So what should a moderator do when they approve a thread that happens to be selling keyboard 'XYZ' that they desperately want? They should wait a day to make sure no one else wants it first? Is that a reasonable expectation? Should we create a timetable for how long a moderator should wait before they make a bid? Should they be banned from making any purchases on the forum? None of those solutions seem fair to the moderators.
They should ask another mod to approve the thread at some future time unknown to them and watch the forum for the approved thread like everyone else.
That would be a very honorable way to proceed, Nubbinator, but how can we be sure this is happening? Eventually, you just end up having to trust the moderators. And even if they did do this, if the mod who wanted the item ended up getting it anyway, there is still the appearance of corruption, which is (operationally) just as bad as actual corruption.
I mod /r/buildapc and organized most of our 100k subscribers contest. I worked my ass off for it and got nothing for it
Well then you are a saint, Nubbinator.
In my experience, saints are rare. And they usually end up on crosses, anyway.
Normal, non-saintly people, generally expect something for their efforts -- social status, a warm feeling in the gut that they did something 'sustainable', etc. How to construct something straight and true from the crooked timber that is humanity, eh?
and deliberately kept myself out of the contest. If you're given a position of authority, sometimes you have to give up stuff, even stuff you really want, to maintain the appearance of being ethical and fair. Anytime you do something like approve a thread and immediately say you want something from the sale thread, you call into question your objectivity and fairness.
Ok, then mods shouldn't be allowed to participate in the Classified section anymore. Problem solved. I'm sure there are people who have passed the 'collecting phase' of their keyboard infatuation and can take on that role.
Now don't get me wrong, Ivan is a great and valued member of the community and I'm not bashing him, I'm just explaining my ethical perspective on it as a mod of another large community.
I see where you're coming from -- I'm an immortal (administrator) for an online gaming platform. I have a mortal (player) character, and I find myself not playing that character so much anymore because I know people are going to assume that whenever I 'win' something, that maybe, just maybe, it was rigged.
That said, I still think we should seek to automate the classified section to some degree. We should be able to construct a system that does not require martyring fellow hobbyists.
