Should mods be able to hide?

[PLAYER57832]

Here's my two cents.

Yes, we agreed to help in the forums. But we are a player first. There are 54 mods in total, Yes, but essentially only so many mods can do so much in each forum. But say we are in a speed game, and don't want to be bothered at the moment. So why can't we hide our online status, and focus on that game? We aren't all "hiding" so we don't get logged with PM's. But say we are online, you message us, we ignore it for now, and want to get to it later. I bet you that some members will think we are ignoring them or didn't get the PM, and start sending more and more to that mod. Not every moderator can lock a thread in every forum. . You are basically taking the right away from us, as a CC member, to hide our status.

Sure, it seems unfair that moderators can hide, but why should any other CC member get to, when we can't?

I agree absolutely that you should have that right.

That said, I have, a few times in the (roughly) 2 1/2 years I have been hear, encountered a few issues that really needed immediate attention. (I mean folks who were truly disrupting things... either you know or I won't give anyone ideas) It would be nice if there were at least 1 mod available pretty much "always", with a few exceptions for holidays and "odd" hours not covered by other time zones. It seems that could be worked out amongst yourselves. That one person could then "field" issues and forward things needed urgent attention to the appropriate people.

[TheForgivenOne]

Well, there are 5-6 Discussion mods, and 2 Global mods. So i'm pretty sure one of them should be online. I'm online for a good 8-10 hours a day, but i'm a Suggestions Mod, so i only have power in here. But i know if you are having troubles, just either look for posts made by a mod, or check in Live Chat, i know a few Mods make their home in there

[edwinissweet]

Anything thats so urgent that needs immediate attention probably wont be in the jurisdiction of a mod. I think its kind of funny that people think there needs to be a mod "on call"

[army of nobunaga]

Anything thats so urgent that needs immediate attention probably wont be in the jurisdiction of a mod. I think its kind of funny that people think there needs to be a mod "on call"

Why does it have to be urgent?> Who made the rule up that I should only contact a mod in an emergency. Its about customer support. I shouldnt need a frigging emergency in order to have a mod for a particular need visible and not hiding from his responsibilities.

[Night Strike]

Anything thats so urgent that needs immediate attention probably wont be in the jurisdiction of a mod. I think its kind of funny that people think there needs to be a mod "on call"

Why does it have to be urgent?> Who made the rule up that I should only contact a mod in an emergency. Its about customer support. I shouldnt need a frigging emergency in order to have a mod for a particular need visible and not hiding from his responsibilities.

Your complaint was that no one was online to answer your urgent question, but now you claim that you didn't have anything urgent/emergency, so why do you have to have someone who you know is online for just a general request? If you're patient, your PM would get answered, even if it's not immediate.

[iamkoolerthanu]

Anything that's so urgent that needs immediate attention probably wont be in the jurisdiction of a mod. I think its kind of funny that people think there needs to be a mod "on call"

Why does it have to be urgent?> Who made the rule up that I should only contact a mod in an emergency. Its about customer support. I shouldn't need a frigging emergency in order to have a mod for a particular need visible and not hiding from his responsibilities.

I don't think he is saying that you should only be able to contact a mod in an emergency. I think he is saying that most of the moderators, like me, edwin, forgivenone, etc, don't have the ability to do most of the things that you would need a mod to do right that second. If you want a thread to be moved or locked, PM a mod that is in control of that section of the forum. It will get done within a day, so there is no reason for you to need to see their online status, just so your thread can get locked a few hours faster.. It's not the end of the world if it takes a little bit longer to get dealt with.

Now, you are continuously saying that a mod hiding their online status is shirking away from their responsibilities. That is not the case at all. I hid my online status, so that players couldn't see when I last logged on. I run many tournys, but with my games and my moderating of the forums, as well as my casual posting of the forums, I do not have the time to update them every day, or send out the next round games immediately. If a player in one of my tourneys notice I've been online but not updating, their constant PM's or wall posts can get aggravating, I update them once a week on average, that is a fair enough amount of time.

But tourneys arent the only reason I hid my status. I have kept my status hidden after becoming a mod because I don't want people PMing me to do come look at a Q&A thread, or to move a thread that's been placed in the wrong spot. After reading that sentence, AoN, you are probably thinking 'He is hiding from his responsibilities', when that is not the case. I do not want PM's telling me to do my job 'faster'. Each night, I end up reading all sections of the forum that I casually post in, as well as the forums that I moderate. Why should someone PM me and tell me to do something that I am on my way to do already?

