Is the Moderator biased towards Erle Montaigue?

[soggycat]

From my understanding he has studied Old Yang Tai Chi and Bagua under Erle and Erle's senior student. Fair to say he has a sense of loyalty to Erle and that is commendable and expected. But where does loyalty end and bias begin? Erle has published many web articles deliberately to inflame by attacking other Masters/ styles, yet when I posted Amazon reviews with underlined comments for convenience) that were critical of Erle's substance, my post was censored and the thread CLOSED.

It's only inflaming to Erle worshippers, to other readers it is INFORMATIVE. Interesting to note the TOS says nothing about unfair Moderator behaviour. :)

[Syd]

For all the things Nzric could say in Erle's defense or favour I am amazed he doesn't ... if anything I have found him to be completely unbiased and extremely transparent given the attacks you are obsessed with making on his character.

Whats happening here is that nobody but you is openly attacking any teacher on a regular basis. You've been going on like an old woman for over a year, where's any of it getting you?

Hilarious ... :D

[Greyghost]

Part of the reason Moderators are chosen by the admin is because of their ability to view the posting of others objectively. I have no doubt thats Nzric treats his duties as seriously as the rest of us ( well...maybe not Freeform).

I am sure that many of the other TM, GM and Admin will feel the same.

:D

[daftyman]

Is the Moderator biased towards Erle Montaigue?

He seems pretty balanced to me. You seem to be a bit wobbly though. :D

There seems to be an excessive amount of energy being used to point out the inconsistencies and flaws of Erle. What's the beef? Were you slighted in some way by them? Was your teacher? Sounds 'political' to me I'm afraid.

peace.

[nzric]

You called?

This will be a long post:

First of all, if you are stating an accusation of bias by a topic moderator, the best course of action would be to either PM me, out of courtesy, otherwise you can PM any admin or Global Moderator and they can look into it. I report to people too.

Also, the Internal Martial Arts forum is for discussion on this topic only. If you want an open discussion, the topic is far more suited to any of the MAP feedback forums.


To address the topic (well, since it's about me :D):

First of all, I have made no secret of the fact that I once trained with a student of Erle Montaigue. I was the one who opened up a thread (before I was a topic mod) asking for feedback on why some people thought this teacher was such a controversial figure.

Since I became the IMA and Tai Chi forum mod, I have specifically tried to stay neutral about the topic for this very reason. I have my own personal views (which are not all pro- or anti- any one teacher) but I keep them out of my mod responsibilities. For the record, I do not hold any loyalty to any teacher. I take anyone on their own merits.

I also take my role as a mod seriously. What I have seen from your posts is an ongoing effort to discredit and ridicule one teacher, despite being asked to tone it down.

The specific teacher I studied (but do not currently study with) has no bearing on my modding. But the following is clear:

- Any blatant accusation against a teacher without grounds, a post designed specifically to ridicule a teacher/style, or any post made to incite conflict is directly against the MAP Terms of Service. Regardless of the style/teacher the thread is about. The only reason I have used my mod duties on threads started by yourself is that, as yet, I have seen no other threads that breach the rules.

You are also incorrect about the Terms of Service mentioning Moderator behaviour. I have copied the following:

5.3 Administration Dispute Resolution:
If you are having a problem on MAP that you feel you cannot solve by any other means available to you, we invite you to contact one of the MAP administrators via PM or email.
5.3.1 Administrators have the final say with anything in this community.

This includes moderator behaviour, as the topic mods report to both the admins and the Global Mods. I volunteered for this role and the admin team has every right to revoke my status if they feel I am abusing the position. If you want to take anything up with the Admin team, feel free.


I edited and locked your post because it was inflammatory and designed specifically to incite conflict. For any members who are curious, the only other content was four VERY strongly worded criticisms of the teacher (under cover of anonymity), with no informative comments given whatsoever. I have put the entire post in the Topic Mod forum and you can speak to any topic mod, admin or global mod if you want a second opinion.


Finally, I was tempted to give links to back myself up, but I won't. I have nothing to hide and my user history is open to anyone who wants to see my history of posts.

[Sgt_Major]

I second that ^^

I think you do a fine job nzric, as well as the other mods and admin. Obviously yuor job is not going to be an easy one, but I think you all do a good job all in all.

Just because a mod closes a thread does not mean they are biased against the author or the topic, it probably mean the TOS have been broken, or will obviously lead to them being broken.

[Freeform]

Topic Moderators behaviour is moderated by Global Moderators and we by the site Administration staff. I'd like to point out that none of us are paid for our duties and that we readily accept a lot of the flak that is issued in our direction.

Nzric has brought this to my attention regarding questions about his ability to remain impartial. I've read through all of the relevant material (which took some time) and as I am not a practitioner of any IMA have no real particular interest in (with the exception of ensuring that MAP runs smoothly), so forgive me perhaps not fully understanding any technicalities.

I believe that Nzric has performed his duties admirably and with total compliance to the MAP Terms of Service (http://www.martialartsplanet.com/maprules.htm) which you all signed up to.

This situation regarding Erle Montaigue is being perpetuated by one or two members who seem to have an axe to grind over the situation. You have brought your opinion into the public forum, it has been discussed but you feel that you must reiterate yourselves again and again. Until you have cast iron evidence to back up any accusations you should consider this topic 'sleeping'.

This thread serves no purpose but to attack a member of the MAP staff and perpetuate the 'Erle Montaigue' topic. As such this thread shall be closed.

In future if you have any complaints agains a Topic Moderator, please contact a Global Moderator or Admin. If you wish to take issue with the actions of a Global Moderator please feel free to contact the Admin staff.

Regards,

Colin S

[YODA]

I'd just like to give Nzric my 100% backing on this issue. He does a fine job here and is doing the right thing in trying to minimise this sort of blatant flamebait.

We know full well by now your feelings about Erle Montaigue. Either move onto something more constructive or post elsewhere.

Thread Locked.

[hongkongfuey]

I'd just like to add my support for NZRick here. As has been said, all the mods here work 'for the love of it', and all put a lot of time and effort into the forums.

The fact that Erle Montaigue has or has not posted inflamatory posts elsewhere is totally irrelavant - we do not tolerate such behaviour here. We are trying to build a community that can have honest open debates, without things getting personal or out of hand.

Re-locked.