You boys moderate these forums too much...

[Follows Closely]

I have never been active in a forum that is moderated so ridiculously. You close this topic, because "what if everyone" did a topic like yours. I for one would think that that is a good thing. You guys need to lighten up and let your users has a little freedom.

I am not trying to cause a stir, I enjoy this site most of the time. However, this is the third time an moderator has acted immature or in this case unexpectedly merge or closed a topic because of his/her opinion. The mods here generally do a good job, but like I said, lighten up.

[Rick]

Why post this in BTSF? And, if you do not agree with a certain decision, why not take it up with one of the moderators directly?

[Hinckley]

I am not trying to cause a stir,

Yes you are.

This should be in Website and Forums, please do your best to post in the appropriate forum. Consider yourself moderated.

[Sir Dillon]

It was really tempting to respond with just "yes" and lock the topic.

I'm sorry you don't like the decision made, but the rules are there for a reason. You might not feel it would be such a bad thing if the B/S/T/F forum was flooded with people showing off their most recent purchases, but that's not what the forum is for. We have a topic set aside for those posts.

[Spyder]

Obviously you haven't been around long enough to see all of the "look wat i bouht!!!!" topics. These mods do a great job of keeping the forum organized, and I see nothing immature about it. And besides, if we already have a topic for buyd and finds, then why should you be annoyed when they merge the topics, that's what good mods do.

Anyways, please stick around a bit longer, and you'll see how well these mods keep this forum; best mods ever. They even have a sense of humor to boot.

[Erdbeereis]

That one was merged because it's pretty much the same thing as the "What did you buy today thread", where everyone else posts what they buy.

Those topics are merged because it keeps the forum neater, and so everyone knows that that's where those kinds of posts will be.

I think you'll find that we're pretty much the loosest people you'll meet, especially when it comes to personality. We just want to keep the forums organized.

[Spyder]

If you didn't want to cause a stir, you wouldn't have posted this topic. The point of making a complaint is to cause a stir, and have your "problem" changed.

Edited May 15, 2010 by Spyder

[LuxorV]

I'm sorry you can't see the light side of this forum and our moderation, 'cause I grant you there are a lot of 'lightened up' posts by the Staff, too.

I'll just add to what the Hinckley and Sir Dillon already said that the topic was closed for a simple reason: maybe you were not aware of it, but there is already a topic for members to show their purchases and keep track of them; try this link

As Siegfried wrote, the closed topic is ment to be merged with the existing one. I'm pretty sure he left it separated just to make sure you were able to see it and to avoid having you wonder why your topic wasn't there anymore.

EDIT (after seeing Erdy's post above) - see what happens when you make a complex post with proper links? Faster people steal your reply!

LuxorV

[Erdbeereis]

EDIT (after seeing Erdy's post above) - see what happens when you make a complex post with proper links? Faster people steal your reply!

LuxorV

Sorry!

You can have the credit, it's all yours! The more the merrier.

[Spyder]

I think this topic will be closed and merged, as we already have a topic for complaints and recommendations to the staff.

Sorry, but that's just the way things work around here.

We should win an award for the best organized forum.

[Peppermint_M]

Also, if one wishes to document one's collection and allow others to see it there are many websites you can use to list them in. I keep a link to mine in an elegant and finely crafted link, colour coded for the website (brickset) in my signature.

The moderation here is top notch. If you like, you can go join some other forums related to Lego and see what things could be like. Eurobricks admin staff do a great job for free with full and fair explanation.

[Siegfried]

Well first off, sorry that I have caused offense or have made you unhappy. Believe it or not my goal is to keep EB running smoothly and I take my cues from what members expect from EB. It may seem that it's all on a personal whim, but rarely it's like that. In fact in this case I noticed your topic early in my morning and thought "gee, this is a bit excessive" but I had real life things to do so I let it slide. Later on in the day I received a complaint about it, gave it some more thought, made what I saw as a polite post and closed the topic. Funnily this morning I received a few complaints about this topic too and that's why I'm here!

