Forum Thread

art by reapu

Hello(: Before I get into this I would just like to state this isn’t me going after anyone with malicious intent, but writing this because myself and many others feel as if Pokeheroes has been going on a downward incline for a bit of time and don’t want it to continue. We miss how ph used to be and want to work towards getting back to that, not complain with no solution. I know -mystery got a response but I know many of us wanted a v.2 after the other forum post.
p.s. I would love if you left your opinions and shared it around:)


1) Inconsistent Enforcement of Rules
- Since I understand I may get the response of “not everything gets reported,” I’ll focus this part with that in mind. I’ve been told of certain users getting second chances and such, while other users are getting warnings and suspended for minor things others get no warning for. Most can agree this is fair in no way and certainly should be worked towards being fixed. If rules cannot be enforced consistently, I believe that's an issue. If it’s due to ‘mods being unable to catch it all,’ I suggest beginning the process to add to your staff. It shouldn’t be up to the user base to report everything and do a big part of a moderators job, there's so many things that go by untouched and left up with mods responding very late sometimes or not at all.

2) Unprofessional Behavior
- In my opinion, this is a huge problem recently and I don’t know how it hasn’t been addressed properly yet. Seeing mods posting about drama makes me immediately lose respect for them as a moderator because how does it make them much better than the people they are handing warnings out to? I understand everyone is human, and a friends only post is definitely okay, but if they applied to be a mod they should be able to handle situations appropriately. It’s highly unprofessional to see staff posting as such, and I’ve seen the different types of mods during it. I have a lot of respect for those who kept professional and haven’t responded to childish drama. Aswell, there are plenty of times myself and others have felt the mods come off as condescending unnecessarily and while there's not much to say on that, it is a bit unnerving to some of the user base.

- A small note that may be highly opinionated, but I wanted to cover. If a user is permanently banned and reaches out to discuss it, it should not be shut down as quickly as I’ve heard it’s been. If a warning or permanent ban is unjustified, with both the ‘affected’ user and the one with the punishment reaching out, for it to be shut down with a ‘maybe that’s true, but I don’t believe that’ from one mod, then I find some problems with it, especially if they are locked permanently from the site. It makes it seem as if the mod would prefer for them to stay banned rather than investigating further and that’s not fair for the locked user.

3)User Complaints
- In the past year or so I feel like users feedback wasn’t taken too serious in a few ways, as well as criticism or complaints taken as something to be harmful and responded to inappropriately by some. If we’ve gotten a response at all, it has (personally) seemed like a public cover with no care behind it and no action to fix what was discussed. I always thought owners and mods would want to make users want to stay on their site and work their hardest to make that happen, but instead responses come off unprofessional and with a ‘leave if you don’t like it’ attitude. I love sites with welcoming moderators who love to help users, no matter the ‘dumb’ questions, and mods on ph seem to rather ban and warn then help and assist at the moment. To sum up, taking user complaints more seriously would really improve the overall view of the staff for many users.

- Another point that fits here is that I believe the user base should have a way to report mods specifically if they believe they acted wrongfully/inappropriately with Riako overviewing it. Mods shouldn’t be able to do whatever they want with their power, not that I’m saying they are/can, but users should definitely have a way to report it with mods having warnings as well if Riako agrees they did wrong. I would also think they should be fired after two or three warnings as they may not be the best person to represent ph in a way. [size=8]ps this concept was taken from a comment stated as such, since I like how some of it's stated, "Mods need to have consequences too. If they do something wrong or jump too far ahead without getting CERTAIN proof first, like 2 times maybe, they should be "fired". There needs to be a system where users can report moderators themselves for misbehaving. Checks and balances".

---

That is about all I have so far, but I'll probably be popping in tomorrow adding more points if I feel something was missed. Once again, I'd highly appreciate feedback and people sharing this. Thank you !

Before I can get into my opinions about what you said above, I would like to say that this is very well worded and has a lot of valid points ! It is true that PH has a different vibe and doesn't feel the same to be here as it felt a few years ago. I've always considered PH to be a second home to me, a place of comfort and relaxing; away from the real world.

...also I am sorry in advance if my post contains a lot of mistakes or is hard to read...my native language in not English...

1) Inconsistent Enforcement of Rules

I remember when people would get warned for rather, not so harmful words such as ''crap''. Now I can see a lot of swear words in threads by simply clicking the search tool on the main forum page. If I recall correctly, Riako himself stated that:

Quote from Riako

The fact that mods only react when there's a report is true. That's what they're clearly instructed to do - otherwise we'd be living in a biased police state on here.

