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Who Holds These Moderators Accountable?

IncrediPhiLL··22 votes·10,756 views

Might just be me, because I haven't spent much time on the boards outside of Worlds coverage, but it seems like these "Moderators" have gotten out of control. I've seen more thread locks, and more moderator complaints of the last 2 weeks than I've ever seen. A lot of these disciplines and things are going over my head apparently. I know some are justified, but some are just petty things that have no reason to be acknowledged.

I could be waaaaaaay wrong on this, because I have no clue how the selection process goes for getting these moderators selected... but it seems to me that these people are all over the place. Inconsistent, biased, and flat out nit-picky. I feel like we have to look over our shoulder after everything we say.

I got told by a moderator this morning "Don't be a jerk." After they took down my post in which I said "Mr. OP, I think you should delete your account. I'll wait patiently for this." (This was on the thread in which 4 or 5 moderators are all arguing with an obvious troll OP... you know the one) If that is flammable and out of line, then sure, take it away, but I've also posted the same thing twice in the last two weeks with nothing. In fact, me and the guy I was talking to earlier in the week had a good laugh about it... because it's obviously not a serious jab... I guess I'm just confused in what warrants "being a jerk" when the moderators engage in more toxic conversations than what I got flagged for posting earlier, but by all means, come and get me.

I guess my feelings are just hurt and it's frustrating watching this group being so inconsistent and all over the place. I really think RIOT needs to have a more serious selection and vetting process when it comes to choosing the boys and girls who do the moderating on these boards. It's getting pretty bad as of late. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely not a job I would want, and no one is perfect and that's understandable... but there seems to be a formula of being consistently inconsistent... and that's not good.

41 Comments

ModThe Djinn16 votes

Who Holds These Moderators Accountable?

Our Riot contacts, the Heralds, and the other moderators. If any of us see consistent issues, we bring it up and take actions as needed.

{quoted}I've seen more thread locks, and more moderator complaints of the last 2 weeks than I've ever seen.

Thread locks haven't really increased, but yeah -- we get complained about a lot. Most people don't typically go out of their way to go "Things are generally fine! Well done!" so the posts about us that ARE made are usually from people who are frustrated or angry. Even when we don't ultimately side with them, however, those posts ARE read, and we often discus them internally.

I could be waaaaaaay wrong on this, because I have no clue how the selection process goes for getting these moderators selected... but it seems to me that these people are all over the place. Inconsistent, biased, and flat out nit-picky. I feel like we have to look over our shoulder after everything we say.

Riot has a direct hand in the selection process, as do the Heralds. We're always willing to look over any single moderator decision and, as this board alone can show, I and others have overridden moderator decisions numerous times upon reanalysis.

If that is flammable and out of line, then sure, take it away, but I've also posted the same thing twice in the last two weeks with nothing. In fact, me and the guy I was talking to earlier in the week had a good laugh about it...

We don't catch everything because we're humans -- we rely on reported content or our own eyes to see things that are problematic, so something that may need to be removed may be overlooked if it's not reported. Comments like that also require us to take tone and context into account -- it's possible that the other comments were in less volatile circumstances, and thus left up.

DerMangoJoghurt1 votes

Sorry if you're not the right person to ask this, but why can't people from other regions report posts and comments on the NA boards? I thought they were supposed to be the main boards that everyone can use, so it always seemed weird to me that we aren't allowed to help maintain the boards.

ModThe Djinn4 votes

{quoted}

Sorry if you're not the right person to ask this, but why can't people from other regions report posts and comments on the NA boards?

NA, EUNE, EUW -- one or two others, I think? -- can post here. I don't actually know the specific logic for why other regions can't: it's not a decision made by us, but rather by whoever coded the board functionality in the first place.

ModWuks3 votes

NA, EUNE, EUW, and OCE should be able to use the primary functionalities of the NA Boards, including posting and reporting. Let me know if this doesn't hold true in your case.

DerMangoJoghurt1 votes

Posting works fine, but I can't report posts on the NA boards. The report button is simply missing from the bottom right corner of the post. Also, being able to report comments might be inconsistent. Currently I can report them, but I could've sworn I wasn't able to do that on multiple occasions before.

