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I cannot find any particular way to ask moderators for help, propose/contest/change policies or similar things.

Is there any way to do this?

Since I don't know how to reach one, I'll post my issue in this post (is no use to make another).

This started from here https://gaming.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/11518/game-identification-exception-based-on-screen-artefact-etc-and-removal-of-val where I contested the decision took 4 years ago regarding IGT tag.

I was expecting a clear reason, some wise answer, a new poll regarding it or any kind of viable answer. Instead it got a -6 and a closed as duplicate (technically correct although it was meant to be a duplicate 4 years after - I was just suggesting a revisit of the topic - maybe the way I phrased it was not clear so I'm ok with that).

Also I got few supportive comments and one guy posing as "I'm the BOSS OF ARCADE" saying he doesn't care about anything the community wants and it will stay close. So... anyway I can get a real answer? From someone elected would be nice. I still trust the community (even though my trust suffered a shock today) and the ppl. elected.

I'm expecting something that follows the rules mentioned here (https://gaming.stackexchange.com/help/site-moderators):

  • are patient and fair
  • lead by example
  • show respect for their fellow community members in their actions and words
  • are open to some light but firm moderation to keep the community on track and resolve (hopefully) uncommon disputes and exceptions
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    At no point did I ever say I was a boss of Arqade. You're also rather badly misconstruing my points. You also seem to misunderstand what being nice means. I was not rude. I critized your points and pointed out their issues, but that has nothing to do with being nice. Disagreement isn't being mean, as so many people seem to think. – Frank May 4 '16 at 14:34
  • It takes more than one person to close a question, so if the question was closed as a duplicate, multiple (at least 5? iirc) people agreed. – Elise May 4 '16 at 14:40
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    Possible duplicate of About the violence inherent in Stack Exchange: freedom of speech – Studoku May 4 '16 at 20:13
  • @Studoku I'm sorry, but I don't see how it is a duplicate. That question addresses how to make a complain. This one addresses how to find a live moderator so you can ask/propose stuff. And the answer is indeed correct. I entered the chat room and found a moderator there. – zozo May 4 '16 at 22:18
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    ...Ummm.. not only did Frank not vote to close the question your talking about.. but your one of the close voters.. – user106385 May 5 '16 at 1:17
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You can reach many moderators in the Bridge chatroom. There's usually at least someone available.

  • Didn't know that was the room. Thank you. – zozo May 4 '16 at 14:56
  • @Zozo I should warn you, though; that's Arqade's chat room, and I'm also constantly in it. – Frank May 4 '16 at 14:58
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    @Frank And that should be a problem why? The way you "made" your points made it clear to me I cannot expect anything from you. – zozo May 4 '16 at 15:00
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    @Zozo Just in case you were expecting it to be a more private discussion area. – Frank May 4 '16 at 15:05
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In order to bring up any of the issues you mention, the right thing to do is make a post here, on meta, as you did.

The downvotes on your post do not indicate it is a bad post, but rather that the downvoter disagrees with it. Up and downvotes are used for agreement on meta, rather than for quality.

As for bringing ITG back, no thanks. There are many, many, many issues with it, and banning it has improved the quality of our site in ways indescribable to someone who hasn't experienced the site beforehand. If you want a concise description of why ITG questions were bad, please feel free to read my post on the topic.

  • I've read those posts. If you don't want to reopen it I have no problem with it. But could you please quote/post how it improved the quality so I can rest easily from now on? – zozo May 4 '16 at 15:02
  • I, like many others didn't experience arcade more than 4 years ago. Maybe this is why I can't wrap my head around this. Posting what happened (how it was vs. how it is) could put many ppl. mind at ease. We don't want to make the mistakes of the past again, but having no context makes it look like a really bad decision (from where I'm staying). – zozo May 4 '16 at 15:10
  • @zozo I talk about broken windows at length in the post I linked, along with stats about view counts. It flooded the site with unanswerable garbage that brought down the quality of the front page overall merely by existing and didn't attract any useful new site participants. – Invader Skoodge May 4 '16 at 15:12
  • Well... I'm guessing it is not easy to post how exactly those "broken windows" look like so I'll take your word for it. Personally I am not convinced, but at least this answer + your comment qualifies (imo) as a valid answer (it contains a why not reopen and a reason why you cannot explain the differences). You should include the comment in the answer, it is actually clearer. I'll recontest this policy in 1 year :). – zozo May 4 '16 at 15:30
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I agree with StrixVaria's answer, but would like to address the following:

I was expecting a clear reason, some wise answer, a new poll regarding it or any kind of viable answer. Instead it got a -6 and a closed as duplicate (technically correct although it was meant to be a duplicate 4 years after - I was just suggesting a revisit of the topic - maybe the way I phrased it was not clear so I'm ok with that).

If you wish to pursue with a discussion on getting this policy changed, you'll have to bring something different to the meta, because as you see from the duplicate close reason, this topic has been discussed at great lengths in the past.

If you feel that the decision made didn't consider something not discussed previously then it would be a valid new meta discussion. However, you may still see it heavily downvoted because people don't agree. Of course, that depends on people's interpretation of the case you bring forward.

I don't believe there is anything wrong with discussing the topic at hand if there is a case. I'm not trying to encourage you to do so, but perhaps "Should we revisit the ITG policy?" backed up with changes in circumstances and/or missing arguments to the original meta is what you need to consider for a potential new meta.

Even if people don't agree (i.e. heavily downvoted) it adds some value to the community because it shows member concerns have been discussed.

Here is an example of a meta that asked to revisit the ITG topic, and successfully brought about an amendment to the policy:

Revisiting the Identify-this-game ban

0

I'm a mod on another site, and a fairly active user on multiple other SE sites. My 2 cents:

A moderator can't unilaterally change policies.

Moderators enforce policies of two kinds:

  1. Those the community pick,
  2. Those set by Stack Overflow, for all sites (i.e., those typically on the help/don't-ask page).

    The second is somewhat subject to community will, for example, TeX - LaTeX allows a lot of big-list questions unlike most SE sites. Shopping recommendatins are generally off-topic, but Hardware Recommendations is the exception that proves the rule.

In neither case can a mod unilaterally decide that they can dispose of a policy. (Of course, they can act in such a manner, but that'd be a shortcut to being dropped as a mod.)

Policy changes should be discussed on Meta, where the community can debate and vote on them.


Moderators are usually contacted in one of two ways:

  • Flag from a post. Typically for per-post problems; or if the OP of the post is the problem.

    enter image description here

  • Ask for a private chatroom in chat.

Neither method is suited to raising awareness. If you want to raise awareness, post on Meta.

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