An open letter to all members that participate or comment in the EE.

Gentlemen (and ladies),

There seems to be an increase in the number of members that are taking it upon themselves to perform actions that are the responsibility of moderators and staff.

While all members are allowed to post in negative feedback threads (albeit as long as we are civil and constructive in our comments) there are members that now take it upon themselves to contact one or both of the two parties involved in the thread. At times the member generated IM and PM’s are to call attention to the thread and at others they take on an accusatory tone. It should be realized that until a ruling by a Mod is made, there is no “guilty party”.

Since the mods and Staff are too freaking busy to crack on our collective asses in this matter, I suggest that we police ourselves and let the Mods and Staff do their jobs.

Yes, it might take an extra hour or three before a mod gets around to taking control of a negative feedback thread; and yes we can and should express our opinions with whatever evidence is presented - but we should not take it upon ourselves to go any further, recognizing that our interaction by “doing mod stuff” may actually harm an equitable outcome instead of help it.

I 100% agree.

I'm not trying to be "that guy", but the irony is strong in this thread. While I agree that bystanders shouldn't be slinging IM's around, I figure that it's the responsibility of Staff/EE Mods to post a thread such as this.

Yeah but if you don't know that it's happening, or it hasn't been brought to your attention how can you post about it. Does that make any sense? I think he just started the thread as a heads up, let's fix this and let the Mods do their jobs type of thread. Unless you have the power of seeing into the future ala "Aimless" they won't know until it happens.

Funny how that works. huh?

I guess that I've been around the EE a little too long then...

That has nothing to do with it. The fact that you posted an "open letter" telling others what not to do and stated that mods/admin should be doing the hall monitoring and yet your doing the exact thing your telling others not to. Thats all. Its just ironic.

Well instead of whining like a little bitch to the mods about why they don't point out that members are fucking up the EE with their meddling, I thought it would be a good idea for a member to point it out. It's our EE, we should be able to make it clear among ourselves how we should act in the EE, and not depend on a mod to treat us like children by scolding us. Jeesh.

No offense dude, but this isnt GD. Don't want to see ya get locked for a personal attack or anything.

I do agree with your first post, in essence. We can comment on the subject matter, but should not contact the parties unless directed by a mod/staff, unless contacted by said parties.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the mods post a thread similar to this, or do an addendum to the EE rules. That said, considering the topic, you do have to admit that your statement was pretty ironic.

Read it again, there is no personal attack.

I reserve the right to post a comment based on the posted dialogue between the parties. on the one occassion one of the involved partys didnt like me calling a spade a spade he was reminded by a mod that members were allowed to post comments so long as they not personal attacks.

I was just meaning the "whining like a little bitch" part. Nothing was meant by it (it wasn't even directed at me) I'd just rather not see another member get a warning or something over that (I assume) thread earlier today.

In that case, feel free to disregard. I'm not exactly sure of how comments like that are perceived by the mods/staff. *shrug*

This isn't about posting a comment, it's about members acting like mods, and in some cases IM'ing either of the 2 parties involved.

You guys want a Mod , here I am. xanadu has a very valid point regarding members " acting " as Moderators. I have had to reprimand several members for posting Mod type comments or instructions in feedback threads. He is only pointing out the obvious, post all you want in feedback threads but keep it civil and constructive. Leave the Moderating chores to the Moderators and Staff. I actually have been meaning to post a thread like this one but had not got to it, My thanks to xanadu.

I have been one of those reprimanded and I was absolutely at fault so I think this thread is necessary.

The feedback threads are quite fun to read and I think very tempting for many people to comment in.

If a thread involves a member that may not be aware that there is a thread where they are being discussed (called out) then that member deserves a PM with a link. The sooner the accused or called out is aware of the issue the quicker it can get discussed and hopefully resolved.

For the recode, I am a moderator here too but sending a person a heads up that they are being discussed in a thread is not sticking your nose in things. If you were being discussed in a thread, I assume you would want to know that a thread exists.

If you were an EE Moderator you would know that our Corp of EE Mod's work very hard and are extremely aggressive in handling EE feedback Issues. Unless its in the middle of the night it is rare for a feedback thread to be unattended for more than an hour or so. It is standard procedure to contact the accused with a link immediately and it can be counterproductive to have members sending notices to accused members.

2 people involved in issue and MODS should be the only ones posting in Feedback Threads.

Gets a little out of hand sometimes with comments from people not even involved.

While some of the comments can get excessive, the members should still be able to comment. Often times they can provide insight, experience, help in tracking down information, etc.

This has been well established - Crowboy


Eta: which I'm tracking CB. I was specifically talking to MDN and his first sentence. Frankly I think it's a little silly that we even have to talk about this. People should know better than to play Mod. JR. and send PMs trying to resolve stuff off the reservation

great post,xanadu.
i have noticed alot of the "jr. mod" stuff happening
lately.while i feel we should be able freely to comment on ee issues,
and we can/do,(as they affect those that do use the ee as a buyer/seller),its gotten out of hand.
our ee mods do a great job.lets let them do it without people
feeling they need to do the moderating themselfs.

I think members should be able to comment in feedback threads as long as they follow the Coc and don't keep at it if asked to butt out for the sake of resolving the issue. I personally have had more help from members posting in my feedback threads than not but there are always members that will take it a little too far with their comments.

As for members IM'ing the accused or either party for that matter, I think that's a really bad idea and let me explain why. We had a member awhile back that was getting involved in feedback threads (not going to mention any names), he took it upon himself to start "notifying" members and "discussing" the matter with them so the next thing you know they think he's the mod/staff member handling the issue and they won't communicate with the mod trying to step in and take over so you can see how that could get confusing especially for someone new to the site.

I feel others beside MODs can help in feedback issues. I have seen others help many times sending stuff to help, buying stuff to help, or just knowledge on a part.
BUT as far as sending PM to the parties involved that should be up to a MOD or the two people involved PERIOD.

I will try to say this clearly as there still seems to be some confusion. Members are welcome to post opinions and comments in all feedback threads ( keep it civil and constructive ) This is established EE policy. We as Mods and Staff highly discourage members from sending messages to either party in a feedback thread. If a Member has some information related to either party in the thread please send it to the Moderator handling the issue. Many times there are sensitive issues behind the scenes that members do not know of. Most feedback issues involve work never seen in the thread.
As to members helping out, our membership has been fantastic in assisting Moderators with some of these threads and we very much appreciate it. Keep it civil and constructive, what does that mean. We do not need members calling the accused thief's, lowlifes, rotten MFer's who we will never deal with and on and on. Our purpose in feedback threads is to resolve the issue as well as rehabilitate the accused if possible. This of course does not apply to outright thief's and scammer's but we do not want to hang em high until we are sure we can't get the deal done. For instance one of our staff members has been invaluable in " convincing " some very bad people to come up with the goods. This can be much more difficult if the membership is demanding to burn the the accused at the stake so please keep all of this in mind when you decide to participate in a feedback thread. We couldn't do this job without membership cooperation, you guys have been great and I thank you from all the staff.

Fair enough.

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