A better forum via better moderation

[NextLevel]

How funny of the said mod telling me to post away after threatening me in DM that I would get a month for calling him out [self-censored], which is contained in those posts.

You're doing exactly what BlopChock is calling you out for.

https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/修身

(The Great Learning emphasizes that in order to bring peace to the world, one must first investigate things and extend knowledge, then cultivate one's will, rectify one's mind, and refine one's character, and finally regulate one's family, govern the state, and bring peace to the world. [4]

Therefore, Confucianism emphasizes that in order to regulate one's family and govern the state, one must first cultivate oneself. Zengzi also proposed that one must reflect on three things every day: whether one keeps one's promises to friends, whether one is conscientious in one's work, and whether one reviews one's knowledge. [5])

I said you would get a month for calling me "morally bankrupt". Feel free to test that. There is absolutely no reason why I should tolerate that on a regular basis. I have zero problem with people criticizing how I moderate as long as thwy are very specific about their issue, present their position, lwt me present mine, ans then we find a median or agree to disagree

If you have substantive claims to make, please make them. I am getting tied of all this, the goal here is to actually gice you a forum to say something and resolve it. If you decide you dont want to utilize it, please say so. If you want to spend the time talking in generalities, do know that this is an abuse of my time.

As I have said earlier, I made overtures to you in PMs and you did not respond to a single one of them. I have posted the PM I made here so you cannot continue to hide behind what you claim is invisible. I als encourage you to publish anything you want including posts yoi have said I deleted in the past. I gave you my rationale for deleting them, but as others may have noted in your dealing with Matt Hetherington and Joola, you sometimes think that other people are lying when they tell you what they think or have experienced while presenting no hard evidence of this.

So I will ask again - present whatever you claim I have done that you think makes me someone who has treated you differently from how I would have treated another member and in a way that is unfair to you. I suspect after this discussion, it will be obvious to most people that I accommodate you way more often than not. That said, the main thing I ask is that you dont assume the moral high ground. Lecturing me on how to do my job is assuming the moral high ground. Casting aspersions on my character is assuming the moral high ground. Let's stick to what you and I have done, your explanation for it, and my explanation for it. Is that fair? Or is it too much to ask?

Again, if the goal of this is to insult me or anyone or the moderation team, that I will not tolerate. If the goal is to say I did aomething specific or even many specific things you think show that you are being treated unfairly, then i am all ears. But if you decide you are going tonstimplr lecture me, that will not work.

At the risk of repeating myself, what specifically have I done to you and what is your perspective on it? The main reason i am not reprinting any posts is not because I am hiding them or any such nonsense, it is because 1) yhe content is accessible to whoever posted it and 2) the idea that i should be lectured on how to behave in a rude fashion is not going to fly here.

 

[zeio]

There is a Cantonese term for this exact scenario, 身有屎/body has shit, which corresponds to when the shit hits the fan.

 

[mamedium]

Mod, I am still waiting for my free Zyre03 2.7mm red for achieving X number of ping-pong balls In this forum.

how is this relevant to this thread and why isn't it deleted yet?

 

[NextLevel]

As one example, you have accused me of being compromised for taking the common sense position of siding with Matt Hetherington, who is a known public figure in table tennis circles when you make lots of posts insinuating he is laying without any hard evidence of pictures and when he actually goes out of his way to resolve conflicts between your experiences and his. And this commonsense position was reaffirmed by @NDH this morning.

The first time I remember getting into @BlopChock's bad graces was for telling him to use Google translate when he reported one of your posts. Since then, he has focused on many other things, and said that my discusing positively the lectures of Andy Fastboe (one of the men who went to jail for the Enron scandal) is a sign that inam morally bankrupt. I can understand why he woukd say that but I completely disagree. But since he hasnt presented anything else I will leave it at that.

Then ther is the @pongfugrasshopper argument where he took issue with a post of yours and then insulted you rather than reporting your post. Then he later reported your post and I went in and cleaned up the thread to bring it back on topic. And you didnt like that someone had deleted @pongfugrasshopper insulting you (which you didn't report ) and wanted to post it back and I deleted it again. And then you took it as a conspiracy against you and complained about it and reposted it and I banned you for it. I suspect back then I didnt realize that commentary on why a post was deleted was possible but I felt it was obvious that I deleted the post and I think you think my primary focus was trting to hid anything pongfu wrote rather than just getting thr thread on track. By all means since you use the way back machine, you can get and repost what pongfu said here since it still offends you so much. For me, it it was an issue that if there was any misunderstanding, it could have been cleared up in a conversation but you refused any conversation.