ModWuks2 votes

I've looked into your report, and it appears that reporting should work on any sub-boards with the Boards updates. Sub-boards like the "Announcements" sub-board won't show the "Report" button on the thread, but most others should.

DerMangoJoghurt1 votes

Sorry to waste your time, I've found what caused it. My ad blocker (uBlock) is removing the report button for some reason. Additionally, I disabled the ad blocker on the EU boards, but not on the NA boards. That's what caused the confusion.

AirKingNeo5 votes

Wait, so who holds the Heralds accountable then?

RuFiot3 votes

I believe it is clear that for most part they are the judges of themselves, and sometimes go for some old Riot moderators for advise (like they were some just moderators or something.. probably they were the same if not worse)

Only if the boards could hold them accountable, maybe more transparency in their work, like if we can see all the tickets and they have clear rules they should follow and not some broad guidelines where everyone can do whatever, maybe then we could have just proved their actions don't make sense or revert tickets

ModThe Djinn2 votes

{quoted}

Wait, so who holds the Heralds accountable then?

Each other and Riot.

AirKingNeo5 votes

Riot seems pretty hands off with the boards.

"Each other" pretty much means nothing. The best comparison is people complaining about Senators being paid too much, but also the Senators are also the people who control their own salary.

ModThe Djinn3 votes

{quoted}

Riot seems pretty hands off with the boards.

Publically, yes. The Heralds chat with our Riot contacts fairly often though, and they can see everything posted here and said in Discord.

ModKnightsKemplar7 votes

Specific issues are a lot easier for us to respond to, but I'll try to address the complaints you brought up.

With regards to consistency in getting comments removed, we're never going to be 100% consistent. We have a lot of people working as moderators, and we can't all agree on every single action we take. I don't think that's a feasible expectation even if the vetting process was the same as for an FBI job. If it could be automated to give exactly the same response every time, we wouldn't need people to do it.

I understand the frustration about that, for sure. I'm just trying to realistic about how you would address that. Different people do the same job differently sometimes. I'm not trying to argue that the fluctuation is a good thing, but it happens. Even the same moderator may bring a different set of experiences to the same issue a few weeks apart and handle it differently the second time.

If the comment got removed 1/3 times, there's two things that could've happened. First, it may have not been reported the first two times. We can't moderate what we don't see. I always encourage people to report things that are against the rules so we can handle them. That's what we're here for. But it doesn't always happen.

Second, there are certainly cases where something is borderline, and some moderators may let it slide and another doesn't; all that says to me is that you are making borderline comments, and you eventually got punished. I think that system is honestly fine. The context also matters a lot, so it's possible that the discrepancy can be partially explained by that. If there's an obvious joke thread where you tell someone to uninstall, I'm not going to remove that. If I see you say exactly the same thing to a player that is obviously upset, I'm gonna remove it.

Beatrice falls6 votes

I just see a lot of complaints about some posts / comments that are removed because moderators pretend to be overly sensitive and "words can hurt". I'm sure some of them just ctrl+f anything containing "black" "chinese" "gay" "riot" and "retard" and just delete it whenever they see something like that. I mean at this point just get an automatic bot that does it for you

rujitra5 votes

I've been viewing the boards since before they were the boards (the old software). I have not seen this uptick you speak of.

You seem to be unhappy since you violated the rules. I don't see how you can fault the moderators for that.

IncrediPhiLL2 votes

I don't know man... I feel like it see it a lot recently... If there isn't an "uptick" then that means that it has always been this bad since before the boards were the boards.

ModThe Djinn4 votes

{quoted}

I don't know man... I feel like it see it a lot recently... If there isn't an "uptick" then that means that it has always been this bad since before the boards were the boards.

The current moderation team has not been around that long though, so that would lend credence to the theory that board moderation isn't especially easy, and some people will always be unhappy.

IncrediPhiLL1 votes

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/esports/bx0NWPGk-thread-lock-in-esports

Here is a link to a grievance I posted about a week ago. You can judge for yourself... but as you can see I'm not the only who is annoyed by this and I posted this long before I was flagged for "violating the rules."

