Expulsion

[Theodosius the Great]

This has been the subject of much discussion off line, and (if I may) I suggest that we should have a joint response from the moderator team on this issue? This will take a little time, so , a post will happen later on.

Thank you but I doubt that's necessary, Caballo, and I won't ask for such a response. I just wanted some reassurance that a member won't be punished for some perceived or explicit personal insult to a moderator in a non-public setting. If the board, maybe including the administrators, feels a member is being recalcitrant in noncompliance with forum rules then I will trust their collective judgement to make a decision to expel that member.

Well, I think WE (the users) shouldn't forget it's a public forum, maintained by volunteers. This means we're all guest to the board admin (Jasper and Matt).

So true. If the moderator happens to be an admin then that's a different matter.

They are kindly supported by many volunteers to keep the board moderated and that cost a lot of their spare time. Wouldn't it be more than reasonably to just let the moderating team decide, and we as guest, have to accept that by posting on 'their board'?

For now that might be more than reasonable. But I don't know what the current policy or procedure is regarding expulsion. Does the admin get the final say? The current crop of moderators may be trustworthy enough to make those decisions on their own but they won't be around forever. Future moderators may not be as objective.

I would hope that long-standing contributors are more carefully considered when making a decision. Some newbie or lurker who makes an nuissance of himself wouldn't warrant the same consideration, IMO.

Having said that I agree that moderators give a lot of their spare time to police the forum and that it is a thankless job. People would rather have fun interacting with fellow members in lively discussions rather than clamp down on infractions. So, I would thank all the moderators for their efforts in keeping RAT a civil and entertaining forum to visit.

~Theo