Calgarypuck Moderator Team

[Poe969]

After reading so many complaints, I'm sure as hell glad that I'm not a mod. People get bent out of shape pretty easily. I worked in the school system for a while and I would always go on CP on my phone, not one of the school's computers, I was mindful of where I was in case certain things came on and most importantly I did it in the staff room where there were adults who can reason. I've seen high school girls dress a lot more provocatively then the gifs on here. Some commercials on TV have girls in next to nothing, same with ads in magazines. Scantily clad girls are everywhere, it isn't that big of a deal providing they're "erogenous" zones are covered up.

PGT were fun and having them as a free for all is kind of what makes them fun. I get that some people want to just discuss the game and not take part in the celebrations but there is a thread for those the Game Take threads...oddly enough, Bingo is looking for volunteers to help out with those. I suggest that if you're having issues with how the PGT are handled, maybe stick to the Game Take threads or better yet, volunteer to write the Game Take threads and clearly state that there will be no gifs used or pictures posted in it.

[shotinthebacklund]

Originally Posted by Torture

I can't believe the outrage over this, always thought the hot female gifs were out of place and while funny, StrykerSteve's gifs were clearly baiting the mods.

CP is a private forum and the rules are up to Bingo and the mod team. There's no free speech here but they do an excellent job.

I cant believe the outrage over something so innocent as the GIFs SS has been accustomed to posting. "Hot female Gifs" Why does the gender or level of attractiveness matter is the question I have been asking.

Watching the highlights of the brawl last night on SN the ad featured a well toned shirtless male applying deodorant and yet this is publicly accepted as "office fare" by the general media. SS Gif has a women clothed 100% from the neck to her feet. Why do we have to be afraid of something because it could be provocative. Whole thing reminds me of those who were not allowed to watch Simpsons as a child.

[Huntingwhale]

The fact this thread is even allowed to exist shows just how much leeway the mods and owner give us. I think a forum like this is even harder to moderate than other sites like HF or Reddit. On HF, posts are just deleted, users banned and you aren't even allowed to discuss it at all. That's the easy way to mod. Just delete what you don't like and don't let anyone speak about it.

The fact that there are 2 threads on this site and that the mods are even bothering to answer us IMO shows them to be pretty transparent and open. It would be pretty easy to just shut it down and that's the end of it.

[Backlunds_socks]

Originally Posted by shotinthebacklund

I cant believe the outrage over something so innocent as the GIFs SS has been accustomed to posting. "Hot female Gifs" Why does the gender or level of attractiveness matter is the question I have been asking. Watching the highlights of the brawl last night on SN the add featured a well toned shirtless male applying deodorant and yet this is publicly accepted as "office fare" by the general media. SS Gif has a women clothed 100% from the neck to her feet. Why do we have to be afraid of something because it could be provocative. Whole thing reminds me of those who were not allowed to watch Simpsons as a child.

I don't think its a matter of the hot female per say, but rather the super subjectivity the mods apply to their decisions.

[TheScorpion]

Personally, I think we need to expand the diversity of the mod team by adding more voices at the community's discretion.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jbo

I wish this site had more transparency on infractions, sin bins, bans etc.

We are a small community and I think posts could be edited by a mod with a few of the following type of responses. “This poster received an infraction for this drive by post” “ this poster was sin binned for attacking another poster” “This poster was banned following repeated warnings for xxx”

We are a fairly close community and I think this brings a bit of accountability to both posters and mods.

I’m in the camp that believes the StrykerSteve gif is acceptable, but I can understand the decision and move on.

Final note, and I continue to bang this drum, but s#*! Posting other posters, the team, etc should be a quick and effective infraction. Honestly most GT are unreadable and I know more then a few members who avoid them now while the same 30 people talk about how stupid players are and how dumb other posters are.

My two cents

I think this is an excellent point of view. I find that just banning people or 'disappearing' the offending post isnt productive overall, the only people who understand what happened and why are the mods and maybe the person responsible for the infraction.

More transparency would indicate to the community at large what happened, and why it was unacceptable and thus be more beneficial for shaping overall behaviour on the board.

Originally Posted by sun

As a formally loyal user of this website that has posted twice in six months, I have a suggestion/question. Is there any way to throttle the posts of problem users? Right now, there are two options IN and OUT. This solves very little as pucklucks and corsihockeyleagues of the world just sign back on with new user names and carry on with the same shenanigans for which they were bant. Leopards, spots and all that.

