I'm starting to get fucking sick of this. Like sick in a deep, penetrating sense to my very bone-tiredness.[...]
And EVERY FUCKING DAY I put up with the usual suspects, attacking and insulting me at every turn on this forum. Whatever I post, the usual bunch are there, insulting and lying about me.
And every Admin decision I make, they call me a fascist, and claim that this board is headed toward tyranny. [...]
Do any of you really believe that JArcane or James McMurray or Jimbob would be better admins who would value and defend free speech like I have, who would put up with the abuse I put up with every fucking day, and wouldn't just have gone on a fucking banning-spree by now?[...]
I did not say that you were a fascist, or that this board was headed toward tyranny.
I simply said that racist fuckers like Dominus Nox should be banned, and that people like James McMurray shouldn't be sanctioned for stirring shit unless they actually are doing so. This is because I don't believe in free speech on an rpg board; I believe in
free speech about roleplaying here on this rpg board. The rest is just cosmetic, and not really relevant. It can detract from therpgsite (like racist and sexist stuff, putting off potential members), but it can't really add to it (having intellectual debates about the existence of God may be interesting, but won't add anything rpg-wise). Since it can detract from but not add to the place, I would be more of an arsehole about moderating it. And I would certainly be called a fascist, and a tyrant, and so on.
Take for example this thread. There's a question about RPGPundit's moderation style, and there are a heap of responses about whether people personally like or dislike RPGPundit. It's irrelevant shit which does not address the question. I would prescribe "stay on-topic." For which I would no doubt be called fascist, tyrannical and so on. I would be delighted to oppress people by encouraging them to keep their comments at least within spitting distance of the topic at hand. After all, if you want to say that Poster X is a cunt, you can always start a new thread.
As an admin, I absolutely would have banned some posters by now. However, I would have been more often prescriptive than proscriptive. For example, rather than banning J_Arcane I would PM him to say that he should talk more about rpgs, and threadcrap and abuse people less.
Criticism of decisions you make is part of the job of being able to make decisions, RPGPundit. If you don't like that, then step down as an admin, and then you won't have to make any decisions. Otherwise you'll start to sound suspiciously like the admin/mods of a certain other rpg forum who are endlessly complaining that their volunteer efforts are unappreciated. Of
course it's unappreciated. That's the nature of anyone who's in a position to get things done and make decisions - everyone will complain when they think you're doing something wrong, no-one will praise you when they think you're doing something right. If you don't like it, quit, because it's not going to change, it's just human nature.