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By Jay and Miko
From gameplay leaders and alliance founders all the way up through Admin, Behind Cyber Nations has enjoyed the opportunity to sit down with some remarkable players who have helped shape Cyber Nations. In this issue we take you behind the scenes to moderation: that shadowy group whose hours, policies, and decisions shape our gameplay and regulate the CN forums. Over the course of a candid group conversation we asked your mods about the challenges, rewards, highs, lows, and nature of the job. Here are their responses.
Hello all.
Tobias Funke: hello
The_Evil_Jester: Hey there.
Top Cat: Hey there.
Smith: Ahoy-hoy
Tobias Funke: hello : bet you'll never guess who I am :p
I'm afraid Jay just got called away to work.
Smith: Hai
Tobias Funke: ... dammit
unbiased mod: haha
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, I knew too.
unbiased mod: busted
Tobias Funke: you read the mod boards :(
unbiased mod: he dares
I actually have no idea who anyone is.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, I did.
Smith: We were just talking about that, actually
Tobias Funke: You've interviewed me 2-3 times
Smith: Everyone was trying to figure out who I am
Top Cat: heh
OK. Anything determined to be off-limits?
Tobias Funke: ut oh
unbiased mod: we had to?
Top Cat: Nope, not at all.
Tobias Funke: We just follow orders
The_Evil_Jester: I figured that I'd just go with the flow.
Smith: Yeah, you're lucky any of us figured out how to get here :p
unbiased mod: if I don't want to answer, I just don't answer :)
Tobias Funke: I'll answer for him...the answer is always pie.
unbiased mod: ooo, pie
Top Cat: I'm glad we are all so prepared for this ;)
unbiased mod: what pie?
The_Evil_Jester: No pie for you Unbiased mod.
Tobias Funke: Doesn't matter just pie.
Tobias Funke: we're an irreverent bunch
Can everyone please introduce themselves by giving their age and occupation?
Tobias Funke: 19/Student
unbiased mod: 18/Student
The_Evil_Jester: Sure 30/Neurosurgeon
Tobias Funke: Jester wins
Top Cat: 16/Student
unbiased mod: agreed, Jester wins
Smith: Oh, that's my cue
The_Evil_Jester: Aww man now I feel old...
Smith: 17/student. I stand out amoung the bunch, it seems.
Top Cat: I feel young. =D
unbiased mod: who does better than 16? lol, but don't let my comments stop this
Smith: I'm trying to restrain myself here :v
unbiased mod: try less
Top Cat: Let it all out Smith. Everything.
Is there a single event you all have had to deal with that you agree was the worst in CN? On the forum I mean.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah the /b/ suicides.
unbiased mod: mmmm, not really, my timezone keeps me off all crazy Americans
Tobias Funke: The /b/ suicides weren't fun
Top Cat: I wasn't personally modded at the time of the /b/ suicides, but it seems evident that that was the most repulsive attack to date. As a player I was certainly horrified.
Tobias Funke: I was the only mod on for the first night of it
Smith: I've had middle-of-the-night stakeouts watching for board suicides for months and months. I was around for a few of the /b/ suicides but they all kind of blur together, and I'm so used to board suicides it doesn't even bother me too much. It's mindless
Tobias Funke: and I didn't have admin and I had to go around as fast as I could checking every thread I sat on IRC, and co-opted some alliance mates to help me look. Pain in the ass, I had an exam the next day. Didn't get to study at all
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, that was my first week as a mod too, and that was crazy having to run around that fast
unbiased mod: my modding areas are slow, only thing I get is some questions that were asked/answered only a zillion time before
Tobias Funke: Wasn't the first time I'd had to deal with account suicides
Smith: Amateurs! :p
Top Cat: It seemed like they were neverending, must have been ten times worse as a mod.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, that was a lot of disgusting crap there.
Did the /b/ suicides lead to any policy changes for you?
Tobias Funke: Images were gone Which sucks for alliances but it's necessary
The_Evil_Jester: Images got removed after M&K suicided though IIRC.