...which can be found on -mystery's similar thread in this forum post from that thread. I doubt that a mod cleaning out by themselves the swear words would ever be a biased action. The mods would simply do their job. Sadly, another unfortunate event is the lack of mods nowadays. PH is meant to have an audience from all around the world; with different time zones of course. A solution would be that when the mod application are open again, the user that applied should say where they are from so the time zone difference problem could be solved since at least 2-4 mods should be online every time. 6 mods can't cover PH's every problem since of course, they are humans and have their own personal lives as well outside PH. As I am writing this post, only 1 mod capable of warning and keeping things in control is online. The rest are Artists; which are powerless against an attack from, lets say, trolls for example like it happened last night.


2) Unprofessional Behavior

I saw this as well regarding to the mods participating in the drama as well. As you said this is a prime example of unprofessional behavior coming from a mod. A mod should never participate in such thing and even ignore it or at least ranting it privately since they have feelings too. But the problem about it is that participating in drama often results in unpleasant thoughts about (a) certain user(s) which, in the end, results in biased actions. I can't tell them how to do that job, that is not my intention either ! ...but in my mere opinion a mod should just ignore the drama unless it causes harm or is breaking any rule(s); in that case the user that broke the rule(s) should be warned/taken care of accordingly.
And about the second part of the unprofessional behavior you said, I'd also like to say that I do agree on the mods agreeing together rather than just one mod to decide about a permanent ban. Bonus points if they listen to the user that would like to revoke their ban and feel like it wasn't fair enough. Mistakes happen from both sides, it is not always just the user's fault.

3) User Complaints

Complaints were often seen as attacks lately which is not true, most of them are not even meant to be offensive. Some of them are constructive criticism which should be taken with a grain of salt. If a user is not happy about something be it a feature, game, event etc it should be always listened to. It is not bad to want something better as a customer.
When people try to complain about something they are told ''don't like it, don't get/play/watch it''. This is not an answer to complaints. Instead the ones that work on those should try to listen, take every good point from it and ignore the rude ones that are not constructive but destructive like straight up insulting something without giving tips to make it better. Pokeheroes is like a restaurant for example: if a customer is not happy about the services or the behavior of the people serving or both, then the customer will leave and has a chance to spread negative words around.

Quote from Tsuko

ps this concept was taken from a comment stated as such, since I like how some of it's stated, "Mods need to have consequences too. If they do something wrong or jump too far ahead without getting CERTAIN proof first, like 2 times maybe, they should be "fired". There needs to be a system where users can report moderators themselves for misbehaving. Checks and balances".

Mods are not perfect beings. They aren't immune from doing mistakes or taking (a) rushed decision(s). And mods have certain rules to follow as well and I think there where cases in which mods were fired for breaking them but this was decided by Riako and the other mods themselves.
I think mods should have solid proof when perma banning, very much like users are supposed to leave solid proof as well when reporting someone, just in case the permanent banned user decides to reach out for help in case it was a mistake (maybe they could make a folder for each permanent banned user containing proofs). Sure, there might be people with grunges against the mods but they'd be powerless unless handing solid proof when complaining or ''reporting'' a mod.

In conclusion: this site has been like a home to me and I want the best for it. I felt like this site was forgotten by its creator more and more and the lack of activity here and a good community like it used to be once is lacking as well. I hope that in the future more actions will be taken and PH will be full of activity like it used to.

---

@Mokoko

- You added a lot of good comments so thank you ! I especially agree about the mods and different time zones, many different users from all over play ph and having more mods to cover the time zones would be really helpful. I also agree with you saying mods reacting even without a report wouldn’t be a biased action, I had added it before doubting myself so I’m glad you brought it back up. It would be them just simply doing their job, so Riako’s comment on -mystery’s post was a bit odd to me aswell. First two parts of your users complaint is also very important. Criticism is to help so we all can enjoy the next one even more, not to be whiney. Aswell, I personally agree perma bans need to be taken more seriously and done with more care, especially with evidence.

I’d love to give a longer reply but will be busy for the next 5 hours so this is the best I have;;. I really appreciate the feedback♥️

wheres my art credit?
hehe jk. but i agree with this, this entire situation is why i've been avoiding pokeheroes lately

---

I’m sorry I so meant to add it, I added the pic last minute!! I will rn, plus I agree I hate seeing so many people saying they’re taking breaks bc of all this):

I wasn't going to get into this but this post is rather well worded without unnecessary rudeness and/or salt and is at the heart of the problems people have as far as I'm aware. So I guess I'm going to put some of my thoughts into words.

Shortly put, the solution here seems to be "simple" three steps that you've pointed out well here.
1. Review and possibly adjust the guidelines about warnings and bans with the mods and make sure everyone is on the same page on how to enforce the site's rules and how to address issues like this in public. Publicly addressing the issues and ensuring something is being done before or after this is done would also reassure a lot of the users. I assume this is already being done or be planned to be done. (At least Riako himself said he would review and address the issues at a better time in the other thread.)