You close this topic, because "what if everyone" did a topic like yours. I for one would think that that is a good thing.

Sorry to say, this is where you are 100% wrong. We have over 9000 registered members, with around 2000 of those being active. Now look at the BSTF forum; with my settings of 40 topics per page there are topics that cover about 15 days. Isn't that great? If someone posts a topic in there it'll be reasonably viewable for 2 weeks!

Now look what you wanted to do. Each time you updated that topic you would have made things just that bit harder for someones sale to get exposure. What would happen if 40 people made a similar topic? The sales topics would keep being bumped down and as a result the BSTF forum would be useless for selling and people would be annoyed about it. There would probable be a lot more topic bumping for this reason, causing more problems. Do you see my point of view? You may see it as a loss of freedom, but the simple fact of life is that freedom almost always comes at a price. In this case your freedom to have a topic for your purchases takes away the freedom of other members to sell or buy on EB. Don't you think that's a bit selfish? I sure do, and that's why I closed your topic.

Personally I use Peeron for the same purpose. It's designed for it and it's a really great resource. Sometimes I post in the Aussie Sales topic if I think it could be of interest or use to other members.

As Siegfried wrote, the closed topic is ment to be merged with the existing one. I'm pretty sure he left it separated just to make sure you were able to see it and to avoid having you wonder why your topic wasn't there anymore.

Exactly. I just did that as I'm decently sure that he's read it.

I think this topic will be closed and merged, as we already have a topic for complaints and recommendations to the staff.

Yes, it'll be merged into our S&M topic.

[Big Cam]

I'm not a moderator here, but I have moderated 2 different forums, one currently with over 100,000 members, and I can speak from experience, that most members don't agree with all moderator actions. But the mods are mods for a reason. Namely because they've been here for a while and they have seen what does work, and what doesn't. I've had one or two small run-in's with the mod staff here, and once I stopped and gave it a minute of thought, they were right, or had a VERY good point.

I think everyone knows I'm here a lot, and the point of my post is that I support the staff here and think they actually do a very good job for the differences in time zones and active posters.

Before gettting all in a tussy over mod action, stop and think about it as someone other than yourself. They need to please the whole forum, not just you. Most of the time their actions are probably the right move.

[madoka]

While the OP's case may not be the best example, I agree with his opinion.

Some forums are severely over-moderated. For example, there may be five posts a day in a given forum, yet a mod will feel the need to lock threads because it's not something he is interested in. Well, that explains why there's so few posts in that forum when you have mods actively discouraging conversation. That means that there will be less traffic to eurobricks as there's not much going on. I'd rather have the freedom to choose what threads I want to read, than have people act essentially as censors.

[Rick]

Some forums are severely over-moderated. For example, there may be five posts a day in a given forum, yet a mod will feel the need to lock threads because it's not something he is interested in. Well, that explains why there's so few posts in that forum when you have mods actively discouraging conversation. That means that there will be less traffic to eurobricks as there's not much going on. I'd rather have the freedom to choose what threads I want to read, than have people act essentially as censors.

I don't think I've ever seen a topic locked here because 'a mod didn't like it'*. I actually experience EB as a place where discussion is encouraged, rather than discouraged. This thread still being open proving that. I actually expected it to be locked right away because clearly you don't want hundreds or even thousands of topics (yes, that's how many members EB has) with people listing what they've bought. It's conveniently placed in one topic. You'd be scrolling and searching endlessly if mods didn't do their job in this respect. Now, that would hurt traffic to EB.

* The only gray area tends to be the Community forum. There, typically only topics that involve discussions about religion, politics and so on are locked, which clearly don't belong on Eurobricks (also see the Site Guidelines). Because the boundaries in Community aren't clearly defined and a lot of judgment is required from the moderators.

[Mister Phes]

Or in this case unexpectedly merge or closed a topic because of his/her opinion.

I rarely close topics but I LOVE to merge them!

In my opinion similiar threads with under 10 posts that no longer receive activity deserve the joy of fusion. It's the least I can do for them.