Top Cat: That's right.
Tobias Funke: They were taken down temporarily after /b/. They were put back up later but it set a precedent
unbiased mod: nothing much for me, my areas were hardly affected
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah I remember them being removed temporarily.
Smith: None for me personally, but I think in general a lot of us started to crack down a bit more. That was a big shake-up for the community and the mods, and anything we could do to prevent or catch possibly
future suicides seemed worth it.
Tobias Funke: It was the only time the boards were taken offline to cool off the community, and we had to spend the weekend cleaning it. Still not as much a crackdown as during last July
Smith: Heh, quite true.
unbiased mod: okay, as I feared dinner is being served will try to come back as soon as possible
The_Evil_Jester: I heard about the severe crackdown during GWI
What happened last July?
Tobias Funke: that was right before I became one period Last July was the First Great War flaming was so bad, if you broke the rules, you were banned I wasn't a mod at the time didn't matter the offense
The_Evil_Jester: That was the first GW wasn't it? I heard that the moderation staff at the time cracked down because the forums got out of control with flaming and such.
Tobias Funke: yes Worst the boards ever were
Smith: I vaguely remember. Lots of warnings, lots of bans for trivial matters. With the board suicide of Yaridovich everything was in free-fall and the mods couldn't keep it under control without "martial law" of sorts.
Tobias Funke: It's interesting to all the in-game ramifications of it...
How did you guys personally feel when that happened?
Tobias Funke: ...but that's for another interview or not :p
The_Evil_Jester: I wasn't around for it, so I cannot honestly say what I think of last July.
Tobias Funke: My reaction to it was quite public I had almost quit the game over it
Smith: I was around. Hard to describe, especially when you have a poor memory like me, but I think "outrage", "disgust", and a few less agreeable adjectives can describe it.
Tobias Funke: yeah
Did any of you find yourselves in conflict over what you were doing in-game versus what your job was as Mods? Was it any different for the /b/ suicides?
Tobias Funke: Nope
The_Evil_Jester: Nope.
Tobias Funke: I personally crack down on my alliance harder than I do on anyone else. I have higher standards for them
Smith: Not a bit.
The_Evil_Jester: I crack down on my fellow alliance mates too when they break rules.
Do any of your fellow alliance members know who you are?
The_Evil_Jester: Mine don't.
Smith: I like to think my identity is safe.
Tobias Funke: *Tobias snorts
Top Cat: Only those I trust most know my identity, and smith as well o.o
Tobias Funke: I started the "Not_" trend
The_Evil_Jester: Heh, yeah I remember that.
Tobias Funke: My favorites were when I was Not_playeraccountname and someone failed at guessing who I was
Smith: Back when I changed my name on a weekly basis...
The_Evil_Jester: Actually a fellow mod in my alliance knows who I am.
Top Cat: There's more?!
Smith: indy bias
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, myself and Unbiased Mod are alliance mates.
Tobias Funke: *Tobias hides under a veil of anonyminity
Do you ever find it difficult to keep your identities covered? Have you found yourselves having to lie?
Top Cat: *Top Cat lifts the veil and makes a shocking discovery
Smith: *Smith scribbles on that paper again
The_Evil_Jester: Not really, it never really comes up.
Smith: I do whatever it takes to keep my identity safe. Anyone who knows the truth is banned! There are even whispers of murder, but those'll be gone soon I think.
Tobias Funke: yeah...I messed up that keeping my identity hidden with that whole Not_playeraccountname. Also, Smith murdered me once :( smith :(
Smith: In seriousness, I tried hiding my identity the first week and I failed miserably. I used my normal photobucket, DoitzelKaiserIII, to host my signature and the image I replaced others' signatures with. I was ousted pretty quickly.
I'm really a little surprised you don't have problems keeping hidden. I've been accused of being a forum Mod and even an in-game Mod. Of course, I'm neither.
Tobias Funke: Sure you are Admin. ;)
Smith: The more big-name people you warn and/or ban the harder it is.
