The idea for this thread came via a fellow Mod, and the Vice President of Talkboard, nsx. I have essentially cut and pasted what nsx posted in his forum here, so apologies in advance for the blatant plagarism

Newly elected TalkBoard member kokonutz has suggested that FlyerTalk could benefit from regular feedback from forum participants to forum moderators.

I have no objection to feedback of any kind and would like to think that forum regulars and newbies alike can contact me with any issues. So rather than wait for orders from our Community Director, I am opening this thread to see what happens.

Here are the ground rules, which I might change from time to time based on how this experiment goes:

1. Discussion of specific past warnings or suspensions by me are not allowed, even if you are talking about yourself.

2. Discussion of current and possible future general moderation policies and practices for the Emirates forum is welcome in this thread. I repeat: in this thread. Not in any other thread. Discussion of moderation on other FlyerTalk forums is not allowed here.

3. Discussion of specific past moderator actions to edit, move, or delete posts are allowed in this thread, but please keep them to the minimum needed to illustrate your point about general procedures.

4. Please post constructively. I'd like opinions and ideas of how to improve the forum for you. If this thread becomes a non-informative gripe session, the experiment in user feedback will fail. Please take full advantage of this opportunity to make our little corner of FlyerTalk better.

5. Please use the Alert a moderator button (exclamation point sign at the lower left of each post) to let me know of any post that risks derailing constructive discussion on this thread.

Under these ground rules, I'd like to know what you like and dislike about this forum, what we need to improve, and what ideas you have for upgrading the reading and posting experience here.

PS. And to ensure total transparency, my views on Talkboard and its purpose are mine and mine alone. They do not represent the general views or opinion of any other Moderator.

^

On a more serious note, moderation is a thankless job. Nobody notices when you're doing it right and everyone notices when the $h1t hits the fan.

Moderation does not exist to determine WHAT should be discussed but rather HOW whatever is being discussed should be discussed. Two users can have the most vicious disagreement about Emirates but a moderator does not need to step in unless the argument gets personal.

A moderator should never have even the illusion of a personal stake in any thread being moderated. No matter how neutral you may actually be, it leaves you open to be accused of some sort of ulterior motive and that erodes your moral authority as a moderator whether true or not. I've seen this happen before and indeed learned it the hard way personally when I was a mod. Yes, it does affect your ability to participate to a small extent, but at the end of the day the overall participation experience (including your own) improves as a result.

You're doing a rubbish job.....

On a serious note though, no complaints. I think you're doing a great job especially given there is only 1 mod. In addition, a big thumbs up for the effort in interacting with the folks at EK.

I personally think that you are doing a thankless job. Its a job which is done without any expectations or rewards. Atleast thats the way its supposed to be.

Regret but I have never ever been happy with the way you have moderated this forum simply because you have never liked anything negative being written about EK here & I have never understood why???????????????

(I have let go anything personal or PM's details here)

Why you don't like EK being mentioned in Black????? Anyone on FT will confirm this. Is there any particular reason behind this?????

Once again we indeed do thank you.

Regards

EGT