This thread was closed before I had the opportunity to sum up my thoughts. At the risk of compounding the ill-will towards me, for my own peace of mind and to clean my own karma, I have asked the mod to re-open the thread so I can add my final .02. If nothing else, my own personal experience detailed here should give you insight into how this board is moderated. It may upset you, it may leave you indifferent. If it bores you, don't read it.
In my opinion, this entire episode was mis-handled by the moderators, placing me in an incredibly awkward position and causing other Members to completely mis-apprehend the sequence of events and the issues behind the posts they read. Intentional or not, these errors caused harm to me, placing me in a no-win situation. I will summarize what happened, and list the mistakes so hopefully these errors will not happen to anyone else in the future.
1. A Member with a long history of making rude comments toward me (*borderline* trolling me), posted yet another inflammatory remark meant to cause harm to my reputation on a board that I have supported from the beginning and contributed to in a (mostly) exemplary manner. This unnecessarily insulting post remained unaltered in the thread for two days before I had the chance to view it and respond. In the meantime, two Moderators replied in the thread after the offensive remarks, taking no note of them, and taking no action against the Member making the attack against me.
2. I replied to this Member in a single post, saying all I had to say to that member, giving as good as I got. That was supposed to be THE END of that. But here's where both I and the moderators went off track.
3. In that thread, I started to question the moderators over a series of posts, asking them to clarify the rules here at Head-Fi, and demanding an explanation for their inaction at such obviously irrelevant and off-topic name-calling directed against me.
4. The Moderator contacted me off-line and basically asked me to drop it, because pursuing the matter and discussing board moderation "would be damaging to the community" (or damaging to the moderators?). I slept on it, and decided the matter was not big enough to make into an issue and was in fact going to drop it altogether, and I *was*, until what happened next.
5. The next morning, I opened the thread to find the offending Member's post intact, including the rude remarks against me, but every single one of my replies was removed from the thread, even the initial rebuttal to the rude remarks, not just the off-topic posts of mine questioning the moderators. It appeared that I had lost my right to respond to an attack. And I would have, if I hadn't raised Holy Hell.
6. Behind-the-scenes, the Mod informed me that the matter was still in play, so I was jumping the gun by reacting to what I saw. He told me that my rebuttal to the Member's attacks were deleted from the thread because they were "off-topic", while the original insulting post was somehow "on-topic" and therefore to be preserved in the thread. The offending Member was being given the *option* of editing his post *as he saw fit*. Apparently, no further action was deemed necessary-- no public cautioning, nothing. There was to be no direct action taken against the offending Member or his post by the Mods at Head-Fi. I was incensed. Why? Because slander against me was allowed to remain (for well over a day) completely untouched, while my rebuttal to the insults was kept off the board in an invisible holding pen while the Mod decided what to do with it. His decision about what to do with my reply to the insult was the genesis of this thread, and cause of tremendous grief to me.
7. The Mod decided that my "off-topic" rebuttal to the Member's attack, as well as the resulting discussion of the role of Moderators should be placed in another entirely separate thread to preserve the sanctity of the initial thread from which they were taken. I *never* authorized the creation of this thread, the Mod did this completely independently, in order to (in his mind) satisfy my demand that my rebuttal not be deleted from the forum. I wanted my reply, which was no more "off-topic" than the original offending post, to remain in the original thread. This was not to be. The Mod created and titled this thread, *and* listed my name as the "Thread Starter", when I had *nothing* to do with its genesis.
8. Upon initially creating the thread with the title "Markl's reply to Kelly and discussion", the moderator carelessly mis-construed the thrust of my remarks, making it look like I felt the need to start a whole new thread to start a "markl vs. kelly" discussion, when the topic is not my anger at kelly (I dispensed with that in a single post that was ripped from thread in which it belongs and was completely done with the matter), but my anger with the Moderation at Head-Fi, which in my opinion is arbitrary, inconsistent, plays favorites, and whose policies are made up on the spot. I was mad at the Moderators for continuing to let this member troll myself and other Members, and demanding they tell me when enough was enough and action is taken against such rogue posters. As it turns out, Head-Fi policy on this matter is non-existent, and individual Mods are free to deal with situations as they pop up more or less as they please. This leads to arbitrary decisions that can have serious repercussions for you, even if you are the wronged party asking for redress.
9. Further making me look like a jerk, the moderator initially included no explanation about how this thread came to be in the first place. It just launched into my reply to kelly's attack. To everyone, it looked like I started this thread, and I was instigating an attack on kelly, which couldn't be further from the truth. With no information, I don't blame members for being angry and disgusted with me. Taken out of context, it looked ridiculous. As a result, the entire point of my tirade was lost on the membership. For the record, I don't give a toss about kelly, he can go jump in the lake. The real topic of this discussion is (despite how it was presented to you) NOT kelly vs. markl, but markl questioning the inconsistent policies and practices of the Mods. It is the Mods, not kelly that is at the root of my anger. This was totally lost in the insuing wave of verbal abuse I suffered (most of which was edited by the Mod), by people with no idea what was really going on. And how could they? Posts were cut and pasted and randomly assigned to one thread and not another. What a mess!
10. Finally, the mod posted a little blurb at the top of this thread explaining that he had created it, not me. But it was too late; the damage was done. I had already been taken to the woodshed by the Membership and publicly flogged for entertainment.
11. My position is that I was trolled yet again by a Member known for trolling. Due to the cozy relationship this Member has with the Moderation of this board, or due to the fact that this member contributes well-written reviews when not bashing others, this Member has been given carte blanche to insult at will. Unless you, the insulted member, complain directly to the Moderator, no action will be taken against this Member. Based on my experience, I advise you NEVER to complain. You see what happened to me. Disaster.
I know a lot of Members are disgusted with me. I ask you to *please try* to look at it from my POV before you judge me too harshly. At what point during the course of being trolled do you speak up and say "enough"? I personally reached my limit, and cried "foul". And don't you have an expectation that when you do finally complain, the Moderators will hear you and treat your complaint in a reasonable manner, not hang you out to dry? This was certainly my expectation. How wrong I was!
I recognize that some of my posts here, taken out of context of the actual sequence of events, portray me as a hot-headed whiner. Maybe I deserve some chastising for the strength of my reaction. Fine, I'm a big boy and I accept that. But in my defense, I felt I was the wronged/injured party, and was denied anything resembling "justice" by the Moderators on this board. What happened to me does not bode well for you if you should ever run afoul of a troll, especially a high-post-count troll who basically can't be stopped at this point.
The question at stake here is this: who is qualified to say which posts are offensive-- the offended party, or the Moderators on this board? In my case, the Mods decided the post in question was not only inoffensive, but "on-topic" to boot. I was the one crying "foul", and my feelings were ignored in favor of the judgement of the mods. You can expect to be treated this way as well.
As for me, I'm not sure I'm coming back. I know, big loss. I would, however, like you to know that this situation has been very sad for me. I've spent a lot of my valuable time here attempting to add to the pool of information available on headphones. With the exception of a few Members who baited me, I have been nothing but civil and constructive in my posts here. Over my time here, I've helped many members and corresponded with many of you off-line. In that regard, I've worked as hard as anyone here for the continued development of this community.
I did not ask for any of this. I simply sought redress from the board for (yet another) a verbal attack on me from a certain Member. This was the result.
There are lessons in here, but I'm not sure what they are yet.
markl