Mass Dispatch 2.0. The Latest Happenings on The Forums

[Howard Mass]

In this edition Of Mass Dispatch, The Mass Matter is helping to clarify those pesky borderline violations on our General NBA Board and I provide a guide to help avoid General NBA Board strikes.

Ask Howard takes some questions about Moderators including our review process, General NBA Board Consistency and if a user who has been suspended could one day become a Moderator and consistency.

In an Ask Howard followup, I announce my decision for the first time right on a user's appeal of their Board Ban on our General Off-Topic Boatd

We then have our User, Thread and Moderator of the week followed by some inside information that might give a new out look to users with previous violations and suspensions when I take you Inside The Administrator's office.

Let's get right to The Mass Matter

The Mass Matter: Borderline Violations on our General NBA Board

As stated in the debut edition of Mass Dispatch, I get more complaints about this than anything else.

The General NBA Board is unlike no other and before the new policy was put in place almost two years ago, The Forum had more violations than all of the other ones put together. That does include our huge forums like our Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls Forums.

In order to cut back on this, we put in place a strict policy that was specifically geared towards stopping repeat offenders and promoting good constructive discussion on the forum.

The strict policy does make things tight though in these specific areas.

There was one interesting question from user amcoolio that I'd like to answer about why the following is a violation

"I know you didn't watch the Bobcats or the NBA for that matter before the playoffs" to a Miami poster on the GB Mia-Cha playoff series thread?

The reason why this is a violation is the user is attacking another by directly saying the “I know you didn't watch” phrase.

That's the whole violation here. You simply do not attack users in any way as it could start a flame war and those could be especially toxic even if there were only two fanbases on the forum.


Instead of breaking down violations bit by bit, allow me to give everyone a simple guide towards not getting violations on our General NBA Board.

DO NOT

-Call out Moderators (For violation or locking thread)
-Direct attacks towards users or fanbases
-Make Unnecessary posts (IBTL, Your getting banned, get out of here, troll, etc.
-Post Unnecessary GIFS that are meant to be jokes and thus derail discussion on the thread

If users followed these rules and read our General NBA Board Policy


viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1201431

violations would be cut back significantly and that is something I would like to see.

I hope everyone continues to send in questions so we can accomplish this.

For users who already have a strike, hope to regain posting access (Strike Two) or even a full General NBA Board Ban.......

Next week's Mass Matter will be the art of the appeal.

I am going to lay out what users need to do to successfully appeal strike one, two and three.

I'll be describing some successful appeals and actually show you some bad ones that were dead on arrival.

And I will be announcing the Summer Strike Amnesty period.

This will continue to be a work in progress but with each issue, I hope to have a cleaner General NBA Board and to guide users who are willing to reform towards losing a strike (s).



ASK HOWARD

Have a question about RealGM, The Forums, An Issue you would like me to address publicly or something in general, just post it in the Ask Howard Thread of The Mass Dispatch Forum or you could send me a PM and I just might answer it in my next column

Here are this week's questions

truth18 asks: Is there an internal process to review moderators regularly? If there is, why is this not well known amongst the community? I have seen many people ask this question only to be ignored. By regularly, I mean more frequently than once or twice a year.

I have moderated several high profile video game forums and they all had a system in place to regularly review moderator's performance, it was very helpful in terms of weeding out the more lazy/corrupt/incompetent administrators.

Howard's Response: Yes, I do have my own process.

I do the following at least every two months.

Look to see if anyone's activity has fallen off.
Check The Moderator Logs to see everyone's Moderator actions

There are times when a Moderator no longer has the time to moderate and sometimes they even disappear. If they do this, I either put them On Leave or retire them until their status can be determined.

I do have agreements with a few select longtime Moderators to me on staff without being as active as Moderators normally are.

If there is a complaint about a Moderator, I review it and at the very least follow up with the user.

A lot of complaints that I do receive are from disgruntled users who are just mad that they got disciplined for breaking the rules but there are times when a mistake is made.

Most times the user and Moderator settle disputes on their own but they are again rare.

The screening process that I use for Moderators is designed to weed out people who would commit misconduct and have not had to let someone go for quite a few years because of this.

I could not be happier with The Moderator Team though. They are a bunch of great guys and gals who love keeping and making this forum a better place.

Please let me know if I answered this and if you want me to follow up, I will do so next week.

AI Asks: What can be done to ensure a level of consistency by the GB moderators on what constitutes baiting? On the GB, many times I have seen obvious, hardcore baiting simply being ignored, while other times I have seen severe action taken on users who were likely in the grey area of baiting. 

