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What is /s/ModAbuse?

/s/ModAbusefunctions as a dedicated online forum for Internet users to share negative experiences they had with the moderation and/or administration of any online community in order to warn other Internet users infront of hidden policies and unfair, hostile treatments of users in specific online communities.

The worst known moderators and administrators of online communities are listed on the ModAbuse leaderboard.

What is the purpose of /s/ModAbuse?

First off: /s/ModAbusedoes not encourage witch-hunting .
Our goal is providing critical insights in order to promote cautiousness and provide certainty to users and possible future-users of the respective online communities.

We have realized that Internet hostility is not as trivial as initially thought.

Users deserve to know more accurately in advance how they can expect to be treated in respective online communities, from testinomial reports.

Users also deserve to be provided with transparency about hidden policies, retroactive policy tyrannyand false advertisements/self-descriptions.

If people are aware in advance how they might be treated in the respective online communities, they can anticipate it and be less surprised if they receive a harsh and hostile treatment by the moderators and administrators of the respective community. Or they might avoid that community altogether and possibly seek a nonhostile alternative.

More information at “ About /s/ModAbuse” .

Also see:

User FAQ

I am new to /s/ModAbuse. How do I get started?

Read the helpful instructions in the side bar.

I have witnessed a misbehaving moderator or administrator as a bystander.

What else can I do?

Help your friends by letting them know about this site.

Reported mod/admin FAQ

Why are some moderators/administrators listed higher for the same behaviour?

Moderators and administrators of larger and more relevant communities tend to be listed higher due to a greater violation of responsibility.
This is the reason why Ani625 has a higher rank than Westwall on the leaderboard, despite Westwall behaved worse.

I am a moderator/administrator and someone claimed false things about me / didn't tell the whole story.

You are invited to jointhe debate and clarify it.

I am a moderator/administrator and acknowledge my misconduct. I will quit my hostile behaviour.

You made a good decision.
We recommend you to announce an apology to your community and if possible, undo your damage.

I am a moderator/administrator and I am not happy that someone reported me here.

Understandable. But see it from the perspective of the presumably unfairly treated user and future users. They are/will obviously not (be) happy about being or having been treated with hostility, prejudice and/or with poor responsibility.

If you believe you acted appropriately, you are invited(Poal.co) to clarify it in the comments.

Also, please note that criticism of specific aspects of a person or an organisation usually does not implydisapproval of an organisation as a whole or denial of its positive aspects. Actually often quite the contrary: They had the intention to contribute constructively, but got banned for their constructive curiousity, for moderative/administrative prejudice, pessimism, and/or similar.

Isn't that _online shaming/gossip/hate speech/etc._ ?

The benefit to the public to be enlightened in advance by critical insights morally outweighs the shaming aspect.

Any fair and justified criticism can be devalued as shaming , gossip , hate speech , etc. .

Users who submit reports here are encouraged to phrase their criticism using formal, factual and sincere language.

You have nothing to tell me! How I treat _my_ community is _my_ decision!

Indeed it is.

We are not here to order administrators how to behave. These are just recommendations.

Why we are here is described in the sections above.

How you behave is still _your_ decision , but it comes with responsibility.

Generally:

What is the difference between a _moderator_ and an _administrator_?

It depends on the context/website.

Generally, a moderator is a user (usually an experienced volunteer) who has extended abilities like (un)suspending accounts and (un)hiding/(un)deleting content.

Administrators generally have access to the back-end infrastructure of a system, user account data and have the ability to grant/revoke moderative privileges.

This concept is generally used by forum software packages, but exact user rights of each role might vary per setup.

The terms might be used differently depending on the website type / software.

Example: On Reddit, moderators have the ability to delete posts and comments from the subreddit(s) they moderate; and the ability to block users from interacting with the subreddits they moderate.
Reddit Administrators have these privileges site-wide (for each subreddit) and have the ability to suspend user accounts from the entire site, among several additional capabilities such as reading a user's IP address.

On the MediaWiki software, users who are able to delete/undelete pages and suspend/unsuspend users are already considered (labelled) Administrators .
Users who can grant/revoke “administrator”-ship privileges on MediaWiki are called Buerocrats .
Additional special MediaWiki user groups such as Oversighter and CheckUser can offer extended privileges that the sole Administrator role doesn't provide.

Did you know?

  • “Ban” is the shortened word for “banishment” (noun) or “to banish” (verb).

We hope that the preceeding text has been helpful to you.

If anything is unclear, if you have any additional questions, or suggestions for improving the preceeding text, please comment below.

