Who's The Boss?

My game Mod boss is still on her hiatus. I am wondering most days if the woman is ever going to return. She does not answer her phone nor return emails, definitely not good signs!
In the meantime myself and another Mod are still sharing Mod Boss duties as best we can. I have started to take a little more control of things as he has some personal life problems to deal with. Life first, fun second.
Yesterday I convinced Support to give us another moderator. He has been very helpful in the past and had applied to be a Mod but the boss didn't get around to making a final decision. I do know that her initial thoughts were to turn this player down. But I convinced Support to let us have him at least until the Boss is back. Better a temporary solution than none at all.
We really do need the help and the new Mod is as pleased as a kid on Christmas morning. We still have 3 Mods missing, the boss and her partner and one that is out with serious health problems. Where once we were at fifteen Mods we are, with the new Mod, at ten. Ten people to cover what should be covered by at least 12. We are making due though and I am happy that things are going along as smoothly as they are.
Support did tell the owner yesterday that she and I had made this player a Mod and he was okay with it. He also said he is happy that someone is taking the initiative with running things. Something tells me that he does not know if the boss will be returning or not either. Not good.
In the meantime, we continue to play.

All Is Quiet

I have not been into the chat lobby yet today. Rather skitterish about going there after yesterday and the explosion. But I have been chatting with the other Mods on Skype.
All appears to be normal and quiet they say. No one has mentioned the boss. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I am hoping it is a good thing though, we need some peace in that lobby. The boss also needs some peace in her life, all those personal attacks cannot possibly be good for her.
I did leave a message on her Skype but she hasn't answered it yet. Hopefully she has her computer off to avoid more mud slinging and stress.
As for me I will venture into the lobby soon, I have some other things I need to do first that require my concentration. I can't concentrate on work if I am chatting with people, I don't multi-task that well lol

Unreliable

One of the Mods at the game site started out okay but has steadily gone downhill quickly. It's not bad when he is late because of his job, that's understandable, a paycheck is what's needed to feed your family, fun can always come later.
In the past week or so he has really become unreliable. First he was there and acting like a dictator, threatening everyone with losing their chat privileges then insinuating to one player that he was part of the Support staff (which we are not!). This player had told him that the lobby chat had been copied and sent to Support so they could see what kind of a Mod they had on their hands. Not good.
A couple of days ago he said he would be late for his shift but would stay later and help cover the 3 a.m. shift. That sounded okay to me so I stayed a while longer than usual to help his partner. Then yesterday his partner told me that the guy came into the lobby for a few minutes and disappeared. At 3 a.m. the regular Mod had computer troubles so the Mod on duty told him to go fix the problem and he would stay and cover the lobby. The Mod that said he would be late and cover the next shift? Nowhere to be found :(
Last night he was on duty for a short period of time then disappeared again. This time it bit him in the butt as the Mod boss was in the lobby.Seizing the opportunity to let her know (without me telling her directly) that he was screwing up I had a friend go into the lobby and ask for the Mod who is supposed to be there. The following convo appeared:
D - 969) true
t(848) dam i just missed that allin
t(848) lol msp
t(848) f still here???
msP(MOD - 893 not seen him
b(MOD - 965 Haven't seen him for a while T
t(848) k tks
S(MOD ADM - 987) >no?
G(MOD - 823) me either
S(MOD ADM - 987> he was on earlier
S(MOD ADM - 987 ok thxs guys

S, the boss, immediately left the lobby and logged into Skype. I knew she was looking for f but she wasn't going to find him as he was not on. His partner had already tried to tell him the boss was around and he didn't answer.
I do not know what is going to happen to f but I sure am glad I am not in his shoes. I was still in the lobby at the end of his shift (3 hour shift) and f still had not returned. Very unreliable person and I will not be surprised if he shows up today as a regular player and not a Mod.

