Several times recently members have had their posts moved, altered, deleted, or unpublished. When this happens some moderator was either trying to fix a perceived mistake or believed the post crossed the policy guidelines. This should never happen without a receiving a personal message from one of us. If it does you have every right to scream bloody murder.
What do you do if you believe you have been treated unfairly? Several things.
1) First off calm down. You may have a legitimate beef, but it will be very difficult to get another moderator or two to join your cause with a profanity-laden tirade. By all means send a personal nastygram to the moderator who irritated you if it helps, but if you want to have a decision reversed or amended do your best to achieve a zen-like peace before asking for help from the rest of us.
2) Send a PM to any one or all of us moderators (We really should stick this list someplace more prominent. I'll work on this.) More specifically I suggest sending a PM to me. I am working hard to produce more even enforcement of the policies and in general reduce the heavy-handed moderation that happens around here sometimes. If anyone is likely to take your side it will be me. (Actually there are a few of other good choices, too. If you've hung around here for a while you probably already know who they are.)
3) Post here. If several folks tell us we've screwed up chances are good we'll take notice. Then again if you are trampled down by your peers perhaps your cause was unworthy. Either way I believe open debate is the best way to improve the forum.
4) There is the "contact" button, but it is frequently broken (we're working on this), and honestly even as a captain type I have no idea who that email goes to. I certainly never see it. If the moderator you have a beef with is answering that email your inquiry will probably be stillborn. Try this route if you like, but the previous options will likely work better.
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Dave Wiley
forum co-captain and unofficial ombudsman
