an apology to the effects forum regs.

[john turner]

heya folks

i feel it is necessary for me to apologize about a recent event that has occured in the effects forum. in the process of a heated discussion with a fellow member, i also moderated their inappropriate comments to me.

upon review and discussion with my co-admins and the effects mods, i realized this was an inappropriate action on my part - while the comments deserved the moderation they received (a simple infraction) (and this was unanimously agreed to by both the mods and my co-admins who have reviewed this situation with me) it was inappropriate that i execute this moderation in a conversation that i was a principal participant of.

i should have shifted the "mod hat" over to another mod or admin, and allowed them to act on the issue as they felt appropriate. not doing this gave the appearance of inpropriety and censorship that none of us - and certainly not i - wish to convey.

so i apologize to you folks. the last thing i want to do in my position here at talkbass is to stifle or otherwise impede the free exchange of ideas, and that includes those exchanges with folks involved in Talkbass.com site mgmt (mods and admins). we should all be able to share our ideas without fear of retribution because of who we are speaking to, or disagreeing with.

in light of this and other similar situtions, we (site admins) have decided to institute a new policy wherein any conversations involving moderators or site admins will be moderated by other mods or admins and not those folks directly involved. this will be made site-wide policy, in all forums.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Agreed with all of the above. I would like to add that this post could have been written by me several times over in regard to several threads I have been involved in in the DB forums. While a public "mea culpa" is never a lot of fun, in this case it is instructive in that it has brought to light a situation - modding a heated exchange in which one is already a participant - which helps us modify (pun intended) our moderator guidelines for the future to help make TB a better and more user-friendly place.

Peace and carrots (and bacon, it seems lately??) to all, and to all a good night.

[David Wilson]

Agreed with both of my co-admins, and think this is a great change to the TB rules