Why was this thread closed?

[SkullDeformity]

Accountability , what exactly do you or I do that entitles us to hold them accountable? You pay their wages? I know I don't.

First of all, nobody gets paid here. Second, as a user of this board they are accountable to everyone in at least a small way. Moderators are not gods, you don't have to obey them without question. Moderators are here to make OUR community a civil and organized place to post. They are accountable to us the same way police officers are accountable to us.

 

[El Orans]

Really? I mean, does that actually happen on a regular basis, or only when someone complains that their OP is being rerouted?

It depends.

It seems a very difficult task, at least in that case. I mean, on the one hand, you asked about Cancun, but, on the other hand, it might be in your best interest to know that Belize might be better. Right? Sort of subjective, but, good info nonetheless.

Sure, but you wouldn't go looking for Belize info in the Mexico forum.

How do mod's make the distinction about what is off-topic and irrelevant, and what is off-topic and useful?

Each Moderator will use his/her common sense/experience.

Are there guidelines, or is it up to the OP, or is it just up to the mood and mod that looks at a thread?

The OP can request Moderator assistance.

 

[El Orans]

First of all, nobody gets paid here. Second, as a user of this board they are accountable to everyone in at least a small way. Moderators are not gods, you don't have to obey them without question. Moderators are here to make OUR community a civil and organized place to post.

Have you read the Modiquette?

They are accountable to us the same way police officers are accountable to us.

Not quite.

Should you feel that you are being unfairly targeted or judged by a Moderator or Advisor, please contact NetDoc directly at abuse@scubaboard.com. We expect all staff to act as fairly and equitably as possible.

 

[almitywife]

First of all, nobody gets paid here. Second, as a user of this board they are accountable to everyone in at least a small way. Moderators are not gods,........

theyre not!!!

does that mean El lied when he said next February i must address him as "hail El, God of the Keyboard and my master of threads"

....... They are accountable to us the same way police officers are accountable to us.

well i dont agree with this.... at the end of the day its NetDocs board and he and those he entrusts with his property can do as they like

but - they allow us to question their actions

 

[Walter]

Accountability , what exactly do you or I do that entitles us to hold them accountable? You pay their wages? I know I don't.

Well World?

 

[SkullDeformity]

The users are scubaboard, and while someone up top does hold the money for servers, what would scubaboard be without the users?

 

[Kim]

The users are scubaboard, and while someone up top does hold the money for servers, what would scubaboard be without the users?

It's a business.

Users provide content and create a target audience that advertisers pay good money to get at. In return they get the playground and information resource that is the board. The decision making and any profit goes to the owner - it's his business and it's run as he sees fit. Consequently how it's run, and the consequences of that, are purely the responsibility of the owner. The users own nothing.

You might just as well ask "what would a shop be without customers?" - the answer is obvious but the relationship is symbiotic - both need each other. I somehow doubt though that anyone would try to tell Walmart how to organize their shops and expect to be taken seriously.

The only real difference is that most of the staff here work for free. That's actually a neat angle if you think about it!

 

[The Chairman]

this thread:

http://scubaboard.com/showthread.php?p=2814292#post2814292

was unilaterally closed by staff for no apparent reason, other than the staff member in question appears to think the discussion is over (not sure how he can determine that)

My apologies Andy. The thread in question seems to have been reopened and it probably should never have been closed. Yes, sometimes we close threads that need to be cleaned up or discussed, but that does not appear to be the case here.

a couple of suggestions:

1. when a thread does not violate TOS, leave it alone, Staff

2. when there are feelings that Staff is censoring people's points of view, it doesn't help any to close a thread just because...

These are great suggestions Andy, and I have to agree with you completely. In fact, I have just asked the staff to do just this.

can't we just re-open the thread and let it run its course? why this mad rush to close it???

As I pointed out, this has happened already. Good call on your part.

