Goodbye (from all volunteer Steam moderators)

[KillahInstinct]

We, the volunteer Steam moderators, are being retired starting tomorrow.

What started as a fairly small company with less than 1 million users on the old forums (SPUF), and a tight knit community, comes to an end on the 'new' forums - more akin to the size of Twitter and in no way comparable.

It was a long time coming, we were never really able to keep up with all the reports and help was needed. Valve added paid moderators along the way and outsourced it like they did with Steam Support, which at this scale (sadly) is the only way to moderate. Valve feels confident that the path forward is solely with paid moderators they feel they must retire the volunteer moderation program and thanked us for our services. Each game is also still free to have their own moderators.

We acted as a liaison already in most recent years, albeit most of us where already retired or simply plain inactive, as employees left and changed and the way Valve undertakes things did to.

On the bright side, at least there won't be any complaints about who handed out a ban anymore, although I have already seen conspiracies that we are actually Support agents too ;)

We want to thank all of you for your support and the trust you put in us to moderate this platform and make things better for everyone, and the help we were able to provide as a result. We all have some unforgettable moments we will carry with us and will still be providing feedback to moderators and other hubs.

[Publord Steve]

Postat inițial de Vault Hunter 101:

I'mma say what every forum regular on Steam thinks right now,

♥♥♥♥ VALVE, ur steam support moderators are trash.


And from personal note I will miss all the good mods that actually cared about the forums and community and weren't acting like robots just to get their paycheck

> Oh no, please dont tell me steam is becoming part of the borg like facebook, twitter and googletube ;a husk of a platform that also used to be better the way it was.

[1gnis]

Postat inițial de Boris Kalashnikov:

Postat inițial de Vault Hunter 101:

I'mma say what every forum regular on Steam thinks right now,

♥♥♥♥ VALVE, ur steam support moderators are trash.


And from personal note I will miss all the good mods that actually cared about the forums and community and weren't acting like robots just to get their paycheck

> Oh no, please dont tell me steam is becoming part of the borg like facebook, twitter and googletube ;a husk of a platform that also used to be better the way it was.
:crash1:

Twitter might actually be fun with Elon musk buying it out

[1gnis]

Postat inițial de H4CK3R MAN:

Postat inițial de 1gnis:

I'm scared of posting in forums ever again tbh. Probably the last you'll see of me public posting, knowing that some person will randomly report and get me banned for some trivial reason and no way to get it rectified. Can't wait to see your dream steam or whatever come out

The one with his report army licks his lips

. . . . .
Oh no
. . . . .
♥♥♥♥ this ♥♥♥♥ I'm out

[dosi]

Postat inițial de 1gnis:

Postat inițial de Boris Kalashnikov:

> Oh no, please dont tell me steam is becoming part of the borg like facebook, twitter and googletube ;a husk of a platform that also used to be better the way it was.

Twitter might actually be fun with Elon musk buying it out

This will be the end of twitter.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

Postat inițial de 1gnis:

Postat inițial de Boris Kalashnikov:

> Oh no, please dont tell me steam is becoming part of the borg like facebook, twitter and googletube ;a husk of a platform that also used to be better the way it was.
:crash1:

Twitter might actually be fun with Elon musk buying it out

He having a bit of crisis ATM with his company lol.

Postat inițial de Techno Prophet 🧷:

Postat inițial de 1gnis:

Twitter might actually be fun with Elon musk buying it out

This will be the end of twitter.

I doubt that, but it's not impossible that might end up just like Myspace. What more concerning is that a lot of sketchy/shady, groomers, and such are upset by Elon buying twitter, and felt threatened by it, which yeah, that seems more like a very good thing, than a bad thing IMO.

[T9]

Stop derailing

[Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at 🃏]

Postat inițial de KillahInstinct:

Goodbye (from all volunteer Steam moderators)

We, the volunteer Steam moderators, are being retired starting tomorrow.
...

You can tell who the most paranoid / cautious are because they waited until the orange-text & silver-stars went away to leave a comment.

(In-b4 my comment gets flagged as "spam" anyways. )

I really only stepped in (to the community) (as a user) 2 years ago,
when things were already changing and I wasn't entirely sure why [they were changing].

According to some users that I spoke with it might have been because of some really relentless trolls, & personal harassment, that you guys encountered but we can see now that a big part of it was actually because the old moderators were being phased out.

It seems that in those final days, you all still stood as beacons of guidance for the community (& still can) but for some of you it seems that your hearts were in it more than others among you. Which, yes, is a bit of a sore spot for me because I wish everyone would have just been more up-front about how willing they were to still assist but I understand that obligations to maintain appearances may have also been felt. Plus, when it comes to what I believe are communication shortcomings, it's not like I am free of having my own shortcomings.



