His skinny microphone is working overtime right now.

That was fair TICG.

I just want to thank Pale Rider for taking the time to provide some sort of answer to the questions posed in this thread. I can only speak for myself, but I really appreciate it.

Well, as y'all can see I don't know how to use the quote feature. What follows is a quote from X, these are not my words.

"You're more like a RINO.

Man, the qualification for moderator have gone to hell in Devil Queen’s handbasket, but the interesting part is that it's all low-level bankers with plenty of time on their hands during the business day - now, let's think about that - the moderator group has time to post to the cooler and patrol the cooler - during the business day - I say fire all of them and let them volunteer here full-time for free. On the other hand, free labor is a good thing, especially as all the posters are on the paying end."

[Not sure how you define RINO my friend, but I have pictures of me with many of the presidents and their staff. My friend Neil Bortz is coming to town next week and next month I hope to spend some time with Tony Snow when he comes to town. I would caution you to watch the personal attacks though, since you a getting close to a yellow card - if you know what I mean.

That's right on the money - XODUS!

Think about it - any one of the non-BOL employed moderators go to their Boss:

Moderator: BOL wants me to moderate the BOL Watercooler during the day - it will not take much time, but I wanted to let you know.

Boss: Watercooler? Is that like our Watercooler?

Moderator: Well, yes - just chat threads but some posters get a little carried away, so moderators are needed.

Boss: So, during our business hours, while we are paying you, you will be moderating an online Watercooler, for free? WOW, that would be like assigning someone to moderate our Watercooler chat - that's not going to happen!

Moderator: Yes, that's it, but think of it as a community service. By the way, I could moderate our Watercooler chat - I've got the time!

Boss: Community service? I'm thinking the BOL Watercooler isn't even in our community, so what would prompt us to allow you to take on this task? Also, it seems like you have more time than brains!

Moderator: Hmmmmmmm - I have the time?

Boss: Hmmmmmmm - but, that's our time!

Moderator: Hmmmmmm - perhaps this isn't such a good deal for our financial institution, now if they asked me to moderate one of the banking threads, would that be OK?

Boss: Perhaps, but it all depends on how much time would be spent during business hours.

Moderator: I feel stupid for asking!

Boss: It's really too bad that stupid isn't painful!

Boss: Now get your aXX back to work and stay away from the Cooler, you loser!

I agree I greatly appreciate the way he has approached his responsiblity as a moderator.

It's best not to threaten posters online. Also, what specifically about my post leads to a "yellow card" status? Also, what's the the 'yellow' part - does that have anything to do with yellow snow which I know should be avoided?

Also, Jesus will be visiting me this weekend.

and like you X, i have to question some of the motivations of the people who have now been made moderator. Weren't they given the Private Cooler because they didn't want to deal with the Public one? Didn't they ban anon posting to prevent the majority of negative posting? I fully expect that it won't be long until BOL will be returned to the 8 long time posters who have always been here exchanging stale outdated ideas. I certainly hope the advertisers appreciate the diminishing traffic the site will experience.

WOW! We are like soul mates on this issue! Look closely at Pale Rider's posts here - it's a power thing. Now the Cooler sand box will be filled with opinions of moderators, along with the rank and file everyday Coolies. It's like being in jail here - they are the guards, we are the inmates - they aren't paid, but we are also not actually in jail, so as the new moderator group steps over the line - and they will - more and more of us will leave this increasingly strict site for greener pastures.

Also, when Sweetpeas starts passingly out compliments to moderators - something has become more than passingly strange in the cooler. Or, perhaps she is now bowing down and kissing rings!

