This forum is good demonstration of why you can't give people petty powers over other.
I'm new here. I signed up because I'm looking for a book that the government doesn't allow you to have unless you're handicapped and support their fascist partnership with Adobe Digital Editions for some reason. Also, Mobilism forces you to sign up before you can see what books they have, for some reason. So I signed up, which took way too long. First they make me click on a bunch of pictures of cars and bridges as slave labor for Google's Project Echelon before they let me know that my 12345 password is not good enough for them, so I have to restart the entire process again, only to have them tell me my username is taken and that I have to start over at least once more. Whoever programmed this is probably hateful not stupid, and is the same person who programs logins for every company. Oh well, I'm used to it. That's not the real problem.
So I log in after signing up because I wasn't automatically logged in after signing up for some reason, and I search to see if Mobilism has my book. They don't. But one very fine person at least has another book in the same series. So I ask if he has the others. 5 minutes later a moderator deletes my request. This is in the middle of the night mind you. Apparently you're not allowed to ask this way. Crazy, right? The moderator at least seemed polite and sent me a PM explaining how this was not allowed, although there was no explanation why. Yeah I'm new and didn't read the rules. I didn't think I had to. This is a book sharing site, right? I can't imagine how many rules I'd be breaking if I were looking for something politically incorrect. Whatever. I'm sure they must have a good reason. My fault. So I make a new post, a formal request for the book I want, that the person who might have it probably won't see. We'll see.
Or not. I come back to the site a few hours later and I've got a second PM from a second person who deleted my second post ever on this site. This time, the problem, he claims, is that my request is invalid because the book I'm looking for has already been posted. And he gives me a link to the place where I had tried to ask for the book the first time, and tells me to post there if the link is expired, which it is. It's clearly not the same book, so that's two for two and I'm thinking, what's wrong with this guy? I look at his profile and it looks like he isn't a moderator. He's a "helper" but he's got moderator powers, and is more than a little eager to use them. I reply to him that it's not the same book and that he should reinstate my post. But I doubt he's even able to do that or that he would bother. Moderators err on the side of using the stick. That's what makes the internet safe for people who are scared of the internet.
This is ridiculous. I can't find any function to report a user for bad behavior, so I complain to the first moderator. He told me to talk to the other moderator, who isn't actually a moderator. I don't think he knew what I was talking about. He's probably censoring thousands of other posts. I reminded him that he's the one who involved himself, and that he's the only other person on this site I've talked to. What I'm trying to do is go above this other guy. I'm sure he'll get back to me, but not with the same vigor. These guys always protect their own. It's like a club for hall monitors. Anyway, I'm just sharing an incredibly unwelcoming experience. The solution is easy as all solutions are. Stop causing the problem. Get rid of your moderators. Get rid of your terms of service. Let people come together for their love of books and don't ever encourage the wrong sort of people.
All I wanted was a book.
I'm new here. I signed up because I'm looking for a book that the government doesn't allow you to have unless you're handicapped and support their fascist partnership with Adobe Digital Editions for some reason. Also, Mobilism forces you to sign up before you can see what books they have, for some reason. So I signed up, which took way too long. First they make me click on a bunch of pictures of cars and bridges as slave labor for Google's Project Echelon before they let me know that my 12345 password is not good enough for them, so I have to restart the entire process again, only to have them tell me my username is taken and that I have to start over at least once more. Whoever programmed this is probably hateful not stupid, and is the same person who programs logins for every company. Oh well, I'm used to it. That's not the real problem.
So I log in after signing up because I wasn't automatically logged in after signing up for some reason, and I search to see if Mobilism has my book. They don't. But one very fine person at least has another book in the same series. So I ask if he has the others. 5 minutes later a moderator deletes my request. This is in the middle of the night mind you. Apparently you're not allowed to ask this way. Crazy, right? The moderator at least seemed polite and sent me a PM explaining how this was not allowed, although there was no explanation why. Yeah I'm new and didn't read the rules. I didn't think I had to. This is a book sharing site, right? I can't imagine how many rules I'd be breaking if I were looking for something politically incorrect. Whatever. I'm sure they must have a good reason. My fault. So I make a new post, a formal request for the book I want, that the person who might have it probably won't see. We'll see.
Or not. I come back to the site a few hours later and I've got a second PM from a second person who deleted my second post ever on this site. This time, the problem, he claims, is that my request is invalid because the book I'm looking for has already been posted. And he gives me a link to the place where I had tried to ask for the book the first time, and tells me to post there if the link is expired, which it is. It's clearly not the same book, so that's two for two and I'm thinking, what's wrong with this guy? I look at his profile and it looks like he isn't a moderator. He's a "helper" but he's got moderator powers, and is more than a little eager to use them. I reply to him that it's not the same book and that he should reinstate my post. But I doubt he's even able to do that or that he would bother. Moderators err on the side of using the stick. That's what makes the internet safe for people who are scared of the internet.
This is ridiculous. I can't find any function to report a user for bad behavior, so I complain to the first moderator. He told me to talk to the other moderator, who isn't actually a moderator. I don't think he knew what I was talking about. He's probably censoring thousands of other posts. I reminded him that he's the one who involved himself, and that he's the only other person on this site I've talked to. What I'm trying to do is go above this other guy. I'm sure he'll get back to me, but not with the same vigor. These guys always protect their own. It's like a club for hall monitors. Anyway, I'm just sharing an incredibly unwelcoming experience. The solution is easy as all solutions are. Stop causing the problem. Get rid of your moderators. Get rid of your terms of service. Let people come together for their love of books and don't ever encourage the wrong sort of people.
All I wanted was a book.
It's because new members frequently did not read the rules or FAQ before starting to post and ask for books. Or they ask for step-by-step instructions on how to do something (how do I download this browser extension, how do I read an epub file, how to transfer a DLed audio/ebook onto their device, etc.) which was all explained in the FAQ (or could easily be Googled for that matter!) No efforts made to learn these things on their own, just asked to be spoonfed information. They joined and immediately stuck their hand out asking for stuff without doing the courtesy of reading how the board runs to prevent pointlessly repetitive questions/requests which clogs the board. Uploaders (givers) end up feeling like their time and efforts aren't appreciated if "takers" can't even spend the ~5 minutes it takes to read the Rules and FAQ section and follow them...