I'll set the scene for you: a forum - one of the very few I belong to, the ONLY one I really care about - even love. This is a forum for an excellent online comic, Charby the Vampirate, where fans can gather and exchange thoughts, ideas, fanstuffs, links, fun shit, and a roleplay or two (or three or four in my case).

The artist is often quite busy, and I really don't blame her for not being a huge figure behind the forum. Instead, she delegates mod duty to individuals who were chosen because they "demonstrated that they had experience and responsibility," in Amelius's own words. They also have "the ability to put aside personal feelings to get things done." Sound fair? Good, you're still with me.

There have been issues, as is unavoidable in any online community. Spammers were big. Sometimes the Mods jump the gun one trying to keep us on topic. Sometimes heated arguments break out.

And sometimes they go beyond 'heated.' Since I refuse to comment in the forum for fear of sparking even more brawling, I'll state my opinions here.

Here's the picture: a forumgoer who is active and involved, but quite... provocative, raised a big stink by starting to attack posters in a thread about child promiscuity. I.E. basically shoving his opinions down their throat and/or insulting their responses. So the mods called him on it - perhaps a little severely, but it IS a sensetive topic, he WAS pushing the limits, and he DOES have a track record of baiting people.

Instead of admitting that he crossed the line and dropping the subject, he denies that he was being inappropriate or going off topic (to take stabs at other forumgoers). He fought the mods about it to the point where they all decided they needed to do something. Then he PMs everyone, including people NOT INVOLVED in the discussion, asking them to SUPPORT his side of the issue! Now, by this point they're all treating this like a bloody MURDER TRIAL.

Reality check, on forumgoers, Mods, and the 'accused' alike: this is a forum about a webcomic. Posting is leisure activity. Getting worked up about something like this to such a degree goes beyond 'immature' into something akin to 'stupidity.' Disclaimer: I am not calling my friends on the forum stupid, merely stating my opinion about the whole situation.

So everyone's up in a row about it. Most of the long-time members are trying to get their opinions and concerns expressed civilly, but another portion immediately gets in on a 'mods unfair!' campaign. They starts saying how the mods abuse their power and shit. Now some are a little trigger-happy, but for the love of god, that forum is ORGANIZED and an OPEN community where most people are willing to express themselves! Have these people ever seen forums where the mods are lackadaisical?! So AMELIUS herself comes on and gives this whole speech about how she chose the mods herself, how it IS a thread about her comic, and how she's trying to keep things open, organized, and fun for everyone! This may involve being tough at times, but none of the Mods are plotting against the community or trying to rule with an iron fist. They ended up banning the instigator for a week, and people are chewing everyone else up like the bloody LORD OF THE FLIES out there!

One of the guys who was real anti-mod just quit the forum because the RP mod threatened to go over Amelius's head and ban Mr. Instigator himself at one point. Seriously, the guy doesn't even have that much authority, and this second guy just walks out while he's in the middle of GMing an RP, without a single word to the rest of us, because ONE MOD said something BLOODY STUPID. Not to mention that mods are HUMAN and get as annoyed and snippy as the rest of us.

So thank you. I hope I made my postion clear. This issue should have been dropped when the Mods first called out Mr. Instigator. Instead, it's destroying my online home-away-from-home, breaking my heart, and - even worse - tearing up our respected and well-loved artist. I am ashamed of those people who saw fit to raise hell about all this in such un undignified matter. No, I will not quit the forum, but perhaps only because I have no where else to go.

~Daybreak