Come on folks – let’s go back to basic forum admin/mod/management school:

Just because you can exercise a power doesn’t mean you should; the powers of responsibility are best acted upon when there is a need, not simply opportunity.

This afternoon we have mods locking multiple threads about the Nac fire/downtime, and pointing people to a non-working thread. Come on folks – what do you have a “merge thread” function for? Better to have two working threads on a hot subject than lots of locked threads and one non-working topic.

Also, the Nirmani thread was locked – apparently because Nirmani isn’t replying. Here we have a situation where customers are *still* asking why content from the maya server isn’t available – it’s still a current issue and not at all resolved, and I know this because I am one. Yet the the topic is locked because Nirmani customers shouldn’t discuss the matter if Nirmani isn’t answering? Come on – this is silly – how many featureprice and cyberwings threads have we seen here? Are those subjects all going to be locked and dropped simply because there are not representatives from those companies replying this month?

Come on mods – let’s apply a little more common sense. Positions of responsibility demand exactly that.

You just got a thread closed for the same thing you are doing here...if you have a problem with the mods, contact them by clicking on the "moderators" link at the bottom of the page. And you question their common sense?

Nothing wrong with your questions, just with the means you are using to pose them. The first time, it was one thing....but as soon as one thread is closed you start another on the same topic.....<shaking head>

I did actually contact anon-e-mouse but only got a reply to the first PM.

The other thread was actually aimed at the person asking the question, not the mod. Read again and you'll see that. I ended up e-mailing.

I figured this was a place for general comment on WHT. Surely I'm not going to have my wrist slapped for that??

This afternoon we have mods locking multiple threads about the Nac fire/downtime, and pointing people to a non-working thread. Come on folks – what do you have a “merge thread” function for? Better to have two working threads on a hot subject than lots of locked threads and one non-working topic.

We had no idea the non-working thread was non-working until it was too late. If you'll notice - I created a new thread to fix the non working thread problem, and then that one broke down.

When the forum gets as busy as it did (we hit 1100 people online, with the Nac threads popping out very fast) merging threads creates confusion and simply takes too long.


The threads became non working because of a problem we can't solve yet - webdev's pretty sure of the problem but right now the only solution is one that we just can't apply.

Also, We locked only about 3-4 threads out of the dozen or so that were started - so "lots" is over-stating it.

As for Nirmani - I still don't see an email in the box - if you've already sent it, please re-send it as it might have gotten caught in my spam filter.


Finally as I said in another thread - I'm more than willing to read threads like these, and sometimes I'll respond (like I'm doing now) - BUT, when you attempt to insult us (by saying things like "Come on folks – let’s go back to basic forum admin/mod/management school:"), that's where I draw the line. You're free to criticize us however you like, provided that you do it respectably. If you need to contact us and point out a mistake we may have made - email us at moderators@webhostingtalk.com - contrary to what anyone else says, they do get read daily, and are responded to as soon as humanly possible. And let's not forget - all the mods here work for free - we take time OUT of our regular lives to make sure things are running smoothly.

Sure, I'Brian . . . . Let's get back to school.

What part of, "If you have an issue for moderators; e-mail us" don't you understand?

What part of, "If you have an issue with a provider; open a thread" don't you understand?

Sorry. Technology is not infallible. Much as we would hope to believe. For you to think that we sabotage the board just to annoy you, is . . . . well . . . . not only annoying; but arogant to think we have nothing else to do. Thhreads break.


This thread can stay open, for now, because you addressed mods; instead of a single mod.

So, come on; let's get back to basics.

Use some common sense.

rochen has a good signature that reads, "- Think before you type – Review before you submit – Reflect after you post!"

Godd advice for us all.

Originally posted by I, Brian
. . . . . . I ended up e-mailing. . . . . . Strange. I see no email from you. Are you sure you emailed moderators@WebHostingTalk?

I, Brian - no need to worry - pretty soon they will lock this thread too :)

Crikey - talk about getting people's backs up. That certainly was not my intention.

I did PM mouse about the issue with the Nirmani thread - curt reply received, but not to the query that followed. Apologies if I inadvertently misled on the e-mail issue.

Do appreicate the sensitivity of the Nirmani situation - someone is asking why their site is still down, but rather than being allowed a reply that their server is no longer attached to the internet, the thread is locked. Apparently a new thread should be started - yet on the same board, same topic posts are preferred on the same thread. Notice a contradiction here?

The quotes from SWR - where would I find these? I don't see them stated in the "rules", and there's no sticky thread about users conteacting mods that I see. And this forum has the heading: "WHT: Announcements, Suggestions, Feedback & Questions", yes? That's why I posted here.

The "back to school" comment wasn't intended to be offensive - it was a reference to back to basics. Please note my point before you obejct to the language. I was trying to be informal. If you wanted I could be formally patronising. ;)

Mods, please, do take a chill pill before replying. The replies on so far seem to be getting even more misconstrued, and are taking this issue way beyond its intended and proper focus..

Originally posted by I, Brian
...and there's no sticky thread about users conteacting mods that I see...
Check the rules...
We reserve the right to remove, modify or move posts at our discretion and without explanation. If you have any questions, please e-mail the moderators.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/misc.php?s=&action=forum-rules

I think there may have been a few pre-mature thread closings lately. I would also agree that simply because the web host being questioned refuses to reply to the thread, that should not be a reason to close the thread. This thread (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=146101&perpage=30&pagenumber=5) was closed because the web host said they would no longer reply and the thread starter was given last word. There were however other customers from that web host that were posting in that thread and I would have thought their input was relevant as well.

