Who is the proper recipient and what is the proper form of a complaint regarding the moderation of a forum (not this one)?

Thanks for the question.

The answer is fairly easy, and in fact, is part of the guidelines and rules to help members understand FlyerTalk. These Guidelines and Rules are posted for everyone to read and are part of the common TOS that FlyerTalk and most other Web sites. You'll find them located in the "Help" directory located at the top of each page. Within those Guidelines and Rules is a guide titled Discussing Specific Moderator Actions. That rule is re-printed below:

Discussing Specific Moderator Actions:
On-board discussion of moderator decisions - including post deletions and member discipline - is not allowed and will be removed. Members will also be subject to disciplinary action. If you have a question about a moderator action, contact the moderator directly or Randy Petersen.

So, please feel free to contact me regarding your specific complaint. For other types of complaints, these same general Guidelines and Rules apply, so you can contact me regarding another member as well or if you like, contact a Moderator to assist you with the online behavior of another member.

These are common rules for most responsible Web sites since every member, whether a general member or a moderator should have some level of protection against public complaints since the complaint is only showing a single side of the story from a single set of eyes. We've found over time that our process helps everyone as it removes the most general bias of emotions and single situations.

Again, thanks for the question and as is most things of this general nature, the information and answer is already at your fingertips.

I always suggest to anyone using FlyerTalk to occasionally review the Guidelines and Rules as they almost always can provide information to better your experience on FlyerTalk.

Thank you.

I'm fairly new to FlyerTalk and I gather that Randy Petersen
is the "emperor" of this symposium and may have created it

Please enlighten me

This is by no means derogetory as I have found it both
helpful and interesting (and often quite funny)

Thanks
Chic

couldnt possibly be about the suspensions and missing posts and threads on AA could it. If so I join in the complaint

I wasn't aware that this needed an editorial comment from our members and am actually quite disappointed it seems to have been needed.

If you have a specific complaint, then I can give you the exact same advice as Landing Gear in that the answer is in the Guidelines and Rules which were developed a long time ago for members to get answers to their questions, as well as provide guidelines for all members on what type of member behavior is appropriate on FlyerTalk. These rules were actually adopted and reviewed by the member-elected TalkBoard, so they reflect the voices of the members of FlyerTalk, something very important to appreciate.

The key of course, is your own, not another members, specific complaint. A complaint, no matter what it is about is best when the member is able to accurately describe their won experience and individual observation in which they were, in their own mind, harmed by another individual on FlyerTalk. A reasonable member also must understand that their point-of-view is bias and may not reflect the entire situation and as well, should be reasonable enough to accept that not everything they complain about is real and demanding of action. This is similar to every court of law in the free world whether it be traffic court of a case of an appeal. Everyone who files a complaint thinks they are right. As we know through the ages, everyone can't be right. But as I know, it does not make the other person wrong. There are often times where we simply have to accept the ability to agree to disagree. For some, that is not an option, for others, it is a reasonable reason for participation.

Anyway, the Guidelines and Rules contain a number of tips which can assist all members get more value from FlyerTalk. This might be a good time to remind every member to go back and refer to that section of the Help navigation when having a question - or an editorial statement.

Thank you.

Sorry, no emperor here. Actually, I'm little more than another frequent flyer who has earned millions of miles and points through years of travel and like to help others with answers to their questions based on my own experiences. While some members simply distain the idea of answering questions over and over (and they may forget that no one forces them to answer a question) I love for questions to keep coming.

Actually as a senior member on FlyerTalk - i was here on day one - I thought there might need to be a forum where members could ask questions that may not normally fit within other forums. Hopefully that's the way this forum is viewed and used.

And again, I'm certainly no emperor, I've just been here a long, long time.

Randy, we all know that you're being über modest by saying that!

CHIC SILBER- check this out for more background.

Thank you very much for your response.

Would an e-mail to [email protected] be okay?

that works, though i think we find that matters specific to FlyerTalk are best accessed through private messaging which does seem to avoid spam traps. But your choice of exchange is equally welcome by me.

Thank you for your responsible support of FlyerTalk.

Randy

Usually, you can contact the administrators of that forum to complain about moderators. When it has been determined that the moderator has committed an act detrimental to the forum and its members, he/she will be disciplined accordingly.

It's my understanding that Randy is the administrator of all the forums. Or are there other administrators of which I am unaware?

Since suspensions have been mentioned and commented on, may I ask what is the process for resolving an appeal? Specifically, what is the time period required for a decision?

As you are aware, there are several appeals (including mine) that have been pending for almost four weeks. That seems unreasonable and unfair. An honest and transparent appellate process should include a timely ruling on appeals, delivered within a specific, documented timeframe.

A process without measure often leads to chaos.

Um ... are you talking about Internet forums in general, or FT in particular? If the latter, what is your source?

Probably isn't the internet in general. The only requirements I am aware of for the internet in general are

a. Anyone who wishes to establish a domain is required to establish a contact address for that site. This will be generally available online through the domain registrar's site.

b. Anyone using a domain for email must accept mail on the address "postmaster@domainname" and possibly also "abuse@domainname" -- although these can be auto-forwarded somewhere else.

There is no particular obligation to respond to every email to these addresses, or indeed, to do anything at all with emails NOT from the domain registrar (ignoring the latter could eventually lead to the domain name being revoked).

I think that's it, which strongly suggests to me that the poster did NOT mean the internet in general.

I agree, and that's why I asked for the source on which his/her claim was based.