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[admin]

I agree that the TM system needs to be done away with completely. And most of the moderators concur on this.

What could replace the actual TM system?

And I don't like the rule about having multiple accounts. What's the point of letting the member keep three or four accounts? Yeah, it makes the site look more active, but is it really a good thing for the site when a member has 3 ghost accounts, and all are TMs?

It does not make the site look active. The site is active
How do you want to prevent people from having 2 accounts? and why?

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[admin]

There are a handful of exceptionally helpful TMs who take their position seriously, but the majority are just... blah (i can't think of the right word for it!).

I understand but accepting everyone is the only way to recruit the new Trainees we need. Those who take their position seriously stay and keep helping and the others stop posting :neutral:

It's also becoming irritating how so many moderators are complaining about some of the TMs. Then again, it always seems to be the same people complaining each time.

I agree. There are 2 or 3 Moderators who keep complaining all the time. I'm keeping an eye on them

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[admin]

Regarding my previous post. I just wanted to add that many of the Trainees look more like they're there more for the status rather than with the specific intention on becoming a moderator. I am seriously doubting whether the remaining trainees in my team would go on to become Moderators. I just don't see the potential in some of them right now. The same must go with the trainees in your teams as well.

If one of your team member stop posting on the message board, you should contact him and ask if he still want to keep his rank. If you want his rank to be removed, PM me.

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[admin]

P.S. Since I'm posting here already, I'm just going to add this little tidbit: I'm starting to get a tad annoyed that BABii_ANG3L is constantly scoping out the Feedback forum. Seriously, a user will post a success and a few seconds later, she signs online, enters them into the $10 drawing, and signs off again. Thus, she has been the winner of the $10 Moderator certificate for the past 3-4 months or so. I really think she should back down and give the other moderators a chance. I remember after I won it the 2nd time, I gave others a chance
Am I the only one who thinks that way?

Do you use this page: http://www.fanmail.biz/reply.php ?

I find a dozen of threads without reply everyday

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[cernan]

We could replace the TM System with what we had in the very beginning, prior to the JM's and all. If we saw a helpful user who had potential to make a good Mod, we PM'ed them and asked if they would be interested... Sure there would still be the people who constantly barraged everyone with PM's asking if they could become a Mod, however it would significantly restore some order to the site, and eliminate the backlog of inactive TM's. A lot of the current Moderators are very much upset with the TM System, and I know at least a handful are on the brink of leaving. :neutral:

Multiple accounts are just plain silly in a way. Why would there be a necessity to have more than one account, unless you are planning to use the other account to cause harm and havoc.

[rpbluesman]

What could replace the actual TM system?

As cernan already said, go back to the way the site was before the TM/JM system. Simply eyeball good and productive members. The site used to get by fine without all the trainee moderators, so I don't see why it would be a great loss to lose the entire system. The TM system is good on paper, but horrible when applied. A member can join on Monday and be promoted Tuesday (if not sooner). If the TM system were to ever work, only select members should be allowed to join it. Not every Tom, Dick and Harry who signs up for the site. There should also be an age criteria for the applications. A great many of the TMs are around 13 years old if not younger. Perhaps the age limit should be like 17 or something.

It does not make the site look active. The site is active
How do you want to prevent people from having 2 accounts? and why?

I know another forum I go to, has an automatic thing that will scan for multiple accounts. I think it should be something like that. Check the IPs and then assign moderators to go and get proof that the members are either the same person or different people. I'm not sure if this is doable on here, but I think it's a good idea.

When you say the site is active, it's because of the multiple accounts. One person with 3 different accounts can make an entire thread light up like a Christmas Tree.

And as for why? Well why not? What honest purpose does having 3,4, and 5 multiple accounts do for the forum? It would have been one thing for you to have multiple accounts when the site first started so that it would appear more active, but now there are a lot of members that seem to make a new account almost weekly.

