I had been having a busy time recently, I was hoping to get time to respond more in the Pak Affairs Mods thread but before I could it was eventually closed, and for good reason.
Glad everyone has an opportunity to air their concerns.
Fraudz, Ehsan bhai myself and fellow PA mods tried to explain the other perspective in detail; I hope all can realize how tricky, difficult and thankless a moderator’s job can get. And they do it for the forum, for us all, so we can come here and have a good time interacting with each other and make friends, not enemies.
Sure moderators and administrators can make errors, and that’s where private or open discussions like this come in proven very useful, to share both sides of the story.
However, I felt compelled to find some time and respond to some comments/paranoias/allegations from few days ago and leave with some points to ponder for all of us.
First, it’s quite disappointing to see members, especially senior, smart, seasoned, respectable and friend members behave shallow, short-sighted and retorting to allegations, non-cooperation, denial of own mistakes etc when much better is expected of them.
Without naming, following are my responses to the few points raised in the last few posts of the above mentioned thread on 4 Oct:
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There is no double standard, bias for or against anyone, any leader, party, government or opposition. All actions are as per the forum rules and they apply similarly to all sides concerned. One just has to step out of paranoia, accept own mistakes and realize and see if/how moderator is being biased at all. Plus, an attack on ones reputation is a sad thing to do, more so when one has worked hard for it and to maintain it, and when it’s known that one does not take any advantage of authority or never abuses power and never involves personal likes, dislikes, opinions in professional/mod duties and is a bit sensitive to false allegations, all which seem like an occupational hazard, but is worrisome and frustrating nonetheless.
The number of warning and other actions taken on 3 Oct went into double digit figures. If all are listed with names, reasons, proofs and so on, I’m sure everyone will really be able to judge who is right and who is wrong, who is defying rules and who trying to preserve peace, who is biased and who not, or if there is any bias at all or not to start with. Because certainly, with versatile views within the team, and with a wide assortment of actions, any sane reasoning soul would gather what’s what and realize there’s no bias, nothing wrong.
Additionally, once rules are prescribed, breaking them or arguing over any action taken against violators can never be justified. So everyone defying rules should be prepared for any suitable administrative action the moment he/she makes the choice of breaking/defying the forum rules. That way offenders won’t have a hard time trying to learn what exactly they did wrong, and the moderators won’t have to waste time in arguments. -
Everyone ought to know on their own what to say and not to say about who and what within cultured, civilized limitations and codes of conduct; most of which are similar to the rules on this forum. No lists are required or can ever be completed.
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Don’t 2 warning points combined for the term translated as villain, as well as a derogatory synonym for donkey for various leaders compares rather well to the fear of “2349235902350” points?
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For the terms left unnoticed from a thread started on 28 Sep 2007, thanks for notifying.
The hyper-mode implementation of rules began in the late hours of 2 Oct 2007. That said, the rules have existed since long before, whose wrong is it that they are not followed by anyone seriously? Should the implementers get all the blame when they start enforcing strictly or do the violators get the major share? Perhaps one can also dig out the innumerable similar terms used for other personalities, left unnoticed, un-acted, if proving bias is the aim? And that will reveal the other side of the story too!
Plus a rule ought to be implemented when and where required, before every action it’s not possible to go through all cases that were noticed or went unnoticed since 1997-98 since the beginning of these forums or even beginning of the year or even this month for that matter, out of fear of annoying one side or other and unleashing allegations of bias regardless of how we may have acted against one sect on day1 and against another on day2, there will be attack from sect2 when action is against them without knowing or remembering there has been action against others as well.
Similarly, lack of information and biases or paranoias are destructive, because for eg the other thread mentioned and the member concerned had already been addressed long before being noticed by certain members here and more action was taken later as well. It’s never positive to jump about with conclusion without complete information or knowing the whole picture.
