I'm not being entirely critical of gaf moderation. It's not all that bad, and they do have goof ups.
OK, real talk.
No, it's
that bad. I've been a mod there. I've seen
the inner workings. It's much worse than it was before. There's four major problems:
1. The TOS/posting guidelines. How many times have you seen someone get banned for posting a meme or stupid image or whatever? Most of the time it's because said meme was deemed a bannable offense. The problem is that this was stated in some other thread and not posted anywhere else. Any time they decide to ban stuff (I.E. "no fun allowed"), this should be posted somewhere that is clearly visible and laid out for all to see.
2. Criticism. I can understand this one, actually. If you have a problem with moderation, take it to a PM. But banning people for speaking their mind on something, in a post lacking anything malicious, is ridiculous. At least give a clear warning first. And if you do that, then ignore the user's PM, nothing changes.
3. Disconnect between the mods. I see too many bans handed out because a mod takes it personally. Stop it. People shouldn't be banned for posting something that you simply don't like. Bans should be done for clear problem posts/posters, thread-disrupting trolls, abuse, spam, etc.
4. Being a mod on NeoGAF is a status-symbol. It shouldn't be and this needs to stop. If anything, they should just make the moderators' statuses hidden and if something needs to be posted, use the modbot acount.
I've spent entirely too much fucking time on message boards. I've been on GAF since like 2000-2001. If anything, as I've gotten older, what sticks out the most is how ridiculous all the little rules and strict posting policies are
on a message board for *video games*.
Put the fun back into the forum. It's gone.
