Let me open this post by imploring someone to copy the contents in case the band of power tripping mods who ban people for everything ban me for this.

Kantor, you are the most level headed moderator that I have come across on this board.  When you warned me you gave me concise, fair judgement, and I took what you said to heart, really reconsidering some of the things that I said.  Right now, with Machina stepping down, we are on the precipice of great change.  There is a growing undercurrent of power tripping mods who are now apparently banning people for criticizing them.  This is untenable, and if it continues, will destroy everything that makes this place great.  

No, I am not speaking about my own ban, sega4life banned me for flaming, while I don't believe calling someone an idiot is enough of a flame to warrant a banning, it is a flame none the less, and several people called for my banning because of it.  While we disagree on the ban, I respect his decision and have moved on.  

My problem lies with MontanaHatchet handing down an egregious 10 day ban to man-bear-pig.  This sort of power mongering abuse can not stand.  

Kantor, please, step up, be the leader that we deserve.  Your patience, humility, and fairness are what this site needs, and truly, what this fantastic user base deserves.  I joined this community  years ago, but posted sparsely until recently, mostly because I lost my password.  Since I have joined the conversations, I have really felt like I belong.  I'm not the most senior member, the best member, the member with the most credibility to make this plea, but I am willing to speak up, willing to plead, nay, beg, Kantor, please take the lead .  We need you, we want you, we deserve you.

Thank you for your time.

I hope this thread stays open for the sake of free expression.

P.S. How did you get your password back?

Interesting that the members who contribute the least seem to complain the most.

There, free expression.

^He said he lost his password though.

Man bear pig was fucking around on purpose. He wanted the ban. No, that's not right. He needed the ban.

Basically made a post on my wall saying I'd be a terrible head mod because I hate everyone on the site (even though I said I didn't want the position). Then made a post in the forums saying the mod team needs a sense of humor, praising Stof who was 4 years before his time. Plus his continued spamming. In retrospect, ban-fishing perfectly explains his behavior. And frankly, MBP has been moderated 13 times in the last 3 months (so an average of once a week), and 2 or so of those have been by me. It's easier for some posters to develop a persecution complex than change their behavior.

^The way I see it though, MBP is vital to the accountability of the site. If people like him don't mention things some of us need to hear, then how can we approve (as little as we can as users) the mods that are best for us?

He is a person that likes to test things, and bring things out that he considers need improvement. It must be hard especially when in a position of authority, but you should see him as an ingredient for accountability in the community, and actually see his ban-fishing as an integral part of QA within the forum.

As unorthodox as this sounds, it's really how I see it. Put the hacker to good use!

What exactly is this moderation's team definition of "flaming" and "trolling"? Legitimate disagreements or criticisms shouldn't create hostility, but thoughtful discussion.

I think the prevalence of the console war mentality on this forum, ironically, is what also causes the moderation team and posters here to be so quick to accuse something as "trolling" or "flaming". In their mind, you cannot possibly disagree with or dislike something unless you are a fanboy.

Edit: Also, there's a trade off between giving off bans and the quality of a board. Yes, in a perfect world nobody will call people an "idiot" or anything rude. However, this forum is ridiculous in the sense that any tiny infranction is punished with a ban. This is like a transaction cost that slows down the flow of posts being made, and make posting in this forum simply a chore.

Imagine this, you're talking with a friend, and then this really annoying person comes and points out any gramatical mistakes you make or if you used any inappropriate word. Every few seconds you're interupted and you simply can't be bothered. You just want to express the meat of your idea, and instead things that are unrelated get focused on.

Get the whole story before you post complaining about Montana's ban on MBP. He wants it, he has it, done.

This isn't about MBPs ban, it is about finding a new head mod. MBPs ban is just the latest example of over-moderation.

This thread is solely meant to throw support behind Kantor, anything else is secondary.

Kantor for head mod 2012.