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

[mnewsham]

While he is a bit long winded and butt hurt, there are some legitimate points he brings up about several of the moderators. Most of which should be removed or suspended.

 

[mnewsham]

Oh for fuck sake... hugeass article with two conclusions!

Okay in 10 words or less... what's happening?

Mods are fairly obviously biased in certain cases and ban people who call them out on it.

 

[Maximilian]

Mods are fairly obviously biased in certain cases and ban people who call them out on it.

Hmm 17 words but okay, my attention span has returned, have skimmed article. :thumbsup:

Fair points tbh.

 

[Tweak155]

Mods are fairly obviously biased in certain cases and ban people who call them out on it.

I've not seen this, personally. Do you have an example?

While the portions of the article where mods react with insults, those are clearly actions which should receive their own discipline. Outside of that, I didn't see any infractions that didn't fit their stated reason. Of course, I didn't read all of the pages either, but maybe half?

 

[waggy]

OMG! Mods getting mod edited! This place is harsh.

Hmm. a mod mod editing his own comments. is that like mod masturbation?

 

[_Rick_]

Yeah, there clearly is an issue with the mods not being strict enough with some members, while being overly harsh with others. I doubt it's AMD vs Intel motivated, that sounds more like the esteemed author having to come up with an excuse for playing his victim-role.
I think mods should adopt a zero-tolerance rule for those forums, and just ban everyone that transgresses.
I'd like to see whether the infraction point system actually is preventative of bans, or just an enabler of trolls and flamers, allowing them to do the spiel for a longer time before being banned.

 

[MrPickins]

Hmm. a mod mod editing his own comments. is that like mod masturbation?

lol


modsturbation

 

[rudeguy]

lol


modsturbation

modsturbatception

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I've been here for 14 years and I could never imagine mustering the energy, much less the paranoia, to write an "expose" like that. It seems to me that moderating a forum in an unimpeachably "fair" way is nearly impossible - there is simply so much to look at that it seems inevitable that mods will punish some members for things while not punishing other members for similar conduct they never actually see. I have never felt the mods here engaged in any consistently unreasonable or unfair practices, even if I do not agree with them in every instance.

 

[mnewsham]

While the portions of the article where mods react with insults, those are clearly actions which should receive their own discipline. Outside of that, I didn't see any infractions that didn't fit their stated reason. Of course, I didn't read all of the pages either, but maybe half?

The biggest issue I think is that Virge freely says it is against the rules for mods to actually completely delete a post that was given an infraction, yet we have plenty of evidence in the article showing this is not the case and that these posts are deleted regularly enough to where the FORUM DIRECTOR shouldn't be lying about it not happening EVER.

Not to mention perk has always been fairly corrupt as seen in the thread when he posted about driving drunk a few years back.

 

[IronWing]

I need to write a fanboi response site. If I can convince Obama Girl to sing "I've got a Crush on Perknose" it would be the best.

 

[KeithTalent]

Hilarious.

KT

 

[mnewsham]

Found this gem from a former mod

As a former Admin and Moderator of Anandtech Forums and member there since 1998 I have a unique perspective on the moderation and staff. The corruption you speak of almost certainly comes from the top and by that I mean Perknose aka Dave Perkins. He runs that forum like he is the Omnipotent Overlord and does not take kindly to any criticism. He also has personal vendettas against those who might disagree with him or even worse, criticize him. When he was first made Head Administrator of the forums another member, Bamacre, was also appointed as a Co-Head Administrator. This was done to keep Perknose in line but after a year or so Perknose with the help of a handful of his closest confidants on the staff were able to oust Bamacre from that position and have another close confidant of Perknose, Esquared, appointed in his place. With that done Perknose and Esquared went on a purge banning all the former staff members who were openly critical of him including myself and Bamacre along with many members who felt the same about him. He also purged some other senior staff members who critical of him though they weren't banned. He now runs those forums as if they were his own personal fiefdom and has made sure there is nobody in any position of authority to question him.

As for the Senior Staff, it is made up of long time members who before being made Admins spent most of their time in the Social Forums. It isn't a very tech savvy group and the average age is a lot older than the average age of the general membership. The best analogy I can think of is that they are like Politburo of the old Soviet Union, made up of long time members who are so entrenched that unless they get on the bad side or Perknose there is almost no chance they will be replaced by younger more tech savvy members.

Regarding them being volunteers, that much is true though the senior staff does get a stipend in the way of some used computer parts that Anand and his Technical Staff have reviewed and posted articles about. Nothing of a lot of value but still coveted by the Senior Staff none the less. After they are done picking through the best of it they then hand out the rest to their favorites among the Moderators.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

Found this gem from a former mod

Jesus, it sounds like old school Mother Russia.

Stalin, why the great purge?

In all seriousness though....moderation privileges will always corrupt/give you an elitist attitude. How do I know? I've moderated before on forums AND gaming servers. It happens.

To say that it doesn't is just idiotic.

 

[mizzou]

oh my god, this is real? I'm going to go through the pages, just to see if someone actually ranted this much.

 

[Jodell88]

The VC&G forum is just like a heavily moderated P&N IMO. If mods didn't moderate the VC&G forum as they do, it'll be competing with P&N as the worst forum on AT.

 

[GrumpyMan]

People commit suicide over Facebook posts and people take offense to a forums management and control. Wow, what happened to this world?

 

[mnewsham]

oh my god, this is real? I'm going to go through the pages, just to see if someone actually ranted this much.

he'd been collecting the information for months and months it looks like and he kept finding more so the article kept growing.

 

[SSSnail]

House of Cards got nothing on the drama of Anandtech: House of Video Cards.

 

[MrPickins]

oh my god, this is real? I'm going to go through the pages, just to see if someone actually ranted this much.

Me too, when I have time to digest the entire novel. :biggrin:

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

can't believe this is real life! hilarious!

 

[mizzou]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/05/18/murderer_confesses_on_anandtech_forum/

 

[brandonb]

I've seen a handful of biases, and general poor behavior of the mods on this forum over the years, but seriously. Its volunteers, on a tech site, and the world isn't perfect. If it ends up that bad, I just stop clicking the "forum" link on the top of www.anandtech.com. Simple as that, and visit another forum.

 

[jhu]

can't believe this is real life! hilarious!

You should have seen what dennilfloss did about 10 years ago. It actually made it to theregister.co.uk!

 

[mizzou]

You should have seen what dennilfloss did about 10 years ago. It actually made it to theregister.co.uk!

and a book, lol