Can we have better forum moderators?

[Helana Ashryvr]

I made a post on patchwork forum: about a smurf account with a similar profile who's going around playing patchwork disingenuously trying to go for a winstreak, playing consistently beneath their rating while also making unpleasant derogatory comments about the opponent thats extremely off-putting during the game. They stop playing after a loss and create a new profile and start over again. The post was about warning other patchwork players about this unpleasant person, but instead the forum moderators locked and deleted the post asking me to start a moderation report.

https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37466

The post was about warning other players more than about moderation (which believe me I did, they lost a bit of their karma and guess what they are back with a shiny new profile!!).

Moderators: Moderation and communal discussion is not the same thing.

[Meeplelowda]

I made a post on patchwork forum: about a smurf account with a similar profile who's going around playing patchwork disingenuously trying to go for a winstreak, playing consistently beneath their rating while also making unpleasant derogatory comments about the opponent thats extremely off-putting during the game. They stop playing after a loss and create a new profile and start over again. The post was about warning other patchwork players about this unpleasant person, but instead the forum moderators locked and deleted the post asking me to start a moderation report.

https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37466

The post was about warning other players more than about moderation (which believe me I did, they lost a bit of their karma and guess what they are back with a shiny new profile!!).

Moderators: Moderation and communal discussion is not the same thing.

It is a "warning" if you're right. It is defamation if you're wrong. BGA has decided they don't want accusations against specific users aired out in the forums whether or not the accusations are justified. I once had a post edited for referring to the acronym of a person's username that you would only recognize if you already knew the full username.

What the moderator did was within policy, and now you know what the policy is.

[ChiefPointThief]

What is the actual goal you believe this person is trying to accomplish? Are they avoiding penalties for trash talk? You aren’t a arena player (at least I don’t think) and the top elo for this game is over 1000 so it can’t be those. Also if you are going for a win streak award it will require the same amount of wins after a loss if they start over with a new account.

You can’t call out people by names because sometimes people are just simply wrong with cheating accusations but I do agree there are issues with forum moderations.

[GTSchemer]

The forum rules are extremely clear. It's easy to simply report the chat messages in question if someone is saying disgusting things. People are warned, banned, or have chat privileges removed for that behavior.

However, do not post usernames in the forum -- just follow the rules and the moderators are very responsive to good-faith reports about chat abuse.

[Helana Ashryvr]

This person makes repeated profile, as the other commenter mentioned over 20 identified ones. None of the usernames I mentioned are active, because that's their modus operandi. They play for a winstreak, and stop after losing their first game. All the while engaging in an unpleasant discussion at the table. I reported 2 of these profiles to moderation and they are still here on a new avcount playing on a 26th win streak. It's a trend over 20 profiles. I don't have a habit of defamation or bring personal problems to the public. So please stop judging me for my obvious frustration. I've done what I could by reporting them the normal way and their ip remains unbanned and it's not a very pleasant experience until you experience it yourself.

I do not know why they do what they do, im not here to understand that. I play this game for fun. I don't have to be an arena player or 1000 elo player number 1 to bring up what I think identifies as problematic and warrants a communal awareness.

[RobertBr]

I don't have a habit of defamation or bring personal problems to the public. So please stop judging me for my obvious frustration.

90% of the posts on the forums before BGA clamped down on this fell in the defamation category. You've chosen to associate yourself with that so stop being frustrated that people point it out. You can report things through the moderation, you cannot identify players on the forums - that is the rule, its there for a good reason.

[Helana Ashryvr]

If it were possible for you to read my original post, you'd know this not a usual defamation case. Moderation means taking a minute to actually pay attention to what one is moderating (wrt forum moderators) rather than blindly following a rule and asking me to go report an unknown identity, when ive been trying that for weeks.

[ChiefPointThief]

I don't have a habit of defamation or bring personal problems to the public. So please stop judging me for my obvious frustration.

90% of the posts on the forums before BGA clamped down on this fell in the defamation category. You've chosen to associate yourself with that so stop being frustrated that people point it out. You can report things through the moderation, you cannot identify players on the forums - that is the rule, its there for a good reason.

You said 99% when commenting on this same topic a few days ago I'm curios what do you believe is the actual #? I see the same "this player is better than me so the must be cheating" post as you but I still believe the legitimate claims I see outweigh those.

[ChiefPointThief]

If it were possible for you to read my original post, you'd know this not a usual defamation case. Moderation means taking a minute to actually pay attention to what one is moderating (wrt forum moderators) rather than blindly following a rule and asking me to go report an unknown identity, when ive been trying that for weeks.

For this reason this policy is a double edged sword. While the moderators are "investigating" these cheating accounts are cheating possibly hundreds of players. There was a recent poster who thought their report was going unanswered but bga finally resolved it after a month or so. They may be considering your report it just takes a long time. It would be nice if the person sending the report was made aware if it was pending or it was thrown out.

[Nekojin]

"Name and Shame" being against the rules isn't just a quirk of BGA's moderation rules, it's the rule in ANY gaming site that wants any semblance of civility and friendly engagement. Allowing "Name and Shame" turns forums into muddy cesspits, worthless for actually discussing the games.

If everything you're talking about is correct, give the Moderators time to do their jobs responsibly. Knee-jerk reactions don't help anyone.