Tobias Funke: don't worry, your secret is safe with this interview
The_Evil_Jester: Actually, I am surprised too, but nobody seems to make the connection and confront me with it.
Top Cat: I've had a couple of people loosely make a connection, nothing I can't squirm out of though.
The_Evil_Jester: Well, considering I pretty much have given warnings to people from most of the major alliances, I guess they figure that I am not among any of them.
Tobias Funke: I still remember that time I had that "NPO mod conspiracy" userbar made for the team. We all had it till admin made us take it down.
How do you guys get along on the Mod forum? Any big disagreements you're willing to talk about?
Tobias Funke: There was one a number of months ago, but we can't get into it
Smith: Yeah, what he said
The_Evil_Jester: That I don't believe I can comment on one way or another.
Smith: Otherwise I get along pretty well with everyone despite my often... differing opinions.
Top Cat: In the short time I've been there I don't think there has been anything of dire disagreement. Everybody seems pretty amiable and respectful of each others opinion
The_Evil_Jester: I am the same, I get along well with everybody.
Only one identity has been revealed. You're perfectly anonymous. What happened?
Tobias Funke: We can't. Confidentiality agreement
Top Cat: ^^What he said.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, he's right.
Smith: Wait, my identity is compromised? omg!
Tobias Funke: RUN
Top Cat: TO THE HILLS!
Does that happen often? Confidentiality agreements?
Tobias Funke: No, but it's part of the nature of the job, you agree not to discuss things like that. Breaking it results in being removed from the team
Smith: Prettymuch, yeah.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah.
Tobias Funke: Example: when mods leak mod identities
Top Cat: I think it’s a matter of respect as well. Some of us, like Smith, don't want their identities compromised.
Tobias Funke: *Tobias snorts
Top Cat: We owe it to them on a personal level not to backstab.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, there are some that prefer to keep their identity hidden.
Is there a clear hierarchy on the Mod forum? Who's the boss?
Tobias Funke: Admin Then Moderation Then Sword of Estel followed by senior game mods (or senior staff), then it branches into two groups game mods and forum mod teams
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, that's the chain of command.
Smith: Oh, of course. Always forgetting poor little Smith.
Tobias Funke: Forum side - Senior mod then sectional mods
Top Cat: Pretty much, although I was under the impression that senior staff and SoE were on par.
Tobias Funke: Game mods have just one rank
The_Evil_Jester: You forgot Forum Admins too by the way.
Does the system work? Is there room for improvement?
Smith: I think I'm the only non-game mod, non-Senior Staff forum admin. sad.gif
Top Cat: I think on the whole the hierarchy works out pretty well, at least on the forum side.
The_Evil_Jester: I think the current system works well.
Smith: Agreed. Often I don't realize there's a hierarchy unless we really need one - feels much more like a team to me. :)
Is Kevin around there a lot?
Tobias Funke: Yeah, he's around a fair bit
Smith: We see a lot of him, yeah. He's quite active.
The_Evil_Jester: He's easy enough to get in touch with, and he is active yes.
You all work with him on a daily basis then. What's your impression of the man?
Smith: He's interesting. A lot of people don't appreciate his humour, but I love it. He's pretty laid-back unless he doesn't need to be.
Top Cat: From what I know of admin he seems a levelheaded bloke.
The_Evil_Jester: My dealings with Admin have all been good, and he seems like a good man.
Top Cat: He's certainly got a new approach to things after his kid came.
Tobias Funke: Admin is fun he knows how to have fun
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, he definitely has a good sense of humor.
Vivi: He's easy to get along with.
Smith: HONK HONK
How did his approach change?
Smith: He's got a better grasp of things since his baby was born, at least in my opinion. Things are more in perspective for him and he's better able to determine when to just say "okay, enough" and roll his chair back.
Vivi: I haven't been around long enough to be able to answer that.
Tobias Funke: yeah
Top Cat: I think after the /b/ incident and his kid coming he realised that the game was encroaching in all aspects of his life. I would say he's taken a step back after that whole fiasco. Not detached himself, but just put a heathy distance and a new perspective.