Feel free to bring up any situation that I have forgotten. All of theee things are just things that I cannot for thr life of me understand why anyone should be beyond a quick conversation to iron out differences and move on. But if you chose not to, that is fine as well. Just don't insult me and expect me to accept it.


And now you write:
*There is a Cantonese term for this exact scenario, 身有屎/body has shit, which corresponds to when the shit hits the fan.*

Alright. At this point, given the lack of your posting anything, I really do think you want to make yourself a martyr of some sort. In this particular case I have zero problem with that. No one will be fooled into thinking that someone who had received the most reported posts for political posting and posting untranslared posts without any serious bans is not a benefactor od aome degree of favoritism.

 

[zeio]

Why didn't you just move those posts (pointing to evidence of your misfeasance) over here as BlopChock requested, but had to tell us to post them on our own volition (and threatened me of moderation action by DM)? I can't shake the feeling that you intended to set a trap for us to step in and have the moral high ground "how merciful of me to give you a chance"?

You have a history of moving posts and threads when it was convenient to you and OTOH removing them when it wasn't.

 

[NextLevel]

how is this relevant to this thread and why isn't it deleted yet?

There is actually no strict requirement to maintain relevance on a thread. It is when the OP complains and even then some of it comes down to the judgment of the moderator. I mostly police tournament threads and that was because they had a history of being derailed by political arguments and strong fan sentiments etc.. Everything else is a case by case basis. Most moderator action requires someone to report a post and no one has reported the post you are speaking of. Usually many people reporting a post is a sign something is wrong.

 

[NextLevel]

Why didn't you just move those posts (pointing to evidence of your misfeasance) over here as BlopChock requested, but had to tell us to post them on our own volition (and threatened me of moderation action by DM)? I can't shake the feeling that you intended to set a trap for us to step in and have the moral high ground "how merciful of me to give you a chance"?

You have a history of moving posts and threads when it was convenient to you and OTOH removing them when it wasn't.

Because again, you and @BlopChock are acting like I am your help. Usually politeness and civil engagement goes a long way and if someone is going to act like I don't deserve respect, it goes both ways. I don't have to get you those posts.

The posts imply no such thing, and most of the content in those posts is content that can be replicated. BlopChock posted a link to my discussion of Andy Fastbow as evidence of my moral bankruptcy. You have access to my posts ans the posts I PMed you are replicas of the posts where I made instructions to you to stop posting off topic criticisms of me on that thread. All the moderating hreats I made are there and I reposted one here with a screenshot. You have access to them as well.

I don't have a history of doing what you describe when it comes to threads though you are free to give that description to what I do.

Of course I am giving you this opportunity to air your grievances so you can lose the moral high ground. Because if you have anything of substance, you can explain why a moderator like myself who is generally laissez Faire with a few exceptions here and there is being accused of doing things for which the evidence is pretty thin and depends upon takinf your interpretation and not accepting any other alternative. If I really had something to hide, I would ignore you.

 

[golden_son]

I'm reminded of another proverb...

"Life is short. Make sure you spend as much of it as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers."
— Confucius, probably​

 

[mamedium]

I'm reminded of another proverb...

hey how do you enjoy the H8-80?

 

[Yxoons]

I agree with OP, the moderation in this forum is definitely questionable. Highly biased towards it’s fellow veteran members, giving them enough leeway to harass other people or speak on random topics on other posts, but once you question it or the mods decision to not follow the forums guidelines towards the veteran members, you’re the one getting warned. This have already happened on multiple occasions for me and is insane to me that they can even look at themselves in the mirror and think they did a good job in that occasion. Why even have forum guidelines if none of them are followed by the mods and only applied to new users?

Basically just nepotism in a nutshell.
Below was after me getting harassed and simply defending myself with less than 1/10th of the language used towards me.

Simply calm down and stop using language that casts aspersions on someone's character. Everyone gets more leeway over time with much more participation and contribution. If you do decide to continue to argue over this, do not be surprised if you are permanently barred from the forum.