I don't know, perhaps it is simply a confirmation bias thing? I understand the baiting rule is likely one of the hardest to uphold by the moderators, I just don't see it being enforced in an egalitarian approach.

I hope this post does not upset any of the GB moderators, either. With a website as popular as RealGM, moderating is really like a second job that does not pay - many people seem to forget this. The majority of you all do an excellent job keeping the GB clutter free and worth reading, which I along with many other posters greatly appreciate.

Howard's Response: Moderators are human beings, they do miss some things. It's true that they do not get everything.

The first thing that can be done though is simply hit the ! Button on the top right of the post and The Moderators will review it and determine if it merits a strike.

I've been doing this for over a decade and every case is different. Myself and The General NBA Board Moderators will always be trying to improve but no matter what we do and how we try, things will never be perfect.

After all, were all just human.

I do appreciate your kind words at the end btw.


ReturnofMVP3 Asks: Can someone who had a past history of infractions but has spent years since free, ever become a moderator?

Howard's Response: YES!

And I will be revealing more on that in “Inside The Administrator's Office” including some information that will surprise everyone.

NCHEELS2008 Asks: Howard I've seen some long back and forths between posters of certain teams and mods. I understand it is up to users generally to appeal and fight to get back on the GB once they are kicked out. But as a 9 year veteran of RealGM it's disappointing to see the Pistons and Hornets underrepresented. Their boards are lively, but no more homerific than what I've seen on some other boards. I would love to see a creative solution so that their perspective will return to the GB.

Howard's Response: The General NBA Board does invite discussion about all players and the 30 NBA Teams.

My feeling is your asking why there are not any Detroit Pistons or Charlotte Hornets Moderators on our General NBA Board.

In the past, Cowology has been a General NBA Board Moderator but the thing is, many Moderators prefer to just Moderate their team forums as The General Nba Board is a bigger commitment that they do not have the time for.

Here's what I'll do though.

If a Team Forum has an issue about The General NBA Board, feel free to let me know and I'll drop by the thread created on that forum.

Please let me know if I answered your question and if not, I'll follow up next week.


General Off-Topic Board Ban Appeal Ruling


It's time to add a little drama to Mass Dispatch.

Two weeks ago, The General Off Topic Forum started a movement to bring back a user who had been Board-Banned.

While I try to keep these matters private, the user who had been Board Banned from our General Off-Topic Board was Adrian_05.

In last week's addition, Earl asked the questioned about this and pointed to the thread made by ReturnofMVP (You both get credit) and I answered it and suggested the user appeal.

Adrian_05 appealed soon afterwards and a decision has been reached.....................


Adrian_05's General Off-Topic Board Ban Appeal has been...............................








APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Adrian_05 will be allowed back on the General Off-Topic Board starting tomorrow at midnight. This is the first time he is reading this unless someone sent him a PM.

Congratulations to Adrian_05 and our General Off-Topic Board.



Weekly RealGM Forums Awards

It's time for the Weekly Forum Awards.

If you know of a User, Post, or Thread that deserves to be recognized, please either send me a PM or make a post on The Mass Dispatch Forum.

Your nominee might just receive an Award.


RealGM User of the Week

DefenseWins

memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=126981


The story of The NBA these past couple of days has been LeBron James and The Big Three in Miami along with Carmelo Anthony.

Other dominoes will not fall until these situations are clarified.

The situation in Miami is the real discussion though as it could have the biggest impact on The NBA.

We have a HUGE Miami Heat offseason thread that keeps growing and I wanted to highlight the most active poster in the thread.

Defensewins has a clean record (No comments on file) in his three-plus years here at RealGM and many constructive posts especially in that huge offseason thread. They are very locked in to the situation about keeping The Big Three together and along with other users have made the thread a great read.

Congratulations Defensewins!



RealGM Thread of the Week

The Multiple 2014 Miami Heat Offseason Threads


Our Miami Heat Users have an offseason thread that has gotten so large it has had 5 different threads and thousands of posts in less than a week in addition to the first two legs of the thread.

Here are the latest 5.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1332241

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1332740

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1333006

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1333206

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1333403


They offer a great perspective on what it is like to be a Miami Heat Fan at this time.

While The Miami Heat have been the envy of the league and there have been a lot of bandwagon jumpers, our Miami Heat fans are all true diehard fans and will be no matter what happens although I do believe LeBron James is going back to Cleveland as they will have a strong young team around him.

If anyone dares to troll their forum under any circumstance and that includes, The Big 3 staying, LeBron James Staying or even if they somehow (unlikely) add Carmelo Anthony to the mix, you will not only receive an automatic individual Board Ban from our Miami Heat Forum for at least one year but a seven-day suspension to go with it.