Smith: It's actually been interesting watching everyone's outlooks, personalities, and approaches change over the past months.
How have Mod opinions in general changed over the months?
The_Evil_Jester: From my perspective we have really meshed well as a team.
Top Cat: I haven't been around long enough to answer that. As a player, it would seem the whole team has stepped up a level, almost to help the shift in admin’s involvement after his kid. There is certainly a lot more unity in the team and our decisions
The_Evil_Jester: Exactly.
Smith: I can only speak for my own. I've become progressively more and more relaxed since I started. I remember when I was first made a moderator by Nietzsche (d. praved) all those months ago I was *hated*. I was a GATO mod to the NPO...I was an NPO mod to LUE. In fact, I was in IRON. I've seen a lot of mods go through the same thing with initial over-eagerness and "take on the world" attitudes. It's not necessarily a bad thing and I think that helps shape peoples' outlooks on the community.
unbiased mod: I haven't been around all that long, but I see we definitely are getting better
Tobias Funke: Smith started off horribly: he made EVERYONE hate him within a day. Funniest thing I've ever seen. Well, not the funniest
The_Evil_Jester: Man that must have been quite the event...
Tobias Funke: but pretty funny
Top Cat: heh, how did he manage that?
Tobias Funke: warned everyone and I do mean everyone
Smith: Then I went to having my own cult within a few months - Smithism. People were changing their signatures and everything.
unbiased mod: But before my modness, I hardly was around CN forums, and when I was it wasn't in the OWF forums
Tobias Funke: even when they didn't deserve it
Top Cat: Wow, what a bastard :p heh
Smith: Yeah, at the time there was a big call by Fonzoland and a lot of other hardcore RPers (I'm looking at you, Black Rose!) that were concerned with the "death of RP." Nietzsche had wanted us to try to crack down and keep the roleplay forums roleplay. That didn't go over so well the way I was implementing it.
Tobias Funke: no, no it didn't
The_Evil_Jester: Meh, I made a few mistakes when I first started modding, but a couple of the senior staffers helped me figure it out.
Tobias Funke: YOU DIDN'T SAY KIND SIR, KIND SIR WARNED things like that
Smith: Oh shush you! :p
Tobias Funke: it's true
Top Cat: I guess it's the uncertainty that come when joining the team, I know when I joined I thought I was enforcing the rules way way to harshly. Apparently not, at least in Estel’s eyes.
Smith: You're exaggerating >_>
Tobias Funke: am not
Smith: yuh-huh!
Tobias Funke: nuh-uh Fine
Top Cat: And so it goes on...
Smith: Yeah, that's right. You best be runnin'.
Tobias Funke: You didn't call them kind sir when warning them
Smith: No, I called them meatbags. :(
Top Cat: XD
The_Evil_Jester: XD
unbiased mod: I hardly have had to lay down the law, think I warned a grand total of 20 people
Top Cat: Man, I get that in a day. Amateur. :p
Do you find yourselves having to be overly polite when warning someone?
Vivi: It depends on how they react to it.
The_Evil_Jester: I am polite and point them out the rules.
Vivi: As long as it's not something like 'OMGWTF' it's easy to be polite.
Top Cat: When we warn we generally just cite the offence, a link to the offence and a link to the rules. I don't find myself having to go out of my way to avoid conflict. Most of the rule breakers know what they've done before I catch them anyway.
The_Evil_Jester: Those that are argumentative I usually inform them that they can appeal, and direct them to the appeals forum.
Smith: I'm not terribly polite or terribly rude. I'm straightforward and frank. "You broke the rules, this is why, this is where. Please abide the rules, thank you."
Top Cat: I wouldn't say detached, maybe a bit nonchalant about it all. Most of what we deal with we've seen and dealt with before.
