Say One Thing, Do Another

Chalk this one under "wacky things that will get you modded on GameFAQs" - Today's issue with the moderation system comes from Mr_Positivity over at NGS, who was recently accused of harassment. The reason? A topic where several board regulars were placed on a voting list for favorite user. Someone complained about their inclusion on the list, and so the whole thing naturally had to be taken down. This raises the question, can someone get you modded if you mention their account anywhere in passing? To call this harassment is...interesting, because the person in question was not spoken about in a negative way, and was simply included on a big list of boardgoers. You would think it'd be rude to single someone out and leave them off the list.

To Mr_Positivity, this raises a consistency problem more than anything else. On Hellhole, he noted that moderators were asked about similar contests before. gmo responded that they were fine.

Personally, I would say it's one of those things that if the user who doesn't want to see his/her name in this type of contest, he/she doesn't have to look at the topic. It's basically harmless fun, and if a user doesn't want to participate in the topic, no one is forcing that user to participate. At the end of the day, it's not like anything is won or loss for being voted as the "most popular user" or "most liked user", and nothing is won or loss for being voted as the "least popular" or "least liked" user (basically, the user who receives the fewest votes).

I know some people may not like that thought, but in all honesty, I've never heard a good reason not to include someone just because they didn't want to be included. It's hurting no one.

Unfortunately once this contest topic was made along the same lines, the line from the moderators was different. We can't say TC didn't do his research, the only mistake appears to be expecting moderators would be consistent. While gmo said one thing, another moderator did something else. 

In a copy of the dispute received by GUAC, yet another topic was brought up as precedent: a rate the user  contest right on Hellhole. Here's another mod response from that topic:

As a registered user on this site, he has the right to make any topic he wishes to make as long as it is within the scope of the Terms of Use. As long as he doesn't say anything like "this user sucks" or make a poll with only "1s" for potential score, there's nothing wrong with making the poll/topic.

Asking politely (or even inpolitely) for him to not make the topic does nothing in all honesty. It might be rude for him to make the topic now that he knows your desires, but being rude is not against the ToU.

Frankly, if you don't wish to see said topic, should it be made, the only thing I can advise you to do is not visit the board.

So if a rate the user topic with a single individual is allowed, what's the harm in holding a contest where no one is singled out and the only votes you can give are positive votes in favor of a certain person? That's certainly not harassment, that's a poll. Or as Mr_Positivity put it, "In no way is telling someone 'hey, I like you' considered hostile or harassing." gmo didn't seem to find a problem with it, under a plain reading of what the Terms laid out:

And, exactly of what part of "chapter 4" of the ToU would said topic be in violation?...
Harassment/Stalking/Privacy? My assumption is this is what you're going after, so let's look at this.

"Continual harassing behavior directed towards a certain individual or group by another individual or group with the intent of creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the Service, with or without use of explicit or implicit threats, is strictly prohibited."

Well, I'm not seeing how creating an open topic that has been created for a large number of users fits this. Perhaps if it was made in a manner (as I said before) that made it insulting toward you, maybe just maybe I could see it. But, in no way, shape, or form would that be "continual harassing behavior". It would not be done with the "intent of creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the Service", as it had been done for other users.

...

I'm pretty much done with you, as your comprehension level of things related to this site is - how shall I put this - different from those who actually know about what they're talking.

That's a pretty conclusive ending there, that suggests anyone on the site would get what is and isn't harassment (and these polls aren't). Yet here we are with a "harassment" charge for doing something that was not malicious in any way and was defended by the mods multiple times. Now the mods tell us the recent topic was "a means to upset" the user in question? It's hard to see how. There were 180 people in the poll, and the whole thing had to be taken down as harassment because one person complained? Despite what gmo insisted multiple times, apparently.

You might be saying well, that was just gmo's personal opinion. Yet Mr_Positivity did his homework there as well and found this section of Ask the Mods written by our Dear Admin SBAllen:

4) Even if you disagree with a moderator's response, do not ignore the answer or ask for a different moderator to reply. The moderation staff will be monitoring this board and if one of us sees an answer that might not be totally correct, we will attempt to get a more accurate answer. This ties in with #5.

5) It's possible for a moderator to answer incorrectly. We are all human and we make mistakes. In this case, we will try to get the incorrect answer removed and get a more accurate answer posted as quickly as possible. 

Have the moderators acted on this? No. Instead, they moved to uphold Mr_Positivity's appeal twice, and his topic on Hellhole was locked. gmo's response was to say he isn't a mod...even though he was at the time. Perhaps it's easier for the mods to ignore the problem than correct a mistake.

For Mr_Positivity, that's the biggest issue. "My main gripe is that false information remains on the site, which is quite obviously confusing to anyone looking for clarification." Granted, getting an administrator to remove archived messages may take some time. Meanwhile the mods will be quick to say one thing, then do another.