Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

Whiskey, I feel your polls are fine as they are. You should be free to create polls that interest you without moderators jumping in and making fun of them.

I'm sorry that moderators aren't consistently polite here. I feel sad whenever I see them mock someone's contributions like I see them doing to you.

I think quite a few moderators and members want to make the climate here be one where those in power feel free to mock and belittle others. I want MusicBanter to create a climate where members are welcomed to share their opinions and interests, while putting other members down and being rude to them is discouraged.

Some people seeing this thread will probably say that when you feel you are being mocked or teased, pointing that out to defend yourself is "over-reacting" or being "too sensitive." I disagree. Defending yourself is being assertive and is standing up to people who are choosing to be verbally/emotionally abusive.

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Whiskey, I get the same impression as you, and the reason (to state the obvious) is that a moderator, Vanilla, said your polls are generic and dull and created a thread and poll to mock them:



Then our moderators Urban Hatemonger and Freebase joined in the "joke"-making at your expense:





Finally, moderator Burning Down denied that anybody has a problem with your polls, even though that ignores the reality of what people have said in this thread. That makes it harder for you to trust your own emotional reaction to the thread, when your reaction is in fact justified.

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Play doesn't involve many members belittling someone and putting her down. That's called bullying, and I see moderators doing it a lot on this forum. People get their thrills by being mean. I don't, and I wish mods would squelch bullying rather than be main perpetrators of it here at MusicBanter.

Mods, I wish you'd stop creating and contributing to threads that mock members' contributions. If someone isn't being playful with you, then your "play" with them isn't play, especially since you are in a position of power here.

This thread isn't reciprocal playful interaction. This means moderators are simply using your Internet time to make people who have done nothing wrong (other than join MusicBanter) feel uncomfortable by putting them and their contributions down.

Whiskey, I agree with zevokes: it is good not to take it personally when people go out of their way to mock someone. The reason is that whenever people make fun of you, it is due to their *own* issues and problems, and not yours.