getting a little dirty laundry aired might help cool some heads and tensions.

Reading Tim's post, I'm getting an image of that scene from the Simpsons where Homer gets stuck in the water slide and the kids following him get trapped in his blubber.
Now you see Natalie, you had the chance to be the bigger person here but instead you just reverted to form- you are doing yourself absolutely no favours. Tim's message to you I think is an important one- maybe you should read that a few times.

Rodney, Tim wants to see me kicked out for good and THAT HURTS.

I remember many days where the last day chart was massive.

Guess this was in ancient times, before Facebook and Twitter came along. You were here then, Rodney, along with Emily, Callie, and Keith.

I'm a Johnny-come-lately, as I didn't get here until 2008, when the glory days were over.

Of course, some forums still thrive, the biggest being Doctor Who, of course. There is activity there every day.

However, other forums here, deader than Disco.

Can't some be removed to make room? Does anybody need to see categories for things like Alias, Birds of Prey, or Reboot?
I think it would be better if Nitcentral was 'stream-lined' to reflect the active and semi-active subjects.

Yes, but main page topics can only be moved by the Chief. A Roving Mod like I am can't do it or it would have been done long ago. I don't know if Phil has the time for that kind of major rearrangement.

Yeah, I wonder how big a job it would be?

How about removing all Jeff's Create-and-Ignore boards?

I've always said we could archive the dead areas of the board that rarely get used (if at all) and just move the more prominent sections over to more up to date board. Trek, Who, Movies, RM, PM maybe a few more and see what happens.

I'm still wondering what exactly Phil pays for if nobody is monitoring and fixing issues with the site.

I've been wondering about that myself. Do they just take his money and do nothing else?