It's going to be a fun next couple of days and if you want a roller coaster and some great discussion, this is a great thread to follow.

Congratulations to our Miami Heat Forum.


RealGM Moderator of the Week

Global Moderator tsherkin

tsherkin always does a wonderful job of patrolling the forums as a Global Moderator but users do not get to see what a great guy he is behind the scenes.

This past week, he did help me out by answering some user questions in the Mass Dispatch thread but what you do not see is the advocate tsherkin is for users.

He has fought for users and advocated to The General NBA Board Moderator Appeals Committee for users who he feels should have had their Read-Only Access Status overturned.

A user recently got an earlier appeal date all because of tsherkin's efforts who fought me tooth and nail on it before I agreed.

Many unfairly criticize tsherkin for enforcing policies but all he is doing is enforcing rules that were put in place by myself so this forum could be a better place for users.

The guy loves a great discussion and making these forums a better place for everyone. He is also always up for a great basketball discussion that could make many people question all that they know.

Congratulations tsherkin!



Inside The Administrator's Office

Many users desire to become a RealGM Moderator but think just because they previously got a violation they never will.

This is NOT TRUE.

And it actually has already happened.

Some users who have gone on to become Moderators had warnings for a signature violations and even had a regular violation along the way.

You know what, it doesn't end there.

One retired Moderator and one current Moderator once were SUSPENDED users and I am not just talking about those 30 minute, 1 hour and 12 hour suspensions that Moderators sometimes give out.

Now-Retired Lakers Moderator Semi-Sentient was a troubled user who attacked and insulted users. In addition to warnings, he was SUSPENDED three days.

However, the next few years, the comments in his file turned from negative to positive ones from Moderators.

The positive ones really began racking up and a few years after that suspension, several Moderators urged me to consider him for a future Moderator Vacancy.

After a while, I decided to give him a shot by taking him through the Moderator Process and he not ended up being selected but was a good Moderator before retiring after a few years.

One current Moderator was previously suspended as well.

RealGM Toronto Raptors Moderator DG88 had quite a few warnings for Spamming, Personal Attacks and even a seven-day suspension for inappropriate comments back in 2010.

After the suspension, he reformed and a little over two years later he became a Moderator and to this day, does an outstanding job on our Toronto Raptors Forum.

Finally, we have the case of RealGM Utah Jazz Moderator FJS who recently told me that back in the early days (early last decade) that he had an account banned before starting his FJS one.

Then again, it should not be surprising. After all, while I was a good user on forums in the late 90's before RealGM got started, I once trolled the Rivals.com Montreal Expos Forum claiming to be Owner Jeffrey Loria.

I said that I'm moving The Expos but if fans come to the stadium, I'll make some moves at the trading Deadline to make one final run at the Pennant. The Moderators called me out as some kid from Orlando via the IP trace and I even screwed up the spelling of Loria's name and then claimed to be his assistant to try and cover my tracks.

I was a terrible troll and not in the bad way.

It shows that anyone can reform.


Final Thoughts

I want to thank everyone for the great response to the debut edition of Mass Dispatch.

If anyone has a question, feedback, feel a user, thread or Moderator should be recognized or something they would like to see in Mass Dispatch, please post it on The Mass Dispatch Forum or send me a PM. You could even send me a note on Twitter @homassrealgm

Thanks to everyone for continuing to make the RealGM Forums the best forums on the internet.

[RIPskaterdude]

So you're saying I have a chance?!

[tsherkin]

So you're saying I have a chance?!

Even you, dude

[Damas]

So how long a user is on read only access is on the discretion of the committee correct? Is there a general estimated time the user has to wait or do they view his/her posts and then decide if they are ready for the General Board?

[kyphi]

I have never had "trouble" with tsherkin although I've seen him drop the hammer on some. Clone him, Basti, and No_KG and you've the modding squad the GB needs.

Spoiler:

Hey, what do you mean by that?
See, she's picking on us!
Are you saying the other green fonters don't do their jobs?

[Howard Mass]

So how long a user is on read only access is on the discretion of the committee correct? Is there a general estimated time the user has to wait or do they view his/her posts and then decide if they are ready for the General Board?

darkdrone,

Please post this in the Ask Howard thread and I'll answer it in next week's edition.

Thanks!

[jumpmanjay]

Weekly RealGM Forums Awards

RealGM Thread of the Week

The Multiple 2014 Miami Heat Offseason Threads


Our Miami Heat Users have an offseason thread that has gotten so large it has had 5 different threads and thousands of posts in less than a week in addition to the first two legs of the thread.