Just the fact that there are multiple posts as complaints from multiple users should be proof enough for the moderators that this is a real issue.

 

[zeio]

Another popular meme of HK TV drama Heart of Greed.

你唔好對號入座！總之邊個做過，你自己心知肚明。（嗱你無證無據，唔好…）我話係就係！唔使證據，呢度唔係法庭，唔需要證據，我對眼就係證據！哼！我睇人睇咗幾廿年，邊個係人邊個係鬼我睇得出。

(Don't take it personally! Whatever the case, whoever have done it, they know it themselves. (Hey, you have no evidence, don't...) I said yes and it's yes! No evidence needed. This is not a rule of court, no proof is needed, my eyes are the proof! Hum! I've read people for decades, I can see who is human and who is ghost.)

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

how is this relevant to this thread and why isn't it deleted yet?

1. I don't know; this seems like a thread that is for feedback.
2. Sort of like Teacher-Parent meet-up.
3. Management - Union meeting
4. Town Hall talk between Member of Parliament with his constituents
5. I get the vibe, don't you?

 

[zeio]

To fill in the curious minds, I can only guess that the last sentence [which must be self-censored] in one of my posts that got deleted resonated with BlopChock, at which point he stepped in, citing his experience and thoughts debating with NextLevel in his thread on Enron about ethics, and here we are after several back-and-forths.

Links are so important in this case, so why removed the posts only to post a screenshot of the last one, perhaps because it's inconvenient and an attempt to sway opinions?

The following exchanges happened on page 4, specifically in continuation to #49, #53 and #54 (at which point he started deflecting) on page 3.
Page 4 of Europe Smash 2026, Malmö, 8/8-16
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/europe-smash-2026-malmö-8-8-16.39638/page-4
#49
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/europe-smash-2026-malmö-8-8-16.39638/post-584314
#53
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/europe-smash-2026-malmö-8-8-16.39638/post-584329
#54
https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/europe-smash-2026-malmö-8-8-16.39638/post-584336

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/europe-smash-2026-malm%C3%B6-8-8-16.39638/post-584369

I really dont get your point. Some stuff ESN does is similar across brands but some stuff is also proprietary to the brand that designs it. Beyond that I have no clue ehat you are talking about, you can post it on the relevant thread if you want to discuss.

You liked Matt's response to my post and you attempted to reason away ThePongCommenter's post. But here we are, you just "copied and pasted" what we've said all along when it suited you.

OTOH, you accused me of throwing shade at members while completely ignoring the fact that a member who likes one-liners threw ethnic slurs at me. Also remember shortly after you became a mod, you were quick to remove pongfugrasshopper's slur at me to cover it up and then after banning me for replying to him where I was coming from, started a thread to accuse me of posting true facts that were even admitted by the said player, while framing it as fan abuse of professional players.

At this point, you've lost all credibility as a mod. You can't even keep track of what you've written over the years. You're [self-censored].

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/europe-smash-2026-malm%C3%B6-8-8-16.39638/post-584387

Make the post on the relevant thread. I will delete this eventually. Everything you have said is in the past and I have an alternate explanation for all these things which I have no desire to provide here to disrupt this thread. Feel free to post about it publicly elsewhere - I will enteratain you for a few posts and post my version of events and you can decide whether your perspective is the only possible one. All that said, I will delete the posts here in 30 minutes. Thank you.

And please, don't try to make a show of this by violating this and thinking I won't take action. Thank you,

 

[jonol]

Offering my legal services at a heavily discounted rate of $1000 per post to take a side in this argument.

 

[latej]

1. I don't know; this seems like a thread that is for feedback.
2. Sort of like Teacher-Parent meet-up.
3. Management - Union meeting
4. Town Hall talk between Member of Parliament with his constituents
5. I get the vibe, don't you?

I took it so that he was joking, also in his 2nd post where he suggested that "hey, how is your H8-80" can be promoted to TTD proverb... Or at least so I understood it...

 

[Yxoons]

 

[NDH]

Guys, what are we doing?

This is a TABLE TENNIS forum that we CHOOSE to spend our own time on.

Time that is very valuable to us all - Why does it need to descend into this childish back and forth all the time?

I will put my opinions forward, and leave it at that.

