Originally posted by: DrPizza
Originally posted by: Ocguy31
Talk about wanting a nanny-state. Sheesh.
Not sure what you mean by that. I believe it's in this forum's best interests to handle such problems as they arise, rather than ignore them. If a situation, such as the one referred to in the OP were to happen here, and the moderators (and members) did nothing to try to help, and actually egged the person on, then this place, and its members would all earn a well-deserved bad reputation. I personally wouldn't want to be a member of such a site, much less a moderator.
As it is, some of the moderators are incredibly active with policing the FS/T forum here; tracking down trolls, helping to settle disputes, etc. This has made the FS/T forum here one of the best on the internet. Sometimes moderators go above and beyond the level of expectations. When some unremorseful high school thief posted here wanting information on how to format the hard drive on a stolen computer from his school, rather than just lock the thread, one of the moderators tracked him down to his house and his school and reported the theft. Not all of the members agreed that it was the best thing to do - to report an admitted thief. Apparently, they had the attitude that good for him, he got away with it? I certainly don't keep people with such attitudes in my close circle of friends.
But, as far as threats go, the moderators already attempt to assess them for their seriousness & do go out of their way to act upon those threats in the best manner possible. Of course, not every moderator is always going to reach the same conclusion as all the other moderators all the time. And, perhaps I or any of the other moderators would have taken the same stance - he's made these threats before, he's not serious. But, I don't think we would end up with all of the moderators taking that stance. Some would pick that particular case on which to err on the side of caution. I believe that if that Florida youth had been posting on this site, that the chain of events would have taken a much different course. In a different case recently, a poster made the same threat on a number of forums. Judging by the replies on the other forums, most people thought he was simply a nutcase. Two of the moderators here did not just ignore it. After a bit of tracking, and an international phone call each, they found themselves on two different phone extensions at the same police station at the same time. The OP of the thread which was ignored on so many other forums was actually serious, attempted to carry out his threat, and was charged with attempted murder. Although unable to prevent the attack, the difference was that the moderators here went the extra mile - something they're certainly not "required" to do in any sort of job description.
Not all of the members get along with all of the moderators all of the time, and vice versa. And, there certainly are some rivalries; especially since we're blessed with the right to post as ourselves and not just act as moderators all the time. Nonetheless, the moderators here really do try their hardest to look out for the best interests of both the members here and the site itself. Nanny state because we care? I don't think so.
