Messengers become targets. That comes with the territory and it's something that every thoughtful forum member who gets offered mod ops considers in advance. The best moderators are the ones who have to be talked into accepting the responsibility.
We're the ones who say no and make it stick when somebody breaks the rules. Moderators don't write those rules, but part of what we do is apply those rules. There's a link in my forum signature for anyone who wants to read the rules.
You probably didn't click on it; few do. But they still apply.
Most people are reasonable when a moderator sets out where the boundaries are. Which makes sense; a forum would get flooded with spam if rules didn't exist. The minimum age to play this game is 13 so it's a PG-13 environment. One yardstick for where to intervene is, "Would this be appropriate if an eighth grader were standing in the room and the parents were present?"
4chan is thataway.
The forum has other parameters, most of which are standard at a business website. If you went to Coca-Cola's website and talked about what a great product Pepsi is, your post wouldn't stay live very long. There are other venues for product comparison. A few of the rules are specific to the gaming industry. In a better world it wouldn't be necessary to write a rule specifically about "I quit" threads, but that type of thread is common in Internet communities and especially prevalent in gaming. Most of the time it doesn't prove true.
There's a very interesting analysis at a site called Meatball Wiki, which is dedicated to online community dynamics. To quote a highlight:
Very often, a goodbye message is not an attempt to leave, but an attempt to draw all the attention upon oneself. In this way it is typically PassiveAggressive, as an intrinsically NonViolent act--the RightToLeave--is turned around to become a vehicle for violence. If it helps you think of it, the GoodBye message is seen as the author as a means to punish the rest of the community for failing him or her. As in, "Fine, I'll show you. I'm out of here."
The trouble with goodbye messages is they are often taken naively on face value by the community. In the case where the community actually does not want the person to leave because they like him or her, outpourings of messages will come to keep the person within the fold. However, this is merely acquiescing to the ultimatum the author has presented. "Love me or I am leaving." All ultimata must be called as it is unacceptable to use emotional extortion to get special treatment, thus this strategy ultimately fails as the community will end up eating humble pie when they have to live with the person whom they were fighting with. It's hard to go back and disagree with them again (as the original dispute has not been settled) after you just exclaimed your undying admiration. Thus they gain shortcut privileges as a VestedContributor.On the whole these are reasonable parameters and I'm OK with them. If I had been the one to write the forum rules I probably would have written a few of them differently, but I can accept what's there. The tricky thing about being one of the relatively few people who has the buttons to say no and make it stick is that the least reasonable people inevitably cross one's path.
That segues into a topic which is best described in a separate post. To preview: one of the most widespread misconceptions within the game community--even among the game's most experienced and well intentioned players--is about what types of self-censorship moderators adhere to. We are not employees and we are not there to defend the company. What does happen is different: my humor has become much more gentle since getting moderator ops. The moment one accepts the extra responsibility, cheers of congratulations come in...for about three days. Afterward people are apt to suppose that you've either sold out or the power has gone to your head.
Seriously, moderating an online game forum isn't much power. But if a person is going to let power go to their head it doesn't take much power to do it.
Before writing the next post I have someone to meet at Starbucks. So here's a Cracked story to keep things amusing: 5 People who Abused Tiny Amounts of Power in Hilarious Ways.
