Betty Edwards22 said:And then there’s how I drive the moderators crazy. I actually found myself trying to explain things to Maria Fisher46 after her very first post. I told her it isn't personal; I just prefer being brief. I don't exactly have the luxury of time to write essays as long as hers. It might come off as rude, but written text is a blunt instrument—it just doesn't capture the full spectrum of emotion.
To whom it may concern,
Since you touched on our private messages earlier, I’ll address that point here on the main thread as well.
First, a minor point—not exactly critical, but worth mentioning just so you can see how the moderator tools actually function.
I issued a yellow card to a user on a thread regarding a nose job. Every time a moderator hands out a card—whether it's yellow or red—an automated message is sent to the flagged user. When a yellow card is assigned, the message follows this format:
You’ve been flagged on Reddit.
Reason: (The reason provided by the moderator when issuing the warning)
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Original post:
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Consider this a formal reminder regarding our community guidelines. It is expected that you fully grasp and adhere to these rules moving forward.
All The Best,
Reddit The author of a Message like that isn't actually the moderator issuing the ban. Even if it looks like a moderator sent the note to the user being penalized, that's just how it appears.
That’s exactly how it went down. You saw that automated message, typed out your disagreement with the cardboard, and hit send. Once I received your message, I replied.
I know how to send a private Message when I feel someone needs a nudge regarding their posting style, but that wasn't my intention here. This isn't about feedback. I am simply responding to the specific Message you sent me first.
That’s exactly what I wanted to clear up. It seems like this is the second time now that people have jumped to the conclusion—or made the claim—that I, as a moderator, reached out to you via a private Message first.
It doesn't really matter. The core issue here is the attempt to justify that penalty, which has devolved into an endless back-and-forth through private messages—regardless of who initiated the contact or who reached out first.
By the way, my inbox is always open to anyone.
When you have an issue with a warning, the first step is always to reach out to a moderator via private Message—which is exactly what you did. However, if you still find the response unsatisfactory and believe the moderation or the warning itself was unfair, the next step isn't to start a public thread on the site. Instead, the proper channel for an appeal is through the official PDF for Messages, Appeals, and Comments.
I wanted to clear up any potential confusion regarding moderation and private messages that seem to have surfaced. I'm drawing this conclusion from your recent post—specifically where you mentioned my username—and from the discussion over on the "Nose job" thread, where people started questioning who reached out to whom and why. This is simply how I interpret and apply the rules when I moderate.
I’d also like to address the part of your post where you seem to imply—based on my reading of that quoted sentence—that my reasoning for issuing the warning was either because the responses were too brief and thus came off as rude, or because they lacked sufficient empathy for the original poster. To be clear, I am referring to the yellow card I issued on this specific thread, not the red card handed out by Scott Allen10.
No, that wasn't why you received the warning.
I mentioned this to you before, and I'll say it again: no one is expected to be overly polite, and a lack of friendliness isn't grounds for a penalty. How someone chooses to respond—and the level of courtesy they employ—is entirely up to their own discretion. You can be blunt, provide nothing but raw medical facts, and no one will hold it against you.
Your yellow card was issued because of how you handled your interlocutor.
Let me reiterate: based on your medical expertise, you are undoubtedly more knowledgeable than any other user here. I have already stated how impressed I am by the technical aspects of your posts, how much I personally could learn from them, and how incredibly useful those insights are to everyone reading this forum. However, having superior knowledge does not grant permission to violate the community rules.
Best regards,
Maria Fisher46
