Originally Posted by
belgareth
Thanks Terry.
Please understand where I am coming from. You weren't here when various
users decided that they could blindly attack anybody they didn't like and could disrupt every thread with useless
babble so nobody could actually talk seriously about pheromones. Before that, there were no real rules except the
golden one. Unfortunately, some people do not follow the golden rule and we ended up making a bunch of rules that I
don't personally like to enforce. I am doing the job of moderator as a favor to Bruce, not because I want to be a
dictator or even especially like it.
You have no idea how many restrictions I have on me as compared to another
user. Because I have this silly damned title I cannot say what I want more often than not, otherwise people will be
whining about my being unfair and heavy handed and Hitler on steroids and all that happy BS. Yes, I do read comments
made about me elsewhere. If you look at what I really do and consider the source of those statements you may
eventually realize who the real bullshitters are.
Actually, I own a business that demands a lot of me, have a
wife, my own children and grandchildren and a life of my own. What I do here, as a volunteer, is something I try to
plug in between all my other responsibilities, often either before most people get out of bed in the morning or
after they are long asleep. And I try very hard to enforce the rules both fairly and exactly as the behavoir of
forum members have caused us to write them. There is not a single rule here that I enforce that was not the direct
result of something some member did. Those are often the same ones who whine and complain about the unfairness of it
in other places.
I am easy to contact. And those who have contacted me in a reasonable manner have found that I
am willing to listen and often to change my position, to reverse myself. Those who attack me don't ever get me to
change my mind but those who can act like a rational adult get a fair hearing. I know that I am human and make
mistakes. Hell! I have no idea about moderating a forum and am learning the job as I go along.
Just for fun,
imagine that in some public place somebody said the same things to you that you said to me. What would you have
done? No grudges, no hard feelings, OK? But the next time you have a problem with something you think I did, instead
of attacking me or complaining about it in other venues, try talking to me.