Misinformation

My greatest battles are fought not over something you don't like about the Network, but over misinformation. I want as many of you as possible to have the correct information - because then, if you genuinely hate it, I have valuable feedback for the development team! Of course, some misinformation is more harmful than others.

I have become aware of a couple of situations where a member has posed as a member of staff, or as a soon-to-be member of staff, and used that as leverage over other members. I hope that this does not extend beyond the handful of instances I know have transpired. So what can I do to combat this? N4G and the NewsBoiler are huge communities, and try as we might there's just no effective way to get *everyone* to see the information I think they need to see, but here goes…

User roles are visible. If you visit a member's profile you will see at the top whether they are an Admin, Site Manager, Moderator, Contributor, Trainee or Member. You can view staff for the entire network here: http://forums.n4g.com/tm.as...

You know what roles aren't listed there or on member profiles? Possible Future Moderator, Maybe Admin, Someday Staffer. You know why? Because something that hasn't happened yet - and may never happen - is not helpful. Don't pretend to be a Moderator (you will be banned), don't tell people you're "practically" a Moderator (if you're saying that, you probably aren't), and for everyone else - N4G is user-driven, and time and again it has been proven that this means more than users submitting news. It means helpful regulars offering advice, tips and helping less informed members get the info they need and find the people they want to ask a question of. So if you really do want to become a Moderator, be helpful in those ways (and check out http://n4g.com/user/blogpos... ).

[EddyD]

How about you get your current staff to not just butcher specific links from specific sites. Half of the posts I see on N4G aren't from the original source, yet they never get corrected, seems a certain few sites/users the mods have it in for.

Sort that out, way more important than if some idiot wants to believe someone is staff or not.

[Christopher]

Kind of off topic, not that I don't agree with you. But, again, the primary problem here isn't the staff, it's the community who approves news that doesn't cite the original source. Heck, we still approve news that has absolutely nothing to do with gaming. Not the staff, the community.

[Cat]

Thanks for the feedback! As cgoodno mentions, in a user-driven scenario the first step is having contributors submit correctly, and approve and report accordingly. That said, making sure submissions meet the N4G Guidelines is a big part of our Moderators' jobs, and users accurately reporting those submissions helps make sure problems can be dealt with quickly!

[Christopher]

Wait, I didn't see you list my official title of Permanent Troll... what up?

Anyway, more to the point. thanks for posting this Cat. I think many people need a bit of a reminder of this every once in a while.

P.S. Great use of Spy vs Spy image :)

[GSpartan777]

I agree. Trolls need some love to ;)

[Cat]

I wish I could take 100% credit for the image, but in important matters like these I always use my best resource - Syko. :D

[Speed-Racer]

So you are the hottie in the middle?

[Cat]

Nah that's Syko, I'm on the left.

[Syko]

Who's that guy Cat? The brains behind the operation? He sounds awesome...

[Odion]

yap anyone who says their a mod isn't a mod, its like being cool. Cool kids never have to say their cool they just are

[Christopher]

Or they wear a jacket that tells everyone they're cool already (aka are tagged as such in their profile) :p

[Parapraxis]

...was gonna say haha.

[WildArmed]

OMG.. you can see user roles?
and..
Cat's an admin?
Color me surprised.

Here I thought I was running the site for the past 4-5 years -.-

(de-bubbles the mods and admins)
TAKE THAT HAH!

[JL]

I know. As much work as Cat does around here, kinda hard to believe she's a staff member huh lol

And that's one of the perks of the job, we can get de-bubbled every day, but we have access to set our own amount of bubbles. Yes. We controlz the bubblez!!! mwahahahaa

[WildArmed]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, so that's where all the bubbles go.
You control the cookies too? D:
No wonder all the cookies are gone by the time it gets around to the users *shakes head*

[TheBlackSmoke]

I just want to add that i love the way you mods selectively choose someone you disagree with and mark 2 pages worth of comment history as trolling, thereby justifying reducing a person from 4 to 1 bubble within the space of 20 mins. Even when the majority of people agree with that persons comments. Keep up the good work.

- 1 bubble warrior for life.

[LostDjinn]

Being me I had to check out my profile. You know what? Absolutely nothing about me being "A Douchebag in waiting". I was amazed. Seems strange but there ya go. I just Can't work it out.