@Yxoons - You've been on this forum for a couple of months. Surely you can understand that what is essentially a "stranger" with no history on a forum is not going to be seen in the same way as someone who has been posting for 10 plus years?

That's not to say your ideas will be ignored or bad.... But if you show signs of behaving badly, rudeness or something else like that, it would give off a very bad first impression.

@zeio - Your insight can be invaluable. I know for a fact that many people take great joy from your table tennis related posts.

Do I wish you'd comment in English 100% of the time? Sure.

Do I follow some of the posts with lots of different URL's to other posts? No.

But you'll never please everyone all the time!

I'd also like to clear one last thing up.

NO ONE is getting permanently banned unless it is discussed by ALL of the mods (including Dan), outside of the forum.

HOWEVER..... Moderating an online forum is an incredibly thankless job.

Every day I have to come on and clean the spam, delete the bots and spam posts, answer "reports" and get involved in back and forth in languages I don't understand.

It all takes time, and quite frankly, I'm not going to go out of my way like Carl used to, doing the work for other people (such as starting new threads etc) - You are all capable of doing that!

@NextLevel is more involved in the table tennis online world than I am, and across multiple sites, for many years, that is going to bring it's own challenges and duels with other online users.

Communication is key here - If someone feels unheard, or if they see something unjust, just message any of us - If you don't like me, message NL or Dan.

We are here to make the experience better for the *majority* of users - Please try and respect that, and help where you can.

Much love.

NDH

 

[Yxoons]

Guys, what are we doing?

This is a TABLE TENNIS forum that we CHOOSE to spend our own time on.

Time that is very valuable to us all - Why does it need to descend into this childish back and forth all the time?

I will put my opinions forward, and leave it at that.

@Yxoons - You've been on this forum for a couple of months. Surely you can understand that what is essentially a "stranger" with no history on a forum is not going to be seen in the same way as someone who has been posting for 10 plus years?

That's not to say your ideas will be ignored or bad.... But if you show signs of behaving badly, rudeness or something else like that, it would give off a very bad first impression.

@zeio - Your insight can be invaluable. I know for a fact that many people take great joy from your table tennis related posts.

Do I wish you'd comment in English 100% of the time? Sure.

Do I follow some of the posts with lots of different URL's to other posts? No.

But you'll never please everyone all the time!

I'd also like to clear one last thing up.

NO ONE is getting permanently banned unless it is discussed by ALL of the mods (including Dan), outside of the forum.

HOWEVER..... Moderating an online forum is an incredibly thankless job.

Every day I have to come on and clean the spam, delete the bots and spam posts, answer "reports" and get involved in back and forth in languages I don't understand.

It all takes time, and quite frankly, I'm not going to go out of my way like Carl used to, doing the work for other people (such as starting new threads etc) - You are all capable of doing that!

@NextLevel is more involved in the table tennis online world than I am, and across multiple sites, for many years, that is going to bring it's own challenges and duels with other online users.

Communication is key here - If someone feels unheard, or if they see something unjust, just message any of us - If you don't like me, message NL or Dan.

We are here to make the experience better for the *majority* of users - Please try and respect that, and help where you can.

Much love.

NDH

The issue was never about being a new user on the forum, but about the obscene level of leeway veterans get on this forum, as also mentioned by OP, selective punishment. As I mentioned and quoted, I was warned that I would get permanently banned from this forum for arguing about a warning that I received after using 1/10th of the harassment language that was used towards me by a veteran user, and even ended up getting a week for it. Imagine being a new user, very welcoming to get harassed by 10+ year old veterans, getting belittled as well as direct personal attacks, while those users are being defended by the moderators since they are "veterans", while the forum guidelines are completely ignored and once you raise the issue and the neglected forum guidelines, you as the new user gets banned?

I even raised the issue and complaint about the moderator handling through the contact us form afterwards, which was completely ignored and not a single response was made. How is this not nepotism?

How do you not see that as a major flaw in the handling of the forum?

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

I took it so that he was joking, also in his 2nd post where he suggested that "hey, how is your H8-80" can be promoted to TTD proverb... Or at least so I understood it...

Dang it, my joke-o-meter is not working in good condition today. Dang it!

 

[mamedium]

Offering my legal services at a heavily discounted rate of $1000 per post to take a side in this argument.

what argument? this is a one way convo