No longer a Mod...

Dear Members of P&Q,

I am no longer a Moderator with Poems-and-Quotes due to the ill feelings of the majority. My last day was this morning April 8, 2011.

Thank you for the opportunities I have been given during my time with P&Q.

I wish all of you including the Mods and the site well in the future.

- Joe (aka Italian Stallion)

Well Joe I can't say this is good news You will always be an Icon of PQ and I remember that you were the only poet on the favorite list of one of the aministrators Janis Krumins. You must have done something right . I know that many attempted to create another sight and nearly all failed. I respect your decision.

...due to the ill feelings of the majority [of moderators, not members.]

I'd also like to add that it was not my will to resign as a Moderator. I was more or less forced to leave due to a majority of the mods feeling I was not "up to par" in terms of what a Moderator should be in their eyes.

Yeah, Happy Birthday to me, right?

All that Britt. has stated is true; however, I must defend myself and say (which has been documented in and out of the mod forum) that I've been attending many funerals in that "7 month" time slot.

Now I'm not saying I wasn't here, cause I did check in from time to time and did moderate on the forums and with the mod tools.

Only "defense" the rest of the mods (to my knowledge) have against me is that I didn't do activations.

Now mistaken me if I'm wrong, but moderation is not solely consisted of activations.

And yes, I demoted myself after all but Sher felt that I was not able to demonstrate to them that I was mod material.

I feel like eavesdropping into a private conversation reading this. I am sure there were reasons why Joe was no longer welcome in the mods room, but I feel like the reasons why and how it all went down are between you guys?

I wish you the best Joe, I know you have many friends on here and understand life can be hectic for someone in their young years. I am sure the others will understand too.

I still remember the beautiful Italian album you shared in RTVW with us, I showed it to many of my friends. I felt dissapointed when one day I wanted to see it again, I found out the site was no longer up. That sure was one hell of a trip:)

First off, don't tell me what moderating consists of, I'm one of people who originally wrote the rules and regulations as well as what moderation is on this site.

Secondly, why are you the only Mod, who has something to say on this matter in the public forums? Are the rest of the mods afraid to voice their own opinion?

Having been raised with six sisters my prayers are now with AJ

He'll need more than just one persons prayers, trust me on that one!

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
breaaaaathhsss
and the baby will come out

PUSH
BREATHE
guys!!! woaah! -_-

It would have been not very American to take one moment from a virtual orphan for an ungrateful group such as us my friend

I stated activations as one example of mod duties, and a simple one at that. I thought each moderator was supposed to do 50 every day, now it's understandable that they don't always get done and that can be made up for by doing extras the next time... Joe, you did a total of 40 in the past 2 months, maybe longer. That is elementary..

You are an excellent person and great poet, but you haven't done much as of late. Britt basically showed Anna and myself the ropes. You did answer a few questions for me and I thank you for that.

Your absence in voting as well as voicing opinion has been noticeable, especially when we are trying to get things done and we are still waiting on your opinion..

If majority ruled, why wait on one persons opinion? You all contradict yourselves and have much to learn still. Now I know why Kevin and Bob both left...

The Italian Stallion says hit me again my mother hits harder than that!

Rules? We haven't done anything concerning rules for a long time, so that's an invalid claim.

Exactly my point...that's in the past, that's not now!

If you want to talk "overall" then theoretically, you and a lot of other mods shouldn't be a Moderator any longer either...so what's YOUR POINT?

Well then let me be the first to say...I feel you are unfit to be a moderator any longer, all you bring to the table is drama.

I will step up and say that I was against the majority vote.

With that said, there have been periods where no one hears from Joe, but as I said, that can happen to anyone and everyone deserves a break every so often.

I'm done with replying for now, before I explode and say something I may regret. I'll be back later to see what's been said/discussed.

The amount of time and effort Britt has put forth toward this site is staggering. She is more than fit to be a moderator, and I am proud to work with her.

To say that about one mod and not the rest is a fault within it self AJ.

Okay, now I'm gone for now till later.

I was supporting the moderator that you stated was unfit. Sibs, Jane, Sher and Anna have all put in their share and I support them as well, and will as long as they put forth effort.

Joe has put in a lot of effort as well and I do not think for one second that because he has been having some troubles in life (like we all do sometimes) that means he should be demoted.

