Oldjim's rules rant a bit over the top?

[#1]

Doesanyone else think oldjim's rules rant is a bit over the top.  If moderators are not pn staff, merely volunteers, what right have they to impose such draconian measures. They are not elected by us, the members and they are in danger of becoming autocratic tyrants
[Moderator's note by Thomas (Be3G): thread moved to a more appropriate board.]

[#2]

sorry this old man, if you knew the background to this modification, you would think it is a good idea,there is a thread in the feedback section, but it gives some clues but not the details.
Up until recently we did have elections to the Mods, which unfortunately were not successful, and hence the current state in that the mods are their by reputation and request

[#3]

comment appreciated piere how r u these days. |I did unfortunatelky see the rude post in q and thot the poster should be banned for eternity. Having said that i still think oldjim went over the top.|This is usually a nice friendly place and just because one deviant tries to spoil things, there is really no need for all oldjims waffle.
In a democratic societ y unelected mods pose a real danger and do not always represent the views of the pn members. They are a law unto themselves

[#4]

it wasnt a waffle, it was a note at the bottom of the rules pointing out the changes made

[#5]

...and it wasn't Oldjim alone but a decision taken by all the moderators with PN input.
We have these rules to attempt to keep the forum family friendly and a place where people can come to seek advice.
The only 'danger' we present is to posters who don't abide by the rules and seek to upset others and disrupt the forum.

[#6]

There are only two unelected mods at present, the other 3 were elected through a voting process.
However after a turn out of 88 votes, from a membership of over 12,000 it was decided that a change was required.
There are threads on this and it was agreed by the community.

[#7]

I missed the "Rant" - can somebody point me to it please.
Unless the OP is referring to the updating/clarification of a couple of points in the long--standing link:rules

[#8]

I assume thisol man was referring to this http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,218.msg707290.html#msg707290

[#9]

on another forum i frequent, all mods are appointed by consensus of the other mods; at another often by the whim of the owner and sometimes after discussion among the mods.  whenever i have used a forum that operates on the elective method, the mods are rotten little autocrats who seem to think the 'elevation' confers some great gravitas upon them.  they become hateful.
by appointment only means that if they get above themselves they can be fired as easily as hired.
it may not be fair.  it may not be egalitarian.  experience has shown that it works effectively.

[#10]

Just to clarify a couple of points. I was not having a go at oldjim personally.He is in my view a nice helpful guy.I just felt at the time that all these rules were a school matron chastising the kids.
What has amazed me  was the news that pn has only 12000 members  what does that tell us?
I sa as did pierre a post by a guy asking for help about someone who had sent him/her a dirty  rude email.

[#11]

The trouble with elected mods is that the people elected tend to be those with a high profile on the forums, not those with the skills needed to become a moderator. I guess one thing which might bring people to the fore when looking for moderators would be if they show good awareness of what is happening on the forums by their use of "Report to Moderator". One thing that would rule out a person is if they are too opinionated.
We've had a some misfires in the last couple of years with elected moderators (one spectacularly so) - that system wasn't working very well at all.
The only thing I'd perhaps suggest would be a poll along the lines of "The moderators are proposing to add xxxx to the team of moderators, do you agree with this appointment? Yes/No"

[#12]

Quote from: thisoldman

What has amazed me  was the news that pn has only 12000 members  what does that tell us?

No, that is the number of PN users who have registered on these forums. I'm guessing the total number of users of the Plusnet family is around 400,000 to 500,000.

[#13]

make the mods full timeers and pay them at least 40k  a year

[#14]

You wouldn't be thinking of putting yourself forward would you? 

[#15]

tx u jelv