The beta is almost over, and what a ride we’ve had. Over the past five months our community has expanded and grown into one of the largest e-sports communities in the world. As most of the TL staff have taken on new roles in organizing events for the community and general site maintenance, those left to moderate the forums have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of new users in our community.
While new users are a wonderful thing for our community, we do need to maintain the high forum standards that attracted them to TeamLiquid in the first place! So, what we’ve decided to do is change how the staff structure works around here. You may have already noticed how almost every active staff member has a red name now – this now means a staff member who has a particular task beyond moderation. These tasks are things like writing, TLPD, coding, event organization and planning and whatnot. They won't be expected to moderate as heavily anymore.
First Wave
Starting today, moderation responsibility will be jointly shared between Reds and select veteran users, affectionately called "Banlings”. They will receive a Red Hammer icon like this one –
. These Banlings will moderate together with the Reds and will have the same mod powers Reds have (like banning, warning and thread closing). Banlings and Reds will work together and discuss whatever is necessary to keep the forums a clean and happy place and will ensure that TeamLiquid remains the quality website that you know and love.
We invited a number of veteran users to be the first wave of Banlings. They were chosen through nomination and voting by Reds based on who we believed would do a good job. Since some of these users already have positions and icons on other staff teams, all banlings won’t necessarily have the red hammer icon and may have instead choose to retain their old staff icon. The following users have been inducted as the first wave of TeamLiquid banlings:
Boesthius CTStalker Empyrean H Harem
iNcontroL IntoTheWow Jibba JWD Kau
Kwark mahnini micronesia mikeymoo mrmin123
Mystlord Nyovne Puosu SoMuchBetter TheMango
We have complete confidence that every one of them will uphold the values which make TeamLiquid the best Starcraft community on the Internet. As of this news post, they are now the front line of defence against forum garbage, trolls and terrible posting. We wish them the best of luck! New Blue
While the majority of staff were promoted to Red recently, a number have retained their Blue names. This is because we’re changing what a Blue name means. A person with a Blue name on TeamLiquid is a user who has contributed a lot to the TeamLiquid community over a considerable amount of time. In many ways, a Blue name is now a forum star on steroids. Blues are truly exemplary members of our community, and are well worthy of emulation.
As a part of our recent structure change, we are giving this status to one more person; Silversky. Silversky has been one of the most consistent Graphics team contributors TL has ever had the privilege of having. Since his recruitment in late 2008, he has produced non-stop content for the OSL, TSL2 and SC2Beta coverage teams. He is also well known for his countless TLFE banners. Today, he earns his TL Blue. Congratulations, Silversky!
Looking Ahead
So what’s going to change for you? Not much hopefully! TeamLiquid is only going to grow upon the retail release of Starcraft 2 and the banlings will help keep the forum the way you remember it. TL will never sacrifice its commitment to a quality, happy community regardless of how big it grows. We believe our new staff structure will allow us to better serve you and ensure that everyone gets the most out of our forums.
I doubt this will make that big of a difference, the moderation has already been awesome lol, but its only just going to go from awesome to more awesome : )
On July 13 2010 13:41 Two_DoWn wrote: Just a question: are banlings and mods on the same level, or can a ban imposed by a banling be appealed to a true mod?
Seriously though, I studied psychology, and this is a sort of positive reinforcement. Rather than, "we will ban you"... as the motivation for good posting... here is another. I like it a lot!!
On July 13 2010 13:44 jodogohoo wrote: I doubt this will make that big of a difference, the moderation has already been awesome lol, but its only just going to go from awesome to more awesome : )
Reading the SC2 forums is a dangerous task and requires very careful rotations, like working in a nuclear submarine.
Haha this is awesome. Being banned by Boes sounds like an amazing way to go.
Also, do I remember reading about some mod that swore they would resign if inC ever got admin privelages? Surely this does not count.
On a less joking note, this will probably be hugely beneficial towards moderation of the community (just looking at the ban list and closed threads lately shows a huge amount of spam and junk that will now be cleared out much more efficiently).
What no CharlieMurphy? That dude has like eleven hundred forty eight thousand million posts and has been here since the breakfast. Kidding, but I expected to see him tbh.
On July 13 2010 13:49 fyyer wrote: What no CharlieMurphy? That dude has like eleven hundred forty eight thousand million posts and has been here since the breakfast. Kidding, but I expected to see him tbh.
On July 13 2010 13:49 fyyer wrote: What no CharlieMurphy? That dude has like eleven hundred forty eight thousand million posts and has been here since the breakfast. Kidding, but I expected to see him tbh.
this stock image simply explains the relationship between post count and posting quality: + Show Spoiler +
On July 13 2010 13:49 fyyer wrote: What no CharlieMurphy? That dude has like eleven hundred forty eight thousand million posts and has been here since the breakfast. Kidding, but I expected to see him tbh.