Joe u alreayd know my opinion on this, and i have nothing to do with Moderation, and with what's going on behind the scenes,

and no not cause am friends people ..so dont bite my head,
but I wont talk about other Mods,
I wanna talk about Brit, since despite of the personal or not personal problems going on right here,
she is the most active mod in the whole team...
I have never needed anything without her reply like immediately and whenever we are chatting she mentions being right back to do some activation etc..

i had more than one person bugging me, and she was there to help get rid as a MOD..
so no to be honest she is active more than the others in the team.

Joe hasn't put forth much effort at all in at least the past few months. I understand that he has had funerals to attend and other life issues, but the in no way should stop him from checking in and helping out. Nobody here knows my schedule or what I deal with on a weekly basis, yet I still make time to moderate.

What amazes me is how a few months erases a few years.

This is the 1st time I see Joe angry in the main boards THIS much... I don't know if him leaving the team was GOOD or BAd.. but this what's going on now on this forum..is really bad... so guys... come on...
chill it!

For the 6 months I have been a mod, Joe has done very little. He logs on to let us know why he has been gone or why he will be gone. I don't think any of us had ill feelings or have them. We tried to get Joe to be more active many times but it never happened and he insisted on keeping the title for what seemed like old time's sake. We talked about it a few days ago and Joe asked us who specifically felt he should no longer be a mod (due to his inactivity, not ill feelings) and majority including myself voted he should leave. No it is not to our great pleasure that Joe demoted himself, all of us would have much preferred he step it up on the mod squad instead. I am disappointed with how this turned out.

So I'll end my post by saying Joe, you're a great guy and I'm sorry you are taking this as a personal insult rather than a rational, realistic decision for PnQ.

Just from a members perspective.....

Seems Joe is more active today than he has been in the past two years...

In my opinion, when we needed Joe to help on the boards he was always willing to jump in without hesitation...

Anyways... I am out of hear for a bit. Everyone please play nice.

As a member I am curious as to how terminating free help will help your situation . When I worked for the DOD volenteers were always welcome

You may delete this if it is too logical. I never understood how governments worked anyway.

So now Brit is demoted and Joe is demoted..
now what ??!!

i have my new poems unsaved, i will rush to save them, before the site deletes its self too!

Britt has officially stepped down.

Bob, I don't care what my opinion means to you, it has no affect on me. You don't know my life, you don't know what I deal with on a weekly basis, and I wish that nobody has to deal with what I do.

Lets keep it that way.

What's done is done.

Being a mod is not a trophy. It's not a testament of unconditional loyalty. It's a job, and if you stop doing it for long enough, you will lose the privilege (or burden) of having it. Joe contributed many years to this site and to that we owe him our appreciation and gratitude. I wish he had the grace to step down on his own after realizing he wasn't being helpful for such an extensive period of time. We continually asked that he step up or step down, to which he'd reply patronizingly and refuse to do either. Finally he has stepped down and not for the right reasons. I am sorry some ex mods and members are having trouble understanding that to be a mod, you have to do mod duties. It is not a place of honor in which after you are no longer fit for duty, you get to keep the title like a trophy.
The first requirement of being a mod? Active. You must be active.
Your life outside PnQ is important and if you don't have time to be a mod because of it... don't be one. Anyone can respect that.

Amanda, you are no longer a mod. Sorry. We are a team and unfortunately Joe was not acting as part of the team anymore. How could he when he was so inactive? We were on Sher's case for a while too but she listened to us and explained her "behind the scenes work," on top of stepping up to the plate tremendously with activations and general activity. Both were given shoves - one responded, one didn't. We need active mods.

It's not like when you've been a mod for a certain amount of time, you're suddenly safe and don't have to worry about doing your job anymore. That's pride getting to you. We should all be consistently up for review on the team and given suggestions to improve. If we don't act as a team, we don't deserve to be on the team.

Any who thinks that because you've been a mod for some amount of years, you are made golden and untouchable... that's flat out ridiculous. Years on the job don't make you untouchable.

Let's not bring my name into this push/shove thing. No one will like what I have to say...

I think it is a bunch of bull. I also think that certain members have decided to take it upon themselves to start initiating new things and then resentment and anger builds up because other mods do not have the time or do not want the responsibility of it.

I am finding that all the changes everyone wants and that has been implemented is putting unnecessary work on mods especially since members do not care enough to participate in them.

I also think that it is wrong for ANYONE to constantly have to defend themselves because others feel as though they are not active enough.

There is no time clock while being a mod and we are unable to show how many hours we do things that others do not see.

I stated it before.... Just because you can not see us or something we have done does not mean that we are not doing anything.

This whole thing sickens me!