And when you say "I've got my eye on them." Why not do a little something about them? Moderators who continually bash the site and the way it is run don't seem to be productive staff members if you ask me. Why not step in and talk with them.

Here's a good topic that you should read into.

http://www.fanmail.biz/mboard/viewtopic ... 33&t=85788

[rpbluesman]

Here's the list of people that should be demoted just for not being active on the site. This doesn't even begin to include the members who should be demoted due to inexperience or the members who have no shot at even becoming a mod anyway.

Trainee Mods

matskulainen
babii blue
BaseballCardz
RayLewisBP11
Taxi_06
CarrieUnderwood1Fan
Danny
lov fergie
modelgirl_socute09

There are others that haven't been active since December, but I thought not to include them.

Moderators

starreyes
onebuffcop
Aimee OC
dancingirl

Again, there are others but I thought not to include them since they were last on in December, which isnt that far back

I can't even begin to list all the pointless TMs there are, but I think it should be self explanatory

[ozzman]

I agree with all of you. I would much rather go with the way it used to be. The 2 or 3 members who are doing the complaining dig up stuff on this site to complain about.

[cernan]

I agree with rpbluesman and his idea of implementing an age requirement.

Many of the younger TM's do not have the time that they can put forth in order to become Mods. If you are a Mod on this site, you are expected to dedicate a certain portion of your time to it, and twelve and thirteen year olds who are hindered by their parents telling them to stop spending too much time on the computer will not accomplish much.

I do think that 17 is the perfect age. I know that there are a handful of Mods (including myself) who are younger than 17, but for future hiring purposes, I do think that 17 is a good cutoff age.

[ldy josie x]

The good thing about what BABii_ANG3L is doing is that replies in the feedback forum are being attended to promptly.

However, by the time we log on to go through the feedback ... they've all been taken care of so we're wasting our time finding posts that haven't been attended to.

Yes, that's true. But I've also seen her (and some other mods too) ignore the posts without scans. They enter all these people in, but leave us to answer the posts without scans. I'm not sure if what I'm saying here is exactly relevant; I just want to bring it up

It would be nice to give the other moderators a chance, but you can't exactly tell her to back down ... can you? It'll probably be a bit rude to say "you've posted too much, give the others a chance" in the nicest terms possible. Just give it a bit of time, as she can't go on like this forever ... What do you think Josie?

You're right, that would be somewhat rude.. and weird
I guess we can just wait it out; I think it was the same with a lot of new CP moderators back then.. they get all excited, then it kind of "dies down."

P.S. Regarding my previous post. I just wanted to add that many of the Trainees look more like they're there more for the status rather than with the specific intention on becoming a moderator. I am seriously doubting whether the remaining trainees in my team would go on to become Moderators. I just don't see the potential in some of them right now. The same must go with the trainees in your teams as well.

Same here! I think only one of my trainees have the potential to become a Moderator (Lizanne), but apparently, a lot of the moderators oppose that idea


Cernan's right; a lot of other sites have far fewer moderators, yet the sites run smoothly. I would agree to getting rid of the TM/JM system. I can't remember exactly how it was like before, but I would say that we should be more selective about who becomes "moderators-in-training." That means, not everyone can apply and become one. I like the age restriction idea. 17 seems great (even though I'm 16-- I'll be 17 in April). The only downside is that people can lie about their age online

Many of the younger TM's do not have the time that they can put forth in order to become Mods. If you are a Mod on this site, you are expected to dedicate a certain portion of your time to it, and twelve and thirteen year olds who are hindered by their parents telling them to stop spending too much time on the computer will not accomplish much.

That's right. I don't think they take their positions seriously at all-- maybe they think it is just some online game where they can just hang out, doing whatever, etc.
Simply put, twelve and thirteen year olds just don't have enough experience and potential.
In a way, moderators are like employees (or volunteers) at a job. We have enough to deal with; we don't need TMs to goof around and cause more trouble for us.