Calgarypuck Moderator Team

[StrykerSteve]

I feel compelled to chime in here. I'll say my piece and won't comment on it again.

It's only through the recent "controversy" (if you can even call it that), that I've actually learned who a few of the mods here currently are. What that tells me, is they, as a group, have been doing a solid job and Bingo selected the right people for the job. They're like that defenceman you never notice. Just quietly going about their business, doing what's asked of them. Moderating an online forum is a thankless, difficult responsibility. I say this as someone who designed a gaming site from scratch in the early years of the internet and grew it into something more... a community of thousands.

Eventually, I left that world behind, but I made some lifelong friendships along the way that have carried on to this day.

Eventually, I came across CP. Over the years here, I've had a blast posting stats, trade alerts, development camp updates, participating in airport espionage, playing hockey, both ball and ice, attended Flames games, sat down for nachos and wings at pubs and played videogames with people I've met here.

That being said, I echo the statements of some others when I say that I'm not a huge proponent of how things have played out here over the past while. By acknowledging this in this format, I am prepared to face to cynical comments of those suggesting I'm simply a "middle aged man annoyed I can't see jiggly bits" or derogatory remarks about how dare I share personal photos on the internet. Therein lies the crux of the issue, the negativity and personal attacks that continue daily, while the stuff that should be fun, is being targeted.

Much of what I enjoy about CP is how much fun it is to gather here with fellow Flames fans and act like goofballs when my favourite hockey team wins. It's a ritual I've grown quite accustomed to.

So when a gif that I had posted dozens of times of times before as a part of that very ritual suddenly became frowned upon, naturally I was a bit bummed.

What I didn't expect however, is that one gif became a bit of a microcosm for the site in general. CP has rules. The gif didn't violate any of them. But it became censored, regardless. Was it because it was a woman? Perhaps, who can tell what triggers some people, but I do try to tailor my message differently based on my audience. But I can respect that someone, somewhere, found it offensive. So let's move on.

I decided to follow it up with something different. Something in good fun that no one in their right mind could find offensive. A gif of me making a fool of myself, but still retaining the spirit of the original, while still reveling in the exuberance for a victory of my favourite hockey team. For anyone who knows me, this is pretty typical behaviour. I may be 41 years old, but I'm a big kid at heart.

Despite being widely recognized and appreciated by the community, this post was hit, more severely this time, with additional moderation. Thankfully, we were able to sort it out privately, and I walked away feeling positive about where things were heading. All good.

During the creation of that gif, my wife, who filmed it, said she wanted in on the fun too. This was a pretty big deal, because she's always struggled with self confidence, but here she was willing to throw herself out there, and let herself be judged by the internet... just to be a part of something she knows I hold close to my heart. I was literally beaming as we filmed take after take, just to find the one that delivered on that feeling of pure enthusiasm that made the original gif so great.

When I posted it after the next Flames win, I did so with that same feeling of pride in what she had done. I immediately sent her the link from my hotel and we were actively watching the response together. We had a lot of fun with it and were thrilled that people seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.

No nudity. Fully clothed. No makeup. No jiggling bits. No drama. Even though it was merely a watered-down version of the original, it was still an enthusiastic fist pump by the girl I'm proud to call my partner in life.

Boom, deleted.

The explanation is well known by now, thanks to a solid explanation by the mods. A few individuals made comments that weren't well received by the moderating team and they had to act. Protip for people surfing the web, if you wouldn't say it to someone's face, you probably shouldn't post it.

So yeah, again not something I was too thrilled to see occur, but I understand the logic and support the decision that was made.

So that brings us to now. I feel less comfortable here the past few months. The personal attacks continue. The snide remarks. The constant negativity.
The types of posts that will likely happen here after people read this post.

I can only ask that someone does something about it. I want to continue contributing here. I don't want to leave. But all of this toxicity and political correctness is pushing me towards the door. For some, that would be welcomed. To those folks, I'm sorry. I try to follow the mantra I mentioned above and never say something online I wouldn't say in "real life". If I've offended you by posting images of people celebrating, shoot me a PM and let me know. It's no different than calling bylaw on a neighbour rather than walking over, knocking on their door and letting them know what's causing you grief and giving them a chance to resolve it.