Smith: I'm always "rather detached". You have to be for the job, I think. I've moderated elsewhere and it's just an essential. I talk with the community and interact, joke around, socialize - but in the end you can't let it get to you.
unbiased mod: to answer the warning: I give the facts, more isn't needed to answer the detachment: see name
Smith: It kind of branches into everything else as well. It's just not worth getting yourself stresses over something on the internet. Cliché as it sounds, "internet: srs bzns".
Is there a universal pet peeve for you all?
Smith: "FIRST"
Tobias Funke: first
Top Cat: First?
unbiased mod: first indeed
Top Cat: heh Seems like we can agree on that then.
unbiased mod: even more when they edit it in
Tobias Funke: also "WHY DID I GET BANNED> I ONLY HAD 188 NATIONS"
Smith: If it were up to me I'd ban people for being first posters, which is probably why it's not up to me.
The_Evil_Jester: Hmm, Spamming worthless posts. Yeah "First" fits into that category.
Smith: Oh yes, the constant PMs "my brother and i want to play y did we get deltd"
Top Cat: 'WHY DID I GET BANNED? IT WAS MY BROTHERS ACCOUNT THAT DID IT, HE'S SUCH A FOOL!!!'
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, I hate those .It's always the relative.
Top Cat: It's always the brother.
Tobias Funke: MY NEIGHBORS KITTEN STABBED A HOBO. WHY WAS I BANNED
The_Evil_Jester: Just once I'd like them to blame the family pet.
unbiased mod: to follow Tobias, I really would like to edit the improvement thread of Admin and let it see that an foreign ... gives a extra AID slot, and not trade slot
Kevin's said you guys can solidly determine if there are really 2 different players on the same IP. Is that right?
Top Cat: We aren't at liberty to discuss that:P
The_Evil_Jester: Obviously we cannot reveal methods, but there are many ways to determine it.
Top Cat: If we did, we may have to kill you.
Vivi: We don't have any game mods in here either...
Tobias Funke: I'm a former game mod
unbiased mod: I don't even know my own IP
Tobias Funke: but it can't be discussed
Top Cat: Add it to the list Smith, it may come in handy
unbiased mod: *makes mental note*
Smith: I already know who that one is
Top Cat: I call bias.
Tobias Funke: me too
The_Evil_Jester: *Gives unbiased mod medication*
unbiased mod: thanks, but just can't you do some magical surgeon procedure?
Vivi: I can stab you with a pencil...does that count?
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, frontal lobotomy. You want that?
Tobias Funke: he does, I have power of attorney
unbiased mod: I think I will pass, on both
Top Cat: I'll take it, is it free?
The_Evil_Jester: I never said free.
Top Cat: And so we digress...
Smith: *crickets*
unbiased mod: next question before we get sidetracked too far
You can't discuss how you can sniff out illegal multis. Can you talk about how often you have to deal with folks creating multiple forum accounts?
Top Cat: heh
Vivi: Every day.
Smith: Every. Single. Day. Many times a day.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, that is common.
Tobias Funke: idiots
unbiased mod: they all go to OWF sad.gif never near my forums
Does that earn a warn or a ban?
Smith: 500 banned accounts usually can be traced to 100 different people. tongue.gif
Top Cat: A ban.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, banning.
Top Cat: We generally warn to disable the posting rights until an admin is available
Smith: And then I SMASH THEM WITH A HAMMER
Top Cat: Tru dat.
Their nation (or nations considering who we're talking about) gets sacked too?
Smith: Forum ban = game ban and vise versa in almost every case.
Tobias Funke: if it's a second account they are unmasked if posting
Shiva: Dual forum accounts just get their identity revealed
Tobias Funke: and then they usually get smashed by an alliance
Shiva: ^ what he said
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah.
Tobias Funke: Usually, my alliance tongue.gif
It seems that you have to spend inordinate amounts of time dealing with CN in order to do your job. Is that true?
Smith: A lot of the time when we have a multiple forum account, at least for me, it tends to be a player that's already banned. I can think of a few that I've banned a dozen times or so.
The_Evil_Jester: Not so much, I spend a fair bit of time, but we have enough mods so that we don't have to devote a really huge amount of time to it.
