It's time to replace the Stinger!

Hey, I flagged that "non-topic post" as off-topic
Now it’s up to Michael Lee4. If he’s actually a decent moderator, he’ll either delete it or move it...

😬

copperbadger9 said:You’ve gotta realize that online, you’re gonna run into all sorts of people: the intellectuals, the uneducated, the geniuses, the idiots, those folks who actually want to share some useful knowledge, and then, finally, there are the ones who just show up to vent their own personal frustrations.
The mods are basically only here to deal with that last group. Honestly, as long as you aren't getting mixed up with the morons, you won't even notice who the moderators are—you won't have a single post flagged, deleted, or a thread locked in your face.

Just keep a good attitude and there's no reason to stress over who holds the moderator title... hang out on the site for what it’s actually for: swapping info, not wasting your breath trying to prove something to some random stranger you don't even know.

Thanks for the reply!

I totally agree with your point. The only thing that gets under my skin is how abrasive this one moderator is with his attitude—it's honestly the only thing I even notice. Someone in that position really shouldn't be acting at that level.

Why doesn't this happen on the other forums I visit?

coppernomad28 said:Thanks for the reply!

I totally agree with your point. The only thing that gets under my skin is how abrasive this one moderator is with his attitude—it's honestly the only thing I even notice. Someone in that position really shouldn't be acting at that level.

Why doesn't this happen on the other forums I visit?

You interested in politics in real life🤣

Samuel Palmer10 said:I couldn't care less about Stinger, you, or the moderator...
Anyway, shouldn't this be in the complaints section instead of the automobiles category?
And shouldn't you have reached out to the administrators first?

Nah, I played the "dictator" role by telling everyone if they aren't happy, speak up and let's see what happens. Naturally, I asked for the real veterans to step forward, not the ones whining because they got a warning...

If people don't want me here, I'm out. I'm not on the payroll, and I don't get any perks for being a "moderator."

And User, don't be like them—stop spamming this thread and flooding my inbox with reports. 😁

coppernomad28 said:Hey everyone on Reddit!

So, this whole debate about whether Mr. Stinger is actually doing a decent job with moderation or if he’s just being way too extra with his power trip has popped up on Reddit a few times now. Seriously, how many times are we going to circle the drain on this one?

First off, just a few quick words about myself. I'm in my 40s, a family man, living in New York City, and highly educated.
So, I’ve only been hanging out on Reddit for a few months now—mostly because I’ve got way too much free time on my hands—but I’ve already been jumping into a few different threads. Honestly? My whole experience on this site has been more than alright. Actually, it's been pretty great.
Of course, just like in real life, you always run into people who totally vibe with you and others who couldn't be more different. Because of that mix, you end up with all these messy discussions that drift between being on-topic and completely off-topic. I’ve noticed the moderation team here on Reddit covers a pretty wide spectrum, too. I get what their role is—they’re there to keep a lid on things and maintain some order, but still jump into the fray and actually participate in the conversations.

My first experience with Stinger—which was honestly both shocking and pretty awkward—happened shortly after I joined this Reddit community. See, the crew here that does the car guessing games is top-tier; everyone’s got a great spirit, plenty of healthy banter, and they're just regular, normal people. Everything was running smoothly, that is, until Stinger showed up, dropped this line, and slammed the thread shut:

Since a few people have turned this thread into their own private little drama fest, I’m assuming there’s really no point in keeping it open anymore. Honestly, I just don't have the energy to waste my free time cleaning up after you guys—dealing with all the trash, the endless whining about who's doing what, and handing out warnings to people who clearly aren't going to learn how to act on a site like Reddit... Next time, it won't be a warning. It'll just be a permanent ban.

This was posted back on May 8th of this year, but unfortunately, the thread is gone now. See, Michael Lee4 has this habit of scrubbing his little verbal outbursts like this whenever he wants—just to make sure there’s no paper trail left behind to serve as an example of his "stellar" moderation skills or his... let's call it "extensive" vocabulary.
I jumped on him immediately, demanding he explain why he was barging in and being such a jerk, but after a few back-and-forth messages, it became pretty obvious to me that I was fighting a losing battle.
So, they finally opened up the thread after scrubbing all those "controversial" posts—which, let's be honest, were always just pictures of cars and some commentary to go along with them.
Please, throw in some of your own stories if you've ever dealt with something like this. I'd love to hear them.

His entire vibe was just... pure exclusion. Arrogant, condescending, and honestly? Just plain insulting. I’m pretty sure most of the people on this forum have already dealt with someone exactly like him. He didn't even try to hide his elitism, though—he laid it out perfectly in his very next sentence: I see you're the new guy. You've only been around for fifteen days and you've already managed to dump three hundred posts worth of absolute nonsense onto the board...
This is just a straight-up confirmation of how narrow-minded they are. Honestly, it’s one of those flaws a moderator shouldn't even have, let alone feel comfortable airing out in public. Look, my personal freedom is about deciding what, where, and when I post on this Reddit, as long as the actual content isn't breaking any rules. Simple as that.

