what to do when mods commit offenses. Options

[*not_your_average*]

If a mod ever commits an offense, how should it be handled? Should we treat the offense as we would any other? Or should we give a harder/easier punishment? I've seen mods break rules before, and nothing happens to them simply becasue they are mods. I feel taht we should be objective when it comes to enforcing the rules, and that we should treat a mod the same way we would treat any other member.

[racoons > you]

that would be my major example, yes, but it has also happened with others, for instance justin (sadolakced_acid) and jose (solipsist) that i can think of off the top of my head.

[*mipadi*]

that would be my major example, yes, but it has also happened with others, for instance justin (sadolakced_acid) and jose (solipsist) that i can think of off the top of my head.

I don't mean to call you out specifically, but since you brought it up, I'm going to use your example since it is a fairly good example. (I hope you understand where I'm coming from.)

To be honest, I think this is an example of exactly what I am talking about when I say that all members, regardless of experience or position on cB, need to be held to a higher standard. Again, I don't mean to call you out specifically, but sometimes you and tweeak do get into spam-like conversations in threads that could be better handled over IM or PM's. You might not see it as a distraction, but others do. However, you're very seldomly called on it because you have been around a lot and tweeak is a mod; however, you know very well that if a member who had been here for, say, a month or so, or only had maybe fifty posts, did the same thing, there'd be a dozen people, undoubtedly some of them mods, who would instantly respond with "Don't spam."

It is the duty of the people with more posts counts and more experience on cB to set an example for new members. This definitely includes mods. Mods should hold themselves to a higher standard. You should never see a mod going off on a long personal conversation in a thread that has little or nothing to do with the topic at hand. Mods, and experienced members, should try their best to set an example.

While that is a good argument for holding mods to a higher standard and punishing them more severely, they are also just normal people after all. They want to have fun, too. So I can understand not wanting to hold mods to tougher standards, which is why I take the position that they should be held to the same standards as a normal member, but should not be "let off the hook" for offenses that other members would get warned for. Note that this means that other mods do need to take an active role in policing themselves, and have the nerves to stand up to other mods.

Furthermore, allowing relaxed rules for long-term members and mods creates a sort of "clique" on cB that makes it seem as though people are more important than others merely because they have been around here longer. People talk about the "drama" on cB all the time--well, if you want to see the cause, just look at the various cliques that have popped up around here in an effort to make some people seem more important or otherwise privileged than other members. That is something we most certainly do not need and do not want to encourage. Therefore, I think that the same standards that apply to regular members must apply to mods and admins--no more, no less.

(And please, I hope that no one gets the feeling I am specifically picking on certain members. I am merely using an example that has been brought up--I certainly do not hate or even dislike anyone I used in my example. I'm also not saying that everything I said in my post strictly applies to those I mentioned--while I used an example, mostly I'm speaking in a broad sense. I hope no one takes my post in an offensive manner because it was not meant to be delivered in the spirit of a personal attack.)