That part aside, today was a perfect example when Web Hosting Talk was needed the most. An entire DC failed and there were tons of people needing to discuss the events. Yet this forum was failing miserably from a technical standpoint. I saw the mods running around doing whatever they could to keep things in check but as fast as new NAC threads were started, they became invalid as no one could post to them. I would say the mods did a tremendous job considering the number of people trying to post, not being able to and starting new threads as a result.

I guess the question I have is this, if you cannot implement a permenant solution at this time, is it possible to implement a temporary one?

No one is forcing anybody to participate in these forums. How much do you pay to post and read here?
If people don't like the way the mods moderate, go to another forum or start your own and moderate it any way you like.

That's a bit harsh blue.

Discussion with the goal of improvement is not a bad thing, certainly not something to say "go start your own" over. I would think that everyone that reads or posts at WHT are a part of the community here. While the mods, admins, owners are certainly not under any obligation to say anything to anyone, communication with the members of the Community is a healthy thing for all parties involved...

Watcher_TVI, my response is based not only on this thread but on a bunch of threads questioning the tactics of the mods here lately. If these mods are getting paid by WHT then they are subject to this kind of criticism otherwise I don't think I've been too harsh in my judgement.
I have had threads that I was participating in closed as well that I would like to have had continued, but it's not life or death. I move on to another one.
Everyone has the right to start a new thread.

Originally posted by I, Brian
I did actually contact anon-e-mouse but only got a reply to the first PM.
I received notification of your second one when I logged on this morning, but decided to check some reported posts first and this thread was one of them.

Some of us do sleep ;)

Originally posted by I, Brian
. . . . . . .The quotes from SWR - where would I find these?. . . . . http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=1179574#post1179574

There is absolutly no way to manage a forum of this size without having harsh rules. Imagine if everybody said "YGPM" That would eat up a few GB's of data at least. Also, I got a "unfriendly" pm from somebody that seems mad at me for directing him to a rule instead of using the report button. No more mercy.

Originally posted by Watcher_TVI
. . . . . . . I guess the question I have is this, if you cannot implement a permenant solution at this time, is it possible to implement a temporary one? Most times we can fix them. Sometimes we can't. WebDev has been working with vBullletin on a solution. But, they haven't been much help. He's likely going to try upgrading the board and possibly removing some hacks soon to see if that helps.

Originally posted by Watcher_TVI

I guess the question I have is this, if you cannot implement a permenant solution at this time, is it possible to implement a temporary one?

The only current solution I'm given is to disable email notifications, as it appears to be a board glitch with that, and from reading vbulletin, I'm not the only one who has bumped into it. Unfortunately I think everyone here would agree, disabling email notification is not an option. When I'm able, I'm going to begin with a clean slated upgrade to version 2.3, this'll mean the hacks will be gone for a bit while it's troubleshot from the ground up ( vBulletin will not touch the server if it has any hacks installed, at all, despite what the hacks do and if they have nothing to do with the problem ). I've got a test platform set up to begin experimenting with 2.3 and wht before going live with it, but unfortunately my priorities are elsewhere for the remainder of the week. In the meantime the mods will continue to do their best to revive threads that you can no longer reply to, I'm also considering hacking it so that they can clear the subscribethread table with a single click for the broken thread ( This'll drop the email notification subscriptions for that thread only ) and that fixes the issue ( Tested this database side )

Originally posted by I, Brian
. . . . . . Mods, please, do take a chill pill before replying. The replies on so far seem to be getting even more misconstrued, and are taking this issue way beyond its intended and proper focus.. Well, telling them to "take a chill pill" is certainly going to help now; isn't it?

Let's see. You do not email mods in private (as has been pointed out to you several times to do).

You attack them in public instead.

And they're not supposed to take offense?

Sorry; mods are human too. It is a thankless position, occasionally fraught with threads of this nature started by the few that don't agree.

We're not all going to agree. It's not going to happen. But, when you don't agree with the actions of a moderator, how can anyone possibly think that the best course of action is to start a thread on the forum they're moderating and say how much moderators and therefore the forum, sucks?

I fail to see how that is going to accomplish anything. Unless, of course, you are attempting to provoke a response that would show them in poor light; or trying to round together the few others that do not agree with moderation and would rather just have a free-for-all type forum.

Thanks very much for the replies...

I see where the email notifications having to be disabled would not be an option. It's also a shame that VBulletin does not desire to take a more active interest in helping WHT. After all, the nature of the forum and the amount of traffic here I would think would be enough incentive to look past their *normal* policy and help out.

As for being mods being human, having a life, and doing this for free? I had always thought they were bots anyway....:D

Generally speaking SWR is right. Basically Mods have a thankless job but I'm glad they do it as well as they do. This place is a huge, positive resource for many people and I am pretty happy it's available and that I can be a part of it....

I really do not understand the haughty attitude of the mods on this thread. Why do you think it is so wrong to make public comment?

my response is based not only on this thread but on a bunch of threads questioning the tactics of the mods here lately.

I maintain that you have completely mis-construed me from the very beginning. I figure that Chicken's leaving caused a real fuss, but I really wasn't around at the time to see, nor have any association with anything that may have happened.

Well, since we can't understand you, there's no need for this thread.


(somebody had to do it)

Why do you think it is so wrong to make public comment?

You're free to criticize us however you like, provided that you do it respectably. If you need to contact us and point out a mistake we may have made - email us at moderators@webhostingtalk.com

Chicken's leaving caused no fuss - other than what mods had previously let slide (as far as rules go) isn't going to go unnoticed anymore. There has been an increase in reported posts and threads, which means there is an increase in action by the moderators.

If you think we're not doing our unpaid jobs the way it should be done - then please give us some suggestions - other members have given me some before, and I've used nearly all of them.