And to the mods, keep up the good work, but please, please, take a harder stance on the types of things I've mentioned here.

Go Flames go.

[nik-]

Well StrykerSteve

NSFW!

???


In all seriousness, your self gif was legendary, and it sucks it became a problem.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Were you so triggered you have to try and label me as alt-right when I'm nothing close? Sad boy Johnny

You are what you post? I didn't know what a #### was until after you called me one.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

You are what you post? I didn't know what a #### was until after you called me one.

I'm just trying to teach you the ways of the farce young padwan.

[AC]

The mods are doing fine. After the creeps came out for StrykerSteve's wife, they had to react. Which is too bad because I thought Steve had responded brilliantly with his 2 custom versions of "the GIF".

Also, I miss MrMastodonFarm.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

I'm just trying to teach you the ways of the farce young padwan.

Well you are a pretty crappy teacher. Hope you don't have kids.

[northcrunk]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Well you are a pretty crappy teacher. Hope you don't have kids.

Such Salt.

EDIT: Pretty good example of what my post said. I didn't even post anything controversial and I have this moron jumping on me with this garbage. Sad.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Such Salt.

EDIT: Pretty good example of what my post said. I didn't even post anything controversial and I have this moron jumping on me with this garbage. Sad.

Hey at least you didn't spell it moran like some of your buddies. Fun fact, #### wasn't even a censored word on here until you started dishing it out.

[northcrunk]

Then I have done some good to shield the sensitive eyes here.

[GGG]

The piling on thing should be expected if you post an opinion that 90% of people don't share. You should expect your post to be countered with 9 other posts disagreeing with you. This isn't piling on really as it is a group discussion with on dissenting opinion. You also don't need to respond to everypost that counters your point (Something I struggle with)

On CP you come with facts from good sources or you will get destroyed. The most piled on poster here is one who it doesn't seem to bother. Iggy_Oi gets beat up continuously for his pro-union contrarian stance with fantastic moving goalposts. I don't think he has ever complained about it. He just keeps arguing is point until others move on and is never bated by personal attacks. It is a solid response when in the minority position.

He also doesn't post crap sources.

So when you make a post equating the behaviour and mental condition of trump with the behaviour and mental condition of Hillary and link conspiracy videos the expectation should be a thorough destruction of your argument. People shouldn't be called stupid but their argument and position should be.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by GGG

You also don't need to respond to everypost that counters your point (Something I struggle with)

This was something I also struggled mightily with for a while. It's harder than people want to give it credit for, but it makes discussions less waspish and more constructive.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by GGG

The piling on thing should be expected if you post an opinion that 90% of people don't share. You should expect your post to be countered with 9 other posts disagreeing with you. This isn't piling on really as it is a group discussion with on dissenting opinion. You also don't need to respond to everypost that counters your point (Something I struggle with)

On CP you come with facts from good sources or you will get destroyed. The most piled on poster here is one who it doesn't seem to bother. Iggy_Oi gets beat up continuously for his pro-union contrarian stance with fantastic moving goalposts. I don't think he has ever complained about it. He just keeps arguing is point until others move on.

He also doesn't post crap sources.

So when you make a post equating the behaviour and mental condition of trump with the behaviour and mental condition of Hillary and link conspiracy videos the expectation should be a thorough destruction of your argument. People shouldn't be called stupid but their argument and position should be.

No, the expectation should not be to be personally insulted and piled on with no argument against what the poster is saying but focusing on piling on the poster. That is exactly what happened in that thread and while some were voicing an opposing opinion most were piling on with no rebuttal against what I was saying, they were piling on me personally. I said she reminded me of a sociopath and I gave my reasons why. I said she was a liar and gave my sources and reasons why. I didn't get piled on for that and you know it, I got piled on because I posted something about the person who lost to the ultra evil Donald Trump and anything not about how terrible Trump is (and he is) was going to get that person dog piled. Almost all of the posters who came after me came after ME, not to defend Hillary Clinton. So I got belittled, called an idiot, and personally dog piled on because I said imo Clinton was a sociopath and a bad person and the result of that was??? I got banned from the OTB. Sounds legit.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Missed out on what the latest flap is about. As a former moderator, I know how much it's a thankless job, though. So a big thumbs-up to the current team.

