[Techsoda] "Anandtech forums on trial: The corruption runs deep."

[mnewsham]

I'm a believer in not deleting posts. Moving them to a sin bin (and still having them viewable by members) is the way to go, IMO.

transparency should be something the moderators strive for, the only reason they wouldn't is if they had something they were trying to hide.
Whether that's NV/AMD bias or particular dislike of certain posters, or whatever, doesn't matter what it is. It shouldnt be happening.

 

[james1701]

I would love to the the discussion from this post in the hidden moderator forum section about this lol.

 

[Sable]

"Posted by SiliconWars"

Ah, that explains it.

 

[norseamd]

transparency should be something the moderators strive for

+1

 

[BUTCH1]

Ford over Chevy
Bud light over CL
Kobe over anyone
Samsung over *
Yamaha dirt bikes
Range Rover over *
Real Chili does not contain beans
Missionary over doggie

Come at me, bros

LOL, right or wrong it's a huge waste of time IMHO to argue different chisets/CPU's or whatever. We now live in a glorious era where memory is dirt cheap, SSD's speed everything up I/O and you can go to your crapper with a quad-core tablet for about $100 that plays amazing games. Way back when I first started here we were all trying to wring all we could out of our 300A's and praying that memory would come down in price someday. We are in the golden era, sit back and smell the roses I say..

 

[Jaskalas]

I would love to the the discussion from this post in the hidden moderator forum section about this lol.

I may or may not have information that it is regarding roasted poodle.

 

[Meghan54]

transparency should be something the moderators strive for, the only reason they wouldn't is if they had something they were trying to hide.
Whether that's NV/AMD bias or particular dislike of certain posters, or whatever, doesn't matter what it is. It shouldnt be happening.

And I'm sure you demand the same thing in your workplace, too, right? For instance, such as transparency in everyone's pay?

 

[Arkaign]

Lesson : don't be an asshole and you can get along just fine. People take their allegiances with tech companies way too damned SRS.

 

[dmcowen674]

transparency should be something the moderators strive for

Thanks a lot, just spit coffee all over my screen.

 

[mnewsham]

And I'm sure you demand the same thing in your workplace, too, right? For instance, such as transparency in everyone's pay?

I dont see how it's similar at all, the rules are that they are supposed to be transparent, that's how it was originally set up wasn't it? They aren't always being transparent, for reasons of their own. Just seems kinda fucked up, especially when they still keep up the guise that they are being open and transparent.

 

[norseamd]

LOL, right or wrong it's a huge waste of time IMHO to argue different chisets/CPU's or whatever. We now live in a glorious era where memory is dirt cheap, SSD's speed everything up I/O and you can go to your crapper with a quad-core tablet for about $100 that plays amazing games. Way back when I first started here we were all trying to wring all we could out of our 300A's and praying that memory would come down in price someday. We are in the golden era, sit back and smell the roses I say..

yah for hardware maybe

software seems worse than 10 years ago. microsoft and pc games especially so considering all the cheap multi platform games and how microsoft has been the last 10 years. hopefully microsoft will be different now but linux should still be more widely adopted. free software would dramatically reduce the cost of electronics

we also need some more competition for hardware. the outlook for smaller devices looks good especially since arm does not look anything yet like intel or nvidia

 

[norseamd]

And I'm sure you demand the same thing in your workplace, too, right? For instance, such as transparency in everyone's pay?

and not getting into that arguement which might or might not have some valid points what does this have to do with transparancy of authority?

 

[Greenman]

transparency should be something the moderators strive for, the only reason they wouldn't is if they had something they were trying to hide.
Whether that's NV/AMD bias or particular dislike of certain posters, or whatever, doesn't matter what it is. It shouldnt be happening.

That's the exact opposite of how this place is run. The entire point of moderator discussions is to avoid transparency.

 

[shortylickens]

Thanks a lot, just spit coffee all over my screen.

:awe:

 

[norseamd]

should the mods be viewed as first among equals vs oligarchy?

 

[cronos]

That's the exact opposite of how this place is run. The entire point of moderator discussions is to avoid transparency.

People seem to have forgotten that we didn't even (supposed to, at least) know the identities of the moderators until very recently. It is now much much more transparent (however you interpret that word) than how it was originally.

 

[OverVolt]

"posted by siliconwars"

ban!

