Mod Burnout... Why Are We Surprised?

I founded AntiCheat Inc way back with 2 guys, basically we banned cheaters joining servers that were using our services. Also as we could track IP's of players, we saw accounts they had used and provided search tool that could show associated accounts. That brought in so much hate, death threads etc that I grew numb for it, it helped that we knew we were doing good thing for the community and all the hate came from cheaters. I think it took 5 years of that before I though to step down and not bother with it anymore. I have avoided all forum/community duty since.

I can imagine what people that get suspended (and miss all those free games) throw at the one handing the suspension and wouldn't want to be in that place.

Oh and I suggest not to add anyone on Steam side if it's not someone you know (and specially if you know who it is ^^).

Keep up the good work, I have never had any issue with mods/support. I think everyone there is doing a great work.

Can't there be a zero tolerance policy regarding abusive/toxic behaviour? Like most workplaces, if you start swearing and being abusive, people get sacked or kicked out. Alternatively, maybe have some warning system where there's 3 strikes and you're removed. If moderators are taking such abuse, there really should be some protection for them. Removing such individuals will leave a nicer group of SG members of which the vast majority are. Anyway, I want to thank all of the moderators for the hard work you do.

I don't think some realize that they are volunteers and the sad part is some don't care. I appreciate all the time and work spent helping by all members of the team. Thank you to all the staff both past and present who help on the site. 1 person that was apart of the team I really liked that stood out was PeteOzzy. They were one of the people that answered my tickets the most that I can remember. Very pleasant, sad they aren't support anymore.

I don't really understand why anyone takes such behaviour seriously.
It's like with people who say "fuck the police". They are either criminals or idiots. and even if they think that they are right - it doesn't mean shit

People break rules. they will take advantage of loopholes in the rules. they will get mouthy when they're caught and told to cut it out. and outright abusive when they're account becomes under threat or banned... suppose why not? they think they have nothing else to lose.

I have volunteer moderated a less intensive site in the past and it's not cookies and cream. I can imagine it can get pretty bad here given how much larger the userbase is.

Toxicity will never be eliminated in it's entirety, but putting shame to abusive tactics is certainly a good first step. Pretending it's not there even after witnessing it does no one any favors. It needs to be called out.

Is it fine if I still insult myself?

Uh, yeah, okay.

Toxicity can kill a once-great site... The GOG forums are a good example of that. I do not understand what motivates people to be so hateful, especially on a site dedicated to giving and sharing.

Maybe we could let the support staff stay anonymous or pseudonymous when performing their duties. Just show the ticket has been closed by "support" or "moderator #77" or something like that.

My life only improved for the better when I stopped moderating/managing a community I had been at from near the beginning. I had no clue how unhealthy it really was till it was over (and at the time wasn't even really my choice, more of a coup).. week later, not waking up to BS and Drama, so relaxing.

Not saying you should quit or anything. Just mentioning it because if your hobby becomes your biggest source of stress, then it's time to re-evaluate.

The user base is too big. Or no, that's not an issue in first place. The support team is just too small. It could perhaps fit if this was only a discussions site, but not also for giveaways based on a bad API and many users only taking the advantages out of it. Also a voluntary job like this usually can't be done forever. Life changes, hobbies and interests change. So there's always fluctuation, and a partial toxic community doesn't improve the motivation. Having more staff members means less time spent and less anger received for the single person.

Furthermore (and again) it would probably help if giveaway creators wouldn't have you to check if there were already sanctions for rule-breaking users. But I dont know how to avoid this without you're being afraid of more calling out.

However, thanks to all active and inactive support members. And if you became inactive due to toxicity, I hope you're doing better now.

well...to the good mods, and support, they need you to defend them, cg to defend them and you, If i were mod..i actually would give a fu** about people hating me for doing the things that is correct and have to be done because rules are rules, and no one is exent of them. I was admin years ago and got a lot of hate to(not here,in a gaming community), but well, is something that some people can't handle and yes..people is whiny ass hell sometimes..i work and talk to people everyday...and some of them are...difficult to work with... Maybe you need to be more strict about your roles. Suspend people hating from everything, and there, people will not like it, but they have to. Is your work, if they can do a better work, then go and make it better. I never have a lot of problems from support i think, never in the years im here have a lot of problems, and i think i never break any rules.. So..if i can do it..why the others can't?.

p.s: Sorry if i write something wrong, im not english talker :p.

p.s2: Thanks all for your hard work and making this a good community.