KFCeytron5 votes

The result of reports depends on the handling mod's feelings toward the poster and reporter as well as the mod's knowledge of the rules, and they don't like to step on each others' toes to correct even clear and obvious errors. The result of asking about a mod decision in Discord varies from "no" to "we'll look into that" (which also means no). The system is basically a placebo.

Namîste4 votes

I didn't see the post so I can't comment but every single moderator I've come across on here has been more then pleasant and fair in every situation I've seen. They are only human just like us so I"m sure emotions can take over but at the end of they day they do have the follow League of Legends TOS.

In regards to what you said, remember it's the internet, things said in jest can be taken seriously. Yes telling someone to go delete their account is rude even if you meant it in jest so I can see why a moderator would have said something. Now I do agree that the said moderator should have handled it more politely but what is done is done.

RuFiot4 votes

Is that looks fair to you? -

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/community-moderation/53X8MfAi-i-dont-think-the-content-removal-reason-is-correct

contex - I have an opinion different then his about the report/punish system (IFS) in the game.

RuFiot4 votes

His texts (Djinn) is always the same, the gist of it is -

*Moderators are humans, every case is different, context matters, you can't have set of rules only broad guidelines *

Yes almost all correct, but that reasoning can also give them the ability to do whatever they want, and it basically like there are no rules or policies, the guidelines need to be much more strict, inconsistent ruling is like there are no rules.

You see, the point is where do you draw the line of how much freedom you get as a moderator, to answer that you need to go to the nitty gritty aspects of it and give them a whole set of solutions to what they are already doing (I will try), so it little complicated, he is just using that complication to hide the point they just do whatever

P.S

Even when we don't ultimately side with them, however, those posts ARE read, and we often discus them internally.

"We run jokes on your (mine) cry baby posts internally"

Q: Who Holds These Moderators Accountable? A: Our Riot contacts, the Heralds, and the other moderators. If any of us see consistent issues, we bring it up and take actions as needed.

"All internally, we all know Riot never here so we run it and I will never be too harsh on my buddy, that I personally recommended cause I think he is a great guy, and you know what, boards members, with the correct system you can't prove sht :D"

The boards really need some way to moderate the moderators moderating.

ModThe Djinn4 votes

{quoted}"All internally, we all know Riot never here so we run it and I will never be too harsh on my buddy, that I personally recommended cause I think he is a great guy, and you know what, boards members, with the correct system you can't prove sht :D"

For what it's worth, I knew nobody in the program prior to joining, and at every point I've seen where we needed to make a call on whether or not someone would join those who knew them personally excused themselves from the vote. Also, our Riot contacts are a bit more involved than you think.

You can believe me or not as you see fit, but there is indeed oversight on our actions both internally and from Riot. At some point you may need to accept the fact that, while we do make the occasional errors (and try to fix them when they occur), we do have Riot's approval on our moderation practices.

RuFiot2 votes

For what it's worth, I knew nobody in the program prior to joining, and at every point I've seen where we needed to make a call on whether or not someone would join those who knew them personally excused themselves from the vote. Also, our Riot contacts are a bit more involved than you think.

Yes he excused himself from the vote, but hey you all know he wants him in and he is your colleague and a good chance that you are even friends and you like the guy, but that don't matter, the selection processes is unimportant if the boards have the tools to prove some moderator is just bad, without any reasonable doubt.

You can believe me or not as you see fit, but there is indeed oversight on our actions both internally and from Riot.

I don't think you are lying, your friends probably read those posts and you seems a bunch that prob appreciate honesty, they will probably look down on you if you will lie I guess that is good enough reason to convince me.. but tbh only dumb liars resort to lying, a good liar just say the truth but let you understand yourself the lie

example - "but there is indeed oversight on our actions both internally and from Riot" there can be some minimal oversight, maybe some general guidelines, some big decisions, the big picture stuff and that is it, probably they trust you, bunch of capable wo/men with respectable resumes, and let you to do most of the stuff yourselves

So did you told the truth? YES, riot do probably oversight on you, is that oversight is what I meant as an oversight, probably not, is that a smart lie? probably yes (Riot most likely trusts you and gives you a lot of freedom, so you are mainly moderating yourselves)

The result is that the police are also the judges <- it was like that in some dark corner of humanity history

we do have Riot's approval on our moderation practices.