On July 13 2010 13:41 Two_DoWn wrote: Just a question: are banlings and mods on the same level, or can a ban imposed by a banling be appealed to a true mod?
Banlings are on the same level as moderators. Their bans are just as real as those imposed by a mod. There's not second class mods at TL, the difference between these guys and Reds are exactly that Reds take a more proactive role in doing things for TL like TLPD and whatnot.
On July 13 2010 13:41 Two_DoWn wrote: Just a question: are banlings and mods on the same level, or can a ban imposed by a banling be appealed to a true mod?
Almost all our bans have a discussion even if its short. As far as we are concerned, banlings are mods which is why they have the same powers. For the first little while we will work to make sure everyone is on the same page with regards to what is warn/ban worthy, but i trust their decisions and will support them baring any small mistakes.
Basically don't think that if you get banned by a banling that you can immediately appeal up the chain . If we think its worth discussing, we've probably already discussed it.
But no mention of BW being part of TL's future makes me sad. TL is really casting its lot in with Sc2, which is (in my humble opinion) a complete shame.
On July 13 2010 13:56 tree.hugger wrote: Congrats to all the new mods!
But no mention of BW being part of TL's future makes me sad. TL is really casting its lot in with Sc2, which is (in my humble opinion) a complete shame.
On July 13 2010 13:56 tree.hugger wrote: Congrats to all the new mods!
But no mention of BW being part of TL's future makes me sad. TL is really casting it's lot in with Sc2, which is (in my humble opinion) a complete shame.
I wouldn't even say its that TL is casting its lot with sc2, its just the realization that sc2 will just send alot of traffic here. When TL began, it wasn't the most wellknown english speaking SC resource as it is now. More mods are needed just to deal with the onslaught of users that will come.
On July 13 2010 13:56 tree.hugger wrote: Congrats to all the new mods!
But no mention of BW being part of TL's future makes me sad. TL is really casting it's lot in with Sc2, which is (in my humble opinion) a complete shame.
I wouldn't even say its that TL is casting its lot with sc2, its just the realization that sc2 will just send alot of traffic here. When TL began, it wasn't the most wellknown english speaking SC resource as it is now. More mods are needed just to deal with the onslaught of users that will come.
Oh, that's true, to be sure, but the OP hardly mentioned that TL covered BW. I guess we really don't know if BW has a future or not, but Plexa's last post was reassuring, I guess.
But it feels like we've all just assumed that Sc2 is going to overtake BW before we even saw the game. And now that the beta's been around, I realized which game I enjoyed more. But the Sc2 bandwagon marches on. I don't see what you see in her.
On July 13 2010 13:56 tree.hugger wrote: Congrats to all the new mods!
But no mention of BW being part of TL's future makes me sad. TL is really casting it's lot in with Sc2, which is (in my humble opinion) a complete shame.
I wouldn't even say its that TL is casting its lot with sc2, its just the realization that sc2 will just send alot of traffic here. When TL began, it wasn't the most wellknown english speaking SC resource as it is now. More mods are needed just to deal with the onslaught of users that will come.
Oh, that's true, to be sure, but the OP hardly mentioned that TL covered BW. I guess we really don't know if BW has a future or not, but Plexa's last post was reassuring, I guess.
But it feels like we've all just assumed that Sc2 is going to overtake BW before we even saw the game. And now that the beta's been around, I realized which game I enjoyed more. But the Sc2 bandwagon marches on. I don't see what you see in her.
But thanks, Plexa, for the post.
Shes the new girl in town, soon people will realize all her street abilities pale in comparison to lady BW, and that the fun we have is better with the more experienced one.
On July 13 2010 13:41 Two_DoWn wrote: Just a question: are banlings and mods on the same level, or can a ban imposed by a banling be appealed to a true mod?
Almost all our bans have a discussion even if its short. As far as we are concerned, banlings are mods which is why they have the same powers. For the first little while we will work to make sure everyone is on the same page with regards to what is warn/ban worthy, but i trust their decisions and will support them baring any small mistakes.
Basically don't think that if you get banned by a banling that you can immediately appeal up the chain . If we think its worth discussing, we've probably already discussed it.
Makes sense. I was just trying to clear up the hierarchy in my head.
On July 13 2010 13:55 GenesisX wrote: Cool stuff! Hopefully we get less trolls! :D
OFT
If you have ever stumbled into the SCII official forums, it's pretty much the worst thing you've ever read, I think maybe 1 in 100 threads are not trolls, and are related to starcraft.
