The biggest problem is that no one with the power to do so is willing to act. Everyone seems to be caught in a loop of not being sure about their jurisdiction or not sure about this or that, needing input from an admin, etc. I think the problem is worse than a lack of leadership; there's what seems to be complete apathy to the point that people are so deluded they will believe anything no matter how absurd, so long as they don't have to do anything.
Alright, everybody, pull up a chair, because it's time for
Rendezvous in Moderation: The Garo Story.
I joined the forum in June 2011, not too long before the release of
Skyward Sword. I stuck around for a bit, but more or less kept out of anything resembling a sense of community. I posted enough to be a recognizable face, but that's about it. I posted an article draft in the Article Center, got it edited, and watched it get gradually pushed and pushed until it was finally published some months after posting the initial draft. That was frustrating. Coupled with a general increase in my senior workload, I sort of fell off the forum and gravitated toward other things.
That first article was published in January 2012. I immediately followed it up with another draft, which Hanyou took a noted interest in, given that it dealt with a favorite topic of his. Working with Hanyou on that article was a very nice experience, as I connected with him quite strongly and we had some wonderful conversations. It brought me back to the forum with more frequent posting habits, and I started to get slowly integrated into the community here. In May, Axle asked me to come on board the Article Staff as a recurring contributor, which I gladly accepted. I contributed roughly an article a month for the next year, the first one going up less than a week after I joined the staff. It was a prolific bit of writing for me, and I was very thankful for the opportunity to get out my often contrarian viewpoints.
Throughout this time, I posted on the forums with relative frequency. I was always a more verbose poster, and tended to post less than some of the more active people, but my posts tended to be noticed and were generally well received. There were a few clashes with certain other passionate members (sup JJ) but nothing too severe. I don't recall ever being part of the "forum politics" at the time, though I am assured that there were plenty of forum politics happening in the fringes of my vision. Nevertheless, I was enough of a presence in the community than in July, I was elected a Hylian Knight. Despite the controversy that has surrounded the rank of late thanks to the actions of certain members, at the time it felt like a pretty substantial honor. The monthly promotions were an anticipated event and were generally met with a reasonable bit of fanfare. I didn't expect to be elected, but was very pleasantly surprised and honored to have been so. It was one of the first times I felt a sense of kinship with this community, a sense of actually being part of it rather than being an outsider on the fringes of it.
I continued my activity and posting throughout the year, until early December when Mases contacted me and informed me that my name had come up in discussions about new moderators, and asked if I would be interested in the position.
I did not immediately say yes, and in fact was incredibly hesitant. I hadn't been involved with forum politics at this point, but I was certainly aware of them - especially as an HK - and was not particularly fond of them. It seemed like unnecessary controversy and stress on the part of both members and moderators, which seemed to be the primary struggle (I think the "Head Moderator" rank controversy was the most significant bit of politics that I recall). I didn't want to accept a position that would bestow upon me unwelcome stress and disdain, so I was very slow to accept the rank.
Ultimately, I did accept the rank.
As a moderator, I pledged to abide by a simple directive. I didn't want to be at all tyrannical or to overuse my mod abilities, so I was going to operate by the adage, adopted from Thomas Jefferson, "He who mods least, mods best." Keep the peace, and nothing more. And for the most part, I feel like I abided by that pledge. I don't think I overstepped bounds in the year and a half since. I don't think I gave out unwarranted warnings or infractions. I don't feel I closed threads that didn't need to be closed. But I think the bulk of the reason I didn't do those things is because I didn't do much of anything. Because ultimately my philosophy of moderating as little as possible began to manifest itself as barely moderating at all.
One of my pet topics in my time as a moderator has been administrative transparency. I always saw complaints of nothing being done in certain situations, of the moderators rarely giving out infractions when they were deserved. And while perhaps we could have been doing more than we were, I also think we were doing more than we were being given credit for. So one of the things I have pushed for is greater communication with the users about goings on of the staff, admins, and moderators. But these calls almost always fell on deaf ears, for the most part. I considered taking unilateral action, but ultimately decided against it, as this is, in the end, not my site, not my forum to run and make decisions on without consulting my peers and the site staff. And so, despite our need for better communication (or, at least, what I saw as a need), little was done.
I realized this a bit too late - about a year or so into my tenure as a moderator. And at about that time, my obligations and schedule became quite intimidating, and I grew a bit more distant from the forum. I kept up with it and did what I feel is my due diligence to it, but I haven't taken initiative for the past seven months. The blame for the lack of things being done is as much on my shoulders as it is on the other mods, admins and site staff.
But no longer.
I have since gotten over my fear of unilateral action, as I have lately decided that inaction is considerably worse than unilateral action. Most of my recent initiatives have been more or less my doing, despite my claims that they were the doing of the moderation team as a whole. Yes, I continued to consult the other moderators and Locke during the MD Policy Thread's early stages, but ultimately took action on my own. Whether or not this has been effective is anybody's guess, but I remain dedicated to actually making things happen.
In my time as a moderator, I have felt that at times our advise and counsel has been ignored, if solicited at all. We are entrusted to keep the peace of the forums, but given little of the tools necessary to do so (so much of the forum's backend permissions rest only with the administrator; things like the name change policy were frequently discussed, but because the power to actually do that only rested within the Administrator prior to the Community Coordinators, little could be done) and are very rarely consulted. I am really and truly sorry that I have not done as much as I could be doing to help the forum, and am dedicated to remedying that in the present. I can assure you that there is no apathy here, but real love and care for the forum.
But honestly? I feel trapped.
I came to this forum because there was a walkthrough on the main site that helped me find a Piece of Heart I was missing in Wind Waker during a playthrough in 2011. I stayed on this forum because the people I was interacting with were pleasant and enjoyable to talk with. I contributed to the main page because I got a lot of positive feedback and felt like I was growing as a writer in the process. I accepted a moderator position because I cared about this community.
I still care. I still think this is a pleasant and enjoyable place. But I feel very trapped between a sense of duty to help the forum, but an inability to do so with the limited tools at my disposal.