 

[DrPizza]

No it's not, unless you completely fail to comprehend a system of escalating penalties. You know, like in any other life endeavor.....late to work once, get talked to. Late to work 3 times, get written up. Late to work 5 times, get fired. Same concept.

From only hearing one side of a lame whining account, you'd not realize that the whiner was infracted numerous times for multiple occurrences of shit, became more antagonistic, got infracted more (and yes, timed out vs. someone else getting little or less harsh treatment for the same offense----and that's because a repetitive act, esp. when told not to and doing it anyway in defiance----will get that one treated more harshly than someone doing it the first or second time.)

Is it somehow amazing that SiliconWars has basically said, "I made the Siliconwars account to cause problems and document how I was treated" - and the moderators rather quickly realized that his intent here was to cause trouble? Is it really that amazing that someone who is perceived to intentionally be causing trouble is treated differently than someone who isn't perfect, but occasionally says something that they shouldn't?

I would love to the the discussion from this post in the hidden moderator forum section about this lol.

I think you'd be disappointed.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

People seem to have forgotten that we didn't even (supposed to, at least) know the identities of the moderators until very recently. It is now much much more transparent (however you interpret that word) than how it was originally.

True. We now have flashlights to see the inside of the bag we're in.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

My biggest complaint is that the moderators are not paid, I feel as though that's the source of most of the issues. You ask people to do this for free and you will get personal opinions, favoritism (and nepotism...), and bias included in the moderation. I don't fault the moderators, it's just a fact of life when someone is investing so much of their time for free.

I understand that anand doesn't care much about the forums, but he seems to have no problem cashing those ad revenue checks every month.


I also think it's incredibly disappointing that he does not seem to value what the forums provide to the online society in general. About half the time I'm googling for info on something AT forums are in the top 10 results. Like it or not, "politics" or not, this place is a major source of info and opinions nowadays.

The best thing that could happen to these forums is the moderators become paid, with some sort of CEO-type position at the helm who functions with complete transparency.

Honestly I think some sort of vote with 2 year terms would be the best way to handle it. Even the crazies recognize our "moral leaders" around here.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

People seem to have forgotten that we didn't even (supposed to, at least) know the identities of the moderators until very recently. It is now much much more transparent (however you interpret that word) than how it was originally.

Yeah that all went down the toilet with the mod forum getting opened up, PMs being read, etc etc etc. Everyone makes mistakes, don't get me wrong, but that was a pretty big mistake from a PR perspective.

 

[BikeJunkie]

And I'm sure you demand the same thing in your workplace, too, right? For instance, such as transparency in everyone's pay?

Holy ridiculously stupid ill-conceived analogy, batman

 

[BikeJunkie]

The best thing that could happen to these forums is the moderators become paid, with some sort of CEO-type position at the helm who functions with complete transparency.

Is that a promotion or demotion from "Omnipotent Overlord" (whatever the hell that means)?

Maybe ranks and self-aggrandizing titles might be the problem.

 

[Greenman]

People seem to have forgotten that we didn't even (supposed to, at least) know the identities of the moderators until very recently. It is now much much more transparent (however you interpret that word) than how it was originally.

It's not any more transparent, we just know who the mods are. The entire point of moderator discussions is to keep the general membership from being involved in the forum moderation.
All forums are run as a dictatorship, the person at the top may be fair and forgiving, or he might be a power crazed asshole, but he's there. He's the guy who pays the bills, he's the guy who sets the tone and direction of the forum he owns. In the case of Anandtech, he's decided that the general membership will have no open discussion of moderator action, that there will be no transparency and that moderator actions won't be publicly questioned. That's the owners right, those are rules laid down by the fellow who provides this venue and we accept them or we're shown the door.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Is that a promotion or demotion from "Omnipotent Overlord" (whatever the hell that means)?

Maybe ranks and self-aggrandizing titles might be the problem.

Perk does a fantastic job, but no matter the title he is in an unpaid position that likely requires as much time as a full-time job.

That is far FAR different from someone being paid for their time.

A lot of people bitch about perk, but I guarantee none of them would donate as much time as he has to do what he feels like is best for the community. So of course it's personal, for him and the other moderators. They are only here for personal reasons, so it stands to reason that they will make personal decisions.

I do think it's ridiculous to claim they have some hidden agenda... It's just a bunch of regular guys spending their personal time to moderate an online community.

The problem is that it's not a personal community, it's a business and cornerstone of the internet. It's unfortunate it isn't treated as such.