Open Letter to the mambers.com community

[keliix06]

To the mambers.com community:
We, the (ex)mod team, wanted to let you know what is happening. You may have wondered what happened to the column on the right of your screen which let you know who was moderating the forum. Arthur has disabled this because of what has happened recently.

The day after mambers.com launched, Arthur started a thread in the private moderator forum stating that he was quitting daily use of this site. He wanted to focus on mamboportal.com. We were all completely fine with this, however noted that it would be beneficial for the site to have a couple super mods or admins to make sure everything runs smoothly. Arthur got very upset with us, and would not even consider it.

After Birgitte was kicked off the mod team, we got together and wrote a letter to Arthur stating that we were very upset with his decision. Our letter is below. He we again unwilling to accept anything, and gave us 40 hours to respond, saying we should not act on emotion, but make a well thought out decision. After less that 30 hours, he told us if we didn't respond within 6 hours, we would all be kicked off the team like Birgitte.

The Mambers.com Moderators Guide (which all moderators voted on and approved) clearly stated that mambers would be warned by PM or email before any bannings took place, except in extreme cases. While you could argue that there was 1 extreme case that warranted a quick banning with no discussion, Birgitte was forced off the mod team because she was standing up for the rules we put in place. We feel this was a great injustice, and realized that any one of us could be next, at Arthur's whim.

The mod team approached Arthur with an offer that we felt was very fair. We spent several days planning exactly what it would say. We wanted more admins/super mods to help share the burden, and if he was unwilling to comply, we wanted to step down as a team. This was not a few rogue individuals letting their emotions get the best of them. Instead of giving us the courtesy of a response he has picked option #2, and we are no longer mods.

We did not come to this decision lightly as we all had the vision of a true community site. Arthur is not allowing for this to happen. Birgitte was kicked out - and we have decided to step down as our own choice, because of the above mentioned causes.

Sincerely,

keliix06
Rene
jasmon
Birgitte
tsturm
tonyskyday
alwarren
MamboHut
stingrey
jomaco1

Arthur,
As the moderator team of Mambers.com, and as members of the larger Mambo community, we have some concerns about recent and past events surrounding Mambers.com. More specifically, our concerns are with the heavy hand with which you administer the site.

We feel it is detrimental to the well being of Mambers.com to even give the appearance of “ruling with an iron fist.” We believe that the banning of members without warning and your willingness to remove moderators for disagreeing with you will ultimately do Mambers.com and the Mambo community harm.

It is great, though not surprising, how quickly Mambers.com has grown to be a key element in the community. However, we feel that, as a team with you, we still need to work to build the trust of the Mambers.com members. We feel that the banning of members without warning sends the wrong message. Also, many in the community fear that Mambers.com could be taken off-line suddenly, due to the reasons we are all aware of. Because of this, we need to work extra diligently to earn the members’ trust.

We have all worked hard with you to build this site, but as you have been fond of pointing out, you are the site’s owner and your decisions are final. However, just because you have the ultimate responsibility and power in the running of the site, we feel it can still be done in a democratic manner.

Your willingness to demote moderators is also a great concern to us. Birgitte was asked to step down from her moderator post because she disagreed with you on at least two occasions. This has caused a situation where the rest of us are not willing to voice our opinions to you individually. As a result, we have chosen to make this unified proposal to you. If you do not agree with it, and cannot stand to have your moderators disagree with you, then you will need to find a new team of moderators.

From your actions, you have shown that you will remove people who you feel do not support you wholeheartedly. It is quite possible that you could remove any of the moderators with little notice, and this is not acceptable to us.

Our requirements:
A true warning system. Members should not be banned without a proper warning, which is as stated in the moderator guidelines. Additionally, except for in extreme cases, no banning should take place without a proper vote among the mod team. The system should operate per Mambohut’s suggestion in the mod squad forum: http://www.mambers.com/showthread.ph...3&page=2&pp=10

Supermoderators or additional admins. There should be two or three supermoderators from different time zones, with all the rights an admin has. This is especially important since you have expressed that you will not spend a great deal of time in the forum, and the moderators have found themselves explaining why things haven’t been dealt with.

Critical decisions. All critical decisions regarding the forum (i.e. administration, creating, adding, deleting, moving, pruning, etc...), must be discussed and approved by all moderators first before any action is taken.

DB backup access. There should be a weekly backup of the site/database that is accessible to the moderators.

[idigital]

I figured something like this had happened when I noticed how many ex mods there seemed to be about the place.

What does this mean for the Mambers.com project?

As I see it, a site that is supposed to be a central MOS community forum (or incorporate MOS community site forums or whatever) should be administered by a group of people. Not one person with his own agenda.

Maybe the whole concept is flawed, or maybe you guys can make another go at such a project on your own.

Anyway, good on you for making a stand.

[BennieBlanco]

Originally Posted by keliix06

To the mambers.com community:
We, the (ex)mod team, wanted to let you know what is happening. You may have wondered what happened to the column on the right of your screen which let you know who was moderating the forum. Arthur has disabled this because of what has happened recently.

