A question for forum moderators

[Eärendil Ardamírë]

These boards are provided at TaleWorld's expense. Purchasing a license for any of our games does not confer any right of access to these boards. This should be considered a privately owned forum of which we are all guests, nothing more.

Taken out of the forum rules.

@Callum is this correct that none of your moderators sign a contract with TaleWorlds including an NDA? Because if they do, they are employees of TaleWorlds which according to these two moderators they do not understand. If not are TaleWorlds crazy?

None of us signed anything when becoming a moderator, that is correct. Although I am just another moderator and you might want to rely on an answer of Callum upon which you can trust more.

You do realise that this is TaleWorlds offical forum. therefore you are representing the company on here?

I doubt that anyone of us really feels like representing the company here, in the end we are merely other community members helping at the forum.

Did I say I got paid for it? Please show me where I said that.

I would have said that you indicated it at the moment at which you pointed out this

Because if they do, they are employees of TaleWorlds which according to these two moderators they do not understand.

You might have selected the wrong wording here though.

 

[markp27]

Taken out of the forum rules.

All that does is state that TaleWorlds owns the forum, therefore proving my point that you as moderators are representing them.

I doubt that anyone of us really feels like representing the company here, in the end we are merely other community members helping at the forum.

You may not feel you are but that is exactly you are doing by being moderators.

 

[Alene]

You do realise that this is TaleWorlds offical forum. therefore you are representing the company on here?

Moderators do not represent the company, they represent the community.

 

[Orion]

@Callum is this correct that none of your moderators sign a contract with TaleWorlds including an NDA? Because if they do, they are employees of TaleWorlds which according to these two moderators they do not understand. If not are TaleWorlds crazy?

Note that I, for one, do not appreciate your condescension.

None of us have NDAs for anything on this forum. Kind of a pain in the ass since the advent of GDPR, actually, because now we have to run certain things like IP checks on duplicate accounts through Janus (who is contracted) or community managers. We discussed the ramifications of this at length internally, and decided it was best if we didn't have moderators enter into any contract with TaleWorlds. So no, we are not employees or contractually bound in any way.

---

Did I say I got paid for it? Please show me where I said that. I said that moderators are a form of customer service, nothing more than that. If you are not capable of being nice to people without being paid for it, that shows more about your character than it does about anything else.

Right here is where it's implied that you (or someone associated with your previous company) did:

I worked for a gaming company myself and we had a 24 hr policy in which any thread with trolling was shut down within that period. This is why I ask the question of why it takes so long.

That sounds like moderation by an employee (implying financial compensation) to me, unless you meant to say that this company contracted moderators other than yourself to do this sort of thing. Or, if it did not contract them just as TaleWorlds does not contract us, it's down to different community culture and goals.

---

You do realise that this is TaleWorlds offical forum. therefore you are representing the company on here?

If that is not what you want to do then you should resign from your posts as moderators.

This forum has been here for the better part of two decades, and at no point have the moderators been considered extensions or representatives of the company except in ignorance. As I said earlier, and as I will always maintain, we are forum users first. This community is--for lack of a better word--self-policing, and that is the responsibility we volunteered for. That does not separate us from the community, or make us beholden to TaleWorlds in any way. We are free to voice our own opinions regarding TaleWorlds, even those which are highly critical. Bit of a conundrum, isn't it, to be vocal in our criticism of the company and its product yet also be responsible for representing it publicly on this forum?

Alene, as a former moderator, said it best.

 

[markp27]

Moderators do not represent the company, they represent the community.

So no moderators have ever banned anyone? As the forum is owned by TaleWorlds and that would be representing them.

 

[Alene]

So no moderators have ever banned anyone? As the forum is owned by TaleWorlds and that would be representing them.

Of course they have. But I doubt they'd ban people it just because TW told them to.

 

[markp27]

This community is--for lack of a better word--self-policing, and that is the responsibility we volunteered for. That does not separate us from the community, or make us beholden to TaleWorlds in any way.

If this was true all of us would have moderator tools.

By having those tools you have become separate to the rest of us.

Of course they have. But I doubt they'd ban people it just because TW told them to.

So no developer has ever reported a member of the community? Nor has Callum ever banned or asked someone to warn a member of the community?

 

[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

Callum can report stuff just like any other user, and if what he reports is against the rules, the appropriate action would be taken. And if it is not, we tell him no.