So, anyway, Michael Lee4 is out here breaking all the rules on Reddit. He’s constantly tearing into other users—calling people morons or idiots, and then hitting them with that condescending, patronizing crap like "sweetie" or "honey." On top of that, he’s just spamming emojis instead of actually typing anything useful, and half his posts aren't even about the topic at hand. Total off-topic nonsense.
And honestly? I’ll just admit it—I’m totally inconsistent when it comes to moderating. I basically just wing it based on whatever mood I'm in at the moment. It’s all pretty arbitrary, really. Plus, let's be real, it definitely depends on which user I'm dealing with.
Look, here’s the deal... I definitely don't have the time to go around browsing and reading through every single thread on here. If I notice something that catches my eye, I’ll chime in if I feel like it's worth my breath. Sometimes I'll be chill about it, sometimes I'll go off on people... there isn't really a set rule for how I handle things.
Look, let's get one thing straight here: when it comes to how we react or how things get moderated around here, Mr. Stinger is the only one calling the shots. Period.

Look, here's my bottom line. This forum should be a place to swap ideas, debate tastes, have some fun, and actually engage in civilized arguments—you know, staying within the rules, sure, but still having that sense of freedom to speak your mind without feeling like the moderators are just picking on us or acting like tyrants whenever they feel like it. So, I’m putting it to the community: let's see where everyone stands on this. Let's hear it.

Are we seriously still pushing for Mr. Stinger to be a moderator on this Reddit thread?

Thanks to everyone for sticking with me and actually reading through this. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you guys have to say in the comments.

P.S. I intentionally kept the voting results for the members hidden. You know, just to save anyone from having to deal with any potential backlash or retaliation later on.

Don't even start... I'll give you his address and then we can pour some brake fluid right into his Skoda...
Solve it like an American...

One more thing, the attack on coppernomad28 just for doing exactly what was asked is honestly pretty tasteless... especially coming from the other respected members here. And no, I’m not going to push option 1) just yet... For two reasons: first, because it doesn't even count, and second, because the users here seem split into "elite" groups and "lesser" ones (not counting the nobodies, obviously), and I have no clue who's actually going to be tallying the arguments anyway.

coppernomad28 said:Thanks for the reply!

I totally agree with your point. The only thing that gets under my skin is how abrasive this one moderator is with his attitude—it's honestly the only thing I even notice. Someone in that position really shouldn't be acting at that level.

Why doesn't this happen on the other forums I visit?

People who just won't shut up... I've already written about this, but apparently, you didn't read it...

Look, I'm not the type to tell someone "don't do that" ten times in a row. If I have to tell you ten times, then no matter how dictatorial it sounds, there's nothing left to discuss. If I say it for the tenth time and imply even an idiot would get it, you shouldn't be offended. You're throwing a tantrum over one warning and a temporary thread lock because you broke the rules, acting like a total child. You're 40 years old? And since then, you've been stalking me across the site, waiting for anyone else to bark at me just so you can jump in? What did you even do with those 40 years of your life? If you were a kid, I might get it...

I don't care about Mr. Stinger, and honestly, the other mods don't bother me either.
What actually bugs me is people making clicking noises in their cars, those cheap Chinese xenon lights in a Golf 2, or idiots slamming their car doors into mine...

And who actually gets the edge in the rotor?

Poll or no poll, I went ahead and cast my vote regardless. In my view, Mr. Stinger is doing an excellent job maintaining order within this subforum. If anything, he might occasionally take just a touch too long to scrub away some of the trolls that pop up here 😬

Now, let’s be perfectly clear—I’ve taken an infraction myself once for some heavy off-topic rambling... and honestly, maybe it was for the best, because I ended up acting like a complete troll (and it wasn't even a particularly good day, so I suppose my nerves were a bit frayed 😁). Besides, I could have easily dragged five more trolls into causing chaos on that thread 😬

At any rate, personally, I don't see any compelling reason why he should be replaced. Although, I do think it would be much cooler if he engaged with the trolls a little less publicly (similar to what happened with those new arrivals—those trolls who were supposedly kicked off the Honda forum)

Michael Lee4 said:People who just won't shut up... I've already written about this, but apparently, you didn't read it...

Look, I'm not the type to tell someone "don't do that" ten times in a row. If I have to tell you ten times, then no matter how dictatorial it sounds, there's nothing left to discuss. If I say it for the tenth time and imply even an idiot would get it, you shouldn't be offended. You're throwing a tantrum over one warning and a temporary thread lock because you broke the rules, acting like a total child. You're 40 years old? And since then, you've been stalking me across the site, waiting for anyone else to bark at me just so you can jump in? What did you even do with those 40 years of your life? If you were a kid, I might get it...

