Every once in awhile I feel compelled to explain a bit of what being a moderator at SOH entails and this time I'm compelled by Flyby's statment of leaving SOH which I strongly suspect has to do with the banning of Warfreak and possibly of Johann Steve.
Regardless, being a mod means that all I'm/we're doing is attempting to keep some semblance of order here at a virtual gathering place that was put in place for the exchange of ideas related to flight simming. This particular forum, the CFS3 forum is here for the exchange of information related to cfs3 and cfs3 related topics. The topics posted here are not always about flight but for the most part that's what we're all here for. What it isn't is a place to call other people names, to be disrespectful to your fellow human beings, young or old, to insult others or to vent anger because your life isn't the way that you think it should be. As mods we do the best we can to be fair arbiters and overseers of conflict, somewhat akin to being a cop.
When I was a lot younger I had an attitude about cops but as I've aged I've realized that if it wasn't for police then I and my friends and other citizens would have to go out on the streets and try to keep order and deal with folks who for one reason or another couldn't get along with the rest of society. Like it or not, there are rules in society just as there are rules here.
The mods here don't ban anybody...that's the job of the admins who are somewhat like judges in that they mete out sentences for misbehavior according to the standards set within the confines of SOH. The way we mods and admins work together is, for the most part, before we take any action we post in the staff forum so that all the staff can see what's going on in the various "rooms" if you will, or neighborhoods of SOH. The last few days, because of all the activity here in the cfs3 neighbor hood, the admins were watching closely. Actions were taken
to restore order, plain and simple and not everyone agrees with those actions apparently and that's their right to disagree.
One of the issues was "bad language". Being we're in a public forum it's our responsibilty as individuals to curb our tongues...we're not at home and we're not in the street. In real life I really don't care what people say but this is a public place and not everyone has the same standards that I may have so I watch what I say in public. I don't talk in a bank the way I talk at home and I feel the same way about SOH.
The words are only part of it...then you have the context in which the words were used and at that point action was taken that resulted in the banning of, in his own words, "the youngest member of Sim Outhouse" to which he perceived that we were"picking on him" because he was the youngest. That's just not the case..if it had been me or you or anyone of us speaking that way with thsoe words at that time we would have been banned. It's one thing to speak harshly..to type harsly then hit "enter" to post harshness takes a little thought and with the same amount of thought the choice can be made to not hit enter without frist self-editing
the post....the kid made a choice, plain and simple.
The other banning took place as a result of a guy who keot posting links and assuming that he could do with property that was not his as he pleased, albeit intellectual property. He was asked to stop, his post edited, he re-posted, it was edited then it got posted again...it was an exercise in frustration. The admins were notified, he was banned and I have come to find since that it isn't the first time that he had drawn the attention of the admins to himself.
Stuff happens...in the time that I've been a mod here I've seen periods that are like a virus hit the membership and all ryhme and reason goes out the window and things get out of hand and we are diverted from our primary purpose and action has to be taken to restore order. If some guy comes into my house and causes trouble then if I have to toss his butt out to restore order, so be it...same thing here...I've been a member here for quite a long time now and when negative stuff is not dealt with it gets out of hand pretty quickly. There was a time maybe a couple years ago when things got real crazy for a time and the mods and admins agreed to not let it hapen again. If it seems harsh at times, maybe it is, but we're all doing the best we can with what we have to deal with. My hope is that the two people I mentioned here learn from their mistakes....the admins are not unreasonable people and shoud a banned member approach the admins in the spirit of apology after a time then sometimes a banned member is aloowed back in. It all depends in the person and their attitiude
and the action that caused their banishment in the first place.
Dignity and respect are of the utmost importance. There is way too little of it in the world and I for one would like to see an overabundance of it here at SOH.
Thanks, middle
Regardless, being a mod means that all I'm/we're doing is attempting to keep some semblance of order here at a virtual gathering place that was put in place for the exchange of ideas related to flight simming. This particular forum, the CFS3 forum is here for the exchange of information related to cfs3 and cfs3 related topics. The topics posted here are not always about flight but for the most part that's what we're all here for. What it isn't is a place to call other people names, to be disrespectful to your fellow human beings, young or old, to insult others or to vent anger because your life isn't the way that you think it should be. As mods we do the best we can to be fair arbiters and overseers of conflict, somewhat akin to being a cop.
When I was a lot younger I had an attitude about cops but as I've aged I've realized that if it wasn't for police then I and my friends and other citizens would have to go out on the streets and try to keep order and deal with folks who for one reason or another couldn't get along with the rest of society. Like it or not, there are rules in society just as there are rules here.
The mods here don't ban anybody...that's the job of the admins who are somewhat like judges in that they mete out sentences for misbehavior according to the standards set within the confines of SOH. The way we mods and admins work together is, for the most part, before we take any action we post in the staff forum so that all the staff can see what's going on in the various "rooms" if you will, or neighborhoods of SOH. The last few days, because of all the activity here in the cfs3 neighbor hood, the admins were watching closely. Actions were taken
to restore order, plain and simple and not everyone agrees with those actions apparently and that's their right to disagree.
One of the issues was "bad language". Being we're in a public forum it's our responsibilty as individuals to curb our tongues...we're not at home and we're not in the street. In real life I really don't care what people say but this is a public place and not everyone has the same standards that I may have so I watch what I say in public. I don't talk in a bank the way I talk at home and I feel the same way about SOH.
The words are only part of it...then you have the context in which the words were used and at that point action was taken that resulted in the banning of, in his own words, "the youngest member of Sim Outhouse" to which he perceived that we were"picking on him" because he was the youngest. That's just not the case..if it had been me or you or anyone of us speaking that way with thsoe words at that time we would have been banned. It's one thing to speak harshly..to type harsly then hit "enter" to post harshness takes a little thought and with the same amount of thought the choice can be made to not hit enter without frist self-editing
the post....the kid made a choice, plain and simple.
The other banning took place as a result of a guy who keot posting links and assuming that he could do with property that was not his as he pleased, albeit intellectual property. He was asked to stop, his post edited, he re-posted, it was edited then it got posted again...it was an exercise in frustration. The admins were notified, he was banned and I have come to find since that it isn't the first time that he had drawn the attention of the admins to himself.
Stuff happens...in the time that I've been a mod here I've seen periods that are like a virus hit the membership and all ryhme and reason goes out the window and things get out of hand and we are diverted from our primary purpose and action has to be taken to restore order. If some guy comes into my house and causes trouble then if I have to toss his butt out to restore order, so be it...same thing here...I've been a member here for quite a long time now and when negative stuff is not dealt with it gets out of hand pretty quickly. There was a time maybe a couple years ago when things got real crazy for a time and the mods and admins agreed to not let it hapen again. If it seems harsh at times, maybe it is, but we're all doing the best we can with what we have to deal with. My hope is that the two people I mentioned here learn from their mistakes....the admins are not unreasonable people and shoud a banned member approach the admins in the spirit of apology after a time then sometimes a banned member is aloowed back in. It all depends in the person and their attitiude
and the action that caused their banishment in the first place.
Dignity and respect are of the utmost importance. There is way too little of it in the world and I for one would like to see an overabundance of it here at SOH.
Thanks, middle
Well said. 
My sentiments exactly, Mid. Very well said. Keep up the good work.:d
......we all will miss FLyBY....