Originally Posted by
CbadRider
If the moderators quit every time they received a profanity-filled ranting PM from someone having a meltdown, or had to clean up a thread gone awry with insults and arguing (and then deal with the angry people who had their posts deleted), or had to take care of someone's late-night X-rated drunk postings, the forum wouldn't be able to keep up with the turnover rate.
I like this forum, which is why I volunteer. I didn't get paid as a moderator and I don't get paid as an admin, so I don't know where the idea that we are paid is coming from. I knew the moderating job was dangerous when I took it, so I'm not looking for sympathy. But I do agree with Siu's comment that not everyone realizes how much stuff the moderators have to deal with behind the scenes, and how exasperating it can get dealing with it on a constant basis. I see that as venting frustration, not a whining excuse or asking for sainthood; we get frustrated just like everyone else and sometimes we need to let it out.
We try to make BF a nice, fun forum to participate in. Some people like the way we do it and some people don't, but you can't please everyone.
This has gotten a bit off track. Let's get back to the facts that prompted my posts:
-The moderator claimed being an unpaid volunteer as an excuse. Sounded like whining and job dissatisfaction. This whole tack was initiated by the moderator and elicited the response the moderator should have expected.
-I pointed out that no one is a slave, especially a volunteer, and is free to leave at any time. Inherently there is conflict and controversy in a job like being moderator of this forum. If it rises to the point a moderator thinks of it as abuse it is time to leave, paid or unpaid.
-So, it was a moderator who raised the employee and pay status. I merely pointed out that pay status has no bearing on the need for quality performance and anyone is free to leave at any time.
As for "pay". I have done a lot of volunteer work over the years. Some of it was very much like being a moderator here. Under the labor laws of every state in which I have any knowledge being an unpaid person working for a for profit corporation does not comply with the law. So, I am left with a couple possibilities. One, you are using the word pay to mean cash/money and are being compensated for your work in some other legal way. Two, your company is in violation of the labor laws. Or, you folks know this and are setting yourselves up, as many others have done, for a big payday suit when you move on.
None of this has anything to do with how much I, or anyone else, enjoys Bike Forums. I know your company is attempting to make money of our posts and conversations. I have no problem with that. In fact I appreciate that someone else is paying for our entertainment and exchanges.