Moderator Conflicts of Interest

[OntarioVanMan]

WELL THEN I GUESS CHARLES D WILL HAVE TO STEP DOWN. HE IS A MOTOR CARRIER, EMPLOYEE AND A MODERATOR

I JUST WISH I KNEW WHAT WAS DELETED

Well..actually yes and this is why....

If another independent operator were to post something like inside info that HE(Charles) thought was not in the best interests..Charles could delete it ...hence conflict of interest.

 

[Turtle]

I don't see any ulterior motive at all. That charge could have been levied if this issue had been brought up immediately after Terry became an employee of FedEx, but it wasn't. Of course, it wasn't brought up at the time largely because Terry himself noted the potential for conflict of interest in his farewell posting, stating quite plainly,"that my continued participation in the forum would not be appropriate."

I believe Terry to be an honest man with integrity, but recent events have shown that one cannot always be counted on to recuse themselves from an issue where a conflict of interest exists. Therefore, Phil's proposal that no person may be an Open Forum moderator who is an employee of a motor carrier is a sound proposal that will help protect the integrity of the Forums.

 

[60MPH]

phil's proposal that no person may be an open forum moderator who is an employee of a motor carrier is a sound proposal that will help protect the integrity of the forums.

all tho's in favor say I, Or eh if you are Canadian


I

 

[LDB]

If we had ongoing instances I could somewhat understand the gigantic uproar some folks are in. If we had abuses occurring, no, make that even one instance of abuse occurring I could sort of understand some folks having their panties in such a wad. We have no problem. We have no abuse. We have nothing to be hugely or even minimally worrying about. These many months have clearly and plainly demonstrated that Terry is not involving himself in forum postings even though there have been plenty of instances where posts not entirely flattering to corporate were involved.

We have one instance here involving legal agreements that precluded allowing the posted information on EO or anywhere else. The most expeditious remedy was to contact Terry and have it removed. The next most expeditious remedy would be to contact Linda or myself and have it removed. The least expeditious would be to contact the EO offices and work through the staff to the appropriate individual. They chose the most expeditious means to achieve the necessary result.

If and when, not that I believe there will ever be a when regardless of how long you theorists wait, there is an instance of improper and inappropriate action on the part of a moderator it will be time to spend copious amounts of time and effort to "fix" things. In the meantime, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Go get yourself a fountain pen and some stationary and write out a letter to someone you care about. It will mean a lot to them to get something you took the time to hand write and will distract you from your theorizing.

 

[dieseldiva]

We have one instance here involving legal agreements that precluded allowing the posted information on EO or anywhere else.

In an earlier PM to you, I requested that you use caution when implicating that, by posting this information, I had done something wrong. Now, by way of your above words, I'll chime in publicly.

We were not only UNAWARE of any legal agreements, it appears that our contact at Fed Ex IN CHARGE of this program was unaware also. We spoke with him personally and asked SPECIFIC permission to make that post and were told to GO AHEAD.

Whatever took place after that within Fed Ex is not something that we are privy to. We were told that the post had to be removed and were encouraged to share the information within that post to any and all contractors we might meet up with on the road.

I wasn't going to "step in" here but I won't tolerate even an implication that we were aware of some legal agreement and chose to ignore it.

If indeed any agreement PRECLUDED the post here or anywhere else, that information should have been shared with ALL of the parties involved.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

The DD's were not in any such legal agreement..nor was EO...it was secondhand news....

It still smells wrong....and wrong is wrong.

A Fedex employee deleting a post.

Terry should have used better judgment...he has been around long enough to know what would happen....darn he has Dreamers and Lawrences numbers to call...

 

[dieseldiva]

If and when, not that I believe there will ever be a when regardless of how long you theorists wait, there is an instance of improper and inappropriate action on the part of a moderator it will be time to spend copious amounts of time and effort to "fix" things. In the meantime, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Go get yourself a fountain pen and some stationary and write out a letter to someone you care about. It will mean a lot to them to get something you took the time to hand write and will distract you from your theorizing.

This one reeks of telling the folks to "move on, there's nothing to see here", and we know how people feel about that. These people have a right to voice their opinions, whether you or any of the other moderators like it or not.

Many of us have, for years, preached integrity here on this forum. If you're going to make a claim, post a link, etc. Many times the integrity of the site has come into question when a moderator allowed him or herself to get too deep into a thread and acted on personal feelings rather than objective cool. This is no different. They're questioning the integrity and thus far haven't received any answers as to how this situation will be handled. Now, until they DO get answers, they're probably going to continue to post their remarks, which IS THEIR RIGHT AS LONG AS THEY'RE NOT BREAKING ANY OF THE FORUM RULES. To use your words, wouldn't it be a more expeditious remedy for the "powers that be" to post a decision on this matter, regardless of what that may be?

 

[LDB]

As I said at the beginning, I am not saying you did anything wrong, just that Fedex had an agreement with Qualcomm and your innocent post was outside the terms of the agreement. This discussion will last about as long as the one determining how high is up. I am through talking about it. Terry did nothing wrong either. My blood pressure and I are moving to stupid parking tickets.

 

[greg334]

Thanks Diva for the clarity.

I see ethical issues, legal issues and other issues of defending things and people that don't need defending.

Sorry many of us are upset. AND I think Phil's advice to put in place a solid rule - no employees can be mods is a very good one that shouldn't be discussed but just done.

Leo, it is a big deal to a lot of us.

 

[spudhead911]

As I said at the beginning, I am not saying you did anything wrong, just that Fedex had an agreement with Qualcomm and your innocent post was outside the terms of the agreement. This discussion will last about as long as the one determining how high is up. I am through talking about it. Terry did nothing wrong either. My blood pressure and I are moving to stupid parking tickets.

All knowing Leo, how do you know what agreement FECC and Qualcom had, and how do you know dieseldivia's post was ouside of the terms of the agreement, other than FECC asking her to delete the post?

Phil is dead on. NO EMPLOYEE OF A CARRIER SHOULD BE A MODERATOR. As I stated in the FECC forum, how can Terry be unbiased? He acknowledged that much in his goodbye post when he tendered his resignation as a moderator.

Another question is why did EO not accept his resignation as you implied in your post in the FedEx forum?

 

[Lawrence]

I believe everyone has clearly made their position known on this issue.

I think there are some positive things that are going to come out of this. Our Moderators and Administrators will be reviewing this thread over the next few days and seeing how we can improve our thread/post management.

Based on that - I am going to lock this thread and will create a new thread for the Moderators to review our actions and I or Dreamer will have an update on our position and/or Code of Conduct update by Tuesday.