I hope this means that it's possible to befriend some of you now without the implication that one is seeking any sort of favor, as that was kind of a heavy piece of baggage that came attached with the role. I'm not really sure how many of you are planning on sticking around, though. It would seem that some have personal lives to attend to, some don't have interest in the community anymore, ...and some of you have a lot of gaming to catch up on. It also seems that for most of you, you already have a good circle of friends among your selves so... take care.

[DietetykBandury]

yea

[Froggy]

Postat inițial de Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at:

I hope this means that it's possible to befriend some of you now without the implication that one is seeking any sort of favor, as that was kind of a heavy piece of baggage that came attached with the role.

Oh, some people have been using that as an argument to bat people over the head countless times. The funny thing is the hypocrisy as they themselves did the same.

[Jackie Daytona]

Postat inițial de KillahInstinct:

Postat inițial de illusionist:

I'm still mildly happier knowing you doing-it-for-free janitors will have to find a new way to feed your power trips.

I think you've a very wrong idea of what it is what moderation is all about. It was mostly about helping people, not banning them.

You can keep saying that, but it's never been true. Not with you.

You have always moderated with malice and bias. All these people in this thread saying they are sad to see you go? They are the only people you helped. Not the community at large.

You are frequently rude and mean. Even though you would happily forum ban people for acting the same way.

Who were you trying to help when you banned me for "forum disruption"? Why did you refuse to tell me what that meant, or what I did wrong? Why did you then forum ban me 2-3 more times for the same thing? Because you're such a helpful guy?

If you cared about helping people? You would have told me what I did wrong. Not ban me over and over. To this very day I've no idea what I did wrong, or what "forum disruption" means. You clearly enjoyed banning people.

I believe moderation can only improve from here.

Postat inițial de KillahInstinct:

Postat inițial de peon:

Good Riddance killah.

Ill never forget in 2009 when you called me a liar about being ddosed in l4d2.

May I also suggest that killahinstinct wasnt just one person, but a handle used by multiple people at valve.

I think you've me confused with other people. Sounds a bit a-typical for someone to help people for 20 years and then not help someone who is being DDOSed, don't you think?

I can also assure you, other than the voices in my head, there is just one person using this account.

Nah, that sounds exactly like you.

Postat inițial de KillahInstinct:

Postat inițial de SMIFFY:

In other words, you been doing ♥♥♥♥ all for years.

That would be correct, as is explained throughout the various posts - our role was never sufficient to cover the growth, and we remained volunteers.

I'm not entirely sure what your point is though, first you're blaming us for your bans, but when you realize that we weren't actually the culprit (hint: you're the one breaking the rules, like not even 2% of your bans was ours), you claim the exact opposite.

Just important to know that your bans won't magically stop with us leaving, the rules are more or less the same - and if your behavior doesn't improve the bans will keep coming (as evidenced by the bans not from us in the last couple of years).

You're no longer a mod. You can stop pretending you're some neutral party that was "just enforcing the rules".

Many of my forum bans came from volunteer mods. Simply because I told people in this thread they were wrong long ago. The forums are going to be way better without having to avoid all your friends you bent the rules for.

[H4CK3R MAN]

Postat inițial de Jackie Daytona:

Postat inițial de KillahInstinct:

I think you've a very wrong idea of what it is what moderation is all about. It was mostly about helping people, not banning them.

You can keep saying that, but it's never been true. Not with you.

You have always moderated with malice and bias. All these people in this thread saying they are sad to see you go? They are the only people you helped. Not the community at large.

You are frequently rude and mean. Even though you would happily forum ban people for acting the same way.

Who were you trying to help when you banned me for "forum disruption"? Why did you refuse to tell me what that meant, or what I did wrong? Why did you then forum ban me 2-3 more times for the same thing? Because you're such a helpful guy?

If you cared about helping people? You would have told me what I did wrong. Not ban me over and over. To this very day I've no idea what I did wrong, or what "forum disruption" means. You clearly enjoyed banning people.

I believe moderation can only improve from here.

Postat inițial de KillahInstinct:

I think you've me confused with other people. Sounds a bit a-typical for someone to help people for 20 years and then not help someone who is being DDOSed, don't you think?

I can also assure you, other than the voices in my head, there is just one person using this account.

Nah, that sounds exactly like you.

Postat inițial de KillahInstinct:

That would be correct, as is explained throughout the various posts - our role was never sufficient to cover the growth, and we remained volunteers.

I'm not entirely sure what your point is though, first you're blaming us for your bans, but when you realize that we weren't actually the culprit (hint: you're the one breaking the rules, like not even 2% of your bans was ours), you claim the exact opposite.

Just important to know that your bans won't magically stop with us leaving, the rules are more or less the same - and if your behavior doesn't improve the bans will keep coming (as evidenced by the bans not from us in the last couple of years).

You're no longer a mod. You can stop pretending you're some neutral party that was "just enforcing the rules".