2. Hire more mods to make sure we've got some online at all times.

3. Implement a way to report mods to Riako directly. I've seen this be a thing on a lot of sites and it's an important feature that all sites should have. I'm guessing Riako didn't deem it necessary when he made the site when it was still rather small and he hasn't seen a reason to implement it so far as the site's grown. However, I think now would be a good time to do so. It'd be a good way to show the users that they're being heard and taken seriously and that mods are being held accountable. In the best case scenario, no mod is ever reported and the feature is functionally useless. However, it'd still serve a purpose in reassuring the users and maybe keep the mods in line.

Not that I think the mods need a slap on the wrist or have to be 'kept in check'. I can't really understand where the sentiment that the staff see themselves above us common folk and the fear that they go around banning people for expressing opinions comes from. I suppose it's natural to be a bit apprehensive or biased like that towards people in a position of authority over you. However, I haven't seen or heard of any mods downright abusing their power here. Heck, I once found myself disagreeing with one mod on a feed and I never saw any indication of her trying to use her mod position to one-up anyone, shut down the conversation, or use the threat of warnings or bans against people. I was never worried that I or anyone else would get in trouble for debating against a mod even when I was being a bit trolly.

Though, I've seen some things that would constitute as unprofessional behavior from a mod, but I don't regard the specific comments I've seen as really a problem or that scandalous. However, the mods do hold a position of authority on this site and, especially at this time, they should try to hold themselves to a professional standard when discussing site issues or user feedback publicly. I understand mods are just humans as well and venting is good for the soul, but sometimes venting is done best privately. Right now, it might be wise for the mods to ask themselves if what they're posting will work as damage control, not have a big effect, or fuel the flames even more. If a mod comes to the conclusion that it's the third answer and decides to post that public feed/comment/post/etc anyway, the next question should be whether that mod should indeed be a mod.


With all that being said, I do sympathize with the mods/staff in this situation as well. Constructive criticism is all well and good and ought to be listened to if possible, let's be clear about that. However, during my time here, I've seen a lot of simple complaining and whining (without anything constructive as added flavor) about anything and everything Riako and the staff decide to give us. Sometimes that is accompanied by cheating. Remember Darktober*? Yeah, that's why we can't have nice things and I can understand if Riako and the staff are a bit fed up with us sometimes. So let's be nice to the people who make PH happen in the first place and surely they'll be nice back because I do believe Riako has a great team who are good people.

*Darktober was a halloween event with riddles/puzzles for the users to solve. People cheated by sharing answers and we understandably haven't gotten cool big riddle events since.

---

@Finhawk
I love your post so much and I highly appreciate all of it, but I still do have to keep strong on the last part. I never think mods see someone share an opinion and go big tough guy mode, I’m talking about simple situations with no reason to act that way. While the community may be hard at times, that does not really allow rudeness at random, especially on a site that is based for children. I’m gonna stay off the topic of debating the attitude of the mods mainly because I’ve found it will be hard to find a solution to end with:)

I completely agree. My main point was just to bring up the importance of reciprocity. We as users should do our best to treat and talk to the staff respectfully (as this thread does), as the staff should talk to us. (Thus, a lot of negativity towards the staff inevitably breeds negativity towards the users, even if the staff tries to do their best to be professional.) The mods are doing this as volunteer work after all (as far as I'm aware).

Rudeness isn't okay though and rudeness at random is definitely never okay, especially from people in positions of authority.

---

Then I can definitely agree aswell. I understand why some have lost the ability to show respect, but I can also say it isn’t exactly the right approach. I just get defensive since some find it appropriate to brush aside everything as users being ‘simply upset over nothing’, when obviously it’s much more than that. Once everyone drops the defensive act hopefully people can see the reasons behind being upset and understand in someways at least.

May I ask, what exactly is 'solved' about this? There was no response, nor any changes that occurred.

This was posted 3 years ago. Yet, nothing has changed during that period of time. These are exactly the same problems users face today. In my case, the "Enforcement of Rules" and "User Complaints" parts.

I posted similar issues here. No response to that either.

I'm sure many other users have complained about similar issues in the past, and most likely, nothing was done then either. Something has to change.

Bumping this thread again, due to recent issues regarding a user creating transphobic giveaways:

Quote

"The reports were reviewed with no action taken against the user. The feeds were not even deleted.

Said user just created another transphobic giveaway.

While apparently, another user received a warning for name-shaming the transphobic user."

This falls under the first point made in this thread, 'Inconsistent enforcement of Rules'.