Smith: I don't spend nearly as much time as I used to, mostly because all these new mods picked up the load of forum moderating. Now I just handle (almost) all the masking and the ban requests when I see them.
unbiased mod: For me that is simple, an hour a day normally is enough for me to clean up, also alot is done already by the American moderators of my section. Sometimes I come online with just 10 new posts made
Smith: If there are forum abuse reports unhandled, I'll pick them up. Usually they're all already dealt with though.
Shiva: Yes and no. You don't need to know the ins and outs of CN politics to know when someones flaming.
Tobias Funke: I try to do it I check the forum mod section bam, already taken care of so I wander around till I find something
Shiva: I look, but they're always done ;)
Tobias Funke: dang new mods with their ability to beat me to things
Top Cat: I wouldn't say it's excessive time, we all have real lives to attend to as well. It's unwritten law that RL takes priority and we all respect that.
unbiased mod: the first 2 weeks were hectic, but that was with my crusade against sig violations
Shiva: I normally spend an hour on the forum over breakfast
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, I patrol the Open World forum usually and very rarely have the chance to handle anything there. By there I mean the reports forum.
Shiva: ...which is not always the best way to start the day
unbiased mod: I don't even keep count but I guess I have more then 100 sig deletions on my name
Vivi: I'm sure you do. You've got a long list.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, you nail sig violators like I nail spammers.
unbiased mod: I have multiple long lists
Is that another pet peeve? Sig violators?
Vivi: I know. Meant to say lists. Depends on how bad they're violating it.
unbiased mod: mostly too long or too wide sigs
Smith: Not for me. Fixing peoples' sigs is a pet peeve though. tongue.gif
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, I agree with Vivi on this oone.
Shiva: and mostly people who should know better...
unbiased mod: I have had people with sigs as wide as 1000 pixels
Top Cat: I can't stand excessively large sigs. Especially when it stretches the page.
The_Evil_Jester: Ouch 1000 wide is huge...
Shiva: I normally catch them in topics rather than via the mod forum
unbiased mod: I mostly always am "happy" when I see a thread stretch, almost always a too wide sig picture
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, speaking of pictures I hate the huge ones that break the page and stretch it way out.
What was that weekend like when the forum was offline?
Smith: Which one?
The_Evil_Jester: Busy but quiet.
Vivi: There was quite a bit of work in the beginning. but after we got everything cleaned up It was nice.
Top Cat: *Top Cat wasn't modded.
unbiased mod: I wasn't really there, and my forums were hardly touched
Smith: We had a weekend way, way back where the forums were shut down and we cleared out the entire spam forum by hand. November 15th. That was a really fun night. :p
Shiva: I definitely needed the break
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah the OWF was a disastrous mess though.
Smith: As for the one after the /b/ attacks, we definitely needed the break.
unbiased mod: I did love the thread Smith made in OWF
Smith: Everyone was exhausted from both the flaming and the board suicides.
How did you arrive at the decision to take it offline? Was there a great deal of discussion?
Smith: I always do that when we take the board offline. There's one from the aforementioned spam purge floating around somewhere.
Vivi: I saw that one.
Smith: There really wasn't much debate. It needed to be done and Moderation knew it. After getting a few responses he went ahead and announced it.
Vivi: Beat me to it ^.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah. He beat me to it also.
What did Kevin say about the decision? Was he even around? His daughter was being born.
Smith: It's these elegant piano fingers; they dance across the keyboard with grace.
Vivi: He wasn't on much then. Until right before it ended.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah, he was busy taking care of the family.
Smith: Oy, I don't really remember. I don't think anyone opposed, so I would say he either didn't care or was in favour of it.
Vivi: I'm pretty sure he said that it was needed.
Tobias Funke: He was on a bit it surprised me, at the least I hadn't expected him to even be on
I know I felt horrible for the guy. As much as I love the game, I wouldn't have blamed him for pitching it.
unbiased mod: me neither
Tobias Funke: Almost took out the war system and everything
The_Evil_Jester: I wouldn't have blamed him, but I would have been sad.
