A kerfuffle that recently went on in one of the online communities I hang out in is a nice illustration of some of the complex interaction between moderator privilege in discussion forums, power vectors and bullying.<\/p>\n
Briefly, a poster engaged in a bunch of techniques such as using loaded and admittedly-pejorative terms in a theoretically-neutral discussion, lashing out at critics while claiming victim status, ignoring constructive suggestions, and trotting out the hoary “I’m privileged” chestnut of disclaiming responsibility while attempting to put the burden of making up for his ignorance on others (“I’m looking for some specific suggestions here” aka “I don’t think my mistakes is important enough to feel like doing the work myself”). While I don’t see the guy as a bully in general, this is classic bullying behavior.<\/p>\n
What made this case particularly interesting is that the moderator took the bully’s side. As moderator, he could edit the discussions after the fact to rewrite history — and he did. For example, he deleted a post as “an off-topic flame” (later reposting it on his private friends-only blog). He deleted a thread of mine and then posted his response (quoting my original words, but now in a way that marginalizes them) in a thread he had started. And so on.<\/p>\n
(The really funny thing is that my thread that he deleted specifically called him out for abusing his moderator privilege by deleting threads. I tell ya … you can’t make this stuff up.)<\/p>\n