As I said earlier, the supplication is sickening. What's the over/under on how many more posts we are allowed to voice this opinion in before something gets deleted?

i'll be honest, i can see your points X and X, but until the moderators start exercising their power (eg. deleting all disagreement such as this) i think keeping this site professional is not a bad thing. in fact if i were in the shoes of a moderator i think i'd be giving posters the benefit of the doubt because i didn't want it to appear like the power had gone to my head.

although, this is banking so i do not know what is in the minds of the moderators....

are you aware of what has already disappeared Ron?

the whole myspace thread was deleted, i am assume it is because someone posted a list of proxy sites in the thread. However, nobody has confirmed that, and does that justify deleting the whole thread? Further, why delete because of that in the first place?

since i don't really know anything (i haven't been following BOL too closely these days), i just made a general observation. i can't really opine on any particular instances since i have no knowledge of them. and i can see deleting an entire thread if it is likely to cause problems.

now, based on the limited knowledge i know of what a myspace thread would be about, it could be potentially racy or inappropriate but i would think such an approach may have been heavy-handed.

it doesn't matter anyhow, i am leaving this site after today anyhow. I may still pm some people, and i will look in to get the info for the fantasy stuff but I doubt I will post any more.

X, calling me or anyone a RINO when you don't know me is borderline offensive in my opinion; I simply tried to allay your concerns by providing some bona fides. My political or religious persuasion is a non sequitur, and you are not going to achieve your purposes, so----

have a good day

well dont forget to PM me! i'll miss you! and believe me, i empathize with your concerns but i also see the concerns of management so i can see how the pendulum swung toward heavy-handedness.

i think the first step for the C.O.P. (citizens on patrol. i nominate Andy Z as resident "tackleberry" and JacFSB as "mahoney") program should be to warn or at least try to temper their reaction to a post with the legitimate point of the "offending" poster. this way, certain moderators can't be accused of being too sensitive.

I'm not kissing rings. More than one person has asked the moderators give a clear answer on what is considered inappropriate and Pale Rider is the only one who bothered to answer. While it is still not clear, I'm glad someone made the effort.

Sorry you feel that way, that was not the intention of BOL, the intention was merely to clean it up a bit.

I spend a lot of time in the cooler, as well as being a regular contributor of BANKING HELP... (keyword: BANKING). Therefore, the ability to delete posts is based in inappropriate content, go ahead and have all of the belligerent political and religious wars that you want... as long as the remain inoffensive with the slurs and name calling... feel free to PM me if you want to chat about it..

Sorry you feel that way, that was not the intention of BOL, the intention was merely to clean it up a bit. Also, I noticed that you didn't say that you would reference this site for its plethora of banking knowledge... only for its fantasy threads...

I spend a lot of time in the cooler, as well as being a regular contributor of BANKING HELP... (keyword: BANKING). Therefore, the ability to delete posts is based in inappropriate content, go ahead and have all of the belligerent political and religious wars that you want... as long as the remain inoffensive with the slurs and name calling... feel free to PM me if you want to chat about it..

It is my understanding that anon posting was curtailed not because of the tone of the posts, but because of the increasing amount of spam posts appearing all over the site. The spam still shows up from time to time in the anon forum and on bankingquestions.com, but at least this way, it's more contained and easier to clean up.

I have been around for a couple of years and I can see how the site is different now than it was then, but I also realize it has a lot to do with the influx of younger people who's ideas of what is appropriate and professional are different than that of the "traditional" posters. While this causes some conflict BOL needs to realize who their future lies with. If you alienate the 20 somethings who is going to use this site in 10 years?

Your assumption is correct--which suggests that you are able to understand why it was inappropriate.

Sorry to see you go Thank you for the great game threads

but if he does know of your posts and legitimately thinks that you are a RINO, what are you really taking offense to? from his perspective, you may not appear to be "republican" enough.

i think the fact that you feel this is "borderline offensive" proves his point; he's called people worse, and if you are going to capriciously draw the line here, are others? it's the same principle as the weakest link in a chain: the other moderators may be a bit more lenient to others' points of view but if you are not, you are abusing power since your threshold is a bit different. but don't think i don't understand both sides of the issue here, pale.

See Xodus post above, Ron - so it's already happening, even - it appears - with not BOL guidelines being abused. If information is available on the web, as proxy information is, posting it here does not violent BOL guidelines, right?

Anyway, the Cooler now is turning into the same as the banking world, were lesser minds end up with power just because they kiss more ---.

Say, Ron since this is depicted as a Community, can we bring a class actio suit against the Community Leaders? I feel like beating someone up, today!