Admins/Officials/Anyone in a position of power who are above the rules

Icalasari

No, this isn't about Fast Eddie. Do not hijack the thread please Anyways, on CAD forums, Tim recently posted a video (I reposted that video here actually. The Fantasy one). On the CAD forums, it would get a normal member at the very least a warning and locked thread. Not him though It got me to thinking about power abuse in general, how when a person is in a position of power, they are able to abuse it without repercussions. The more power, the more they can abuse it It really seems annoying, especially when others with that amount of power don't abuse it

All Nines

I can't say I would expect anything else from Tim Buckley.

captainbrass

So that's why his name gets mentioned with such contempt! Whenever I hear "Buckley" I always think  "musician" but I'm probably thinking of Jeff Buckley.

On-topic, I think Lord Acton's famous comment "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" applies. The average admin has absolute power over his little kingdom, subject only to advertisers and pissing users off so completely that they all leave. It's not surprising some go a bit crazy.

nohaynicklibre

^I think there's a musician named Tim Buckley as well.

Also,what's that video,and why would it cause a locked thread in CAD forums?

Icalasari

^ It's the "Fantasy" one I posted on these boards. It's of a nature a little more graphic than usual for the CAD Forums

AHR

I guess...it depends.

I mean, I don't know, if it's a forum devoted to YOUR work, then posting things that inspire your work or amuse you is not as off topic as, say, someone else doing it.

So I can SORTA see reason to this, but only barely.

LouieW

Icalasari,
It really seems annoying, especially when others with that amount of power don't abuse it

Yeah, I definitely agree with you about this. Now, this might just have something to do with disliking hierarchies in general, but I feel like moderators and admins tend to do the best job when they seem easy to relate to and otherwise personable. When they are I think staff members are unlikely to use powers arbitrarily because they care more about what regular users say. I also believe that having staff that just seem like regular members tends to make members follow the rules more because they respect the authorities behind them.

As for examples of staff members abusing their powers, I think at least one moderator on Serebii.net was banned (or at least stricken of his/her moderator powers) for being mean to other users. 

Bastion

On-topic, I think Lord Acton's famous comment "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" applies. The average admin has absolute power over his little kingdom, subject only to advertisers and pissing users off so completely that they all leave. It's not surprising some go a bit crazy.

In cases like these, I think it's the opposite. They have "absolute" power in a sense, but it is over an incredibly narrow scope. The fact that the stakes are so small means that people can afford to get irrational and angry about them, and it also magnifies the conflict because each side starts to think the other is getting worked up over nothing and should just give in. This happens in many cases, but when there is an imbalance of power (as we are discussing here) it leads to this sort of behavior because they can just end the issue as forcefully as they like.

Gelzo

I find it amusing that you guys are using examples of this behavior in the context of internet forums rather than governments.

MillerCross

The word "admins" barely applies to governments.

Gelzo

"Officials" and "Anyone in a position of power" do.

MillerCross

I suppose, but what I meant is that the conversation started with a post about forums, so it seems feasible that the conversation would be about forum mishandling.

captainbrass

Protega's post reminded me of another saying - that the internal politics of universities are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so petty. I think someone well-known originally said it, but I remember it being quoted by a villain in an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

As we have students about, you could always take it in the "my college abuses its power" direction if you like.

Bastion

@captainbrass: I was actually thinking of that saying, although the version I'd heard was about office politics in general instead of universities. I can't place the original source either though. Perhaps I could utilize some sort of easily navigable, worldwide network of information to track it down, but of course this is merely a pipe dream.  According to Wikipedia: "In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake."

captainbrass

Incidentally, I can vouch for Wallace Sayre's comment that business and public administration are alike only in all unimportant aspects. An awful lot of businesspeople who got into politics/the Civil Service have found out it's more complicated than they think it will be.

LouieW

Protega,

While from what I have heard, I agree that academic and office politics are pretty bitter, I wonder if Sayre's Law really explains it. I would think that it might be more related to how office/academic promotion and recognition seem to be more accessible in a sense. I mean, sure the stakes are small and that could be a factor, but I think each person involved also arguably has a higher chance of getting what he or she wants.

Basically, I feel like people may be more likely to intensely compete when they think they actually have a pretty good shot at winning whether the prize be a promotion or just some officer position in a school club.

I wonder if I might have just rephrased Sayre's comment though.