↓ expand content
# **What is /s/ModAbuse?** /s/ModAbuse functions as a dedicated online forum for Internet users to share negative experiences they had with the moderation and/or administration of any online community in order to warn other Internet users infront of hidden policies and unfair, hostile treatments of users in specific online communities. The worst known moderators and administrators of online communities are listed on [the ModAbuse leaderboard](/p/150834). ## **What is the purpose of /s/ModAbuse?** First off: /s/ModAbuse does not encourage *witch-hunting*. Our goal is providing critical insights in order to promote cautiousness and provide certainty to users and possible future-users of the respective online communities. We have realized that Internet hostility is not as trivial as initially thought. Users deserve to know more accurately in advance how they can expect to be treated in respective online communities, from testinomial reports. Users also deserve to be provided with transparency about [hidden policies](https://poal.co/s/ModAbuse/151984), [retroactive policy tyranny](https://poal.co/s/ModAbuse/151988) and false advertisements/self-descriptions. If people are aware in advance how they might be treated in the respective online communities, they can anticipate it and be less surprised if they receive a harsh and hostile treatment by the moderators and administrators of the respective community. Or they might avoid that community altogether and possibly [seek a nonhostile alternative](https://poal.co/s/ModAbuse/150432). ### More information at *“[About /s/ModAbuse](https://poal.co/c/01fd6461-be93-44fc-8e06-bbfe73760008#sortcomments)”*. Also see: * [*“Mod abuse”* on UrbanDictionary.](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mod%20abuse) ---- ## User FAQ ### **I am new to /s/ModAbuse. How do I get started?** Read the helpful instructions in the side bar. ### **I have witnessed a misbehaving moderator or administrator as a bystander.** * → Click [here.](https://poal.co/submit/text/ModAbuse) ### **What else can I do?** **Help your friends** by letting them know about this site. * [Share to Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A//Poal.co/s/ModAbuse) * [Tweet](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://poal.co/s/ModAbuse&text=Expose%20Internet%20hostility%20at) * [Share to Gab.AI](https://Gab.AI/share?url=https://poal.co/s/ModAbuse&text=Expose%20Internet%20hostility%20at) * [Share to Reddit](https://Reddit.com/submit?url=https://poal.co/s/ModAbuse&title=Expose%20Internet%20hostility%20at%20Poal.co/s/ModAbuse!) * [Share to Voat](https://voat .co/submit?linkpost=true&url=https://poal.co/s/ModAbuse&title=Expose%20Internet%20hostility%20at%20Poal.co/s/ModAbuse!) * [Share to Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A//poal.co/s/ModAbuse/&media=&description=Expose%20Internet%20hostility%20at%20Poal.co/s/ModAbuse!) * [Share via WhatsApp](https://wa.me/?text=Expose%20Internet%20hostility%20at%20https://Poal.co/s/ModAbuse!) * [Share via Telegram](https://telegram.me/share/url?url=https://poal.co/s/ModAbuse&text=Expose%20Internet%20hostility%20at%20Poal.co/s/ModAbuse!) ---- ## Reported mod/admin FAQ ### **Why are some moderators/administrators listed higher for the same behaviour?** Moderators and administrators of larger and more relevant communities tend to be listed higher due to a greater violation of responsibility. This is the reason why *Ani625* has a higher rank than *Westwall* on the leaderboard, despite *Westwall* behaved worse. ### **I am a moderator/administrator and someone claimed false things about me / didn't tell the whole story.** You are invited to [join](https://poal.co/login?next=%2Fs%2FModAbuse) the debate and clarify it. ### **I am a moderator/administrator and acknowledge my misconduct. I will quit my hostile behaviour.** You made a good decision. We recommend you to announce an apology to your community and if possible, undo your damage. ### **I am a moderator/administrator and I am not happy that someone reported me here.** Understandable. But see it from the perspective of the presumably unfairly treated user and future users. They are/will obviously not (be) happy about being or having been treated with hostility, prejudice and/or with poor responsibility. If you believe you acted appropriately, you are [invited](https://Poal.co/register?next=%2Fs%2FModAbuse) to clarify it in the comments. Also, please note that criticism of **specific aspects** of a person or an organisation usually **[does not imply](/p/163535) disapproval of an organisation as a whole** or denial of its positive aspects. Actually often **quite the contrary:** They had the intention to contribute constructively, but got banned for their constructive curiousity, for moderative/administrative prejudice, pessimism, and/or similar. ### **Isn't that _online shaming/gossip/hate speech/etc._ ?** The benefit to the public to be enlightened in advance by critical insights morally outweighs the shaming aspect. Any fair and justified criticism can be devalued as *shaming*, *gossip*, *hate speech*, etc. . Users who submit reports here are encouraged to phrase their criticism using formal, factual and sincere language. ### **You have nothing to tell me! How I treat _my_ community is _my_ decision!** Indeed it is. We are **not** here to order administrators how to behave. These are just **recommendations.** Why we are here is described in the sections above. How you behave is still **_your_ decision**, but it comes with **responsibility.** ---- ###Generally: ## **What is the difference between a _moderator_ and an _administrator_?** It depends on the context/website. Generally, a ***moderator*** is a user (usually an experienced volunteer) who has extended abilities like (un)suspending accounts and (un)hiding/(un)deleting content. ***Administrators*** generally have access to the back-end infrastructure of a system, user account data and have the ability to grant/revoke moderative privileges. This concept is generally used by forum software packages, but exact user rights of each role might vary per setup. The terms might be used differently depending on the website type / software. Example: On Reddit, ***moderators*** have the ability to delete posts and comments from the subreddit(s) they moderate; and the ability to block users from interacting with the subreddits they moderate. Reddit ***Administrators*** have these privileges site-wide (for each subreddit) and have the ability to suspend user accounts from the entire site, among several additional capabilities such as reading a user's IP address. On the MediaWiki software, users who are able to delete/undelete pages and suspend/unsuspend users are **already** considered (labelled) *Administrators*. Users who can grant/revoke “administrator”-ship privileges on MediaWiki are called *Buerocrats*. Additional special MediaWiki user groups such as *Oversighter* and *CheckUser* can offer extended privileges that the sole *Administrator* role doesn't provide. ## **Did you know?** * *“Ban”* is the shortened word for *“banishment”* (noun) or *“to banish”* (verb). ----- We hope that the preceeding text has been helpful to you. If anything is unclear, if you have any additional questions, or suggestions for improving the preceeding text, please comment below.

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