Are moderators abusing their power on this discussion site?

[udtsith]

1. Ask innocent questions and moderators shut down your thread

2. Other moderators then up vote the moderator that shut down the thread

3. You can't even ask why the thread was shut down

4. Moderators then feel powerful and cycle repeats itself

Solution is obviously to stop using the site ... which is what I will do.

 

[berkeman]

1. Ask innocent questions and moderators shut down your thread

Generally for a rules violation. (see INFO at the top of the page)

3. You can't even ask why the thread was shut down

Sure you can. As stated in the rules, PM the Mentor involved to get clarification. If that doesn't work, escalate by using the "Report" link to bring the issue to the attention of all of the Moderators.

And, BTW, if the Mentors seem to be in agreement that there is something wrong with one of your posts, there's a pretty good chance that there is indeed a problem.

 

[Ibix]

Assuming you are referring to this thread:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/ spacecraft -design.883159/

...it looks as if a complete explanation for the closure was posted by @russ_watters some twenty five minutes before you started this one.

 

[russ_watters]

And, BTW, if the Mentors seem to be in agreement that there is something wrong with one of your posts, there's a pretty good chance that there is indeed a problem.

And a step further, this issue was actually reported to us by an experienced member who noticed the issue before we did.

This forum is more serious than most, which can take some getting used to (or you may decide that isn't for you and that's ok too). You will find, however, that we moderators are all quite approachable if you PM us politely.

 

[OCR]

1. Ask innocent questions and moderators shut down your thread

Aw, they never give me any trouble ... you see, we have developed a MoU.[COLOR=#black]..[/COLOR]
Here are the details.[COLOR=#black]..[/COLOR]

4. Moderators then feel powerful and cycle repeats itself

Well yes, I have seen some ... act a bit feisty.[COLOR=#black]..[/COLOR]

And, BTW, if the Mentors seem to be in agreement that there is something wrong with one of your posts, there's a pretty good chance that there is indeed a problem.

Pretty much the way it works...

 

[micromass]

1. Ask innocent questions and moderators shut down your thread

2. Other moderators then up vote the moderator that shut down the thread

3. You can't even ask why the thread was shut down

4. Moderators then feel powerful and cycle repeats itself

Solution is obviously to stop using the site ... which is what I will do.

Hint: read the site rules and guidelines before posting anywhere. Could save you some time.

 

[Drakkith]

1. Ask innocent questions and moderators shut down your thread

It is certainly a challenge to separate those posts which are innocent from those which violate the rules. Despite what you or others may think, this is not a black and white issue. Many innocent posts can look like they violate the rules until you really delve into them and get a feel for what the poster is saying. This is especially true for posts from members who are not very well versed in the terminology of modern science, as they can use terms incorrectly or in odd ways that mimic the way that many crackpots write. Since the staff are all volunteers with jobs and other real life responsibilities, we only have a finite amount of time to devote to looking into each reported post. Posts which use odd or incorrect terminology, are cryptic, or are written poorly are especially difficult, as the poster's intended meaning becomes garbled and misunderstood, making their innocent question appear like a crackpot idea or some other rules violation.

There's also the fact that each moderator is an individual and we don't all agree on what is or isn't a violation in the first place. That's why we discuss things and try to come to a consensus. There have been plenty of times where my own personal opinion has been overridden by the consensus.

All that being said, I don't want to make it sound as if I'm saying you're wrong or your feedback isn't welcome. It certainly is. Feedback from members is one of the primary ways we gauge how we are doing as moderators and what changes we need to make to ourselves and the rules of the forum. I hope no one ever gets the impression that their feedback isn't welcome. It certainly is. You can send it directly to myself or any of the staff if you do not want to leave it here in the Feedback and Announcement forum.

2. Other moderators then up vote the moderator that shut down the thread

This certainly happens, both from moderators and other members. If there were a down vote feature I'm certain we'd get those too.

4. Moderators then feel powerful and cycle repeats itself

I don't feel that I or anyone else can address this concern. If you really feel this way then I doubt I could convince you otherwise. All I'll say is that if you think back to when you've been in any kind of leadership position or somewhere where you had to enforce rules then you might come to a different conclusion. Or maybe not. Opinions differ.

 

[ZapperZ]

The STRENGTH of this site: VERY high signal-to-noise ratio.

Zz.

 

[Charles Link]

Before finding this physics website, I tried posting on a couple other physics websites where they have hardly any rules, and there were so many nonsense posts on there that the good posts were being almost totally lost. In addition, they didn't have any sections on there=it was just one long news feed, so that unless your post was in the top 5 or 10 in the queue, (and it didn't remain there long), nobody would see it.

 

[Vanadium 50]

The STRENGTH of this site: VERY high signal-to-noise ratio.

That's your opinion. The crackpots think the strength of the site is freedom from other crackpots.

 

[berkeman]

Okay, it turns out there is a subtlety in the OP's question that the Mentors believe is worth discussing. Please check back into the thread to pick up on that part of the discussion.

After extensive Mentor discussion, we believe that there are some important points that can be discussed about the OP's question. Thread is re-opened for those non-PMM discussions.