In the case that you were referring to, where you wanted your thread locked, you put '****HI Mod Lock MEeeee =D *****', on Mon May 17, 2010 11:21 pm, and posted this thread on Mon May 17, 2010 10:47 pm... So you made this thread, and then put it in the title.. And if you would have just PMed a discussion mod immediately after wanting it locked, it probably would have been locked much faster then making this thread, and you would have no reason to complain..

And in case you didn't notice, I have used the word 'hid' instead of 'hide'. This is because my online status is now visible.. Although I don't think it should be required for a mod to show their online status, I think in some rare cases it could be helpful, so I changed it.

[TheForgivenOne]

That is sort of what i said... just expanded

[army of nobunaga]

Anything thats so urgent that needs immediate attention probably wont be in the jurisdiction of a mod. I think its kind of funny that people think there needs to be a mod "on call"

Why does it have to be urgent?> Who made the rule up that I should only contact a mod in an emergency. Its about customer support. I shouldnt need a frigging emergency in order to have a mod for a particular need visible and not hiding from his responsibilities.

Your complaint was that no one was online to answer your urgent question, but now you claim that you didn't have anything urgent/emergency, so why do you have to have someone who you know is online for just a general request? If you're patient, your PM would get answered, even if it's not immediate.

There is not jsut one reason mods should be out of hiding... you are making up rules as you go.

Mods should be available
1) questions
2) complains
3) help
4) opinion on game matter
5) AND URGENT MATTERS


To me this is sensible I would be embarrassed to argue your side of this argument. This is a game where you guys took a job. That job follows those 5 points above. You should WANT to do every job to the best of your ability. How do you do that if you hide?

A mods job should be to swoop in when ever they see a wrong only. Their job should be to be here and present to assist paying (and nonpaying) customers.

You know what stay hidden... I dont care that much really. But IT DOES show a lot about your characters.

[ljex]

Anything thats so urgent that needs immediate attention probably wont be in the jurisdiction of a mod. I think its kind of funny that people think there needs to be a mod "on call"

Why does it have to be urgent?> Who made the rule up that I should only contact a mod in an emergency. Its about customer support. I shouldnt need a frigging emergency in order to have a mod for a particular need visible and not hiding from his responsibilities.

Your complaint was that no one was online to answer your urgent question, but now you claim that you didn't have anything urgent/emergency, so why do you have to have someone who you know is online for just a general request? If you're patient, your PM would get answered, even if it's not immediate.

There is not jsut one reason mods should be out of hiding... you are making up rules as you go.

Mods should be available
1) questions
2) complains
3) help
4) opinion on game matter
5) AND URGENT MATTERS


To me this is sensible I would be embarrassed to argue your side of this argument. This is a game where you guys took a job. That job follows those 5 points above. You should WANT to do every job to the best of your ability. How do you do that if you hide?

A mods job should be to swoop in when ever they see a wrong only. Their job should be to be here and present to assist paying (and nonpaying) customers.

You know what stay hidden... I dont care that much really. But IT DOES show a lot about your characters.

First of all, it is not a job...we are volunteers. This in my opinion is a huge difference.

Second we are players first and as such should not be at a disadvantage when playing games because we are moderators.

Third if you really need a thread you created locked just pm all of the discussion moderators and i assure you it will be locked as soon as one of us logs on, if one of us is not online already with a hidden status.

[army of nobunaga]

Anything thats so urgent that needs immediate attention probably wont be in the jurisdiction of a mod. I think its kind of funny that people think there needs to be a mod "on call"

Why does it have to be urgent?> Who made the rule up that I should only contact a mod in an emergency. Its about customer support. I shouldnt need a frigging emergency in order to have a mod for a particular need visible and not hiding from his responsibilities.

Your complaint was that no one was online to answer your urgent question, but now you claim that you didn't have anything urgent/emergency, so why do you have to have someone who you know is online for just a general request? If you're patient, your PM would get answered, even if it's not immediate.

There is not jsut one reason mods should be out of hiding... you are making up rules as you go.

Mods should be available
1) questions
2) complains
3) help
4) opinion on game matter
5) AND URGENT MATTERS


To me this is sensible I would be embarrassed to argue your side of this argument. This is a game where you guys took a job. That job follows those 5 points above. You should WANT to do every job to the best of your ability. How do you do that if you hide?