The day after mambers.com launched, Arthur started a thread stating that he was quitting daily use of this site. He wanted to focus on mamboportal.com. We were all completely fine with this, however noted that it would be beneficial for the site to have a couple super mods or admins to make sure everything runs smoothly. Arthur got very upset with us, and would not even consider it.

The Mambers.com Moderators Guide (which all moderators voted on and approved) clearly stated that mambers would be warned by PM or email before any bannings took place, except in extreme cases. While you could argue that there was 1 extreme case that warranted a quick banning with no discussion, Birgitte was forced off the mod team because she was standing up for the rules we put in place. We feel this was a great injustice, and realized that any one of us could be next, at Arthur's whim.

The mod team approached Arthur with an offer that we felt was very fair. We spent several days planning exactly what it would say. We wanted more admins/super mods to help share the burden, and if he was unwilling to comply, we wanted to step down as a team. This was not a few rogue individuals letting their emotions get the best of them. Instead of giving us the courtesy of a response he has picked option #2, and we are no longer mods.

We did not come to this decision lightly as we all had the vision of a true community site. Arthur is not allowing for this to happen. Birgitte was kicked out - and we have decided to step down as our own choice, because of the above mentioned causes.

Sincerely,

keliix06
Rene
jasmon
Birgitte
tsturm
tonyskyday
alwarren
MamboHut
stingrey
jomaco1

NO WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Why is always something happening in MAMBO community!
what is going on.Are we a bunch of kids that can't get along
This is 3-4 change in last month and a half.
This should be stoped.
We need you guy's.As MODERATORS as friends and as main leaders of the mambers.com.I agree that credits of seting this all up are going to Arthur but you are the ones that are actualy helping the community.Lately all I see Mr Konze doing is commenting bad examples and seting up the rulles .But actualy moderating the forum this will not be possible without the MODERATORS TEAM.
Arthur please reconsidere your decision.

Regards

[alwarren]

Originally Posted by BennieBlanco

Why is always something happening in MAMBO community!

Remember, mambers.com is not THE Mambo community. It is a single community fan site. Fan sites come and go based on their popularity and how well they're managed. This is just one site. Don't think of it as THE community site. In any community there are many homes and places to "hang out." The community is the body of users. It is not a place.

Originally Posted by BennieBlanco

But actualy moderating the forum this will not be possible without the MODERATORS TEAM.
Regards

no need for moderators..........GHis democracy is that If he does not like a thread he will most likely ban the person or kick kim/her off the forum.......You were banned also once as I remember well?

Xandra

[scheurer]

Come on guys!

Toooo much disputes / irritations during the last months in the mambo community, I think!

What is going on???

Arthur and (Ex-)Mods: meet together at irc-chat and discuss to get a satisfying solution for all and espeacially for the community!

Mambers.com is great but without the help of a lot of people it is not more than yet another mambo-Website...

[Admin]

I don't know what you want to reach with this letter? You asked me to hand out the forum, the domain and the database to you "Ex-Mods" or you don't want to work with me together anymore. You made a fair offer, but I decided that I want to keep Mambers.com. Now, where is your problem?

I really can ask you not to start a war in the community now. Mambers.com was meant to be a forum community for Mambo Open Source and not as a public battleground. And please stop spreading lies about me:

1. I kindly asked Birgitte to leave, which is my right as an admin. Only after she denied to go I had to set her off. And Birgitte had not to go because she fought for the rules, but because she didn't accept a banning of a person who posted a link to illegal material. Our rules do not allow any illegal stuff here, which is to protect the board against any legal issues, and clearly state, that anyone who does, will be banned without any further warning!
2. I never got upset about your question for a super-mod, but I asked you to wait untill we run at least for a month. By the end of april I also posted a thread asking for Super-Mod volunteers, but I got no response from you.
3. I did not set any time shedule for your response, but after no one replied to my answer after 40 hours, which I personally think is an unfair period for an answer, I accepted this as a No to me. After this decision I did not set you off immediately, but gave you 6 hours to say good bye to the fellow moderators.

But I totally agree to you with your state that it was your decision to leave the team and not mine. I really appreciated the time we had and Mambers.com wouldn't be such a success without you. I thank you all very much for your work in the community and you really deserve our respect for this!

Again, I only can ask you to concentrate on Mambo now, as this is the main intetion of this board. I understand that we had differences or that you can't accept how I handle the things, but this is nothing which has to discussed in this board. This will only harm Mambo and the Mambo community.

[alwarren]

Originally Posted by scheurer

Toooo much disputes / irritations during the last months in the mambo community, I think!

Again, mambers.com is NOT THE mambo community. It is a mambo fan site. One site. Uno. Ein. Un. It is no different than any other open source fan site. Because of differences in culture, language, maturity level, etc., drama can be expected from time to time. Disagreements and misunderstandings are bound to happen. And those disagreements and misunderstandings are bound to be aired in an open forum.

[alwarren]

Originally Posted by Admin

I don't know what you want to reach with this letter?

The point was simply to let the members know what happened.

[idigital]

Shame there aren't any rules for the Admin.

<edit>
Oh sorry, I just noticed this in the General Rules & Ettiquette:

5.8 If you think an administrator is abusing his power, feel free visit another website.

So there is a rule for the Admin. Isn't that nice.