Rent a Mod : What's the Problem

I seriously don't see the problem with the whole "rent-a-mod" thing. What's wrong with other members trying to help the MOD's deal with a noob. If someones making a thread or post in the wrong place are we just supposed to let the MOD's get it? If anything, I think they should be appreciative of others helping them in the job they're not doing. Here's an example from General Zelda:

Original Poster :

how do you think of having a zelda club? we have meetings every saturday at 12:30, we have clans, power, wisdom, and courage. I'm the leader of the widom clan, my brother is the leader of wisdom, and my friend is power. my bro' is also the president, and I'm vice president. there are ranks, items, equipment, etc

Reply:

First of all, this forum already practically is a huge zelda club.
Secondly, this forum has clans. You can join Din's Clan, Farore's Clan, or Nayru's Clan if you've been here a month and have at least 50 posts.

Or are you just telling us about your club that you are already in? I'm a tad confused.
Anyway, try not to double post. If you make a mistake, there's an edit button

The MOD:

^ don't rent-a-mod.

I would much rather have seen the MOD reply with a thank you or something.
I've done several posts like the person who replied and I wasn't trying to show off or act like a mod or anything. I mean, come on people, the person who replied was only trying to help. Why are they getting heck for it? If you ask me, it only brings my respect for the MOD's down a whole lot more.

Have you ever seen a flame war come about? With rent-a-mods involved (who have no power to delete posts or give infractions or ban members), it can be quite messy.

My preference for keeping rent-a-modding to a minimum is primarily related to keeping threads tidy.

You can always send a PM to another member who's "breaking the rules," or what have you, to help them. Training newbs can be everyone's job! But do it in private, and not within the threads which we're trying to keep clean.



{EDIT: Here are some old threads for previous discussions and context.

--> The Rent-A-Mods
--> "report" posts...
--> Help on Rent-A-Modding

It's just really annoying and no one wants to read it. Though personally, I think others telling others not to rent-a-mod is a lot more annoying.

I don't really see what the problem is if the actual mods are too busy or too "out there" to bother with checking threads in the first place. As a mod myself on Brawl Central, I appreciate it when members help keep other members in line and respecting the rules. It helps us mods out.

The main problem with rent-a-modding is that if everyone did it, threads would soon get out of hand.

That said, your example is slightly humourous. The mods just don't like being told how to do their jobs. I can see where they're coming from, though.

EDIT: I love how if you type 'rent-a-modding' into google, it gives you ZU forums a load of times XD

Originally Posted by Kitsuné

The mods just don't like being told how to do their jobs. I can see where they're coming from, though.

If you see something wrong in a thread that needs to be cleared up, you can always send me a PM and I'll get the message to a mod w/ power in that section.

The best thing to do is to look at the list of staff ( Zelda Universe Forums - Show Groups ) and send a PM to a moderator for that section, if they are online.

Yeah, because the odds of somebody listening to a non-mod is pretty slim. If a mod were to say it, they'd shut up quick.

Here's a great example of why mini-modding is a pointless endeavour:

Somebody double posts, the second of which is a useless post. You then post to tell him not to double post. You yourself have just posted a useless, non-contributing post to the thread yourself.


Mini-modding does not contribute to the topic at hand in a thread, and does not resolve anything. Chances are the other member(s) aren't going to listen to you, just to a mod, as sugarpoultry said. Those same mods have many different ways of dealing with problems, and as they are obviously good enough at their job to become and stay as a mod, they will take the best course of action, without any input from a regular member.

If you really want to help (although some mods will find this annoying - I know I do when it happens on any forums I mod) then PM a mod or press the Report Post button. If the mods are doing their job properly though, that probably won't be necessary.

It's funny really because we have all done this before. Even when we don't realise we are rent-a-modding.

I'm not disputing that it's against the rules i'm not, it's just that we don't always know we're doing it.

A couple of days ago, i informed a girl that her thread was a copy of an existing one, without even realising i was breaking a rule. 8)

Yeah, but can the same thing be done with PMing the mods? I mean, in Brawl Central, I get annoyed when I get like 5 or 6 reported posts and they were all reported by the same person. Even though they were legit reasons to report... it does seem like they are sucking up to the mods a bit too much.

Its much easier if somebody just tells them so they can edit their post or delete it or whatever. No harm done from my point of view.

Duo is correct. Rent-a-modding is spam. Spam is bad, and spam is not allowed.

Therefore, Rent-a-modding is not allowed.


Also, it's "mod" not "MOD," It's not an acronym, it's a shortening. (It's not "Machine Of Death," it's "Moderator.")

Adventurer, I'm the one who you quoted, and I'd like to say this:
I pm'd the mod about it and things are cleared up. The only problem there was with my post was that I told the maker of the thread not to double post.
I agree that there are cases where the mods get a little "you're rent-a-mod" happy, but in this case, I understand why it was said.

Originally Posted by Hylian #1

A couple of days ago, i informed a girl that her thread was a copy of an existing one, without even realising i was breaking a rule. 8)

Yeah, that happens. Hopefully you don't get too annoyed when the post gets deleted.



Infractions are sometimes given for rent-a-modding; but I think it's limited to repeat-offenders or rent-a-mods who are really obnoxious about it.

Originally Posted by Scott

Also, it's "mod" not "MOD," It's not an acronym, it's a shortening. (It's not "Machine Of Death," it's "Moderator.")

But I like Machine of Death.

I'm never sure whenever I'm rent-a-modding or not.

On an instance where there is a thread to which I reply, making a usual comment, and then make a sidenote that happens to adress an instance of double-posting or obvious spam that has gone unnoticed (it happens?) is that post a rent-a-mod post? I understand why rent-a-modding can be a bad thing, because it gets ridiculous and annoying and as Scott said:

Rent-a-modding is spam. Spam is bad, and spam is not allowed.

Therefore, Rent-a-modding is not allowed.

But if the post is a regular post with an afterthought saying spam or double-posting can be a bad thing, would said post be spam, since it only has an instance of rent-a-moddding as a sidenote?

I've never really understood if doing that would get a person a warning or infraction or whatever.