I would also just like to mention how at times some members don’t cooperate as much as needed and demand more than they are willing to offer, making it hard for the forum administration in a no. of ways too; I hope everyone can think about this and feel that we are all together, not against each other. This may apply to all of us and must be realized by all of us; myself and all mods included when we’re in other forums as members only and not as moderators:
** 1**. Often some members think Mods are machines and are able to catch anything the moment it exists.
** 2**. Knowing that the report post/PM Mods/Admins options are always available many choose not to discuss and start holding biases, paranoia or indulge in the same irresponsible behavior they themselves are against when others indulge in it.
** 3**. Think if action is not taken mods are biased, sleeping, have eyes closed or if action is taken against their will they are again; biased hyporites.
** 4**. Forget that Mods & Admins work together for the benefit of the forum. Personal views and thinking does not come across while making decisions or taking actions. If it is, we can all hold each other answerable, accountable. Plus no one enjoys warning and pointing out faults in fellow members especially when it involves valuable, senior members, friend members or members of whom better behviour is expected. But Mods/Admins have to do this. It’s a thankless and tough job.
** 5**. Refuse to accept own mistakes.
** 6**. When any action is taken, instead of realizing that some action is taken and a wrong is put right, start making comparisons, arguing over who was more responsible, who started first, who should be punished more, how the action had been/would be different in any older case, or any possible scenario.
** 7**. Refuse to realize that as mods can miss out on some problems, not because they are only biased, selective or blind but because they are humans, not machines, can forget, not know the whole picture, try to be tolerant, avoid further issues or trouble by trying to overlook in some cases and so on.
** 8**. In these regards not getting understanding or cooperation from some members very often causes more glitches.
** 9**. Getting offensive and personal or paranoid after any action is taken even though all rules, regulations and policies are notified in sticky threads for all to read, understand and follow at all times while participating in the forum.
** 10**. Not believing in the “Do unto others as you would wish others to do unto you” principle.
- There could be more listed but these are perhaps some of the main.*
And especially regarding PA rules now, for #6 it has specifically been stated;
** “…without comparisons with other cases…”**
Here.
Because this is what happens each time making a mess even when there is prompt action, ending up making all work miserable. Obviously for e.g. if we catch Member A calling Member B an arse on Thursday, we’ll take action against it. Not wait for everything else to fit in chronological order if it isn’t highly obvious or noticed simultaneously. And would act against B if we later find that he had started it on Tuesday. And would also act against B if he does something similarly wrong on Friday, or if A continues to respond in kind on Saturday. So present implementation should never be tangled in past cases or scenarios, that way law and enforcement would always remain suspended.
** Cooperation & harmony** is all that’s required for all of us to have a great time here. I look forward to greater tolerance and respect from all of us, who are after all on the same side, friends, and a family!
Moreover, rules are rules and since recently we’ve decided to implement them more strictly to maintain order given the turbulent situations in Pakistan as well as their direct impact on our forums here; we’ve all seen a lot of trouble here in PA forums since March, a direct reflection of on ground condition in Pakistani politics.
We should all be proud of ourselves that we have become an alert and reactive force over the years here and have a membership that consists of versatile yet very valuable and intellectual views and information, which benefits us all in various ways. wouldn’t it be just an added advantage and make our GS experience all the more worthwhile if we can co-exist and interact in exemplary harmony with patience and dignity too? We all should take responsibility for our own actions when and wherever required.
One minor problem is just that the these days traffic is quite high in PA threads for obvious reasons and often the mods are not able to keep track of each single post, member, their recent posting patterns etc. And that may at times lead to missing out on actionable posts or delays actions. We usually catch a lot when viewing threads, PMs identifying particular problems as well as report post feature helps a lot too. So all members need to develop a spirit of cooperation, belonging and contribution for smooth functioning. Without it, no system can function.
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I'll be asking the Admin to close this as this is for reading only.
For any discussion I can always be contacted.
Thanks for your time and excuse for the extensive write-up.*