Many of my forum bans came from volunteer mods. Simply because I told people in this thread they were wrong long ago. The forums are going to be way better without having to avoid all your friends you bent the rules for.

To me it only seems that trouble makers are against the way killah moderates

[The Giving One]

If people think things are going to be better from now on, that will become evident soon enough.

The ones saying they will miss the volunteer mods here are also clearly pointing out what will be missed, and there will be other things missing as time goes on.

Postat inițial de Jackie Daytona:

I believe moderation can only improve from here.

The three facepalm award is reserved for only the most foolish of statements, hardly ever given out in Discussions.

[Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at 🃏]

Postat inițial de The Giving One:

...
The three facepalm award is reserved for only the most foolish of statements, hardly ever given out in Discussions.

Maybe [when given] by yourself.

Also, we're not in "Steam Discussions" we're in "Steam Community".

As for the over-all hub itself. I know one guy in "Off Topic" that uses that expression / "hands that out" like a big bag of free-sample candy.

I'm nitpicking, I know. Have you ever felt the embrace of a warm knit blanket, though.

Postat inițial de Froggy:

Postat inițial de Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at:

I hope this means that it's possible to befriend some of you now without the implication that one is seeking any sort of favor, as that was kind of a heavy piece of baggage that came attached with the role.

Oh, some people have been using that as an argument to bat people over the head countless times. The funny thing is the hypocrisy as they themselves did the same.

Well, just in-case it came across as though I was salty about something, it's really just that is something that I recognized.

I don't see any sort of bond between us, but that's not why you try to befriend people, however, if it weren't for his moderator role, I might have tried to befriend Tito at some point before because I actually like some of the wisdom he has to share when participating in some discussions.

I'm not sure that I want to go into the full-details of my thought-process because it's complicated & I'm not sure that I fully understand it myself. Some of it seems kind of silly, but then again, how some people, user or moderator, describe being without the role as somewhat "freeing / liberating" or like something which took a lot of attention is gone now, I don't think that my thoughts, about the weight the role carried & how it kind of separated the community moderators from other people, were necessarily wrong.

The community will still be here, & maybe we're more free to look at each other on equal terms now, although, without definitive leaders among us in the community, it feels in some ways a little hollow now.

However, I suppose, a leader in spirit is always a leader, even without a vanity title.
We're essentially free to choose our own leaders, socially.
That's not really a new idea but it's a universal truth that is often subverted or undermined by the presence of explicitly declared ranks.

[Froggy]

Postat inițial de Kiddiec͕̤̱͋̿͑͠at:

Postat inițial de The Giving One:

...
The three facepalm award is reserved for only the most foolish of statements, hardly ever given out in Discussions.

Maybe [when given] by yourself.

Also, we're not in "Steam Discussions" we're in "Steam Community".

As for the over-all hub itself. I know one guy in "Off Topic" that uses that expression / "hands that out" like a big bag of free-sample candy.

I'm nitpicking, I know. Have you ever felt the embrace of a warm knit blanket, though.

Postat inițial de Froggy:

Oh, some people have been using that as an argument to bat people over the head countless times. The funny thing is the hypocrisy as they themselves did the same.

Well, just in-case it came across as though I was salty about something, it's really just that is something that I recognized.

I don't see any sort of bond between us, but that's not why you try to befriend people, however, if it weren't for his moderator role, I might have tried to befriend Tito at some point before because I actually like some of the wisdom he has to share when participating in some discussions.

I'm not sure that I want to go into the full-details of my thought-process because it's complicated & I'm not sure that I fully understand it myself. Some of it seems kind of silly, but then again, how some people, user or moderator, describe being without the role as somewhat "freeing / liberating" or like something which took a lot of attention is gone now, I don't think that my thoughts, about the weight the role carried & how it kind of separated the community moderators from other people, were necessarily wrong.

The community will still be here, & maybe we're more free to look at each other on equal terms now, although, without definitive leaders among us in the community, it feels in some ways a little hollow now.

However, I suppose, a leader in spirit is always a leader, even without a vanity title.
We're essentially free to choose our own leaders, socially.
That's not really a new idea but it's a universal truth that is often subverted or undermined by the presence of explicitly declared ranks.


:redcircle: :ycircle: :gcircle: :bluecircle: :pcircle:

Oh, please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you've done anything of the sort. Just saying that I've observed others that have done it in the past.
I personally don't mind if people befriend moderators (or anyone else for that matter), they can still do their job, and hell, I would expect them to hold their friends to an even higher standard.

I agree with the sentiment that while we may be on more equal terms, we've lost definite leaders, and are instead "held in check" by people who're a lot less knowledgeable, and not as invested in the community as the volunteers. As you say, it feels hollow.

[TheForestSpirit]

Seems so strange that all of you are regular users now. I'm going to miss the interaction here with Moderators and I just hope payed Moderators aren't going to be like robots.