[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Orange Gelato

They really should only jump into conversatiosn when they have something to add to the conversation in a polite, civil way [...]

This goes for all users, moderators or not

I'm starting this thread because I think it is important to have a place on this forum for this conversation.

By all means discuss it, but keep in mind that, according to the posting guidelines:

"discussions or questions about the actions of the Moderating Team are not permitted on open forum. Moderation actions are confidential between the team and the member in question. If you have any questions about an action, please address them to the team or other member by Private Message."

A little while ago, a user called "Inktelligent" made a thread in the "Which one should I buy?" and posted a link to his you tube video comparing a few e-reader sizes. For reason I can not understand, he was instantly swamped with really negative comments. The first one of these came from a moderator [...] who described the possibility that "Inktelligent"s video had "ghastly" music before he even saw it.

Again from the guidelines:

"Do not comment about other member's possible guideline violations on open forum. Instead, please use the "report post" button to report any post that appears to contravene these guidelines. It is the button at the lower-left of posts and the upper right of private messages."

So, if you think some posts are unnecessarily harsh or impolite, please report them, from a moderator or from anyone else.

But anyway, just as it is everyone's job to be polite towards others, it's also others' job to understand that everyone likes different things, and that comments are, in general, not meant to be offensive, even when they are on the dry and blunt side. (I mean, when someone says "oh, my, that's crap", well... I don't see that as sanctionable, but it depends on the context, of course. And here I'm talking as an individual, not as moderator.)

As PeterT says, moderators are normal members most of the time. While they have a responsibility to maintain order and good behaviour, not everything they do is on their moderator role, just like policemen can also enjoy a football match when they are not on duty.

Moderator Notice
If, on the other hand, you have complaints about a moderator's actions as a moderator (deleting a post, closing a thread, banning a member), as indicated above, do not discuss it in a public forum like this, instead send a private message to the moderator in question or to some other moderator.

(That's what it looks like when we want to make it clear that we act as moderators)