Report ultra-rare cases of moderator decision reversals here

1. I’ve been contributing to this community for 18 years now, and I've started quite a few threads over that time.
(way to go hiddenpuma75 :clap🙂

2. To be honest, I don't think I've ever actually had a grievance upheld here regarding the site's policies.😲 (Like when threads get locked or other administrative actions take place.)

3. It honestly feels like 99.98% of user complaints are just brushed off with some formal excuse—it seems like there isn't much genuine effort to help because sticking to the rules is just easier for them.

4. I’d love it if you guys could use this thread to report any instances where a complaint was actually taken seriously and resolved in your favor. I’m trying to figure out if my impression is right and if these successes are actually rare. How many times have you filed a complaint, and what’s your success rate?

5. By the way, I do remember one time where a complaint was actually upheld, but it was such a specific situation that I still ended up feeling slighted in a different way.

6. Back then, moderator druid closed and deleted a thread in a way that prevented the admins from even reconstructing it. (I’m not entirely sure what the mods' technical permissions are, but that’s how it went down.)

7. The admins eventually apologized to me, and moderator druid was removed from his position, but the thread itself was gone for good.😢

It’s actually happened to me a few times now—like, literally—where my appeal was actually approved. 😍

Morgan Rodriguez57 said:I’ve actually had my appeals approved a few times now, literally. 😍

Could you be a bit more specific? I'd love to hear about the case or two, or even just a link if you have one. How would you estimate your success rate 😁? .
Just curious—roughly how many appeals have you filed versus how many were actually granted?

Are you actually going to start reading this subforum?

quietfox384 said:Have you actually even bothered to read this subforum lately?

Well, I’ve been lurking around here for 18 years now, and if my impression holds true, most of the time—the appeal just gets denied.

hiddenpuma75 said:Could you maybe get a bit more specific about the situation—like, give me some details or a link? Also, just curious... what would you say your success rate is when it comes to filing appeals 😁? .
I was just wondering how many times you've appealed versus how many actually went through in your favor...

99.97%

It’s not that it doesn't happen, it’s just rare.

I think expecting anything else is pretty unrealistic.

Look, if a moderator isn't following the administration's standards, they wouldn't be a moderator. There have been instances where people lost their privileges once it was proven that complaints were legitimate and serious. It's like an officer on a police force; if they end up facing disciplinary action after every other arrest or citation, they aren't going to stay on the force much longer. The system essentially regulates itself.

So, it isn't realistic to assume someone can hold a moderator position while being so out of sync with the forum policy and admins that they're constantly making mistakes.

Another factor is that about 5% of users are responsible for 95% of the complaints. That means either there's a higher frequency of rule-breaking or a higher sensitivity to moderation actions within that group (often it's both), which is something you have to take into account.

Because of all that, errors (meaning moderator actions that are actually recognized as mistakes) should be the exception. Naturally, this means most complaints won't be upheld.
The appeals process exists for those rare exceptions and for providing extra clarity, mainly to keep subforums from getting cluttered with debates that aren't allowed there anyway. Based on the above, it's reasonable to expect that the statistical chance of a single complaint being upheld is quite low—and if the forum is functioning properly, it ought to stay that way.

Aha, so that’s why they haven't bothered responding to my latest appeal for days now.
I suppose it’s because I’ve filed three appeals before this, and every single time they were actually granted, so if they were to rule in my favor again—which, logically speaking, they really should—it would basically prove that when it comes to me, moderator errors are the standard rather than the exception.

But honestly, in light of that realization, I’ve decided I won't be petty enough to insist on absolute justice, even if letting it slide makes my own track record look a little less perfect.

bluemason3 said:Basically, if a moderator isn't following the admin's playbook—I mean, sticking to the actual rules they set—then they aren't really doing the job...

Exactly. You are who you hang out with, I guess... just how things go.