Force the administration to take responsibility for their actions

This is my official suggestion for the head administrator of www.guildwarsguru.com to add a clause to the RoC that states the following, or some version of the following:

"Any post deletion by a mod, or administrator, will need to have an explanation of the reason for the deletion, a posted warning, or the broken rule posted on top of the post in question or added to the thread."

I know no person is perfect, and I know time is limited. And I know that mozilla firefox has a function called tabbed browsing that allows a user to open multiple "tabs", each of which being an internet browser. This program does not open up a new process for your computer, so slower/older computers can use this as well as newer computers. An example of this new rule being used would be a mod, opening and modding guildwarsguru in one tab, and have the RoC in another tab. If they decide a post warrants deletion, the only task they have is to find the broken rule on the RoC, copy the rule to the clipboard, change tabs back to the thread in question, and paste the rule onto a new post or on top of the post in question.

I know using firefox will not entirely fix the time issue, but it will help tremendously. As an example, a moderator in the previous thread i posted this idea in, said that "moderators volunteer their time to help mod the forums", and proceeded to reply 3 or 4 times (not as a moderator deleting posts) to off topic posts other users have made.

Is this to hard to ask? I seriously doubt it. If it is, I think more thought should go into deciding who mods are. It has been previously said that mods are volunteering their time to help mod the forums, and to me that says they are doing this because they feel like they can do it, and do it well. Post deletion without warrant or apparent cause is not good moderation. It leaves the poster confused, aggravated, and ignorant as to what they did wrong.

I have had posts deleted before with no explanation, reason, PM, or even a post on top of, or added to the deleted thread/post. So I know firsthand what its like.

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Another suggestion I think would be prudent to add would be a written set of rules that Moderators have to follow. I've been a member of many different forums, and even modded some, and know for a fact that mods, if left unchecked, can develope quite an ego. Yes it sounds stupid, and yes it happens. Which is why I feel it is necessary to add a set of rules for everyone to read, that way, if there are mods that are abusing their powers, they can be taken out of power and replaced very quickly.


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The reason I am posting these suggestions is not to be vindictive, point fingers, or call names. But to try and improve the forums. I enjoy coming here and auctioning off items, discussing builds, offering suggestions to NCsoft and Anet. And i enjoy it because it is a well run site with few problems. These suggestions are just to make guildwarsguru that much more closer to perfect as it can possibly be.

Unfortunately, PM'ing all individuals who have had a post edited/deleted is not practical. Collectively, we delete a massive amount of posts per day; for sake of efficiency, we generally only contact individuals if their actions deserve a warning. Does this mean we never contact individuals when we delete their posts? Not exactly, many of us do if time permits. I understand some of the frustration that may occur when one's post is deleted and the reason is unknown to them. All I can say is that we are working on the overall structure of the forums, including adding new mods, hopefully in time this issue will improve.

As for moderator rules. Moderators follow precedent, I won't go in any other detail, as such discussion is to remain with mods/admins.

Thanks for the suggestions, we like receiving feedback and we seriously consider changes.

Commonly, I don't take issue with the closure of threads by virtue of the fact that when their time comes, their time comes, and most of the time it's for a reason that can be easily established by looking at the thread (sometimes mods close the topic with the reason as the last post. This is fine with me.). However, the idea posed does make sense to me, so, coming from another board with similiar rules (GFAQs), I'd maybe propose something similar and less time-consuming, if it can be implemented with relative ease:

In closing threads, perhaps a menu can be added for the moderator to choose from a list of generalized guidelines, before choosing the close option. The reason would then be added as an automatic last-post as the thread is closed (maybe in the same area where we users can put in a reason for editing our posts). It's hard to explain... maybe an example would help:

Say a forum thread is a duplicate of an existing thread. The moderator chooses to take action on it, so he or she is redirected to a moderation page, with the guidelines listed separately in bullet-tab form (not sure what the exact term is, but it's a list where if you click on one, the bubble is darkened and the rest of the bubbles are erased). The moderator clicks on the bubble that most closely fits the reason for closure (in this case, duplicate thread) and pressed a "Close thread" button. An automatic post is made from pressing the button, and contains the reason, while the topic is closed in one fell swoop.

I don't know what kind of technical prowess would be required for such an implementation, but it works fairly well on GFAQs