This might have been suggested before but would the implementation of specific section mods be an idea worth considering? Sort of in the same vein as the Arena Mod where you have people who do a lot of roleplaying in one area become a sub-mod for that section. IE is Jimmy101 does a lot of Casual RPing than he can put his name forward to be a Casual RP sub-mod and users could vote for him or something like that.
Their jurisdiction would only be to the area they're so they Jimmy101 the Casual submod couldn't go into Free or Advanced and exercise his power there. Of course this could lead to people throwing around their new found weight in that area but the actual mods would always be one step above them and have final say in what the submods do, overruling their judgement in place of their own.
This concept would effectively tackle a few different problems in one fell swoop. You would have more active mods since it would be people who are actively and constantly RPing in that section moderating them. Plus their experience in that section means they could have some sort of specialty in that area? (Not so sure on that bit but oh well). It would give players a more direct way of contact someone with power in the event its needed without waiting on a full mod to just happen to wander into their thread.
I mean, I'm probably going to start a new flame war with this, but I'm gonna post anyways.That doesn't actually solve issues; it opens the window to some of the same problems that other sites have collapsed from handling.
Jimmy101 has a group of friends in the Casual section. Lets assume most of the casual section roleplays, and would be pretty halfhearted when nominating mods outside of a whim of the moment decision (like most elections, really) and so Jimmy submits his name and the noisy group of friends says "JIMMY! JIMMY!" and other people say "meh, just don't mess with my RP and we're OK." Jimmy roleplays a lot, but shall we say he doesn't GM too often. Jimmy's friends vote and maybe drag a few of their friends in to say yes, and nobody really cares to say no.
What you now have is a mod backed by Jimmy's friends who talks a good game about "yes, I can totally handle this" and then does a lackluster job because while he's fairly popular and a good roleplayer, he has little to no administration experience, and has a tendency to skip to banning. Jimmy causes problems, and while other mods keep him in line, Jimmy might not want to be kept in line or care. He has friends, and he draws on those friends to say that the community voted for him, and that the other mods should fuck off (in so many words). Some people might talk to Jimmy, and Jimmy gives them an answer that the other mods wouldn't agree with, but Jimmy has authority and his word is trusted to be true, and so the users who contacted Jimmy in PM don't bother to continue the discussion further.
Thus began the moderation period of Jimmy, held in place because democracy, who really isn't a good moderator but because he has friends and he roleplays a lot, he gets the job anyways. This is far from an impossible scenario. In an election on a small site, people can be propelled by their friends and remain unopposed because not enough people really care or know enough about the job or person (it's not "everyone knows everyone" here) to say "hmm, he might not be the best noderator". People can start off looking like OK mods, but they do a lackluster job and mess things up in the PM box, and they keep the job because they were voted in and that is the crutch that is used for when higher mods say "you're not doing a very good job".
Moving beyond the hypothetical scenario, is there really a point to section mods? Are there so many issues that a few more general mods couldn't handle deletion requests/minor issue resolutions that seem to be most of what goes on with this site outside of this subforum? What happens when the section mod is the only one online and goes into another section, only to find "...right, I don't have power... uh... wait for the real mods guys"?
Most issues should be handled by the GM. It's kinda your job as the GM to establish law and order. Higher mods only come in when people refuse to leave after the GM tells them to fuck off, and to my knowledge, that doesn't happen very often. Section issues in Casual are more than likely just issues with the GM being lazy or not using their site-given authority to say "go away" when the time is right.
And to comment on a specific sentence;
Plus their experience in that section means they could have some sort of specialty in that area?
It depends on the type of experience; roleplaying =/= moderation skill. Rilla I'd excuse on this because in the Arena, there's more collaborative organizing going on, while in Casual it's a free for all, everyone GMs their own thing. A good roleplayer writes well, that doesn't say anything about how they handle situations requiring authority. A good GM is perhaps a better qualifier, but I'd argue still not quite on the same level.
The moment I noticed nobody else was suggesting things, I knew it'd go down this road. I'll quote from someone unaffiliated with the current discussion:
