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Author Topic: The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed  (Read 10890 times)

Shasarak

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« on: November 03, 2019, 09:39:30 PM »
I thought there would be people here who may be interested in knowing how stressful it is to moderate RPG Net.

Spoiler: It is very stressful.


RPG Historian Shannon Appelcline Told to Cease & Desist by TSR- Ep.166
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Bren

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2019, 10:05:49 PM »
Moderating RPGNet is stressful? Well so is posting. I guess Shannon is just the kind of giving person who wants to share with others. Though I'd be happier if what Shannon was sharing with me was the money instead of the stress.
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TheShadow

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2019, 12:07:17 AM »
Anyone recall how they made an exception to their rule about "no group attacks" for attacks on members of ICE? That meant not only criticism of ICE policy or certain actions was OK, but just any attacks on any employees was OK. And they stickied the new rule exception just so everyone knew. Classy.
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HappyDaze

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2019, 12:16:32 AM »
Quote from: The_Shadow;1112902
Anyone recall how they made an exception to their rule about "no group attacks" for attacks on members of ICE? That meant not only criticism of ICE policy or certain actions was OK, but just any attacks on any employees was OK. And they stickied the new rule exception just so everyone knew. Classy.

Since this is the games forum, I was thinking you were talking about Iron Crown Enterprises. Silly me.

TheShadow

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2019, 12:36:02 AM »
Quote from: HappyDaze;1112904
Since this is the games forum, I was thinking you were talking about Iron Crown Enterprises. Silly me.

Fair enough! Nope, not the venerable games publisher.
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thedungeondelver

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2019, 01:31:41 AM »
I thought I could get through some of it but I had to shut that off pdq
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Fergurg

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2019, 02:03:23 AM »
Quote from: The_Shadow;1112902
Anyone recall how they made an exception to their rule about "no group attacks" for attacks on members of ICE? That meant not only criticism of ICE policy or certain actions was OK, but just any attacks on any employees was OK. And they stickied the new rule exception just so everyone knew. Classy.

I remember the wording of the new rule: "New policy: Fuck ICE! Fuck anyone who doesn't fuck ICE!"

Melan

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2019, 04:45:10 AM »
Quote from: Shasarak;1112895
I thought there would be people here who may be interested in knowing how stressful it is to moderate RPG Net.

Spoiler: It is very stressful.
No surprises, they have been complaining about the stress of moderating ever since... hum, ever since they tightened up moderation into the current bureaucratic nightmare? So more than thirteen years. The mods have been burned out, testy, and feeling put upon. Some have burned out altogether and abdicated (horrormod Darren McLellan), while some (like Cessna) are just constantly frustrated about Having To Do Hard Decisions. It gets brought up as a conversation topic every now and then, but nothing happens, and the cycle continues.

There should be no surprise. A petty, bureaucratic system of repression breeds stress, burnout, and resentment; and nowhere more so than among the bureaucrats doing the unending work of repression. The obsessive pedantry and over-regulation of discussion on RPGNet, the periodic, convulsive purging of wrong-thinkers (by now almost exclusively hard leftists themselves) naturally produces a nasty, unpleasant environment nobody really enjoys. Welcome to communism. Remember: this time, you wanted it.

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." -- Karl Marx, austere atheist scholar
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Omega

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2019, 05:49:59 AM »
I doubt they know what real stress from real moderation even is.

I've been a moderator/admin for a RP site for a long time now and have unfortunately had to deal with some things that ended up being stressful for one reason or another. Especially if it involved possibly having to delete someones account. Like being a judge in court but having usually only bits of detail and player A's claim vs player Bs. Or having to read through event logs and sort out who did what or if they did anything at all.

And that is before getting to the absolute sociopaths that I have had to deal with. Several of which I was never able to put a real stop to as they just moved to other venues and are appallingly good at deflecting suspicion and infiltrating groups.

SirBercelak

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #9 on: November 04, 2019, 02:36:54 PM »
Quote from: Melan;1112917
...

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." -- Karl Marx, austere atheist scholar


LOL. I'm going to borrow that description for future discussions of the man.

Haffrung

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #10 on: November 04, 2019, 03:56:37 PM »
I wonder if it occurs to Appelcine to ask himself why an RPG forum is so stressful to moderate and why it requires so many mods. I've seen other forums with thousands of active users that seem to manage with three or four part-time mods, and where suspensions happen maybe once a month.

I suppose it would be too much to expect that the people at RPGNet recognize that it's politics, and not gaming, that makes the site so contentious. And that they're the ones who chose to make the forums political.
 

GeekEclectic

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #11 on: November 04, 2019, 05:55:49 PM »
Quote from: Haffrung;1112971
I wonder if it occurs to Appelcine to ask himself why an RPG forum is so stressful to moderate and why it requires so many mods. I've seen other forums with thousands of active users that seem to manage with three or four part-time mods, and where suspensions happen maybe once a month.
I was a moderator at what at the time was the largest specifically theological and political forum on the net, and it was so easy. Rules were clear and concise(no labyrinthine maze of traps to navigate). Chain of command was super clear, individual mods were assigned to specific areas(not given free reign of the entire thing), and moderators were absolutely not allowed to moderate threads they were personally participating in. New members were specially welcomed, reports were addressed, and appeals were ruled on - all in a very timely manner. Forum moderation can be time-consuming, especially depending on any extra bells and whistles you want to provide, but it's not hard.
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JeremyR

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #12 on: November 04, 2019, 09:03:04 PM »
Quote from: The_Shadow;1112902
Anyone recall how they made an exception to their rule about "no group attacks" for attacks on members of ICE? That meant not only criticism of ICE policy or certain actions was OK, but just any attacks on any employees was OK. And they stickied the new rule exception just so everyone knew. Classy.


That rule was never really enforced depending on politics. I got permabanned there years ago because I complained that a thread calling Americans dumb for liking Hollywood movies was a group attack. (And also wrong, because many of the really dumb movies, like Battleship, are way more popular overseas than in the US)

Melan

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2019, 12:51:59 AM »
Quote from: GeekEclectic;1112989
I was a moderator at what at the time was the largest specifically theological and political forum on the net, and it was so easy. Rules were clear and concise(no labyrinthine maze of traps to navigate). Chain of command was super clear, individual mods were assigned to specific areas(not given free reign of the entire thing), and moderators were absolutely not allowed to moderate threads they were personally participating in. New members were specially welcomed, reports were addressed, and appeals were ruled on - all in a very timely manner. Forum moderation can be time-consuming, especially depending on any extra bells and whistles you want to provide, but it's not hard.
Was that in 1997? :DMore seriously, I wonder if you could still create and maintain a place like that. Bad-faith arguments tend to be the norm these days (even here, to be honest), and deliberately attacking and destroying "moderate" grounds seems to be the norm. Few people want Tanelorn; it is all Law or Chaos.
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Omega

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The Brains behind RPG Net Shannon Appelcline Interviewed
« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2019, 02:37:27 AM »
I think alot of normal fora have been gradually destroyed, co-opted or members 'converted' to the cause. Partially because these so called activists see them as fertile breeding grounds for more cultists once you take over. One of those sociopaths I noted above would systematically infiltraite a site and then over time gather enough followers to run off anyone he didn't approve of. Which in many cases meant the death of the site as that meant running off artists and writers who liked to cover multiple themes and suddenly found themselves under attack for doing anything related to a hated theme. And if he could not do that then he'd have members of his little hate group enter a site covertly and then just gather names of members so they could be banned from other sites they did control. And this has been going on for at least two and a half decades.