A blue <3 for all the mods from me. Only had to open one ticket so far and it was resolved fairly quickly in my opinion. Then again, I've worked in a lot of support/customer service positions, so I tend to be more understanding of things like wait times and too small of a staff.

I worked for Geico emergency road service after Hurricane Sandy, and we went months with over 100 calls on hold from the start of a 10 hr shift to the end of it. People were not exactly understanding. I can only imagine what they might have said with the anonymity of the internet. The fact that you all do it as a volunteer position makes it even more amazing. Thank you for all your hard work. Now that I have a better job and can afford to make more GAs, that blue heart might actually be worth something, lol.

Yeah, I can't even motivate myself to even look at any tickets, much less make an attempt to try to work through any of them.

It's like this, I love this site, but if it get's to the point where moderating it is affecting my life outside and in my day to day activities, it's time for a break. I know my limits. I'm a big fan of learning from other people's mistakes, and watching how moderating has affected other peoples lives is a great way to educate yourself on how to live yours. It's too easy to become obsessed with the goal and It's too easy to allow it to take over your life. Should I play a game after my 40 hour workweek or should I try to help out the team by knocking out some tickets tonight? Knocking out tickets, usually always wins.

I don't think it has anything to do with the community, for me, necessarily. SG is salty sometimes, but what community isn't? You can't take it personally for what someone says in the heat of the moment, or when they are discussing something they are passionate about, as we can't know what their situation in life is currently or where they are at mentally at the time. I love everybody, man.

Having been in moderating positions many times in the past, I feel you. The SG community can very definitely be a very toxic bunch, It's the case with pretty much every community there is, though. It doesn't matter how generally nice they are, there's always going to be someone who complaints and/or attacks you over your decisions. And there's almost always those people who suffer from the Regina George complex and just spend their insulting and patronizing everyone in their path, leaving everyone else to deal with their shit.

Personally, I've grown rather tired of SG's discussion boards and have been posting far less frequently. On July 2016, around the time I became active on the site, I posted 298 comments. A year later, I posted 28, followed by 10 on August, and most (if not all) of them were just me saying thanks after winning a giveaway. Sure, I'm a very minor presence on the forum even when I was active and I haven't contributed nearly half as much as the lovely people who left, but still; shows how toxicity can push someone from being an active poster and contributor into a lurker.

And I've only ever had to deal with a very small fraction of it, so I can't even begin to imagine how it is for the mods & support whose job is to engage with all of the toxicity on a daily basis. No ma'am.

I'd like to think that no one in the community is deliberately trying to make things bad for other people, but like all things Internet they lose sight of the fact that there are other actual human beings at the other end of the connection.
If it gets too much to bear I'd recommend getting ArchiBot to fill in as mod. And make it mandatory that the chat logs are posted for everyone's enjoyment.

Just want to say that the few tickets I logged were always answered swiftly and efficiently. I do not feel the community toxic (at least in the forum). This is true I mostly read the puzzle part though. So, display of hatred towards mods came a shock. I guess most users do not see this side of things. You have our support.

I didn't know this till Khalaq brought the subject up. I'm pretty sleepy to write all my emotions, thoughts, theories etc... Only i'm gonna suggest a simple solution and leave. Just use the power of banhammering and go on. That's all. Noone is here to listen other ones' insults or teach manners which they didn't have from their parents apparently. I'm sure this will help here to be a better community. Because it's not only mods' problem but whole sg's. Now it may not look like "their" problem because of Khalaq's reaction/shout, but tomorrow I'll have to deal with same creature, too. Anyway, have a nice day/good night sg community except underdeveloped humanoids!

I didn't know Pete left. ;_; He was so nice.... I hope I can repay him one day for his kindness.

The mods I've interacted with have all been great. I wish I could thank them when they help with my support tickets, but since they get closed, I just have to hope "thanks in advance!" will do. Definitely appreciate the effort they put into the site.

Bumping for mod appreciation awareness.