There needs to be something between IN and OUT. If dissen towner, et al have an addict's need to crawl back to CP, let them back with 3 posts per week and they can slowly work their way back into good graces. Is this possible with the forum software? Would this be acceptable to the site owner, when faced with another of ricardoo's endless babblings about Hamilton said "oh well, it's good for business!"? Is the volume of posts more valuable to Bingo than the quality of discussion?

This of course doesn't solve the problem of genuinely toxic posters like tinordi, but those are actually few and far between and get lifetime ban'd. Tinordi cried and grovelled his way back somehow, but the mods should have stuck to their guns on that one IMO.

I also agree with the poster above calling for more transparency. "MOD EDIT: No" teaches nothing to anyone except for the one who made the post. Editing tacopunk's posts to "MOD EDIT: No posting of GIFs where people literally die" is more helpful.

Throttling posts (if possible) cures the scorpion effect as well. Good kid, finally fitting in, but the sheer unending torrent of posts from him when he first started posting was absolutely bonkers and drove the regulars nutso and derailed countless treads.

Banning from specific threads would also be helpful for the peter12 types who I'm sure is back somewhere as peter13 and MMF who is probably back as a more appealing (to me) FFM. Surprised moon hasn't been outed, since there is no way he stayed away.

Periodic airing of grievances like this are healthy. Mods who are burnt out should be rotated out for new blood.

If nothing changes, people will eventually find something else to do. I did anyways.

There are some excellent points in here.

Look at this thread, for the first time ever there are explanations and this thread has exploded, so it appears that this kind of transparency is something that a significant segment of the community would like.

As has been referenced many times over, Modding is a Volunteer gig, theres a limit as to how much we can expect from the mods and they've largely done a good job, but maybe they could use some help, or a break, but the request for more transparency would be beneficial for the entire community.

Because the 'behind the scenes cloak and dagger' form of moderating? What does that get you? The culmination of a bunch of pent up hostility that prefaced the need for this thread in the first place.

If someone gets banned, post why. Do it somewhere central like the Help forum, because otherwise its a little Soviet, one of our community has just been sentenced to the Gulags and nobody knows why but the rest of us have to keep our heads down or we're next.

And as for StrykerSteve? I didnt see his wife's gif, but his? Man oh man that has to be the funniest thing I've seen in years! I dont know who the girl is in the original, I've probably seen it countless times and just scrolled past it, but the fact that StrykerSteve had the guts to make that gif and post it and do it in a humorous and self-deprecating manner? In no way would I want to discourage that kind of thing.

That literally had me rolling on the floor laughing.

I dont think anyone is here to indict the mods or rake them over the coals, but it seems self-evident that some open discussion has been long needed.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by -TC-

I suppose this was inevitable, given the state of things right now. I'm not speaking of CP specifically, but what's happening on the internet and across the world. The ever increasing polarization of society and the acceptance and openness of intolerant and inappropriate behaviour.

And, of course, the emergence of the Social Justice Warrior movement...people who believe that we should all behave as they see fit and call out (behind the veil of an online profile) others behaviour that they find objectionable.

I see two issues here; 1. a minority of posters who feel that everyone needs to acquiesce to their particular sensitivities, and, 2. a moderation team that feels they need to listen and respond to that small subset of posters.

I haven't read every post or thread but I think I get the gist...

First, there was an objection to some of the gifs being posted on the forums by that small, vocal minority. Second, the mods responded by stating that said gifs needed to be behind NSFW tags. I think this is a perfectly appropriate response to the concerns being voiced, even if I don't agree philosophically with pandering to the said minority. Then, it started to go off the rails as these things always seem to do. People became more entrenched in their positions, feelings get hurt, people begin responding emotionally and we end up where we are. A polarized forum where posters are regularly attacked for having differing opinions and the good posters post less.

CP used to be a great community. We were united in our love and passion for the Calgary Flames. Posters did their thing, it was light hearted (for the most part) and fun. We celebrated our wins and we commiserated our losses. CP isn't that anymore. CP has become an angry divisive place, a place where those who hold true to the way it used to be are being shouted down or censored to the point where there is no joy in it for anyone.

The mods have a tough job, I know it because I've been a mod on a couple forums and I've had to deal with a lot of the same issues. It's hard to know where to draw a line, who to 'manage' more than others and how to keep personal opinions or feelings out of your decisions. A mod is judge, jury and executioner, the arbiter of all things. It's thankless and it's hard.