Lobby Items That Make Me Laugh

Moderating the chat lobby can be a lot of headaches and stress, but in the midst of that there is always something that will make me laugh.
Last night someone was in the chat lobby grumbling about the site, the slowness of the support staff and anything else they could think of. We all tried to be polite but got nowhere. So, after letting them rant and rave for as long as I could stand it, I finally booted him softly out of the lobby. This means he has to close the game then reopen it. Usually this makes players calm down. Not this time. He came right back into the lobby demanding to know how he got booted and why. I gave him my reasons (arguing with the Mods, disrupting the lobby). He then wanted to know if this is the way the site treats their players. "Yes, sir, it is" I replied. That really set him off. Finally I told him that if he had a complaint with any of the Mods, he should take it up with the Head Moderator.
He didn't calm down but insisted he had done nothing wrong. Most people booted say this. I ignored his banter after this point and he finally got tired of being ignored and went away.
The other thing that makes me laugh is when players come into the lobby to give expert advice on how to play the game. Everyone is entitled to play as they see fit. What makes sense to one person does not always make sense to another and arguments ensue. Usually these arguments get pretty silly and make me and the other Mods laugh a lot. Nothing funnier than watching two stubborn mules LOL

The Boot

As a chat room moderator I sometimes have to deal with people that really do not want to chat. They would prefer to get booted, meaning they lose their chat ability. They can read but they cannot respond. I do not like to use the boot but sometimes it is inevitable.
Players get cranky and that is understandable. If things are not working properly for them they come to the lobby and either ask why or they vent their frustrations. Venting is fine so long as you don't vent too much or start to bash the site. If you are asked to stop whatever it is you are doing then you should stop and most players will. Some, however think they are above the rules and continue on and on until the mods have no choice but to give them the boot.
Last night I had to boot someone from the lobby. Spent considerable amount of time talking about how he had been on the site longer than any of those of us in the lobby, how the site should make him a premium member because of that tenure, blah, blah, blah.
Then he decided he wanted to argue with one of the mods. That is a no-no. He was warned, twice, to stop. But, on a roll, he went forward. First he got a soft boot meaning that he could log off, log back in and his chat is restored. Normally this cures players. Not this lovely guy.
Immediately upon his return he started back in, arguing about anything and everything and bashing the site. I lost my normal cool and booted him, hard. Twelve hours this time!
A short time later a friend came in and started giving the other mod hell for booting his friend, defending the one I booted. I let him know he was bitching at the wrong mod and why his friend was booted. He wanted to argue with me now. I told him that, unless he wanted to follow his friend with the boot process he should stop arguing and go play. Thankfully, he did.
When I boot someone I have to copy all the chat that led up to the booting and put it on a forum page so that the head mod can read it the next day and decide if I was right or wrong or if I should have banned the player for a longer period of time. It is time consuming and none of the mods like to do that "paperwork".
Alas, there are times when one just has no other recourse than to use The Boot.

Best Laid Plans

The plan was very simple. I was going to play my games earlier than usual and then get to bed at a decent hour. I did play my games early, but the last part of the plan was not to be.
I play on a site that has a chat lobby in it. The lobby is moderated by volunteers to ensure that the site rules are followed, there is no fighting,arguing, flaming, whatever. As I was about to say good night to all the folks on there I got several messages from the regular moderator asking me if I could spend more time in the lobby. He is trying to get the head mod to make me a mod too as I am often there when he is and there used to be two mods, now it's only him.
His problem is that he needs to get some rest, as he has a child to feed and care for and cannot always be in the lobby looking after things. I can understand that, I've been a parent.
So, instead of getting to bed at midnight or close to it, I was up until 3 a.m. when the next mod showed up for her scheduled three hours. I'm sure it was not making my wife all that happy but I think she was more understanding about it than usual.
I hope that they do make me a mod so I can help the site out. I'll worry about my wife and her reaction when the time comes.
In the meantime I suppose I shouldn't make any plans set in stone.