[SPOIL]I feel I'm probably the best person to answer this, as i wrote the vast majority of the forum rules as they stand. The rules are as vague as they are, because we cannot be more specific without either risking missing something that should be mentioned but we forgot because of the sheer amount of things we would have to list, and as you may have suspected from the first part, because if we
were more specific, the rules would be even longer. We have tried to allow as much as possible (believe it or not!), but we have a responsibility to the community, to our employers and to decency to keep the forum clean, relatively friendly and as polite as we can. We are here to keep this place enjoyable, and while it might not seem so at times, we are here for your overall benefit.
Secondly, the rules are so long, because we have tried to lay out as mush as possible. In the past, we have left things out, only to have to add in what we thought was common sense when users argued that because it wasn't explicitly mentioned in the rules, it was obviously allowed. This is also the reason why it said multiple times in the rules "If you aren't sure that what you are about to post is legal, then it might be best to contact a moderator". That said, the vast majority of people are imbued with at least a general sense of social behaviour before they are 13, so we expect people to hold at least a modicum of respect for other users, and will take action if this is not the case. We hope that users can understand that this is for the greater good of all forum users, and not because we just get a kick out of spoiling other people's fun
Moderators are chosen on the basis of maturity and the ability to make the right decision, by a council consisting of (for the forum) the Elder Moderators and the Forum Admin. As far as I am aware, the youngest Elder is at least 19, and the average age of the elders is closer to 25 or so. While this may not mean much to some, personally, I have found on the internet that actual age quite often means absolutely nothing when it comes to being able to moderate maturely; indeed, older users are more likely to be set in their own opinion of what is "right" rather than going by the forum rules, and often are much harder to integrate into the consistency that we try to maintain. Of course, sometimes we make mistakes; mods make bad decisions, elders hire the wrong people, but nobody is perfect, and we ask for your patience and understanding, as we do try to fix these problems as soon as they occur.
Asking questions like this is never against the rules, unless it is offtopic
We aim to be as transparent as we possibly can, as we understand that often the rules can be quite hard to pin down (though in many ways, they are vague because we don't want users to think that they can toe the line constantly without getting a smack for it, as that in itself is as much an abuse of the rules as breaking them is!), but we ask that people ask these questions in the appropriate places: Threads like this, the Forum Moderation Discussion forum, which exists precisely for stuff like this, and always feel free to PM any Elder if you have a question or even a suggestion about the rules.
@Lee
We have moderators on the team with VERY colourful records. They have in every case however shown that they have changed, by going large periods of time without breaking the rules, and helping out with making the forum a pleasant place to post. The more colourful the record, the longer and more helpful we expect people to be. However, there are very few people who will always be blacklisted from being a mod, and the vast majority of those have been permabanned at least once!
@Mr clamju:
1) We try not to form outright opinions of people without knowledge of them (If I don't know a user personally, I will often ask either the mod and/or the elder of the worlds they post on to see what they have to say about them), however one's list of warnings and infractions can say a lot about a user.
For example, if you have a lot of warnings but only a few infractions, it means that in general, you stick to the rules, but you do have your own, slightly different idea of what they should be. You toe the line a bit, and sometimes cross it, but in general, you follow the spirit of the law and aren't too much of a nuisance
If you have a few infractions, but have never received an infraction for any one rule more than once or twice, it means that while you are forgetful of the rules in general, you will remember it fairly well once you are told once. You mean to follow the rules, but you were simply ignorant of them at first.
If you have a lot of infractions, almost all for one thing, it means that there is a particular rule that you disagree with to the extent that you couldn't be bothered with it. usual examples of this are people with lots of spam/OT infractions, or people with innumerable inappropriate language/insulting behaviour infractions. This type of person is not likely to be looked on kindly by moderators!
And finally you have those who have lots if infractions for lots of different things, and refuse to change their spots at all. These people usually find themselves banned very quickly.
Of course, there are lots of different combinations, and it isn't always foolproof: someone with lots of warnings or infractions could simply be very forgetful, but mean well. Generally, you can get a good idea of a user's personality after a few PMs back and forth, and we do our best to be fair with those we think made an honest mistake, and will be harsher on those who we think acted deliberately.
(that was a little longer than I intended!)
As for your other questions, yes, I have been warned, before i was a mod, and as wallam said, the amount of time required does depend on your job and the activity of the forums you are assigned to. As for your last question, TW has supplied me with a fair few things. Having been a mod for 3 years, I've picked up a massive amount of experience in dealing with people, understanding how people think and post, which has helped my people and managerial skills to a huge extent. It was surprising to realise that what had started out as a great black hole of time that could have been better spent studying could turn out to supply me with such invaluable life skills. Other than that, and more importantly, TW has supplied me with a great deal of fun, online friends all over the world, a bunch of now RL friends in and around the UK (and in australia as well, oddly!), whom I try to meet up with as often as possible, and also a girlfriend, whom I will cheesily say is one of the best things that ever happened to me :icon_redface:
So I guess you can say that TW has had a fairly big effect on my life![/SPOIL]
