Raiyn-

Contrary to what you believe, you have not battled with the Moderators about spelling. Rather, you have informed us as to what you consider AOL'ese.

I'm going to clarify this so that people understand what we consider to be "consistent use of AOL'ese".

When someone uses "ur", "R", "l8r", etc. in their posts, we do not consider this excessive AOL'ese. Kindly take note of this and know that we do not consider this excessive or disruptive.

What is disruptive use of AOL'ese? When there is so much AOL'ese that it is difficult to read through and comprehend the post. When one makes a report, the first thing the moderators do is take the time to read through the offending post to determine the extent of the infraction. If there is a situation that we view as excessive, at that point, we will dispatch a PM to all parties involved and rectify the situation in as timely a manner as possible.

If we determine the language is NOT disruptive, we do NOT dispatch a PM to the parties- it serves no purpose for us to go running after people for something that is not a problem. The point of moderating is for us to work to rectify what is WRONG, not what is FINE. So, please do not expect a PM every time you send us a report on what you consider to be a major violation, when several of us determine that it is not. We take a lot of time out of our day to police the forum and read through as many posts as possible, address issues, and of course, post for ourselves. We simply do not have the time to deal with nit-picking.

Having said all that, I make a personal point of dispatching a PM to all parties whenever I perform any advanced moderation- that is, anything beyond moving posts. The only time I didn't is when I spent almost three hours yesterday morning dealing with a spammer who decided to register multiple times and post sexually offensive material and pictures on the forum. I was aware of the reports coming in, and between policing the welcome team and the welcomes, plus monitoring the newbies and tracking their posts as they came through, then banning the offenders, then deleting and trashing the subsequent posts, only to find that while I was doing that, he was re-registering and doing the same thing all over again, leaving me to again perform the same actions, all while trying to get ready for work (I couldn't), work on my contracts for my independent contractor work (didn't get done and was due that day), and make breakfast before I left (I never got a chance to eat that morning due to the fact that I was busy banning, monitoring, and policing as fast as I could nonstop for three hours)- there was no time to send a PM to those members that reported the pervert to the moderators. There were not any other moderators online that morning, so I was left to fend as best as I could, and hopefully, I did a good enough job so that there was minimal damage from this idiot being on our forums. That's the only time I haven't followed through. I expect that the other moderators also send PMs when they perform moderator functions. I don't know for sure, but we do remind each other to do send a PM out once they perform a moderating duty.

For the record, if you haven't heard back from us, and you still see the post online, it is because we do not consider the contents of the post excessive. There's no real litmus test for us to determine what is excessive, but if we can generally read it, then we're going to leave it. We are not spelling teachers, and we don't expect everyone to be perfect.

Having said that, as a English major (BA in Rhetoric), I'm sure a lot of people know my general anal retentiveness towards spelling- however, I need to realize that there are extenuating circumstances as to what's going on with someone when they mis-spell. I also realize that not everyone is perfect, not everyone has time to check, there may be keyboard problems we aren't aware of, and people may need to abbreviate every now and then if they don't have time to spell everything out. I cannot expect everyone to spell check everything out either- we can suggest strongly, but it is up to the people posting to take the time to realize that to be taken seriously, they will need to look somewhat intelligent, and if they decide not to use this option, do not be surprised if other members react negatively to a post. Moderators will step in as we see necessary, and until then, we just advise people to use good common sense and do the best they can.

I understand that members who donate have a spell check option when they post. I urge them to use it if they are unsure about a word. If you are not a donating member, there are different websites with free dictionary checkers on the site- I use www.dictionary.com and it is a wonderful resource. If you'd rather find your own dictionary, do a check in one of the search engines for one you can use- bookmark it in your favorites and use it as you see fit.

Raiyn, you are not battling moderators. We are on the side of the members. We are here to help, and I fail to see how that is "battling". If you are frustrated with the lack of response from your reports with regards to AOL'ese, I urge you to go back and read my post two more times so that you are clear as to why there is no PM waiting in your box every time you generate a report. Know that we will respond only if we act, and that if you do not receive a PM, it is because we choose not to act. In that sense, there is no battle- because WE decide what stays and what goes. We are not dictated to as to what members think should stay or go. Rather, we respond to what members think should stay or go with discussion, and then we come to a consensus and decide who will act.

People, just do the best you can.

Thank you,

Koffee Brown

Forum Moderator