Perhaps it would help if I better explained my philosophy for running ScubaBoard. I hope I don't bore anyone with this, and I am sure that some will still try to portray me as some evil villain trying to grab all the money and power that I can. Most anyone who has met me will vouch that I do anything but this.

I own the domain name. It's as simple as that. I do, and I freely admit it without any guilt or equivocation.

YOU own the community. I don't, and I never have and I never will. I might be the steward of our community, but I certainly don't own it.

ScubaBoard provides a unique and an invaluable service to the diving community. No where else can you find the depth and breadth of knowledge. No where else can you find unvarnished gear reviews by the schlepps who pay for and then dive the gear. No where else can you ask a manufacturer, a dive shop or a resort a probing question and expect them to answer you publicly. No where.

But ScubaBoard takes a LOT OF RESOURCES AND TIME to run. Not being independently wealthy, I have to sell advertisement to pay the bills and to support my habit of supporting the users of our community. Heck, I pay twice my mortgage in server costs alone. To be sure, those who go Red have saved my butt more than once when things have really gotten tight. I am embarrassed to discuss how deep in the hole I went during last year's server crisis.

So I have evolved a system that embraces both the Service aspect and the Commercial aspect of ScubaBoard. I keep them as separate as possible. I only allow VOLUNTEERS to act as moderators. That's right, they have NO FINANCIAL ties to ScubaBoard and I never ask them to consider any financial consequences their decisions may incur. If you don't believe me, just ASK any mod. We had one mod who was selling advertising and I saw that as a conflict of interest. She had to become a sales rep. Or go ahead and ask Kim just how many times I asked him to consider our economic viability when he was a moderator. I never did because it just wasn't appropriate.

You see, ScubaBoard started out as a passion for me. While I was certified by an instructor, I really learned how to dive RIGHT HERE. I also met some life long friends and even a few fellow conspirators right here on ScubaBoard. ScubaBoard is STILL a passion for me. Has anyone ever seen me NOT wearing a ScubaBoard shirt? Even my auto tag reads "NetDoc". I spend hours behind the scenes driving a ton of miles to make sure that WE stay up. While I did not invent ScubaBoard, many attribute me with having saved it from a certain doom.

You probably don't see that, but my mods, advisors and sales reps do! You know what's really cool? They have the passion TOO! So when they perceive an attack or someone vilifying our community, don't be surprised if in their zeal they over react from time to time. It's the price of passion! It's most definitely NOT a power trip. Can we fix it when they do this? Of course. Do they do this often? Not at all.

So, when you see someone assigning negative motives to my mods, my advisors or even me, step back and take a look. Does what they say really match how we act on this forum? Probably not. Do they make some good points? Quite often, but usually the ones making the best points aren't the ones trying to portray us as Simon leGreed. I saw one person mention that she has not been moderated as much recently. Some suggested that this was due to a change in her behavior. Me? I think it's a result of a recent shake up in our team. I had to make some HARD decisions and I unfortunately hurt some feelings. I didn't want to, but YOU the community had to come first. That's the commitment that I have made as the steward of ScubaBoard. The community comes first! The dog wags the tail and NOT the other way around.

 

[Cacia]

Heck, I pay twice my mortgage in server costs alone.

....holy cow.

yea, I can see this.

Anytime somebody is working for free, unless they are a real vindictive mess...I say thanks. It's a lot more fun to be on the board playing around than organizing and watchdogging.

Nobody is ever going to agree with everything..

I don't mean to be preachy, but it's easy to get in to the "malcontent" mode, where criticism becomes the sport. And it only hurts us, really, cause it's contagious.

I really admire the mods that stuck around and stayed friends with all of us, after the re-arrangement. Showed a lot of class....Kim, Andy, all those folks are pretty big in my mind for that.

 

[NathanBrazil]

Well World?

Yup! A great series. I was saddened to read only recently that Jack Chalker passed away in 2005. I enjoyed many of his works.