How will I ever keep up with all the bans on the automated ban list?!?! There were already a ton each day, now no post will go unmoderated! Oh who am I kidding, I'll just make more time to enjoy my schadenfreude
Thank god. The SC2 forums have been in need of a gigantic pruning, both in shitty threads and idiotic posters. Hopefully this will alleviate the problem somewhat.
On July 13 2010 13:41 Two_DoWn wrote: Just a question: are banlings and mods on the same level, or can a ban imposed by a banling be appealed to a true mod?
BAN HIM!
congrats everyone, and TL thanks for keeping this forum pure fucking awesome.
I knew this would happen haha, I didn't think that many would be promoted though. Congratulations and I'm glad because we'll have a quicker response to bad threads etc. Especially in the SC2 forum.
I hope all the new mods follow the example set by reds like Mani and Hot_Bid who show both patience, restraint and toughness. I'd hate to see needless purges of users who are only slightly offensive.
Wow I might actually be able to stand reading the SC2 forum on a regular basis now. Kind of ambivalent though what was the selection process did it include trying to bring in people in different time zones? When I'm up late at night and its still too early for people to be waking up in Europe I usually run into all kinds of trash that doesn't get cleaned up until the morning.
ohm, why banelings? Zerglings if they got promoted, they turn into Banelings I mean if they are forum veterans they arent Zerglings, so sg like Broodlords would fit better, as a corruptor is already a mightier unit on its own
On July 13 2010 14:45 Geo.Rion wrote: ohm, why banelings? Zerglings if they got promoted, they turn into Banelings I mean if they are forum veterans they arent Zerglings, so sg like Broodlords would fit better, as a corruptor is already a mightier unit on its own
On July 13 2010 14:04 cursor wrote: Jibba got mod-ish status from this?!?!?
I missed his name on the list... this is one of my very favorite posters. Good choice guys :D
Yeah, I'm here. But I have to go to class before I can ban anyone. :O
Ya. I imagine there are lots of website features... that mods have access too. Notes about user posts, threads, about each user if a mod chooses to leave one... ability to track IP activity for PBU... all sorts of other interface. I'm sure it will be like a class.
I think mods communicate about the user base a lot more than most posters imagine. In tight shifts... very much like the crew of a Nuclear Submarine- yes.
Mmm this looks awesome. Congrats to you banlings, and congrats to you too Silversky :D Is it odd to get excited to see these hammers crashing down? haha
On July 13 2010 14:45 Geo.Rion wrote: ohm, why banelings? Zerglings if they got promoted, they turn into Banelings I mean if they are forum veterans they arent Zerglings, so sg like Broodlords would fit better, as a corruptor is already a mightier unit on its own
On July 13 2010 14:45 Geo.Rion wrote: ohm, why banelings? Zerglings if they got promoted, they turn into Banelings I mean if they are forum veterans they arent Zerglings, so sg like Broodlords would fit better, as a corruptor is already a mightier unit on its own
BANlings
/facepalm
i cant believe i didnt notice it
I laughed so much on this.
CONGRATULATIONS! I am not worthy of your presence T_T.
(Now I wish I contributed more to the community instead of lurking 24/7 XD)
Congratulations to all the people and success in your function. I think you'll need it for the 27th. I imagine it'll be like the release of the beta but with about 10 times as many people. Yikes!
For a second there you had me worried. Thought "The Kraken" had been released.
Wield your ban sticks wisely ladies and gentleman. With great power comes great---
lol who am I kdiding? With SC2 on the rise, the level of flaming/stupid/off-topic posts is rising too. I recognize some of the names, you guys will do a good job.
Great move by our lovely TL staff, though I expected nothing less.
Btw, tbh I can't wait for iNcontroL's first ban. Btw(2), you should make Mrs. Plott a banling aswell. She has been moderating StarCraft people all her life.
As i read this thread, my breakfast muesli tasts like bunch of banlings -.- anyways, funny but also sophisticated idea from TL! I wish i could belong to these honored banlings. gl & hf for TL members and new promoted silversky! btw i think i gonna avoid muesli for couple days...
looks like silversky really got what he deserved :D
im not so fond with the name baneling but other than that great news im sure they'll do a good job on cleaning the forum, its been going down lately in quality
On July 13 2010 13:40 Scaramanga wrote: I love you Nyo :D. Im gonna take shelter from the up comming purge Congrats guys, happy hunting!
Duck and cover mate! XD Let's all just make sure this community stays true to what it stands for and let everyone take their own responsibility in upholding its standards and quality.
