A Casualty of the Format War: Mark Rubin Retires - Page 2  

I hate to see a good guy burnt out by something like this. I happen to like the fanboy debates over the formats, but I can see how many in this forum would rather talk about the movies. Perhaps if they created a forum just for debating the format-war (you know, anything goes), then this forum could return to some sanity and maybe it wouldn't be so time consuming and stressful for Mark.

I'm sorry to see Mark go. He was a reasonable guy. Until problem members start being temporarily or permanently banned for disobeying the rules, it's not going to change around here. Sad, but true.

I think I can shed some light on this, given some past experience as a moderator on a number of other sites.

As a moderator, you can't look away. You have to force yourself to read every post, whether you like it or not. You can't put people on Ignore (in fact, I don't believe the Ignore function works at all for moderators in the vBulletin software).

You also have to strike a fine line between what you say and how you feel. You can't take sides on an issue or people will accuse you of bias, which undermines your authority as a moderator and makes the job of moderation (thankless as it is) even more difficult. Even when you aren't dealing with that, you have people who have developed personal grudges or worse playing at petty games of wordplay, innuendo, or outright flaming who will resort to using the Report Post function as a tactical weapon in their verbal duels.

And in between playing referee, there's the constant battle against spammers. I'm surprised that AVS is as clean of spam posts as it is, and it's a testament to how good the team really is here that it remains so pristine.

Being a moderator truly is a thankless job.

Touche.
As Mark is the first casualty, he'll be forever remembered a hero. *sniff!*

adding to the chorus of cheers - more than once we've had private and public conversations that have been helpful and honest...

...I just hope that AVS gives you a parting gift worth remembering. I understand that Mark Levinson's a sponsor...

No one ever gave a eulogy under oath.

Thank you Mark. Well done.

Thanks, Mark.

As a Format Neutral I have more respect for your efforts here than the fanboys because you did your best to level the playing field & maintain a modicum of civility that otherwise would not have occurred.

Au Revoir

Mark is very knowledgable and fair, and I have enjoyed his posts.

I guess we all need to give ourselves a break here. We didn't decide that there was to be a silly format war, now we are all wrapped around the axel about it.

Mark: try to disconnect and not take it too seriously. Someday the format war will shut down and we can get back to what the forum is really about.

BINGO........ IMHO too, if you bitc* about the cost of HD Optical, you most likely don't belong here, where's your RUNCO?

well if you ever want a MUCH easier moderator job give me a PM, sorry but it is a Cichlid board so we only talk about fish LOL

Wow. Sorry to hear that Mark. You were one of the goods. I understand completely though. This format war has driven some of us to go from poster to lurker because it just got too hateful in here.

I think we should let Mark close this thread.........one last time before he goes.

You have no idea, and I mean no idea what it would have been like if Mark hadn't been involved.

Mark is great example of civility and I hope he will continue to contribute here

I second what Ken says, When he was on vacation i learned first hand how much he contributed.

Mark will be missed thats for sure,

Staying ultimately true to himself, he took the high road.

Hope to see him around, but I doubt he will frequent these areas of the forum considering how he viewed the majority of the behavior.

Get rested Mark! You deserve a break from all of us .

Many thanks for your contributions. The "vent here threads of last year" to calm things down. The catchy phrase of "Challenge the Post: Never the Poster & Take the High Road in Every Post." Creating the insider thread. And the list keeps going. Hope the rest of us are smart enough to keep up with civil thinking like this.

Mark you will be missed...you did a great job heretake care buddy! Enjoy you time away from this madhouse!

Agree with all of the above.
You will be missed, this is a sad day for AVS

I'm sure Mark has invested all the $$$ he made moderating and is now vacationing in Hawaii.
Well deserved!






J/K
Get some rest Mark, let the next schmuck moderate...

a scholar & a gentleman, Mark your hard work and endless efforts to make AVS a great place will be missed.

hope to see you around in the flat panels forums.

gianmarco

Yeah, no $hit!

You're still the man, Mark! Thanks for all your hard work.

I would concur.

Mark...... Thanks for all your efforts, but I understand totally when the time comes, it comes, enjoy not having to worry about this, and watch some HDTV of your choice. Take care.

Mark thanks for trying to keep the peace.

geez people why dont you people do it like. if you think you cant stand the nonsense that the fan boys of the other format are doing, stop going to the other thread.

Or better still, the admin should come up with a feature to allow posters to volunteer to be 'banned' from the other forum.

This is a tribute thread.

Make it honest.

I very rarely stop by here, though the info here is excellent.

Question: Why aren't flamers just banned? Or maybe a "3 strikes" rule?

I know over on the Vegas Video Board there are times that things get heated, but eventually the biggest protagonists simply disappear.

Mark should still be here, it's the repeat offenders that should be gone. And yes I agree if people had stayed in their respected forums it would have made his job easier but there are some here who just can't resist the urge to start trouble and they know who they are so I hope they are all happy now.

Good Luck Mark!

a sincere Thanks to all: I love this forum and agonized over my decision to retire

the Signal to Noise Ratio is going down steadily on these format battle forums