I don't blame the mods for what's happening here, but they do need to be held accountable for the decisions being made. They didn't cause the problems, but the way they chose to solve it hasn't (and won't) work. I know because I've already made this mistake. I don't have all the answers but I do know this will ultimately fail. Conflicts will continue, personal attacks will continue, good posters will post less and the forum will decline.

I'm aware I may be censured or banned for speaking out this way and I accept that.

Bingo - if you and the team want to have a private conversation about my past experiences, I'd be happy to do so. I really like CP and I want it to be a great forum. I say what I say because I want to help make it so.

There are a lot of posts like this in this thread.

Are you guys serious? Like you're sure you're not trolling or playing some sort of hilarious melodrama role play?

A decision was made a long time ago to clean up the sexy images in the PGTs. It was not some controversial decision made to pander to a small minority of zealots. It was a practical decision to keep the forum experience consistent and PG.

At some point Steve and the people like you figured his gif was somehow exempt from this rule because tradition? Entitlement? Who cares, it's stupid. Bottom line is that gif should have been tagged or removed a long time ago. Same time the Katy Perry and Girly's Asian girl gifs were banned. Just because it was allowed to stay, a bunch of you are arguing some massive mod gif-gate conspiracy?

It's some stupid gif. Just go look at it after every win if it's so important to your life. Just don't do it on CP.

Good grief.

Moderation here is excellent. Quit whining about how great CP used to be. Try positively contributing instead of just complaining about how bad everyone else is and how they're ruining CP.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Personally, I think we need to expand the diversity of the mod team by adding more voices at the community's discretion.

MRC ticks off a half dozen 'diversity' boxes all on his own. Plus I'm led to understand that he fights crime in his spare time but thats just pure conjecture.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Backlunds_socks

I don't think its a matter of the hot female per say, but rather the super subjectivity the mods apply to their decisions.

Which is something that is virtually impossible to avoid since almost all of the moderators are human beings (I think).

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Locke

MRC ticks off a half dozen 'diversity' boxes all on his own. Plus I'm led to understand that he fights crime in his spare time but thats just pure conjecture.

Haha, that's not the kind of 'diversity' I meant, if I'm getting your drift. I meant diversity of opinions -- I think having more people will result in an even better forum.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by -TC-

I suppose this was inevitable, given the state of things right now. I'm not speaking of CP specifically, but what's happening on the internet and across the world. The ever increasing polarization of society and the acceptance and openness of intolerant and inappropriate behaviour.

And, of course, the emergence of the Social Justice Warrior movement...people who believe that we should all behave as they see fit and call out (behind the veil of an online profile) others behaviour that they find objectionable.

I see two issues here; 1. a minority of posters who feel that everyone needs to acquiesce to their particular sensitivities, and, 2. a moderation team that feels they need to listen and respond to that small subset of posters.

I haven't read every post or thread but I think I get the gist...

First, there was an objection to some of the gifs being posted on the forums by that small, vocal minority. Second, the mods responded by stating that said gifs needed to be behind NSFW tags. I think this is a perfectly appropriate response to the concerns being voiced, even if I don't agree philosophically with pandering to the said minority. Then, it started to go off the rails as these things always seem to do. People became more entrenched in their positions, feelings get hurt, people begin responding emotionally and we end up where we are. A polarized forum where posters are regularly attacked for having differing opinions and the good posters post less.

CP used to be a great community. We were united in our love and passion for the Calgary Flames. Posters did their thing, it was light hearted (for the most part) and fun. We celebrated our wins and we commiserated our losses. CP isn't that anymore. CP has become an angry divisive place, a place where those who hold true to the way it used to be are being shouted down or censored to the point where there is no joy in it for anyone.

The mods have a tough job, I know it because I've been a mod on a couple forums and I've had to deal with a lot of the same issues. It's hard to know where to draw a line, who to 'manage' more than others and how to keep personal opinions or feelings out of your decisions. A mod is judge, jury and executioner, the arbiter of all things. It's thankless and it's hard.

I don't blame the mods for what's happening here, but they do need to be held accountable for the decisions being made. They didn't cause the problems, but the way they chose to solve it hasn't (and won't) work. I know because I've already made this mistake. I don't have all the answers but I do know this will ultimately fail. Conflicts will continue, personal attacks will continue, good posters will post less and the forum will decline.

I'm aware I may be censured or banned for speaking out this way and I accept that.

Bingo - if you and the team want to have a private conversation about my past experiences, I'd be happy to do so. I really like CP and I want it to be a great forum. I say what I say because I want to help make it so.

