Alolan_Apples
Let the apples roll!
I’ve always been the user who likes the moderation team and defends them, while I did (at one time) help other members on what they need. However, there are some things I cannot agree with. For example, allowing thread bumping. It’s not just a pet peeve of mine. It’s a forum taboo in general. Granted, TBT is a gaming site, so it would make sense if anybody bumps an old gaming discussion for help or if the thread creator re-uses his/her old Wi-Fi threads, but this does not mean that you can bump multiple old non-gaming discussions within a day or two, or that you can bump a thread that was inactive for over three years. That’s what bothers me about old thread bumping. And what’s just as bad as that is contributing to the discussion that was bumped after years of inactivity. That’s like joining a flame war or commenting on spam threads. Now I can’t tell individual members to not bump threads since it is rude to boss people around, nor couldn’t I tell people to not post in a bumped thread (in the particular thread) since that would start a flame war, but I have every right to be bothered by it, and I can express my frustration as long as I’m not calling others out. But after this happened several times, and since the moderators won’t lock the bumped threads I report, I’m beginning to feel that the moderation team is just as guilty (or even more guilty). They are allowing bumping sprees or bumping of very old threads to happen, and they won’t lock the threads or change the rules. If you’re in charge of an organization, you are responsible for everything about it, and if you’re going to allow what’s bad for it, you’re not being competent enough. I’ll stop here, but that is a perfect example of what I do not agree with the staff on.
There are also some decisions (popular or not) that I do agree with, and some that I am ambivalent about. That being said, here are the decisions I agree, ambiguously agree, or disagree on.
What I agree with:
There are also some decisions (popular or not) that I do agree with, and some that I am ambivalent about. That being said, here are the decisions I agree, ambiguously agree, or disagree on.
What I agree with:
- Post quality: I admit that I was a victim of receiving a warning for this kind of violation, but to not allow image only posts or single-word posts makes sense. They make good chatroom posts, but not good forum posts. Threads are for discussing the topic of a particular issue or interest.
- No complaining about others: Back in 2015, when they made a new What’s Bothering You thread, they no longer allow using the thread to express your annoyance about other members, whether or not you call out their names. This is forbidden on not just that thread, but also anywhere on the site. But more recently, they implemented a more aggressive policy against it. I agree with the way they’re handling it, because calling out other members and accusing them of something you don’t like, or even referring to them based on actions or quotes, is very mean. It would irritate them, and would result in a flame war. And believe it or not, calling out a specific member’s name and complaining about them is considered privacy invasion or harassment. This is The Bell Tree Forums, not Washington Post or CNN.
- Restricting Trophy Collectibles: Although I want to see the Green Pinwheel, Crescent Moon Wand, and Tetris Grid get another distribution chance in the future, I agree with them if they’re not going to raffle rainbow feathers, golden eggs, or trophies. If they issue them for anything other than their intended purpose, they would nullify the meaning of them.
- Birthstone Changes: Last May, they changed an archaic system they had since the dawn of ACNL’s lifespan. Originally, you can only exchange birthstones once, and you cannot have more than one birthstone of the same kind. The way they handled it is a bad idea, but now that they’re treated like regular collectibles, I like what they’re doing.
- Fining members for exploiting the username change glitch: While I’m on their side as the purpose of add-ons or other items is left up to the staff to decide, I felt that this was an arrogant and corrupt action they took. Most members that abused the glitch didn’t know that it was a glitch, and taking away their Bells for doing it when they didn’t know it was a glitch isn’t nice. To make matters worse, some of these members hit a balance that is below 0. They are still right about fining people who abuse features, but this was too extreme.
- Letting inactive members keep their assets: Back in 2017, I suggested redistributing TBT Bells from wealthy members to have more TBT in circulation (since I was concerned about how slow the TBT Marketplace is), but when I came up with this idea, I completely missed the point. The reason why there are few Bells in circulation is because of the site’s inactivity. Nowadays, I admit I was wrong, and the staff are right about letting rich, yet inactive, members keep their Bells. Just because they are gone doesn’t mean they won’t come back. They would want to use their TBT later. However, what doesn’t make sense is letting dead members keep their assets. Once somebody is dead, they wouldn’t care if their stuff was given to somebody else. If items and Bells can’t go back into circulation, it would be hard for the site’s economy.
- Keeping groups high-priced: The reason why the groups are priced highly is because they don’t want so many useless groups that wouldn’t function. But after the introduction of Discord, and after the site has gotten inactive, groups have basically got useless. Therefore, an extremely high price wouldn’t be necessarily a good idea. They did make a smart move by making them out of stock again since nobody bought one in over three years. But if something is already not working, you should change your decisions.
- Nerfing systems to earning TBT: The systems were implemented for a reason, but after members abused these features, they were revoked. It’s sad to see them get taken away, but people can’t be abusing these features. Especially if they’re being greedy. What I was not happy about was reducing Birthday Bells to 70 TBT (which makes them worthless) or wedging down on poll creation TBT. Some of these features, they can’t moderate individuals for abusing, but others, they can.
- Allowing old thread bumping: I already mentioned it in the beginning, but you can clearly see I don’t agree with this decision. It’s more than a pet peeve. Bumping old threads is bad for forums, and allowing people to do it excessively is basically like allowing other bad behaviors. The only threads they don’t allow bumping is if it’s no longer relevant. But most of the threads I see get bumped are generally timeless discussions with less than 200 posts, which die out easily and can get duplicates. Those are the threads I don’t want to see get bumped. It would be better to create new threads.
- Not permabanning members: Other than spam accounts and alternative accounts, the site staff never permaban members. This was a decision I was unhappy about during the first eight months of my membership, and I’m still against it today. There are people out there who would constantly stir up trouble and would not learn their lessons despite multiple warnings. And there are people who engage in extreme behavior (such as death threats, impersonation, excessive vandalism of guides, and starting or engaging in board wars). They can appear on any site, but all I can say is that they aren’t fit for public forums.
- Keeping the avatar height extension staff-only: Although the staff said that nothing is impossible, there are some decisions they are set in stone with, and they are not going to change it. I can respect some of their decisions, but this is something I cannot respect. They are allowed to have perks other members don’t have, but I don’t like profile customization options being one of them. They won’t even let experienced members have access to it. Only staff members.
- Moderating people for what’s not stated in the rules: This is the worst trait any moderation team could have, not just this site. If it’s not stated in the rules, then it shouldn’t be a rule. I do not like seeing my posts (or anyone’s posts) get deleted because it contained something the staff didn’t like that wasn’t stated in the rules. I know what’s against the rules if it’s stated in the Bell Tree Rules and Guidelines, individual threads (like the What’s Bothering You thread), and in event threads. But there are some things you can get in trouble for when it’s not stated in any explicit set of rules. There shouldn’t be anything like this. I would respect the staff and their decisions, but this is injustice. Other members get angry about it too.