Smith: I wouldn't blame him either, though I would've been disappointed to see /b/ have their way. He pulled through though.
Top Cat: I think it's that perseverance and sense of responsibility to the community that made Kevin stick with it. He just couldn't see /b/ get one over on CN.
The_Evil_Jester: Agreed.
So he became outraged about /b/ too?
Vivi: I don't know if 'outraged' is the right word for it.
The_Evil_Jester: Well, they did hack the game...
unbiased mod: he knew it came from their side
Was there general dislike in the Mod forum of LUE as well?
unbiased mod: I never interacted much with LUE, heard stories, not really much more
Top Cat: I would think it's his sense of responsibility for the community more than anything that made him stick with it, I've never seen him venomous against anyone, regardless of what they did.
Smith: I wouldn't say of "LUE", but there have been members that've been less than liked by the mod staff.
The_Evil_Jester: Not from my perspective, I have always been neutral of opinion when it came to them. I don't identify players by their alliance.
Top Cat: I'd second that feeling.
Smith: Usually just flat-out troublemakers, many if not all of whom have been banned.
unbiased mod: agree to Jester
Tobias Funke: There was a LUE member on staff for a while but he had been removed for taking information, I believe
/b/ was something of an exception though? Because of the sheer number of offenders?
Top Cat: I don't believe collective responsibility. If one person is an asshat on the boards, they alone should be held responsible unless there is evidence that they were fueled by someone else or it was endorsed by an alliance.
Vivi: There weren't that many /b/ members who account-suicided.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah Top has it right. I deal with trouble makers individually, unless it is a policy of their alliance.
Top Cat: The fact that /b/'s place of origin was coordinating attacks against the forum and the game made people’s stance less than amiable.
Vivi: and we can't tell who the ones who did the DDOS were. Many of them were probably random people who get on 4chan
Smith: We didn't go on an outright rampage against /b/ members. Many formers still play the game, so I don't think it's fair to say we were generally outraged with /b/ as a whole - just those attacking us.
Shiva: not many members, just many accounts ;)
Smith: We called them /b/, but I think it was more associated with the image board than the alliance.
The_Evil_Jester: Yeah.
Vivi: It was.
unbiased mod: its never a whole alliance who does such thing, always the smaller bored members
Vivi: People just like to have something in-game to base problems on.
Top Cat: Unfortunately at the time I think the line between /b/ alliance and 4chan itself was thin at best. A fair proportion of /b/tards were coordinating on 4chan.
Vivi: Thus, many said it was the alliance's fault.
Smith: It's just what /b/ does. I believe they did something similar in LunarWars (fortunately I left before they did, when I learned they were allowed there unimpeded).
What went through your heads that Monday when the forum was due to go back online? Were you worried? Did you feel a sort of preemptive exhaustion? Were you hopeful?
The_Evil_Jester: I was ready and able to continue moderating personally.
Smith: "Just another day in Paradise..."
Vivi: I was a bit worried (both when the forums and game came back up) that we'd have the same problem.
Shiva: couldn't wait to get back to playing CN ;)
Top Cat: 'paradise'
unbiased mod: Hoping it would be just as normal, nothing more, perhaps less activity at first
Smith: I like that line. You should name this article that. :p
Shiva: registrations were still disabled, so there wasn't too much to worry about
Smith: I wasn't worried, but then I rarely am. We cleaned most things up, banned a lot of people that were obvious multis, and registrations were still down as Shiva said so there wasn't much to be concerned about.
Top Cat: I just realized, the forums must have been effectively unmanned for the past couple of hours, for all we know all hell could have broken loose.
Shiva: XD
Top Cat: To the battle stations men.
Vivi: It won't take that long to clean up...
The_Evil_Jester: Heh, that could well be true. All the forum mods are here.
unbiased mod: not my section
That's a wrap! Was there anything anyone wanted to say that they didn't get an opportunity to post?
unbiased mod: a stat (I just wanted to have it added :) -- I deleted 194 sigs.
