Okay Panda, forum mods do not abuse their power, its like saying police officers are abusing their power when they arrest someone for shooting someone else. There are rules and they have to be enforced, and moderators and admins have the job of enforcing these rules. What you posted was considered spam (beyond even the realm of off topic-ness) so you got negative reputation for what you did. Double posting is a stupid, stupid thing to do, because most of the time people just do it when their post hasen't been answered yet and they want someone to. Most of the time you get off with a warning, however this is up to the moderator to decide. If you accidently double posted, then i'm sure you can talk it over with a moderator, and the admins offer a policy that gets rid of your negative rep if you appeal to them and argue your case. All of these mods, such as deck and operator, have been at the hive A LOT longer then you, and they have earned the right to become moderators as they have proven themselves to be talented, responsible, mature individuals who can directly benefit the community by serving whichever part of the forums that they are assigned to. Myself and Deckboy, for example, do the resource section, along with others. We both volunteered for the position when Ralle asked, and we proved to him that our judgement in accepting/denying maps is the way it should be. As well, other moderators, like Operator, Chriz, Camels_Hump, etc have been signed on recently and in large numbers because of the amount the Hive has grown. Since the merger the Hive is a much busier place, and with more members you need more moderators to watch over the place. All of these individuals are quite talented at what they do, and they were chosen by the admins for said talents, and they have not let us down. Unless you are an anti-authoritarian (in which case you should leave and never return, because this place will only bring you misery) you need to learn to respect the rules and see the reason why you were punished for whatever it was that you did. If you cannot see this reason, even from negative rep comments etc, then by all means PM an admin and they will sort it out with you.