I don't think this will improve the community. TL already has an above-average moderating team that catches trolling and spamming pretty quickly. This just seems overboard to me, having a bunch of banners running around looking for the smallest excuse possible to ban someone. In addition, I don't feel like there is a lot of spam on these forums either, I have been on this site for a while now and spam posts get deleted pretty quickly. I've seen a lot of good threads get deleted and honestly I'm not too excited about this.
I think there is a way to make some of our more prominent members feel recognized without giving them these powers that seem excessive. Good luck making this work.
Good to hear the moderators getting a little break from filtering the influx to the community, myself being apart of that, lol, congrats to all, i'm sure you all earned it. TL keeping it real ftw.
Just why did you kick rekrul from tl.net in the first place ? Even though you may say his bans were a little suspicious, it was what we needed : A good quiet and useful reaper to shut some annoying and whinning bitches :p No but seriously, rekrul was the sh.t T_T
On July 13 2010 21:36 s.a.y wrote: Didn't Kennigit (or hot_bid?) say that if Incontrol becomes a moderator on this forum, that several people had the clause to leave the site?
Good thing he's not a moderator har har! Banlings start out reporting actions which must be moderator-approved.
On July 13 2010 21:58 Arrian wrote: w00t SilverSky. You're truly a monster, and deserved this 100%. Thanks for all you did for me & my articles!
+1, SilverSky gave me mad graphics hookups too. His Bacchus OSL 2009 banner always drew a ton of comments on my articles. Thanks dude, if you're reading this.
well at least the forums will finally get cleaned up after these massive amounts of sc2 players coming in lol the sc2 forums just doesn't look as civilized as their bw counterparts
I've been wondering how you guys oughta go about keeping things clean with so much growth lately. This seems like a really elegant solution. Mad props to the banlings.
I can only laugh at Boesthius and iNcontroL. Hilarious people that will fit the role well. I hope to see your contributions in The Automated Ban List thread.
Congrats to TL for thinking up a great solution to the moderation problem. This is the smartest type of management -- delegation of grunt work. Was it Kennigit who sparked the idea?
Fully support this change, especially as we are on the cusp of the SC2 release and will probably have an influx of new users who may not understand the etiquette of this forum.
Incontrol, fine allways liked that guys humor / trolling. What was the counter arguement against him being a mod/banling anyways? I read somewhere that some mods would retire if people made Inc a mod..? Maybe this'll circumvent because he isnt exactly "mod"... Oh well I guess the staff figured it out, just wanted to throw it out there. Ouch, Boes a banling? Can't flame stork anymore
I think it's cool that someone's name on here is TheMango... my last name is Mango I won't fight you over your username though Curious as to where you came up with that username though!
lol i didnt realize this site had gotten so big with the SC2 beta... i know my post count isn't high but i was lurking around TL for a long time even before i had an account whenever i had a spare moment and its just wow...
btw how the hell is roffles going to deal with all the new banelings?
seriously though TL should do some consulting for Blizz on 'running and maintaining a troll-free forum WITHOUT resorting to a bone-headed fix'
props to the heads that thought this up :D TL is #1 for a reason
On July 14 2010 06:05 BAdGer_ wrote: lol i didnt realize this site had gotten so big with the SC2 beta... i know my post count isn't high but i was lurking around TL for a long time even before i had an account whenever i had a spare moment and its just wow...
btw how the hell is roffles going to deal with all the new banelings?
seriously though TL should do some consulting for Blizz on 'running and maintaining a troll-free forum WITHOUT resorting to a bone-headed fix'
props to the heads that thought this up :D TL is #1 for a reason
I heard my name what's up? I'll deal with this just fine. Just gotta dodge the ones that are onto me.
seriously though TL should do some consulting for Blizz on 'running and maintaining a troll-free forum WITHOUT resorting to a bone-headed fix'
The problem with this is that i'm not sure how Blizzard would react to my suggestion of banning about 85% of their paying customers from the boards haha. TL doesn't have to worry about that so much :p
seriously though TL should do some consulting for Blizz on 'running and maintaining a troll-free forum WITHOUT resorting to a bone-headed fix'
The problem with this is that i'm not sure how Blizzard would react to my suggestion of banning about 85% of their paying customers from the boards haha. TL doesn't have to worry about that so much :p
They shouldn't have a problem at all, they delete wow accounts and b.net keys all the time, removing someone from their forums is being nice.