A mods job should be to swoop in when ever they see a wrong only. Their job should be to be here and present to assist paying (and nonpaying) customers.

You know what stay hidden... I dont care that much really. But IT DOES show a lot about your characters.

First of all, it is not a job...we are volunteers. This in my opinion is a huge difference.

Second we are players first and as such should not be at a disadvantage when playing games because we are moderators.

Third if you really need a thread you created locked just pm all of the discussion moderators and i assure you it will be locked as soon as one of us logs on, if one of us is not online already with a hidden status.

I guess different ppl. Different characters.. If I volunteer for something that is a job (you do work) I do my best.

on your third point please read my post. there are literally dozens of reasons mods should be available.

an your second point.. sorry.. no one said being a mod was all sunshine and kisses.

[army of nobunaga]

Where do you people draw the line? I mean are there any rules?

What happens when a mod gets tired of the pms and says "I think Im obly going to Mod on thursdays from 2pm-10. I guess thats ok with you guys.

Taking on a job then half assing it at your leisure.

[ljex]

This is ridiculous only one thing mentioned is even close to needing immediate attention, a belligerent user wreaking havoc with posts, and that is something that the vast majority of moderators have no ability to deal with.

Mods should be available
1) questions - do you really think that you need immediate assistance with these? If so then post in Q&A and someone will answer your question in a timely manner
2) complains - We have a forum topic dedicated as a place for people to raise complaints, a report a post and a report a pm function so do you really need a mod to be online to do this?
3) help - there are plenty of places to seek help already. Also since this topic has been created there has not been a single time i have logged on when there have not been at least 2 other moderators without hidden status so this shouldn't be a major issue. Also if you are in need of assistance with locking a topic for example how hard is it to pm all of the people who have that authority saying please lock this topic. Like has been stated by many of the mods this would not be a bother and seems like a workable agreement to me in order for us to still have the ability to hide our online statuses.
4) opinion on game matter - how would this ever need immediate mod assistance?
5) AND URGENT MATTERS - Please provide examples or this just goes to show that even you cant thing of things urgent enough that me being online and hidden would cause some huge problem for this site...

Lastly i think your poll provides proof that the community believes that mods should have the ability to hide their online status. (I didn't vote either)

[army of nobunaga]

This is ridiculous only one thing mentioned is even close to needing immediate attention, a belligerent user wreaking havoc with posts, and that is something that the vast majority of moderators have no ability to deal with.

Mods should be available
1) questions - do you really think that you need immediate assistance with these? If so then post in Q&A and someone will answer your question in a timely manner
2) complains - We have a forum topic dedicated as a place for people to raise complaints, a report a post and a report a pm function so do you really need a mod to be online to do this?
3) help - there are plenty of places to seek help already. Also since this topic has been created there has not been a single time i have logged on when there have not been at least 2 other moderators without hidden status so this shouldn't be a major issue. Also if you are in need of assistance with locking a topic for example how hard is it to pm all of the people who have that authority saying please lock this topic. Like has been stated by many of the mods this would not be a bother and seems like a workable agreement to me in order for us to still have the ability to hide our online statuses.
4) opinion on game matter - how would this ever need immediate mod assistance?
5) AND URGENT MATTERS - Please provide examples or this just goes to show that even you cant thing of things urgent enough that me being online and hidden would cause some huge problem for this site...

Lastly i think your poll provides proof that the community believes that mods should have the ability to hide their online status. (I didn't vote either)

And I think that if 30-60 % of paying users think the mods are shirking their duty... well it doesnt matter who wins the poll

have a fun day hiding ljex. today is market day for, mine will be fun. I leave you to your forum. Hide well, wouldnt want a cook that has a question on game play to find you.

[edwinissweet]

Army thank you for your suggestion, it will get passed along.

If im not mistaken, evey single mod is premium, thus a paying member. As a paying member, some of us applied for a volunteer job. As in not mandatory. It is up to the admin to decide whether we are fulfulling our job properly or not.

Anything that is so urgent that needs immediate attention that simply cannot wait, is probably something that a mod has no jurisdiction over. If you have an issue with the way a particular mod is doing his job, then take it up with an admin.

Being readily availible at the snap of finger in something none of us signed up for.