Some members of the Moderator Team were unable to make the interview. In an effort to include all interested, we also posed several questions to the remaining team members.
In the interest of identity protection, we'll just go with what is your r/l age and occupation?
Justitia: I'm older than the average player, somewhere in my twenties.
The Mod: I am 17 years old, and a Presentation Manager for a movie theater called AMC Elmwood Palace 20.
Natty Dread: Mid-30s. I work in education.
Mod of War: Well, I'm 16 and I'm a student.
For those that have kept your player identity secret, do you ever find it difficult to keep your identities covered? Have you found yourselves having to lie?
Justitia: Nope, and nope.
The Mod: It has been difficult, but not enough to lie about.
Natty Dread: I do not lie. But I sometimes refuse to give information.
Mod of War: Well, like most mods I'm sure, I've told my Identity to my RL friends, and In Game friends I trust. It is hard to keep your ID confidential all the time, but I try. I don't lie about who I am, but sometimes I deny being a Mod. Some players who I don't know PM me on my player account, or query me on IRC and say, "Are you THE Mod of War????". I usually respond with something like "no you" or "Who's that?". They usually stop talking after that. :v:
Why or why not do you think it important to keep mod identities secret?
Justitia: Seeing the BS that mods with their identities known have to deal with, I'd rather keep it secret
The Mod: Some players can't seem to grasp the idea that we can be in an alliance and be fair/neutral. They will try and blame us for their rule breaking by saying we are biased. Our moderation team is really diverse, we've had moderators from most alliances and some from no alliances. The team is completely fair, as long as you follow the rules then we don't have to warn you for breaking them.
Natty Dread: In order to moderate fairly, I cannot allow in-game considerations to affect how I implement the rules. In the same way, I cannot be in a position where I need to be concerned about possible in-game fallout for moderator actions.
Mod of War: Well, Bias Claims is a main reason, also, people might rant like, "He's not worthy to be a Mod" and other things like that. Some Mods make themselves known who they are, and they get some feedback. If I told everyone who I was, what's the point of a Mod Identity? That's how I look at it. Some other Mods make themselves well known, and to them, it's how they want it to be. I have absolutely no problem with that. I think it's the Mod's personal opinion on whether or not his Identity is revealed.
How have Mod opinions changed over the months?
Justitia: I haven't been a mod that long.
The Mod: Some players seem to think we favor alliances, however it amazes me when we were called biased against GOONS, for GOONS, for GOLD, against Legion, and against \m/. My whole day would be busy enough without having to piss off said alliances, I don't know why these people seem to think we are biased against/for them.
Natty Dread: /b/ changed a lot, but only in the sense of galvanizing us to crackdown on abuses and try to foster a better RP environment in the relevant parts of the board.
Mod of War: Well, before I was a Mod, there were times when I felt that some decisions were made poorly, like a lot of players. Then when I became a mod, I looked at all the decisions again, and realized it was the right one. I immediately changed my views about mods. Even though the players get upset about some decisions, if you really look at it, you'll almost always see what the mod did was correct, even though you disagree with the ruling/punishment.
Is there a universal pet peeve for you all?
Justitia: Not sure about the other mods, but clear multis who claim it was their brother/sister/room mate/dog/cat/goldfish/etc. come to mind for me.
The Mod: My pet peeve is people blaming their multi on their goldfish/brother/mother/girlfriend. The rule is clear as day, nations aren't allowed on the same network. Period, no exceptions.
Natty Dread: No idea. Personally I wish people would take the tiny bit of extra effort to write in proper English. This is not a second-language thing - often those of other native tongues write very correctly. It's the txt style dialect and similar barbarisms that seem to me to detract from everybody's forum experience.
Mod of War: Well, I have a few :p Spam Bots are number one. They don't work, but they keep trying. Account Suicide. What's the point? Make the mods mad? Great. There are more, but I'll leave them to the other Mods :p |