Quote:
Originally Posted by Pinski
Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I think it is, but will we ever know? Probably not until somebody from the inside confirms it.
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Someone called for an insider? As you wish.
Nevermind who I am, Im just here to confirm the information posted and add a bit more.
The mods with blue titles on the SoE boards are not paid SoE employees. They are players just like you. This mod program was implemented by Brenlo, who is in charge of community relations for all SoE games, at the beginning of this year.
Brenlo came up with the new mod program about the same time Faarwolf gave notice and retired to her porn site. Brenlo is a loud, cheap bastard who likes to work people as long and hard as possible, but pay them as little as possible. Brenlo realized he could save big and reduce headcount with his plan, which maximized his personal bonus, by expanding the position Faarwolf held into website responsibility for two other SoE games plus EQII.
In addition to promoting someone from tech support for the position, so he could give them a promotion without much of a pay increase, Brenlo's plan involved offloading most of the "community relations" work involved in running the SoE websites to unpaid player volunteers.
Brenlo got Blackguard to assemble his new crew of free workers. Blackguard was a regular poster on the Non-Gameplay Discussion board, and picked most of the new player mods from his most loyal player groupies. Most of the players picked had been given special posting titles and other favors by Blackguard before he picked them as mods.
The list posted by the person who started this thread is 100% accurate. The players listed are in fact mods. As anyone should have known at the time, it was just a bad business decision to give mod authority to several of those individuals. And that is because most of them had the highest post counts and complaints of all players on the boards. With the exception of two of the players listed, the rest were frequent NGD posters. It just wasn't very smart to put these foxes in charge of the hen house.
The biggest problem caused by any of the player mods was by a player not previously named in this thread. It was caused by the Promythyus, who posted as Asterothrax, and who had over 16k posts when his posting and EQII career ended. Astherothrax gave the names of the other mods to a female friend as part of an on line relationship, and surprise, surprise, she wasn't able to keep that secret to herself. Astherothrax was removed from the mod program around the end of July when this problem surfaced.
Mawie/StarryEyedElf was also removed as a mod for a time based on problems and drama she caused, but Raijinn reinstated her recently when begged for another chance.
That's about it folks. The people moderating the SoE forums are players, and have some of the highest post counts and most complaints on the boards. Many seem to have a habit of arguing with players in posts, then logging on mod accounts and moderating those same posts.
Moral of the story: Brenlo's brainstorm saved a few dollars for SoE, but it has turned into a disaster for SoE public relations. Brenlo should be excused or reassigned, and SoE should hire the people needed to do these jobs, and pay them fairly rather than sweatshop wages.
Re: Out a moderator!
