homepage Forums SimHQ Community Community Hall Why is SimHQ not a neutral forum?

I find it very strange that SimHQ allows its forums to be moderated by title owners, or people who have a financial interest in the titles. This inevitably leads to biased moderation at best and censorship at worst. This would have to be expected and accepted on a forum a title owner owns.

However I always thought that the very reason for a forum like SimHQ to exist is its neutrality!

Just to be understood correctly. I'm bringing this up because I'm noticing this too often recently, and it's doing SimHQ no good. I hope this is not policy but a mistake which SimHQ can correct. It should be mandatory for moderators to declare if they have financial interests in a title. In this case they should not be allowed to moderate such forums.



MAC

The forums are moderated by long term members of the SimHQ community who do it all for FREE.

Of course if you dont like it please dont let the door hit your backside on the way out

Mailman

Wow. Friendly fellow you are, and constructive.

MAC

I don't think SimHQ's moderation is a particular problem.

There are sections where discussions from other forums carry over.

They tend to get moderated.

Hmmm.... I must admit that I've not been keeping a keen eye on what gets moderated where, but I've been voicing out my dismay at DCS/ED's direction for a good time now and my posts stay on. Perhaps it is not the thought that is being moderated but the way it is written/delivered.

The only time a post/thread of mine has been taken out was when I was complaining about a different forum site in particular, and I understand why SimHQ doesn't want that level of discussion.

I will say that one reason I stay on here is because when I have a question about people's thoughts/opinions/feelings regarding a game/sim, I know I will get to hear about both positive and negative points regarding that issue.

However, as a group of like-minded individuals, it is hard for it to be totally neutral. We all like one form of sim or game, so we will always be biased towards that, moderator and member alike.

Good answer, Ice.

Thanks for your reply, but this topic isn't about moderation on SimHQ in general. I think it's usually fine and I agree with your comment. It's about conflict of interest (the financial one) which I wish would not play a role in the moderation at SimHQ.

Just to give an example: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3918567/Re_ANNOUNCEMENT_DCS_MiG_21bis_#Post3918567

Rudel and Cobra are the owners and developers of the MiG21bis title (Leatherneck Studios). Now I think it's great that they are and what they're doing there has my full support. I also have nothing at all against them in any way, or any position or anything to gain in the quoted discussion.

But I think they should not moderate their own forum on SimHQ. It's a matter of principle, which I think SimHQ should uphold.

MAC

Macademic has a good point.

Didn't realise that and you are right that shouldn't happen unless the forum is some form of 'advertorial' which I hope isn't the case.

MAC, they may be the owners of said software but neither are moderators of that forum. Rudel is however a moderator of the Jane's F/A 18 and F15 Forum here at SimHQ. You'll know us moderators by the red shirts we wear and only the forums we are assigned to.

Edit: Well, I stand corrected! I was not aware of Rudels or Cobras (promotion?) to that forum.

That hasn't in my experience been the "norm" here.

Just FYI, besides a few old timers like Ghost above me, most of the new mods are completely new to me and it would appear SimHQ... so not sure what the beef is, but today's SimHQ mods are NOT the same as the ones a year or 2 or 5 or 10 ago... just FYI... I'm not sure where they came from, never seen no announcement or post about them, like we did before with new staff and mods.

Just saw that one day new members had red.

You're not wearing the red shirt anymore?

MAC

imo the moderation here doesn't fit the standard definition of moderation, it's more of a kind of censorship. that's fine, it's a private site.

if the mods don't like what someone says here they usually delete the whole thread rather than edit the comments as most mods would.

different folks, different strokes

I Ssnake a mod on the SB3 forum? If not, why not?

THIS.....i damn sure don't get paid or work for any company that advertises or has product that is reviewed on this site.

I wish....

I haven't been staff here for over a year now.

I retired about the same time that Magnum did and to give you a peek behind the curtain, we really didn't get jack squat for what we did here, contrary to what was commonly bandied about. It really is a labor of love and I got to the point where I really didn't love it as much as I used to.

They are as neutral as they can be under the circumstances for being an all-volunteer website with more unpaid staff than the average political campaign. And I think that despite all the conspiratorial notions, this is still a very fair and well-run site with discussion boards that are as free and fair as they can be.

And as far as locking a thread versus editing several pages of comments with various quotations of offending remarks? Why the hell should these guys have to clean up after you to begin with?

If I were a mod here we'd be standing up to our necks in the blood and guts of trolls, malcontents and immature twats.

I suspect free tickets into E3 paid for by SimHQ advertisers, air fair and free 3 night stay at Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles paid for by GameSpot and Gameworld Distributors

Not even close.