Ever solve a problem just for a moderator to derail it—and another to smugly point out the obvious? Welcome to the Joomla circus. I sling code and try to keep the Joomla world spinning by dipping into the forums and Stack Exchange to help out, drop some wisdom, maybe fix a thing or two. But lately, it’s less about solutions and more about dodging one-uppers who’d rather flex than contribute. Spoiler: when they’re moderators, it’s not just annoying—it’s a death knell for the platform.
Exhibit A: The Wrong-File Moderator Tag-Team
Picture this: a 5-day-old Joomla forum thread, gathering dust, no answers. I jump in, sniff out the issue, start steering it home. Then Moderator #1 barrels in like a bull in a china shop, confidently telling the OP to edit the wrong file. Surprise—it doesn’t work. Enter Moderator #2, cape flapping, with a smug, “Yeah, that’s the wrong file, genius.” One mod floors it off the cliff, the other narrates the crash like he’s David Attenborough. Teamwork!
Here’s the kicker: neither of them fixed it. The OP’s still lost, my solution’s buried under their debris, and the thread’s a smoking crater. Moderators are supposed to guide, not sabotage—but this duo turned a lifeline into a punchline.
Exhibit B: The Stack Exchange API Flex
Then there’s Stack Exchange. I solve a Joomla problem—clean, done, next. Some rando swoops in, quoting an irrelevant chunk of the Joomla API like it’s his Nobel acceptance speech. Cool story, bro—nobody asked for your API fan fiction, but you do you. It’s not an answer; it’s a peacock strut. The question’s already solved, but now the thread’s clogged with trivia nobody needs. Users have to wade through that muck to find the fix. In fact - the OP even said something like "I don't understand what that means." Same game, different stage: ego over utility.
The kicker - I think it was about getting more points on StackExchange for making a comment. He wasn't trying to help anyone but himself.
I'm Not Playing the One-Upper Game
Here’s where I draw the line. If I haven’t cracked the problem yet and the one-uppers crash in, I’m out. It’s yours now—congrats, it’s your pigpen. I don’t mud-wrestle egos. I’ll drop a fix, not a fistfight—enjoy your wrong-file kingdom, champs.
Sure, washing my hands of it sidesteps the clown show, but it’s not painless. A thread left to rot still dents the platform—users miss out on a solution, the vibe sours, and the next guy thinks twice about helping. It’s less harm than a full-on one-upper brawl, but harm nonetheless. I’d rather not feed the beast, even if it means the circus keeps rolling.
The Bigger Picture: Death by Ego
Zoom out, and it’s grim. Derailments, flexes, abandoned threads—they’re not just petty gripes; they erode trust and usability. One-uppers are the unpaid interns of chaos, dismantling forums one “actually” at a time. Platforms like Joomla’s live on signal, not noise. When egos—mod or not—take the wheel, devs burn out, users ghost, and it’s a slow funeral march to irrelevance. A forum’s only as good as its answers, and this nonsense buries the good stuff under a pile of self-important rubble.
If I ran my business by ignoring my customers - I wouldn't have any customers. That's not how I run it though. When the phone rings at 2AM, I answer it - I fix the problems - and I thank the user for bringing whatever-it-is to my attention. I learned a long time ago that a good attitude and positive momentum goes a long way. A bad user experience turns into a former user. They'll just go somewhere else.
The Moderator Paradox: Double Edition
Two moderators, two flavors of fail. Mod #1 misleads with the wrong file, Mod #2 critiques but doesn’t fix. Power plus ego equals a gut-punch to the platform. One’s wrong, the other’s “above it all”—together, they’re the Laurel and Hardy of screwing users. Moderators should prune the mess, not plant it. When they’re the chaos agents, who’s left to save the ship? Not me—I’m not diving into that dumpster fire to play hero.
It's Uncanny
Spend any amount of time browsing active threads in the forum, and you'll see that the bulk of replies are from 4 of the forum's global moderators. They don't really answer questions. In fact, one recent thread had a global moderator jump in shortly after my first reply to the OP (12 hours after initial post) to explain to the OP how they were wrong. No solution to the problem presented, but instead an admonishment - implying that the OP was somehow mistaken in their description of the problem. I didn't consider that a derailment, so I continued - explaining what the problem was and how to find the offending file causing it. Then another global moderator jumped in 38 hours later to re-explain what the problem was - again, offering no guidance - no tools - no suggestions; he only posted to repeat what I had JUST SAID.
Every - single - time. You can count on one or more of these 4 moderators to jump in the middle of any thread that gets even a single reply.
Maybe My Background is the Issue
I spent a lot of years (95-01) doing tech support for just about every computer manufacturer on the planet, and before that I was doing telecom tech support. When you spend time working your way up from a repair depot diagnostic tech, through tier 3, tier 2, tier 1, and eventually lead tech for companies like HP, Compaq, Packard Bell, Toshiba , Gateway (LT), 2-Wire (Tier 1), and even Siemens (Pre-Sales Support) - you pick up a few things.
The most relevant is ownership. Working for those companies, there were processes and procedures - some of which isolated techs who were on calls. They might get monitored, but nobody ever corrected them in any way the customer could witness because that would cause 2 issues: First, it erodes trust when a customer is talking to a tech that gets corrected - and second, it's demoralizing to the tech to be corrected in front of a customer. In the context of a forum - an interruption that adds nothing to further the goal of resolving the issue sends the message that solving the issue isn't even a priority.
Don't Bury the Good Stuff
I’ll keep shipping fixes and tossing lifelines where I can. But the one-uppers? They can own their wreckage. I’m over here coding—you guys enjoy your wrong-file relay race to nowhere. If you’ve got your own one-upper horror stories, drop ‘em on X. Let’s vent, maybe laugh, and keep the good stuff from getting buried.
Update:
It just happened again. I provide an answer - and someone else posts the same answer 20 minutes later. Questions remain unanswered and ignored - until someone answers, then the vultures arrive.
Update 2:
New day, new posts, same nonsense. Same Mod #2 even! It's like they look for anyone trying to answer questions, and jump in to squash it immediately. "Quick, over there - a spark of hope! EX-TER-MIN-ATE". Well, since you decided to derail my attempt to help, congratulations - it's all yours now. Just as I posted this - another vulture descends to re-ask the first question that I asked to the OP (which the OP answered). I would say it's unbelievable - but having watched this happen for weeks, I have come to expect it.
Update 3:
This is ridiculous. I'm just going to abandon the forums. It's pointless to even try to help.