You haven't been around the Bulls/Melo threads, have you? Some of them have been pretty epic.

[tsherkin]

Weekly RealGM Forums Awards

RealGM Thread of the Week

The Multiple 2014 Miami Heat Offseason Threads


Our Miami Heat Users have an offseason thread that has gotten so large it has had 5 different threads and thousands of posts in less than a week in addition to the first two legs of the thread.

You haven't been around the Bulls/Melo threads, have you? Some of them have been pretty epic.

Users are free and encouraged to nominate threads!

[Howard Mass]

Weekly RealGM Forums Awards

RealGM Thread of the Week

The Multiple 2014 Miami Heat Offseason Threads


Our Miami Heat Users have an offseason thread that has gotten so large it has had 5 different threads and thousands of posts in less than a week in addition to the first two legs of the thread.

You haven't been around the Bulls/Melo threads, have you? Some of them have been pretty epic.

jumpmanjay,

I have looked around but wanted to highlight The Miami Heat threads as they were of the most interest.

I'd love it if more users would point out good threads, posts and users though. Not many did last week.

[alucryts]

Oh general board moderating brought back some memories. On the topic of why some baiting gets caught and others do not on the GB, it is true that we didn't read every post in every thread (positive its still true today). Like Mr Mass said, the only way to guarantee a moderator to see a post is to report it.

We should really take a look at tsherkin thought, any mod without a capital letter cannot be trusted.

[tsherkin]

So how long a user is on read only access is on the discretion of the committee correct? Is there a general estimated time the user has to wait or do they view his/her posts and then decide if they are ready for the General Board?

The whole point of the committee is to evaluate the prospect of permitting a user to return to the GB, yes. Howard has final say on all things, but the committee votes and that usually is the deciding factor. There isn't one variable that goes into deciding on a given poster, though, nor a standard template or anything. It depends on a pile of information and judgements, for example the nature of their offenses, time passed since the initial ban, quality of appeal... Howard will go over this stuff later, but it's not as simple as just voting yay or nay much of the time. There are plenty of times where we go "not now, but if he appeals again, then probably yes," you know what I mean? Give a poster some time away from the board, a chance to prove himself on the rest of the RealGM forums, and then offer that second chance.

[irie]

Howard Mass, a former troll turned forum admin. A very inspiring story

These are interesting. Thanks for putting these together.

[tsherkin]

We should really take a look at tsherkin thought, any mod without a capital letter cannot be trusted.

I "removed" the last person who had issue with the absence of capitalization in my name, alu. You should be familiar with the style, being all Chicago-like.

It had a positively Sinatran vibe.

[Heat3]

Heat posters, Heat threads, Heat forum sweeping all the awards.

We have our own big 3 on the realgm forums!!!

[pbj]

To be fair, DG88 is still spamming the Raptors forum but no one has the cojones to report him

[ReturnofMVP3]

A few things.

1. defensewins, you rock. Glad to see you be the poster of the week.
2. Heat board may be on suicide watch right now for some users, but man has it been active. Glad to see we won.
3. Nice to see people like me have a shot at becoming moderators, nice perspective using other people as examples.
4. Howard answered two of my questions in both additions
5. Adrian is back, nice

[spearsy23]

I'd like to nominate Bondom as the next mod of the week. While he doesn't really have much to do moderating wise the traffic of the OKC FORUM (which is still woefully underrepresented unfortunately) seems to have increased exponentially since he took that position. Not that long ago it seemed like there'd be one active thread that saw a post maybe once per day. Now there's at least enough of is there to have legitimate conversations. A lot of it is due to his posting and the friendly vibe.

[tsherkin]

I second that nomination, actually, having supported him being the OKC mod in the first place.

[bondom34]

[quote="spearsy23"]I'd like to nominate Bondom as the next mod of the week. While he doesn't really have much to do moderating wise the traffic of the OKC FORUM (which is still woefully underrepresented unfortunately) seems to have increased exponentially since he took that position. Not that long ago it seemed like there'd be one active thread that saw a post maybe once per day. Now there's at least enough of is there to have legitimate conversations. A lot of it is due to his posting and the friendly vibe.[/quote]

[quote="tsherkin"]I second that nomination, actually, having supported him being the OKC mod in the first place. :D[/quote]

I like these 2 :lol:

Edit:
I'm also shocked Howard was a troll, and hilariously impersonated Luria.

[Maroko]

Congrats to my heat brothers for the Heat Offseason thread

DefenseWins is a great member of our community, i am proud of him