This isn’t necessarily to say I disagree with the banning decision. And I know it must be tough to be a mod, especially when you hadn’t planned on becoming one.
But Kaj_Sotala’s decision looks like a good case of mission creep. His powers as moderator were originally just for deleting spam; now he has used them for something different. And the behavior of Eugine_Nier does not appear to have clearly broken any rules; Kaj_Sotala has still tried to justify his ban under a very liberal interpretation of the anti-harassment rule. Thus Kaj_Sotala has used powers beyond their intended scope to punish someone who did not really break a rule. And the punishment was probably excessive; a massive karma penalty would probably have sufficed.
Given all this, it may still have been a good decision on net to ban Eugine_Nier. But mission creep is usually just something I read about, not witness live, and it’s nice to view it from closer to the “inside.”
But Kaj_Sotala’s decision looks like a good case of mission creep. His powers as moderator were originally just for deleting spam; now he has used them for something different.
LW had a problem with not being moderated enough and Kaj was at a place to do something about that issue. He asked the community for feedback and then went ahead. If that’s mission creep than I like mission creep.
(Just so you know, the formatting is broken on your comment—I think you need to put a backslash before your _ symbols in names, looks like they turned into italics.)
I share the concerns voiced by buybuydandavis, Salemicus, larks, and nywracu.
This isn’t necessarily to say I disagree with the banning decision. And I know it must be tough to be a mod, especially when you hadn’t planned on becoming one.
But Kaj_Sotala’s decision looks like a good case of mission creep. His powers as moderator were originally just for deleting spam; now he has used them for something different. And the behavior of Eugine_Nier does not appear to have clearly broken any rules; Kaj_Sotala has still tried to justify his ban under a very liberal interpretation of the anti-harassment rule. Thus Kaj_Sotala has used powers beyond their intended scope to punish someone who did not really break a rule. And the punishment was probably excessive; a massive karma penalty would probably have sufficed.
Given all this, it may still have been a good decision on net to ban Eugine_Nier. But mission creep is usually just something I read about, not witness live, and it’s nice to view it from closer to the “inside.”
LW had a problem with not being moderated enough and Kaj was at a place to do something about that issue. He asked the community for feedback and then went ahead. If that’s mission creep than I like mission creep.
Interesting point.
(Just so you know, the formatting is broken on your comment—I think you need to put a backslash before your _ symbols in names, looks like they turned into italics.)
Fixed, thanks.