Okay, let me post my point of view of this issue. I might get the chronology slightly wrong as the moderation log cuts out on Feb 11th and this all happened on the 10th
Yeah, if someone had bumped this a day earlier I would have had access to it.
The reports themselves have also gone so I have no record of the moderator discussion but I do have the emails that were sent, so I know what the reporters said.
1) I arrive on HLP to find 3 reports stemming from the same same thread. This is always a bad sign. two of the reports are from Spoon and one is a request to split out the nonsense, whatever that may be.
2) I look at the thread. On first reading I see what looks like
Response from Rev Posix saying that all the admins aren't coders
Request from Spoon for more information on this
Response from Rev Posix saying that some admins can't understand the forum code
Then I see what looks like a sarcastic comment from Spoon saying that Rev Posix is stating the obvious. Spoon says that this was a joke and I'm perfectly willing to accept that he might have intended it as such, but I still can't see how it isn't rude. If you ask for a question and then reply to it with something along the lines of "Thanks for the answer Captain Obvious" I can't see how that isn't rude. But okay, maybe I simply don't appreciate Spoon's sense of humour or it's an in-joke I still don't get. It's enough for me that Spoon says that he wasn't intentionally being rude. But at the time, I've only got what I can see in front of me.
Scotty apparently has apparently read the response in the same way I have and has told Spoon not to be a dick. Not the choice of words I would have used when talking directly to a user and telling them off (I use the phrase when talking about bad behaviour in general but it's not a good idea to use it directly to a user). That said, it's a fairly succinct way of saying "Don't be rude to other forum members" and I suspect that's exactly what Scotty intended to impart. Still, it's a bad way to do it.
Spoon's response to this is to say "wow rude" and then to then report Scotty's post with text that says that since he got a warning for insults, calling someone a dick should also be unacceptable.
Scotty responds reiterating that he thinks Spoon was rude, Spoon denies this, and the thread descends into a childish argument followed by a lock and Spoon reporting a different post and asking if he can call people a dick too.
3) So at this point it's quite clear that the thread needs some attention. We have a request for a split (I honestly can't remember if I split the thread or someone else did, but the On Being a Dick title does sound like something I'd give it). More importantly we have two moderator posts being reported, as far as I'm concerned that means this requires admin level attention.
4) I reread the thread a further two times. I have history with Spoon, so I want to make sure I'm giving him a fair chance. But no, I still can't see how his original post was not him being rude to Rev Posix. More importantly though, I see no attempt to explain how he wasn't being rude. If someone calls me a dick, I'll explain why I wasn't being one - That's partly why I've spent so much time typing this response out. I consider that to be one of the more common methods of human interaction, if someone says you did something you didn't do, the first thing you say is "I didn't do it." if someone reiterates that you did, you explain why you couldn't have done it.
Now I'll admit there is a point where Spoon asks for Scotty to point out where he was rude, but I can easily see why Scotty ignored it. This is now Spoon's third post after being told to stop being rude, and he hasn't yet tried to give any explanation of what happened, instead asking Scotty to spend his time explaining why the post is rude.
5) I reread the reports. I can't remember if anyone else had commented but I post, telling the other mods and admins that I can't see how this wasn't an unprovoked attack on Rev Posix.
6) I post to the effect that I literally can't see any way of reading Spoon's post as not being an unprovoked, unnecessarily rude answer to response Spoon himself solicited. But since I have history with Spoon, I point out that maybe I'm reading the thread wrong. As far as I'm concerned, that's my official response to Spoon's reports, Scotty is not going to be censured over for bad moderation because as far as I can see, Spoon was being unnecessarily rude to Rev Posix. Even if I don't like the way Scotty may have initially replied at that point I 100% back his decision to do so and I don't see anything in Spoon's later responses that make me reconsider that.
I'll freely admit I probably should have written out a longer explanation stating that was what it was and how I'd arrived at that conclusion but I had already spent quite a bit of time on the thread and I had other things to do.
So okay, I'll give my story, now that it seems im finally allowed to.
Let me start here, you were allowed to give your story before. After the issue kicked off, you posted a further four times and reported two posts. At no point did you attempt to give your story then. The only reason this thread was reopened is because I sent a PM to Axem and Zacam basically saying "Spoon seems to have an issue with this thread, I want you two to read it and try to tell me his side of the story
since he made no attempt to." Hell, probably the only reason I'm so calm to see this thread reopened is precisely because Axem did do that.
In the end, I think this is why you have such a problem with moderation on this forum, you make no attempt to avoid problems, in fact you make them worse and then don't take responsibility for doing that.
In the case of the WoD forum issues, we've repeatedly stated that you made that problem worse by not using the report button. I've never seen any indication you accept that either. I've never seen any sign that you don't believe the problem was 100% the moderators fault (and I'm not saying the moderators weren't at fault, just that you made the issue worse).
In this issue, you may have been making a simple joke which was misinterpreted, but I still see no sign that you accept that your joke was poorly worded even though Rev Posix just flat out stated he also took it that way. Your post in response to Rev Posix shows no sign you accept your mistake and can just as easily be read as you accepting his.
I see no sign at all that you realise Scotty didn't randomly decide to call you a dick. I see no sign you realise you escalated the issue by not explaining that it was a joke that was misunderstood. And I see no sign you realise you escalated the situation by continually giving out sarcastic responses and reporting the thread but not explaining yourself.
Now it maybe that you've always realised that but simply give no indications in your posts, but I hope to **** that whether you did or didn't before, you do realise that now.
I hope to **** you don't still believe this was 100% the moderators fault.
I hope to **** that my explanation of where I was coming from has sunk in and made you reconsider that maybe you had a part to play in this little drama and that maybe your actions also should have been different.
And I hope to **** that you finally get that I don't have any particular grudge against you and realise that if you're willing to forget about any previous issues you've had with me, I'm happy to do likewise.