First off, I started this whole interaction on perfectly polite terms, which you promptly ignored by replying in your usual, messy style. Being new to the forum, I was honestly just stunned by how much of a wreck your communication is.
You haven't told me or explained anything ten times.
In our specific topic, we aren't spamming endless quote blocks with images; maybe once in every thirty or forty posts. We don't go off-topic constantly either, but apparently, nobody cares enough to report it, so why bother?
Nobody is stalking you, because there's no need to. You're everywhere with your arrogance and your "I'm always right" attitude—you even admitted yourself that you measure everything by your own crooked yardstick.
As for what I did with my forty years? I definitely don't owe you an explanation, and frankly, I couldn't care less how you spent yours.

It’s not like Stinger is bad.
I wasn't a fan at first, but we're all brothers here, so I can tolerate a lot of things and even an occasional curse word if it actually makes sense.👍
Most importantly, he isn't bad at heart; there's nothing corrupt about him.
As far as I'm concerned, everything is fine so far.👍

When you report a post for being indecent, does it just go through as a report, or do you actually have to write down the reasons?😕

Dennis Carter9 said:When you report a post for being indecent, does it just go through as a report, or do you actually have to write down the reasons?😕

and the reasons...

A guy loves Top Gear and gets the British sense of humor, what more could you possibly need? 😁

Personally, the Stinger doesn't bother me.

To start with, most people here can't even see deleted posts, so they have absolutely no clue how much garbage a single mod actually has to scrub away just to keep things running
Furthermore, it gets incredibly exhausting having to constantly explain yourself and beat your head against the wall repeating the same points, only to be met with these bizarre, convoluted excuses about how a specific rule somehow doesn't apply to you...
And let's be honest, we all call each other names and joke around, finding it all pretty funny and lighthearted, but when it comes to the mods, everyone suddenly expects them to be some kind of superhuman who never breathes or makes a sound
Basically, it’s always easier to play the contrarian and blame everyone else for whatever goes wrong, even when we’re clearly the ones who caused the mess ourselves
If the moderators were to step away for just one week—God forbid a full month—that’s when people would finally realize this place would turn into a total wasteland where it would be impossible to post anything meaningful or actually have a coherent discussion with anyone

I spend a fair amount of time on this subforum, and if I'm being real, I think Michael Lee4 is actually a pretty decent mod and quite a good guy, despite all his constant messing around, the occasional outbursts, and everything else

Morgan Scott3 said:Poll or no poll, I went ahead and cast my vote regardless. In my view, Mr. Stinger is doing an excellent job maintaining order within this subforum. If anything, he might occasionally take just a touch too long to scrub away some of the trolls that pop up here 😬

Now, let’s be perfectly clear—I’ve taken an infraction myself once for some heavy off-topic rambling... and honestly, maybe it was for the best, because I ended up acting like a complete troll (and it wasn't even a particularly good day, so I suppose my nerves were a bit frayed 😁). Besides, I could have easily dragged five more trolls into causing chaos on that thread 😬

At any rate, personally, I don't see any compelling reason why he should be replaced. Although, I do think it would be much cooler if he engaged with the trolls a little less publicly (similar to what happened with those new arrivals—those trolls who were supposedly kicked off the Honda forum)

The only reason I want to put this whole thing to bed once and for all is because I definitely don't need to spend my free time every single day dealing with people who clearly have nothing better to do with their lives. Whether I'm telling them to back off or just cleaning up their nonsense.

Technically, I could just hand out bans and delete everything without saying a word, but I’m not really into that style of management. Just imagine how much worse things would get and how many more of these people there'd be. 😁

Jessica Thompson3 said:A guy loves Top Gear and gets the British sense of humor, what more could you possibly need? 😁

Personally, the Stinger doesn't bother me.

You're one of us...😁

Dennis Carter9 said:When you report a post for being indecent, does it just go through as a report, or do you actually have to write down the reasons?😕

It's probably better to include a reason so they can deal with it faster...

Obviously, there's no point reporting every single stupid thing—like someone baiting you into an argument and then crying when things get heated. Besides, once you report it, one of the mods will see it eventually...

Michael Lee4 said:The only reason I want to put this whole thing to bed once and for all is because I definitely don't need to spend my free time every single day dealing with people who clearly have nothing better to do with their lives. Whether I'm telling them to back off or just cleaning up their nonsense.

Technically, I could just hand out bans and delete everything without saying a word, but I’m not really into that style of management. Just imagine how much worse things would get and how many more of these people there'd be. 😁

A lot fewer? 🤷