 

[Alene]

So no developer has ever reported a member of the community? Nor has Callum ever banned or asked someone to warn a member of the community?

If dev reports a member of the community, the report would be handled as any other report would. If Callum bans someone by himself, then he does it. He is not a moderator though, and does represent the company. If he asks someone to do it for him, then it's up to the moderator's discretion if he does it or not.

 

[markp27]

Callum can report stuff just like any other user, and if what he reports is against the rules, the appropriate action would be taken. And if it is not, we tell him no.

The same Callum who helps write the rules of the forums

Thank you for that good old belly laugh.

If dev reports a member of the community, the report would be handled as any other report would. If Callum bans someone by himself, then he does it. He is not a moderator though, and does represent the company. If he asks someone to do it for him, then it's up to the moderator's discretion if he does it or not.

Erm ok , I think it's time to leave it there as we are now going into the realms of fantasy.

 

[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

the rules are written by the moderation team and have existed largely unchanged since before callum was even employed by taleworlds.

(also, alene is mistaken, all bans and warnings currently go through the moderation team and callum and other employees do not do any themselves)

 

[Orion]

If this was true all of us would have moderator tools.

By having those tools you have become separate to the rest of us.

You're free to think that, and I'm free to know better.

Developers do occasionally report members of the community, they actually have no moderation privileges of their own and leave it to the moderation team to decide how to handle that report. Alene is a little behind the times regarding community managers banning people, as they no longer do that. It's left solely to moderation now.

The same Callum who helps write the rules of the forums

Thank you for that good old belly laugh.

The same Callum whose name is now on a post originally drafted by Archonsod, a previous global moderator, yes. Practically all of the content of the rules was written by moderators including myself, not TaleWorlds employees.

 

[markp27]

You're free to think that, and I'm free to know better.

Developers do occasionally report members of the community, they actually have no moderation privileges of their own and leave it to the moderation team to decide how to handle that report. Alene is a little behind the times regarding community managers banning people, as they no longer do that. It's left solely to moderation now.


The same Callum whose name is now on a post originally drafted by Archonsod, a previous global moderator, yes. Practically all of the content of the rules was written by moderators including myself, not TaleWorlds employees.

So let me get this straight:

1) Moderators write the rules of the forum.
2) Moderators have tools that the rest of us do not have.
3) Moderators are allowed to bait members as demonstrated earlier in this thread.
4) What is Callum's job now as it seems according to what you have said, it is purely announcing new updates and patches? Town Crier may be a better job title. As the moderators have final say in bans, write the forum rules and do 90% of a community managers job.

Yet you are the same as the rest of us? Now that is condescending if you believe that and expect us to believe it too.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

Do you have an actual overall point here or are you just taking out your frustration?

 

[markp27]

Do you have an actual overall point here or are you just taking out your frustration?

The whole thing started off over 2 moderators trying to bait Cri11e on this thread. They decided to take it further and therefore we are now at this stage.

 

[Alene]

The whole thing started off over 2 moderators trying to bait Cri11e on this thread. They decided to take it further and therefore we are now at this stage.

There was a bait for Cri11e? Did you take it before I saw it?

 

[markp27]

There was a bait for Cri11e? Did you take it before I saw it?

Go to page two and you will see where the debate began and I pointed out where they mildly baited Cri11e. As he got a warning and a point for mild baiting it should be the same for the moderators.

 

[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

if that is your sincere belief you should consider reporting the comments instead of posting random nonsense next time. pro-tip.

 

[markp27]

if that is your sincere belief you should consider reporting the comments instead of posting random nonsense next time. pro-tip.

Why when you are all on this thread

I very rarely report anyone for anything. It has to be serious enough in my own view to merit that.

 

[Orion]

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Which post are you referring to? You've actually pointed out nothing of the sort, you just claimed it happened.
4) Callum works with forum moderation to help decide our policies and for everything beyond the scope of rule enforcement. He also manages moderation of other platforms the company has a presence on, such as Steam. Further, he manages social media accounts for TaleWorlds like their twitter, among other responsibilities. As a matter of fact, he's less focused on the forum now than ever before because @Dejan (formerly a global moderator) was hired to focus on this aspect of the community. He knows exactly how our team dynamic works, so perhaps your concerns might be best answered by him.

As much as you may think Monty (Antoine, above) is pulling your leg, I can personally attest to the fact that we have issued warnings and mutes to moderators in the past.