Yes, till a better model of work will come and you will have new standards to fill, with the current model you just doing whatever you want

ModThe Djinn4 votes

{quoted}example - "but there is indeed oversight on our actions both internally and from Riot" there can be some minimal oversight, maybe some general guidelines, some big decisions, the big picture stuff and that is it, probably they trust you, bunch of capable wo/men with respectable resumes, and let you to do most of the stuff yourselves.

Roughly accurate, yes. That is indeed oversight however. They are aware of this board in particular. Additionally, I have personally brought threads critiquing my actions or comments TO them, and when I do they are always free to take what actions they feel are appropriate, up to and including removing me from the program if they see fit.

is that oversight is what I meant as an oversight...

If you meant "do they personally vet every action," then no -- they'd just do moderation themselves at that point.

Yes, till a better model of work will come and you will have new standards to fill, with the current model you just doing whatever you want

If that is what how you wish to believe moderation is working, then I don't believe I will be able to persuade you otherwise. You are entitled to your opinion, but at this point I don't think we have much else to discuss.

RuFiot2 votes

Additionally, I have personally brought threads critiquing my actions or comments TO them,

They let this place run like that, at this point I'm not so sure they even know what they are doing

If that is what how you wish to believe moderation is working,

I guess you saw my last post on the tickets I got, I don't believe I see it done to me

I don't believe I will be able to persuade you otherwise.

No persuading needed when you have a proof or a nice working system

IncrediPhiLL2 votes

Thanks for your responses.

So if I had an issue with a specific moderator who is continuously abusive of his/her power with a few messages and evidence to support it, where would I voice those concerns as to not make a public bashing section in the boards? XD

ModThe Djinn4 votes

{quoted}So if I had an issue with a specific moderator who is continuously abusive of his/her power with a few messages and evidence to support it, where would I voice those concerns as to not make a public bashing section in the boards? XD

Moderators get a bit more public critique, so you could indeed make a post here as long as it is ultimately a respectful listing of grievances and not a series of personal attacks. The Discuss the Boards Discord (link in the Board sidebar) is also an acceptable place to come let us know about any issues you may have.

IncrediPhiLL1 votes

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/esports/bx0NWPGk-thread-lock-in-esports

Here is a link to a grievance I had about a week ago. I had posted it in the wrong place which is why it isn't here. There seems to be two moderators in question that are demonstrating unfair and inconsistent behavior... one of which is the same one who targeted me for my comment earlier today.

ModThe Djinn7 votes

{quoted}

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/esports/bx0NWPGk-thread-lock-in-esports

Here is a link to a grievance I had about a week ago. I had posted it in the wrong place which is why it isn't here. There seems to be two moderators in question that are demonstrating unfair and inconsistent behavior... one of which is the same one who targeted me for my comment earlier today.

Well, for one, there's this delightful response to a moderator that we removed. The mod in question said: "Friendly reminder to keep things civil and constructive and to avoid insulting others. If it continues then this thread will be locked."

The response was this:

Then lock it or shut up. Learn to do your job on time for once.

There's a reason wuks is the only one of you mods that has respect.

In addition, the thread OP has a number of questionable responses:

...so please educate yourself as you seem to be thoroughly lacking.

...Do you have any idea what you're saying?... Na you don't. Just another mindless drone.

It's funny how the EU players are normally the reason that C9 loses, since you want to make a snarky comment.

Glad it takes a miracle for you to say something because you cant say anything at the time i said it to you.

...what's even more funny is your inability to disprove any facts I've stated.

That's not okay, and the warning was fully appropriate, as well as offering a chance to change the tone of the thread and AVOID a thread lock. The next step was clearly laid out, and the OP chose not to take the appropriate action.

IncrediPhiLL1 votes

The problem with that particular thread was that the OP was not the primary problem and was one of the least toxic of that bunch, but the moderator publicly called out the OP while not saying a single word about anyone else in the forum... and nothing the OP said was really bad either IMO.