Society seems more polarized these days.

[scotty2hotty]

StrykerSteve is a modern day legend.

If anything, his avatar should be enshrined in some sort of CP Ring of Honour.

[Hanna Sniper]

The mods do an awesome job, thankless job that goes unnoticed more then we realize.




Unless my post gets edited, then you're all xxxxxxx xxxxx and i'll shove this stick up you xxxxxx xxxx you censoring piece of xxxx

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

That being said, I echo the statements of some others when I say that I'm not a huge proponent of how things have played out here over the past while. By acknowledging this in this format, I am prepared to face to cynical comments of those suggesting I'm simply a "middle aged man annoyed I can't see jiggly bits" or derogatory remarks about how dare I share personal photos on the internet. Therein lies the crux of the issue, the negativity and personal attacks that continue daily, while the stuff that should be fun, is being targeted.

I'm a pretty laid back person as well. When I first started out with this whole thing I was the only moderator and I let pretty much everything go.

It's a new world though.

Lets treat this like a volume setting.

You can't have it at zero or there would be nothing.
If you put it to 10 and every thing goes then I get sued.

If you establish those two extremes as unworkable then you have something in the middle and with that a debate about too much or too little. A line has to be set somewhere and I trust these guys to do it.

And to be honest I'd rather have a little more room on the negativity and personal attacks then moderate pictures etc because that's what makes this place what it is; passion. Take that away and you have nothing.

[Mister Yamoto]

Seems like there is a lot less traffic then there used to be. Most nights it only takes a couple of minutes to skim through the new posts on FOI. Should be easier than ever to moderate?

[Strange Brew]

I feel like I am utterly clueless about the supposed controversy. I saw a couple of funny GIF's and thanked them. I guess some issue came of it?

I love this site and think the moderators are great, and for the most part, utterly invisible. And there are those mods who engage directly in healthy debate and are more than able to handle disagreement with their views without making it personal.

[dammage79]

The moderating strategies on cp have become so bizarre I sometimes wonder if they believe the internet more than the real world.

How taking something pure and fun like Steve's gifs away because you can't actually just discipline the clowns for their stupid comments is a huge head scratcher. Whatever you want to call it this lacks common sense.

This is especially confounding since everything has been posted well within the community guidelines and rules and those who commit the infractions should be the only ones held responsible for their actions.

I also agree with dissentower regardless of specific events, there's a sliding scale of forgiveness for some and harsh penalties for others who have done far less.

Sometimes it truly does feel like the prisoners do run the asylum.

[kirant]

Having gone through the process on the moderating end far too many times at this point, it's a telling sign that I can't even name CP's entire mod team. So kudos for typically keeping things fairly well controlled and finding a mostly happy medium. You can't appease everyone but the lack of major drama before now is a good sign.

While I would echo what many feel (in that the site does take a little stricter of a stance on sexual images and gifs...at a personal level, outside strictly moderated "18 and under" forums that I frequented as a kid, this is probably on the more restrictive end), it's not a big deal within and of itself. I can understand the sentiment behind the idea and it's not a deal breaker if the team decides to slowly roll from "internet standard" to "somewhat controlled".

With regards to restricting personal attacks, I'm not terribly surprised with the direction. It's moved more towards what I've expected to see based on other sites, so I can't say I'm surprised that it's caused tension given how open CP used to be on such aspects.

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

The explanation is well known by now, thanks to a solid explanation by the mods. A few individuals made comments that weren't well received by the moderating team and they had to act. Protip for people surfing the web, if you wouldn't say it to someone's face, you probably shouldn't post it.

It's really too bad a handful of people ruined the fun. I honestly thought it was terrific that the two of you managed to both have some fun with the situation. I kind of hope the first version with you is still accepted as part of PGT tradition.