Customers_suck- How much authority and power do the moderators control and how does it effect the members ability to communicate with one another?

Customer_suck has so many rules within the community that some members may accidently break the rules without even knowing it. There is a limited amount of freedom within this community, which is controlled by three main mods. The purpose of some of these rules may be fair but it does limit someone’s ability to express themselves on a site which purpose is to tell a story about a customer ‘sucking’. This does silence the members and not allow them to tell the whole truth in case they break a rule. Even researching the community was limited as you are unable to get an in depth interview or particpate in the community as you must stay on topic.

I followed a post on the website where the member accidently broke two rules within the community. The blogger broke rules 3 and 5 in which he attacked the person personally by calling them a ‘crazy, homeless’ women and further went on to mention how much she had tipped. This is not allowed within the community along with a range of other rules.

The story was clearly embellished to make it sound more interesting and by the blogger writing ‘crazy, homeless’ women was for humourous purposes and she probably was neither, crazy or homeless, he just wrote this for effect. However, the post was ridiculed by other memebers and turned into issues of class and then went on to personal attack each other. Without the blogger using the words ‘crazy and homeless’, many people wouldn’t have given the story a second glance. In this community, it seems that many like to find the little things to fight over and try and force authority within the community, pointing out to others that this person has broken the rules. Any misinterpretation turns into a debate, which in this case could’ve been avoiding by not mentioning the words ‘crazy and homeless’.

While this person did break the rules,according to many of the other members, the blogger isn’t banned. Three main people rule this community deciding the rules in this community however it looks like other members try and point out who is breaking them and try and take a power role in this community. Some members seem as though they are trying to protect the community even though thats what moderators are there for.