But come on, how do you publicly slam the OP and not make any mention of far more toxic comments from other people in that thread?

ModThe Djinn4 votes

{quoted}

The problem with that particular thread was that the OP was not the primary problem and was one of the least toxic of that bunch, but the moderator publicly called out the OP while not saying a single word about anyone else in the forum... and nothing the OP said was really bad either IMO.

But come on, how do you publicly slam the OP and not make any mention of far more toxic comments from other people in that thread?

This statement..

"Friendly reminder to keep things civil and constructive and to avoid insulting others. If it continues then this thread will be locked."

...applies to everyone in the thread in question. We can only, however, respond to one person specifically without spamming, so this is typically pinned to the top of the thread in question.

IncrediPhiLL2 votes

Exact Quote from Questionable Moderator (Advisor)

"Because the OP refuses to keep things civil and constructive despite being warned I'm locking this thread. Note that we mods are only Human and as such can't monitor every single thread at once. In the future if you can't respond to someone without resorting to things like insults and name-calling then don't respond at all.

Feel free to contact us at the Moderation Discord or at Discuss the Boards for any questions, comments or concerns about this. Thank you and have a good day."

He publicly slammed the OP and ONLY THE OP!

Then, in my thread, another questionable moderator (who later targeted me specifically) when responding to my complaint says this:

"I looked into that thread. The OP decided to continue insulting after a warning on the thread."

Again... only blaming the OP and no one else. It looks bad. It's sloppy. It's not fair. It makes no sense. I understand that no one is perfect, but these 2 moderators went back to back in slamming a user while condemning no one else in the forum... which, again, WASN'T THAT BAD!

And then, after the moderator gets down voted a bunch of times on my thread, one of my later comments randomly gets stripped by the same moderator due to the "Golden rule: Don't be a jerk." I'm not a conspiracy theorist or claiming an elaborate connection, I'm just saying there was a series of bad and unfair decisions in the handling of that specific thread that appears to be continuing.

IncrediPhiLL1 votes

It would have been so simple to just say:

"The entire thread" or "Too many commenters" are getting bad... but instead... both of them went straight to blaming one person and one person only... The OP.

ModThe Djinn4 votes

{quoted}"Because the OP refuses to keep things civil and constructive despite being warned I'm locking this thread. Note that we mods are only Human and as such can't monitor every single thread at once. In the future if you can't respond to someone without resorting to things like insults and name-calling then don't respond at all.

In this case I'm not sure I would have specifically called out the OP, but I will point out that it WAS the OP who responded aggressively to a general request for civility (that I posted above).

...which, again, WASN'T THAT BAD!

The behavior was actually fairly problematic, from my perspective, but I understand you may not agree with that assessment.

IncrediPhiLL1 votes

In this case I'm not sure I would have specifically called out the OP, but I will point out that it WAS the OP who responded aggressively to a general request for civility (that I posted above).

Thank you. That is what I needed to hear. I appreciate you taking your time to respond to me about all this.

mlm olo mlm2 votes

I found out that no one is actually holding moderators responsible.

I sent a ticket to Riot.

The person didn't even read the ticket.

I asked several questions and none were answered.

They did comment on something I never asked about though.

Now the ticket is closed. After one off topic statement from a Rioter.

AKA I reported moderator to Riot directly and Riot didn't even bother to read the ticket. Moderators can do whatever the fuck they want.

mlm olo mlm1 votes

I usually would not report you. However, I am physically sick at the moment and the thread you referenced had a lot of hate. I don't think I reported you but I can't be sure in this case.

I felt your post was a joke. I almost responded. I felt it would have been off topic to do so and could have put my own thread in jeopardy. That said, I don't really understand your joke. Nor do I feel it was an appropriate place.

I'm sorry for misunderstanding.

Dracocrash1 votes

Swap to reddit. The boards are heavily mismanaged. I generally only get on here to see posts made by players, but rarely take part in discussions because moderation is... in my opinion, bad. It's really sad because I see a lot of good posts here, and I can only imagine how much more productive of a discussion it would spark on a better-moderated place, like the league subreddit. But yeah, I heavily suggest swapping to reddit if the moderation is bothering you; trust me, you will have a better time.

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