Problem with a so called "moderator"

One of my posts in this thread has been deleted by Astarael. I'd made a completely legitimate comment on a very sexist remark they'd made, and was then given an undeserved warning and a very snarky remark as you can see here:



Never mind the fact that men's rights have everything to do with the topic of feminism; this kind of pretentious attitude leads to abuse of power and makes me question how someone like this could be selected for the job in the first place. Hopefully someone who is more level headed can at least explain this to me, if not reprimanding them.

If you have a problem with a moderator's actions, we'd really prefer you bring it directly to the attention of another staff member instead of posting a public thread about it. Please feel free to PM another mod or administrator to discuss it, but to avoid drama, I'm going to close this thread now.

Edit: After discussing this with Astarael, in the interest of fairness, I'm going to re-open this thread - not because this is an appropriate way to discuss a problem with a mod's actions, but because it doesn't seem fair that she hasn't been given the opportunity to defend her actions at all.

(Thanks Pani!)

Hi OrbitalDropSuicideGrunt,

I left that message in the thread because the last few posts (on abortion and men's reproductive rights) were diverting the discussion away from the original purpose of the thread that Andross created, which is specifically about feminism, the women's rights movements, its goals and its pitfalls. Please be clear that I don't take issue with discussing the issue of men's reproductive rights - it's just that that particular thread wasn't the place for it. We've had similar discussions in the Serious Discussion board in the past; see for instance these threads:

Sexism against men v2

The Male Abortion: should males be able to opt out of paternity and/or child support?

This is the comment you left on the Feminism thread directly after I made my warning:



That does not constitute a "legitimate remark on a sexist comment." It was a snarky comeback retort after a moderator request, which is why your post was deleted and you were given the following warning:

When a mod asks you to drop the subject in a thread, drop it, and don't try to one-up their post in the thread with a snarky remark afterwards. If you have issues with my request, then send me a VM/PM instead. Thanks.

Also, please take note of the ZU rules:

If you have a complaint with about the way a moderator has acted your first step should be to discuss your concern with that moderator in a private message.

If you are unable to come to an agreement with that moderator then you should private message another one, stating your complaint and providing links to the relevant post(s) or thread(s). This ensures that the entire moderator team knows that there is a dispute and we can all decide what the solution should be.

Moderators do make mistakes and poor judgment calls, no one denies that. However, that does not mean that you are allowed to drag other threads off topic to yell at them about it. If you have a complaint with a moderator then follow the steps in the "complaints" section above.

I hope this clarifies the issue.

Good evening~

You're new, my name is Saúl and I am a section mod for the Community Section, and one of the other Serious Discussion moderators here. Firstly, we have had a slew of problems with threads that tackle gender inequality. They often conflate other issues into them and it becomes very difficult to moderate them, when a single thread maybe me tackling the problem of misandry, misogyny, sexism in gaming and sexism in family law.

Thus when such threads pop up, we generally try to keep their scope very narrow, for the sake of discussion and moderating. The thread's OP and title suggest that the thread is about feminism and women's issues specifically. Men's reproductive rights, as the tangent that Luca was on, is not within the scope of the thread.

Thus Astarael stepped in an put a stop to that off topic tangent. She has the support of the rest of the SD mod team in that regard.




Further your reply which you have conveniently left out of this was nothing more than "How ironic." I fail to see how this is a "completely legitimate remark" in any sense when you view it in the scope of the SD rules.

To quote the rules:

Posts made in this section should be of higher quality than those made in General Chit Chat or Zelda. Make an effort to further discussion as much as possible with each post

Your post didn't further discussion at all. It was merely a snide remark at a moderator decision, it was unnecessary, rude and very very off topic to the overall scope of the thread.


If you reaaaaaally want, you can make a separate thread about men's rights. But honestly, given that we have two threads already open about gender inequality and sexism in general, I doubt it will stay open without a stellar OP.





Either way, the SD mod team in this regard disagrees with your position on the matter. The warning will stay and Asta will not be reprimanded for doing her job.

Take it easy, friend! We all have our posts deleted too (more than you can imagine you just got there). It's simple -- a post that doesn't meet requirements would be bound the get deleted.

There's advantage of having Mods deleting them 'coz it makes us re-think of what we just posted to make us become better posters (especially when you post in SRS BSNS threads).

I hope you'll become a far better ZUer than me, bud!

Peace yo.

Hiya. I'm one of the administrators of this forum, so if there's any reprimanding to do with mods, it'll come from me or one of the other admin seeing as we're basically in charge of the mod team/running this forum. There isn't much else I can add to Asta and Saul's posts 'cause I do agree with both of 'em, but just so you get confirmation from a higher-up that they have, indeed, taken the correct path in handling this.

One thing you have to understand is when a mod is acting in the capacity of a mod, that becomes separate from their opinion as a member debating in a thread. I won't lie in that this has always been the case and I have had to tell off/punish mods for letting personal feelings dictate their moderator actions, but in this case I can safely say I am confident any other person on the SD team would've taken the same route as Astarael's handling of your post, be they male or female, for or against the topic at hand. Further, Asta has had a solid record as a mod in that board, rarely, if ever, compromising her position with how passionate she feels for a topic.

That said, your questions have been answered by the mod in question, another mod speaking on behalf of the SD team and one of the people in charge of this community. While, yes, it is better next time you PM a mod, or an admin as they are the people in charge, we thank you for your feedback and hope this clarifies your view on the matter.

Enjoy ZU and see you around (: