This thread has gone horribly. It's almost embarrasing to read. I once again find myself reaching for the thread rules in the OP:

• As with all VGChartz related threads, all forum rules apply to this thread as well.
• The Big One: We are open to all kinds of critiques, feedback, and concerns, but doing so must be done in a manner that is professional, respectful, and above all else, backed up with evidence and facts. Any baseless or unsupported accusation or criticism has no potential to serve anyone and therefore can be treated as spam and/or an unfounded attack on a moderator.

Now, all I see right here is attacks on a moderator; sly digs towards the mod team with no grounds, and pointless back-and-forths which are providing no new evidence. Enough of it. This thread is the place to ask questions and provide us with well thought out ideas, backed up with evidence, on how to improve the site. I'd happily be the first to admit that things aren't all rosy at the moment; some of that can be seen in previous posts here but if you know me away from the site; then you'll probably know my frustrations. And that's fine; we aren't perfect and I'm here, as are the other (active) moderators to do the best I can for the site to encourage discussion and to prevent this site from devolving into a "cesspool of mediocrity". 

If at any point ofcourse, anyone has a legitimate question then you can be sure I'll be the first person to try and answer it, the first person to try and help and the person who will actively try and get it done. You guys are the community; we're only here for you and to make your time on the site the best it can be. 

That said ofcourse, there is absolutely no reason why people should attack another moderator or another moderation without reasonable grounds. Heck, attacking another moderator even in a "oh it's OK I'm being sarcastic!" fashion isn't acceptable. Like I said we do this job, or I do this job, without pay and without any real reason other than to make the site as best it can be for you guys. I don't mind having to come off of a massive argument and staying up all night moderating and answering questions as I did this weekend, because that's what I'm here for. So, I ask you the community. Don't you think that we deserve a little more respect than what was displayed here last night?

On that note, Hynad has been moderated for his consistent attacks, and any further behaviour as occured last night; which contradicts the rules or which in general is deemed unacceptable by us, the mod team, will be severely moderated. This is not a threat, this is a reminder that this was never acceptable before, and that it certainly isn't right now. 

I look forward to continuing to answer your fair, logical and evidence-based questions but if you have something more specific to say, then send me a PM or send another moderator a PM. I shalln't be answering any questions based on this in this thread. 

Does anyone in here really, honestly think it's okay to make personal attacks on mods? We have rules on attacks on all users. I gotta say, sometimes it feels like some users are kicking up a storm simply for the hell of it and to challenge decisions and the authority of mods. This is especially so in cases where one argues in the defense of other users who have been moderated, as is the case right now, being discussed in the posts before mine.
It's okay to be dissatisfied with decisions and it's also okay to question them, but I draw the line at challenging them with posts attacking the moderator, accusing them of lying and resorting to jabs about how others need to steer them away from incompetence.
The OP is quite clear on the fact that this is not an open arena for slinging mud at the mod team, and like I've written in another post in here; it is unique for a site such as this to even have a thread like this at all, that alone is a testament to our desire to be transparent and fair (which was my primary motivation for wanting to become a mod in my application).

Hynad is being way out of line here; I have no beef with you but this is unacceptable behavior in my opinion, especially since starcraft has been nothing but polite in his responses and these attacks persist even after it has come to everyone's attention that the case in point has been resolved, this is raising hell for kicks and has no chance of ever leading to anything positive for anyone. It can also be noted that the user in question; Curl-6, has not been in here to dose out fire and brimstone like this, despite being the target of the moderation, and I quite simply refuse to believe that anyone is honestly this upset on somebody else's behalf, this is merely a cover under which to dose out bile and ashes.
This is grossly disrespectful towards the mod team and starcraft in particular and even legitimate complaints will only be stained by making posts and comments personal and overly subjective (or downright false at times).

To whomever pointed out bias towards xbox; that is utterly ridiculous, this site has been accused of all sorts of bias and most mods as well. I have received PM's where users have called me a Nintendo fanboy, MS fanboy and Sony drone. I'm sure this is the case for others as well.

Rol; you've been here a long time but your attitude in this thread is pretty deplorable as well, spinning conspiracy theories about mods making up lies to cover their asses, and more or less constantly taking potshots at moderations and acting as if the mods need your personal approval for the decisions they make. What would have happened if you joined the mod team back in April, would you have shown dissent towards all the decisions that would be made like now? You seem displeased by practically everything we do and stick your nose into other users' moderations all the time, this looks more like an attempt to discredit us that any actual, constructive criticism. This "Well, I'm happy now, all is good in the world" attitude is quite a grand show of self-entilement.

"Who was that other mod? Looks like he gave you bad advice, so I'll have to have a talk with him." I'm sorry, I have to ask; who do you think you are writing things like this? Always challenging, always stretching to the very outer limits of the rules, almost as if you're testing to see if we dare moderate you.

"It's like you mods decided that you had to ban a bunch of the cool users this past weekend in order to make a better case for how fair you are." And it seems like you're just attacking the mod team for the same of attacking it. I could be wrong though (I'm actually open to that notion). You have some good points and valid input at times but does it always have to be wrapped in snarky comments and sarcasm? It reminds me of some of the regulars that go to nightclubs; they've been there for so long and feel they can do and say anything and they feel entitled to special treatment simply for having spent a lot of time there.

Just stop it with the condescending attitude already, this is a horrible example to set for new users (and old), we already have enough troble with one-hit wonders joining the site only to jump straight into flaming, trolling or generally disrespecting the entire community. If the site's veterans attack the mods and question their every step, why shouldn't everyone else? When the mod feedback thread is filled with tosh like this, why should anyone care what we say and respect mod decisions? I've also been a member here for a long time, but I have never, ever made any such jabs at the mods (even when we had some really bad ones back in the day) and always followed the rules and I always appreciated the job the mod team did even if I didn't always agree with all their decisions.

Like I said once in the mod chat; it's hard to moderate at most times, it's no fun banning or warning your friends and it's not much fun to moderate the people who already despise you either, adding more fuel to the fire when they push you towards the inevitable. It happens way too often (look at QuintonMcLeod in here for a perfect example); users attack moderation decisions and get moderated for being out of line, feel unfairly treated and continue beating the same dead horse with the same frail stick and the cycle perpetuates itself.

I've been absent most of the summer, but I'm on my way back and I have to say that I'm shocked at the way some mods are being treated, disrespected and ignored time and time again in here. It has to improve; we always say that we want constructive feedback so we can improve ourselves but parts of the community seem to insist on antagonizing us simply out of spite and then we are blamed for all the issues in the wake of these conflicts and are being labelled as biased, unprofessional and incompetent.

I understand what you mean; the sheer weight of numbers means that more "PS fans" will likely be moderated than "Xbox fans" after all. Perhaps this is how people arrive at this conclusion; but I haven't seen any reason from any of the moderations thus far that we have been targeting one group or not another. I mean I've been called a fanboy for everything (even a mobile fanboy once which was strange) so I guess these things ebb and flow somewhat.

I think it's a shame that a lot of threads face closure because we have some users that just act ... quite frankly stupid. Not reading the OP and coming to their own conclusions ect and just generally shitting it up. (Saying that I don't see it happen often).

I have a question tho, if a thread does ever get locked because of that, can you make another??

I agree with the bolded and we'll be even more pro-active on the "don't shoot the messenger" rule from here on out, a lot of trouble stems from users focusing more on who's posting something rather than what is actually being posted.

As for your question about making new threads; we recently had an example with ethomaz where he made a thread with perfectly fine core points but with inflammatory comments attached to them, shit went down and the thread was locked. We communicated and reached an understanding and he made new thread on the same topic but without the slime on it. Some could see that as a user persisting in posting content that could upset some while others (me included) see it as a user adhering the guidelines set by the mods and actually showing the ability to adjust and improve.

I suppose it would depend on the individual cases. As a general rule, I don't see why one can't open a new thread but perhaps be more tactical in the title or make small changes to the OP; and while I generally and personally resent putting restraints on opinions and pieces out of consideration for users who will feel offended for little to no reason, there is something to be said for compromises and avoiding storms.

There are pro's and con's, I belive, the biggest pro being that one gets a clean slate and a thread that isn't tainted with the sour posts from the original and the biggest con being two-fold in that any public warnings and/or moderations in the original thread won't be visible to show where we draw the line and there's nothing stopping the same users from entering the new thread and stinking it up.

Like I said; I would say it is on an individual basis and some other mods might disagree with my whole assessment. You bring up an important point though, and this is an extension of a subject we've already discussed quite a bit on the mod chat.

Thanks for the response Mummel, and yeah a lot of threads that end up out of control are due to the OP content.

Personally I try and keep my own threads as factual as I can so there isn't much that can be changed usually.

I would suggest it's a good idea to have a pre mod warning in the thread as soon as it goes up, but my thread yesterday had several warnings in the thread and people still continued to not read the OP and go onto troll and flame.

I haven't really been active in the past while so I can't comment on the performance of the mod team as a whole but I think the majority of moderations in that "I swapped my PS4 for an Xbone" thread were ridiculous. People should be able to say "I think you'll regret that" or whatever without fear of moderation. I've also seen a few other questionable moderations in other threads where people have be banned or warned for saying something that I wouldn't seem remotely morderate-able. I think the mods should take a collective chill-pill before there's no-one left. I've also noticed a lack of new threads being made and the blatant absence of the sites once massive PS community as of late. Over moderation is very bad for the health of any forum.

What Sony members have left? Just curious

I've just noticed less of them. Don't have any names in particular besides pezus (or whatever he's called now) who has been noticeably absent to me anyway. 

Pezus has a new account, he never actually left did he?