Are Lurking Mods Acceptable?
I was involved in a chat room where a lurking moderator was issuing warnings left right and center - but was nowhere to be seen in actually being involved in the chat? Aren't moderators meant to try and move chats away from things that are not allowed? I saw one person get banned for basically saying they wished they weren't hear with no attempt for moderators to refer or offer support. Can't this be really damaging to the person? I appreciate that suicidal messages are triggering but to just lurk in the shadows and issue warnings and bans doesn't seem very fair.
Forgive me if I am wrong but if that were me in that position, feeling really down and helpless to then be shunted away from a support chat I would probably have felt like I had nothing left. Can this please be brought to their attention?
There are many great moderators who engage in chats and who do act upon people who are feeling the way they are and try and get them the help before taking more harsh actions. Sometimes it feels that some moderators just like having that power over users.
Hello, T800! Im really sorry that you encountered a situation like this in the group support rooms yesterday. Moderating can be difficult and there are some scenarios, especially in busy chatrooms, where mods might not be able to send unofficial warnings to members before sending official warnings because they need to keep up with the chat. In theory it should be okay for moderators to do this because if a member is breaking a chatroom rule they should receive a warning. In general, moderators also try to keep warnings and conflict out of the support rooms as much as possible so the focus of the room can remain on the discussion the participants are having instead of on the various rules that are being broken. However, participants in a chatroom should also be able to contest or discuss any warnings they receive that they feel was unfair, and it sounds like the situation last night got a little out of hand with many members receiving warnings they didnt agree with and being unable to talk to the moderator about it.
Lurking moderators is actually an issue that has been addressed more than once on the listener side of the site, and the problem has improved so much! Its still a work-in-progress, however, and Im sorry that you encountered a mod who didnt use their moderating abilities in the best way. While there are very specific situations where a moderator may have to temporarily lurk, it doesnt sound like the situation that you encountered last night was one of them--though I wasn't there and can't judge without actually having been involved in the chat.
I know that it can be really frustrating to receive a warning and not be able to discuss it with a moderator if you feel it was unfair, and be unable to review the specific moderator who sent you the warning. If youre interested, you can email community@7cups.com if youd like to contest any warnings you received last night or report the situation to them. I hope you have a good day and that your future experiences in the support rooms are much better!
