Please understand guys that moderating the forum is something that myself and the other moderators do out of love for the forum. We are not compensated and we all have full time jobs, lives, families, etc. In many of these situations we are just doing our best to maintain civility in the forum and we do not have time to read through “insert forum member” last 50 posts to see when they said something a week ago that insulted you. The report function is there for a reason and we will continue to do our best to address situations as they arise.
Don't think for a second that I am unappreciative of the fact that you're doing this – whatever
this is – on a voluntarily basis. That, however, is not a cop-out. If you have moderators on a site, moderators should be moderating.
A quick recap;
CC got his warning – I was astonished that was all it was, but there wasn't anything more that I could do or ask for.
He then restarts trouble and pulls the desparate and inlogical victim card because of my using of the phrase ”sucking dick” (post 3,747), and only after that do I begin getting personal, calling him stupid – because he's very clearly stupid, and he has at this point attacked me six or seven times. Calling someone stupid and it being punishable has never been a thing before on my 10 years on FIF, and it happens a hundred times a year on this website – you've even got moderators on your team who has (right or wrong) called out other users for being stupid or having stupid opinions. This time, for some reason, that was over the line, and I receive a half-assed, standardized and automated warning that stated that I could be at fault for any of four things, including baiting and trolling. This is right after the literal post where CC begins his baiting and trolling equating using the phrase ”sucking dick” to posting phedofilic content.
When I asked what I was being warned for, a mod told me that he was on vacation and that the matter would be looked into. ”The matter would be looked into” apparently then consisted of you, jumping in this thread with all the wherewithall and elegance of an elephant in a porcelaine shop in post #3751, shrugged your shoulders and asked what all the bother was about. This when the bother was clear as day and had been more than well-documented – in reports and posts themselves.
You proceed to call the trifle 'pointless', which can only stem from the moderator team having no clue at what is happening – the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. Imagine a scenario where he calls you less intelligent because of the color of your skin or your ethnicity – you'd be (rightly) fuming, and I have a hard time imagining a scenario where he isn't permabanned quicker than you can even spell racism. However, geniune bigotry aimed at me isn't a big enough deal to warrant much of anything, apparently.
And this is from a user who has a rich history of getting into fights with other users. Maybe there's a common demoninator here that could've been used to put two and two together, but apparently not.
In many of these situations we are just doing our best to maintain civility in the forum and we do not have time to read through “insert forum member” last 50 posts to see when they said something a week ago that insulted you.
If 'civility' – as in an user being direct in their language with other users – and peacekeeping being more important than, say, solving the problems at hand, then you have to ask yourself how big the importance of even having a moderation team is. You might as well just install a bot that finds and corrects swear words, if that's the sole reason for the existence of the moderation team. It works doubly as well if you're not bothered with trying to differentiate between bigotry and calling someone stupid.
Also this wasn't about '50 posts'. This was 'only' during 7 or 8 posts where my character, language and nationality was unprovokingly attacked out of the blue because he disagreed with my position on Christian Eriksen (who he then proceeded to mock, by the way). Now, I don't particularly care about that or take those sorts of things to heart, but when blatant racism is regurgitated again and again from a bumbling idiot, that seems like a problem that shouldn't be ignored. If a moderation team consisting of more than a handful of people (correct me if I'm wrong, but the point stands anyway) can't handle reading that and doing something about it because of time constraints or what have you, then something isn't as it should be. That kind of toxicity will permate – and it has.
Nobody is perfect, myself included, however at a certain point consistent arguing is just a detriment to the forum.
'Detriment'?! Where else should this be taken, then? We're literally in the 'Bannings and Suspensions' thread, and giving me a reason or some sort of coherent answer in private messages apparently wasn't worth the moderation team's time. Why do you think I deleted my posts after I reported him or had instigations with him? – so people didn't have to look at this stupid quarrel in a ('a' is in
literally one) thread that had nothing to do with it.
Also, thatdude, I'm not trying to label you personally responsible, just so you know. But I don't know what other way or where else to direct this.
Anyway, that is it for me. Do with it what you want.
Logging off and staying logged off. This place has become too disheartening, but that's a wholly different discussion.