The account remover

Bastion

I miss Janitor too, but yes, the real world needs her brains far more than TVTropes.

Avenue: I understand that part, but then I have to wonder why he brought up deleting edit history to begin with.

FrodoGoofballCoTV

I also thought Madrugada was fairly good, at least a lot of the time.  Once, on the thread for helping people that can't type english, Eddie made a disparaging post, and Mady told him to get off the thread!  I thought that was pretty cool to stick up for the members who were struggling and trying to improve.

On the other hand, Mady will sometimes lock multiple threads without explanation, etc.

BlackHumor

I don't see what all the hate on Eddie is for. I mean, yes he doesn't make good decisions all the time, but he makes reasonable decisions most of the time.

Same with Mad; I don't think she can be said to be a bad mod by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I don't really think any of the mods are really BAD. I've been on forums with legitimately bad mods and it's not pretty.

(Also I didn't like Janitor much; she famously nuked IAmNotMakingThisUp without consensus. Still kind of bitter about that.)

AHR

I think it's safe to say that all of the mods are people with good intentions, all with their own wisdoms and short sights.

All Nines

"I don't think "backing down from FE" is a good way to judge a mod. I mean, technically speaking, he is the guy in charge. "

Well, if they aren't even trying to assert their opinions, how are they actually helping the forum improve beyond managing troublemakers?

AHR

Well, keep in mind, FE doesn't disagree with every little thing. There are ways to improve a forum without going against something someone else says.

All Nines

Yeah, but what I mean is, if they have an opinion that is more reasonable, but don't want to actually speak up because they fear Eddie, who does that help?

AHR

There is a difference between fear and respect. Just because people back down, does not mean they fear speaking their opinions.

All Nines

Yeah, I know. I mean, I disagree with GMH all the time.

But I suppose I'm not qualified to discuss how it actually goes down at TVTropes--whether they try to speak up and are shot down, or if they've just learned to stay silent--, so I'll concede.

MillerCross

I don't see what all the hate on Eddie is for. I mean, yes he doesn't make good decisions all the time, but he makes reasonable decisions most of the time.

I'd argue against that. Many decisions of his are based on symptoms of a problem rather than actually dealing with the problems. IJBM's nuking comes to mind. It wasn't the bitching what made IJBM particularly bad. It was the idiot users who Eddie and co. refused to ban because of the ambiguous rulings made in the place. 

Maddy does stand up to Eddie, that much is true, but she also agrees with him in matters that I think should be disagreed upon.

Same with Mad; I don't think she can be said to be a bad mod by any stretch of the imagination. In fact I don't really think any of the mods are really BAD. I've been on forums with legitimately bad mods and it's not pretty.

Moderation is not really such a binary matter. Yes, things can go south in worse ways than in TvT, but I'd definetly say that the way TvT's run is...not good. Or at least, not satisfying. Not to me. --shrug--

captainbrass

I agree that there are definite problems with the way TV Tropes is run, and a lot of them come down to the fact that there are too few mods to cover the work they have to do and that Eddie insists on running the place as a one man band. Basically, it's the symptom of a site that's grown hugely but hasn't really changed the way it's run.

The place is too big to be run like IJBM, which is tiny by comparison. Eddie should get in some partners to share the admin role and appoint more mods. I don't think Maddy or Fighteer are "bad mods" - just people given an impossible task in the context of the resources available and the culture of "we're tolerant and accept everyone's weirdness, man".

MillerCross

Also, I think he overreacts a lot as well. Vandro's ban a while back comes to mind. And in fact, I recall him or one of the mods mentioning that he did out of a bad mood.