[Milan]

Given the fact that there are many active members and topics, I think that our mods are doing fine job.

[Stash2Sixx]

Some forums are severely over-moderated. For example, there may be five posts a day in a given forum, yet a mod will feel the need to lock threads because it's not something he is interested in. Well, that explains why there's so few posts in that forum when you have mods actively discouraging conversation. That means that there will be less traffic to eurobricks as there's not much going on. I'd rather have the freedom to choose what threads I want to read, than have people act essentially as censors.

madoka, care to elaborate a bit on this statement?

[Palms]

This topic is a testament to how reasonable the Admins/Mods are, I used to be part of several forums who would immediately lock a topic like this/put the member "under suspicion,"but instead our mods/admins have done their best to resolve your problem with the forum. At times topics have been closed for reasons I would not have agreed with, but these people have given their time and in some cases their money to our forum. So I would like thank all members of the staff for their work.

But thats just my one cent (I'm broke, and I used the other cent to buy food.)

Edited May 17, 2010 by Palms

[Spyder]

As others have said, this topic being open merely proves our point. The mods here want to hear your problem out, and actually give you a chance, not just close it immediately.

I once inquired why a certain thread was locked, so I went straight to the mod, and asked him. He had a perfectly legit reason that I 100% agreed with.

These mods, although impossible, do try to please everyone, and for free. So Mods, I just want to personally say thank you for everything you've done for this site.

[Piranha]

The Mods are my slaves

I personally love them.

For example when I made a topic about rare parts, I knew there was probably one already in existence but did not know where to start and having tried several common "search" terms, I just made a new topic and let a mod (Shadows) do the work and find the correct original topic to merge with

[Shadows]

For example when I made a topic about rare parts, I knew there was probably one already in existence but did not know where to start and having tried several common "search" terms, I just made a new topic and let a mod (Shadows) do the work and find the correct original topic to merge with

Don't encourage that. You just got lucky that I have a soft spot in my heart for rare parts.

[Siegfried]

While the OP's case may not be the best example, I agree with his opinion.

As Stash says, please expand. Without an example we can't discuss the issue.

I rarely close topics but I LOVE to merge them!

I try to merge where possible, especially in this forum.

[kritikaal]

given the so called age of information we live in, then for sure, it is a difficult issue when it comes to the subject of forum moderation. we have to engage with diverse perspective, whilst embracing a certain degree of healthy debate. the worst case scenario would be a clique of gloating self congratulation which, from the outsiders position, would seem to be little more than a few virtual friends consistently praising each other for medicore attempts at artistic creativity.

but given the medium we work in, a 'toy', then a certain level of moderaration is to be welcomed. a site aimed at the AFOL, should be well equipped to deal with the primary market of Lego. to degenerate into comments of 'AWZEMNOUZNEZZ', would be futile. but also we have to accept as Adults, a certain degree of critical evalulation and debate.

for instance, recently we have the Collectable MiniFig debate. certain members raised the point that these would be of an inferior quality. a consensus was reached among the moderators that discussion about the percieved quality of this product was not welcome. this being one of the most highly regarded AFOL forums.

it turns out this product is not of a high quality. perhaps not as bad as some would have predicted. but these MiniFig are not the same quality as you might find in a standard set. so debate and arguement, in this example, was more than justified. but perhaps these views were not to be contended in this forum.

[Dan the Brickman]

I tend to agree with the mods in this. (I actually do, not just say'n it).

Its their job to keep this thing organized, and enforce the rules. I have been a lurker here for several years, and an active member for bout a year now.

I have had concerns or issues before, but I just went straight to one of them, made a request, and got a reasonable compromise.

from my experience here, Most of them seem to be pretty good sports.

and yes, I have had threads locked myself*. big deal, just go make a new one about something else, or post on an existing one.

*(After it happened, I quickly realised what a stupid mistake I had made, and hoped they would delete it. I really stuck my foot in my mouth there....)

...like you said, lighten up.