On July 14 2010 06:05 BAdGer_ wrote: lol i didnt realize this site had gotten so big with the SC2 beta... i know my post count isn't high but i was lurking around TL for a long time even before i had an account whenever i had a spare moment and its just wow...
btw how the hell is roffles going to deal with all the new banelings?
seriously though TL should do some consulting for Blizz on 'running and maintaining a troll-free forum WITHOUT resorting to a bone-headed fix'
props to the heads that thought this up :D TL is #1 for a reason
I heard my name what's up? I'll deal with this just fine. Just gotta dodge the ones that are onto me.
*Hides*
*Turns in to a Dark Templar and hides away from the detection next to Roffles and hopes not to die when he leaves to help out another SC:BW site* O fuck u damn scanners...
Seriously though, Congrats to everyone! Silver deserved the promotion so much that I can't believe he didn't get it before! Congrats to Day[9] too! I know that after a few more invitationals HD and Husky are going to get blues, even if it is just because they are fucking awesome
On July 13 2010 13:40 Scaramanga wrote: I love you Nyo :D. Im gonna take shelter from the up comming purge Congrats guys, happy hunting!
I saw this and started scanning the list of users for "nyoken" thinking WTF he never posts. But what a mod he'd make... most epic ban wave in the history of the internet.
Congrats! Smart thinking TL getting more staff to moderate BEFORE the need arises. If only other businesses had this business model and employed it, lots of businesses would be doing better.
True to internet rules, I have not read any of the thread except for the first post and some of the short posts on the first page.
That having been said, hurray to the Banlings, and damn you all for that banner+thread title. I saw it and got all excited about some new change to Banelings I wasn't aware of.
Basically Kennigit and Chill started this trend some time ago, ban someone for whatever reason simply stating "ure a garb", "trash user", "gtfo" afterwards. This probably hurts more than it helps, provided many people read these memes in the ban thread. It comes off a bit profane.
at the moment it looks like their names get hammered.
give 'em control, hand the bar end next to the name, not the hammer.
banlings... wow haha really a nice idea!
i wish i could be one with the stick on the right side, but till now i never would have banned anyone, the topics i commit/lurk are mostly clean or i run into an already banned post. How do you do that ? :O
On July 13 2010 14:45 Geo.Rion wrote: ohm, why banelings? Zerglings if they got promoted, they turn into Banelings I mean if they are forum veterans they arent Zerglings, so sg like Broodlords would fit better, as a corruptor is already a mightier unit on its own
Congrats on the promotions guys. Will the use of the "Report" button help you to attain this position? I'm not sure how that feature works, are the mods able to see who made the reports? If you are doing a good job reporting would that get you noticed enough by the mods to earn this title?
Mhmmm, I was just thinking that if someone is reporting well then they should be added to the team, but I don't know how it works or if the mods want to do that either.
This is good news. Thanks for making the changes. The SC2 forums were pretty "brutal" when I first started lurking here, but things have definitely gotten better. Thanks!
On July 18 2010 09:55 Plexa wrote: That's the idea GreEny K. The original set of banlings were chosen off of their reporting, for the most part anyway.
Oh ok that makes so much sense I didn't think that was how it worked lol. Time to report!
On July 18 2010 09:55 Plexa wrote: That's the idea GreEny K. The original set of banlings were chosen off of their reporting, for the most part anyway.
Meh, I'm not a fan of he who tattles most gets ahead ... but these guys seem pretty legit for the most part. Was happy to see inc get it.
Edit: Completely forgot about Kwark, Empyrean, and Micronesia ... clutch choices
On July 18 2010 09:55 Plexa wrote: That's the idea GreEny K. The original set of banlings were chosen off of their reporting, for the most part anyway.
Meh, I'm not a fan of he who tattles most gets ahead ... but these guys seem pretty legit for the most part. Was happy to see inc get it.
Edit: Completely forgot about Kwark, Empyrean, and Micronesia ... clutch choices
All of them have done something other than reporting however, and/or been valuable members of the site for quite a while. A large number of the banelings already had special icons for the valuable work that they've contributed to tl to make it the great place that it is ^^
On July 24 2010 17:30 fight_or_flight wrote: Congrats veterans. I hope our "new flavor" of mods don't close all the economics threads. I don't think until now any mods ever read those threads.
I also hope Kwark isn't meticulously keeping track of his "hits"....I've heard rumors...
New de facto requirement to post in political threads: Must have watched all 7 seasons of the West Wing
On July 24 2010 17:30 fight_or_flight wrote: Congrats veterans. I hope our "new flavor" of mods don't close all the economics threads. I don't think until now any mods ever read those threads.
I also hope Kwark isn't meticulously keeping track of his "hits"....I've heard rumors...
New de facto requirement to post in political threads: Must have watched all 7 seasons of the West Wing
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Kennigit/BanlingsBanner.png)
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