Sorry to quote your entire post (I’m on my phone) but I’m always troubled by this complaint by some posters that they are “attacked” for having a differing opinion. Can you explain what such an attack looks like? How is an “attack” different than just good old-fashioned disagreement, criticism, or debate?

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Sorry to quote your entire post (I’m on my phone) but I’m always troubled by this complaint by some posters that they are “attacked” for having a differing opinion. Can you explain what such an attack looks like? How is an “attack” different than just good old-fashioned disagreement, criticism, or debate?

I think sometimes the piling on is too much and could be considered an 'attack', but that maybe just happens when a forum is busy like CP is.

[jonkaupp]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

Or we could strive to be an inclusive site that people can enjoy everywhere without fear that a gif of a provactively dressed woman suddenly appearing in a thread about hockey
What is the big fn deal about putting the gif behind nsfw tags?

For sure this is the worst thing I’ve ever come across on this website.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

I think sometimes the piling on is too much and could be considered an 'attack', but that maybe just happens when a forum is busy like CP is.

I mean, if a lot of people disagree with one’s post or opinion, one can expect that a lot of people will post dissenting views. I don’t see that as “piling on”. I certainly don’t see it as something to be discouraged.

[Backlunds_socks]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Which is something that is virtually impossible to avoid since almost all of the moderators are human beings (I think).

My post was not arguing this fact.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Makarov

I mean, if a lot of people disagree with one’s post or opinion, one can expect that a lot of people will post dissenting views. I don’t see that as “piling on”. I certainly don’t see it as something to be discouraged.

Fair enough.
Just for reference, this was the example I was thinking of
https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showth...ighlight=Niemi

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Sorry to quote your entire post (I’m on my phone) but I’m always troubled by this complaint by some posters that they are “attacked” for having a differing opinion. Can you explain what such an attack looks like? How is an “attack” different than just good old-fashioned disagreement, criticism, or debate?

Pretty easy to describe: the poster is attacked, not the poster's opinion. Typically with some kind of comment about how stupid the poster is or something similar. There's lots of examples of similar ad hominem attacks all over the forum (and in the world - particularly in politics).

The other place it seems to appear here is when someone continually pushes a particular point of view, often in opposition to what "most" ("many"?) might think and posts repetitively the same thing. Finally, someone is bound to get ticked off and attack the poster instead of just adding them to their ignore list.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Makarov

I mean, if a lot of people disagree with one’s post or opinion, one can expect that a lot of people will post dissenting views. I don’t see that as “piling on”. I certainly don’t see it as something to be discouraged.

Yeah but instead of liking one post that makes the entire point of disagreement. You get umpteen number of identical posts flooding a thread. I'm pretty sure thanking that one post piles on appropriately. But no, instead we get broken record for pages.

[DMac]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

There are a lot of posts like this in this thread.

Are you guys serious? Like you're sure you're not trolling or playing some sort of hilarious melodrama role play?

A decision was made a long time ago to clean up the sexy images in the PGTs. It was not some controversial decision made to pander to a small minority of zealots. It was a practical decision to keep the forum experience consistent and PG.

At some point Steve and the people like you figured his gif was somehow exempt from this rule because tradition? Entitlement? Who cares, it's stupid. Bottom line is that gif should have been tagged or removed a long time ago. Same time the Katy Perry and Girly's Asian girl gifs were banned. Just because it was allowed to stay, a bunch of you are arguing some massive mod gif-gate conspiracy?

It's some stupid gif. Just go look at it after every win if it's so important to your life. Just don't do it on CP.

Good grief.

Moderation here is excellent. Quit whining about how great CP used to be. Try positively contributing instead of just complaining about how bad everyone else is and how they're ruining CP.

Melania thinks you're awesome:

NSFW!

(sad state of affairs where I have to put the First Lady of the USA behind NSFW tags; heaven forbid I were to ever link the President's twitter)

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Yeah but instead of liking one post that makes the entire point of disagreement. You get umpteen number of identical posts flooding a thread. I'm pretty sure thanking that one post piles on appropriately. But no, instead we get broken record for pages.

Well, I don’t know, if someone feels like he or she has something to add to the discussion, I don’t see why he or she shouldn’t do so (as long as it’s done respectfully of course). Anyway, I supppse that we are discussing the minutia of forum manners at this point. It certainly isn’t an issue that threatens the long term health of the forum (or society in general) as some posters seem to suggest (IMO anyway).