You literally can not. They disapprove of moderation decisions being challenged in public (ie on the forum) and you run a risk of capping a ban for doing it. You're supposed to complain via PM, where no one can see it. Needless to say, these PMs mostly go unanswered.

Yes, in private, of course, you are right. That's nothing out of the ordinary. Most places I know and have had the honor to moderate forums handled it this way. What I find problematic is that in other forums you can turn to a higher-ranking staff member and have them take a look and if possible resolve a situation. This isn't possible here because people working in the upper echelons aren't known to us. I don't suspect moderators forward complaints as they do support request to a random technician.

This.

And Valve is definitely NOT doing great things lately (video about the recently released Steam China client).
https://youtu.be/n2CM-VtnMVY

The quick simple answer, is because that downvote also hides, and that would be unacceptable in regard to a MOD ... what they write is meant to be read. This is especially so when scripts can be used to auto hide posts. You really should just make a post in the Complaints Department thread, if you are unhappy with a MOD posting.

A store is not going to be a place of Democracy, whether that's online or offline. They always call the shots, and honestly, what some posters get away with here often amazes me and just shows how tolerant GOG are ... that is not common to most sites on the web for sure. I think most complainers often forget that. GOG are very lenient and let customers have their say most of the time ... try that (if you dare) with a store like Steam and see how you get on.

I have no idea if this forum software allows separation of downvote from hiding, but I expect not. It is a flawed system for sure.

They sure do and that's their right. How they wish to conduct their business is up to them.

As paying customers on the other hand one should expect to enjoy the freedom to openly make complaints about forum and shop as long as it isn't inflammatory or against the code of conduct. While this is possible there is hardly any reaction to it or a heads-up like: We have forwarded xyz and will inform you of the outcome. This would go a long way.

Issues like rule infractions and things of that nature should always be discussed and solved via P.M.

If someone wishes to complain about or publish their customer experience, they could of course turn to platforms like Trustpilot This shouldn't be necessary. To go visit some 3rd-party website to voice one's dissatisfaction. The sad thing is that GOG staff does answer there but not here on their official forums.

Steam and those other forums are overdue for being held accountable for breaching the rules themselves.
There is also a problem of third party groups attempting to take sinister control.

One example is this.
https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/anti-defamation-league-report-says-steam-is-harboring-extremists

what kind of extremists?
oh god... not this again...
you are clearly posting against the gog rules

What do you mean not this again? Has there been other attempts of these groups threatening game companies?
It does look like the recent attacks on gog are organised.

I like to stay away from rep topics (because a good deal of post tend to get downvoted)

But I feel like if they did there would be people down voting staff because of something they did in the past or something.

This thread = Hammer and Sickle

GOG as a whole = THIS

https://www.projectveritas.com/news/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-takes-anti-vax-stance-in-violation-of-his-own/
I've noticed it, too. All the way back to when the Era boys went after Linko.
Well, the thing is, then, if it's not good for staff, why is it good for us? If mods get downvote abuse, then why is it that the system isn't seen as abuse for us?

My stance is simple: if it's good enough for us, it's good enough to review them and hold them in check (gog really needs to be held accountable in some way given all the shit lately, seeing as they clearly don't have enough customer feedback). On the other hand, if it's not good enough for us, we need rid of the system and we need to find another way to hold GOG accountable. Either way, we need a way to hold gog accountable, and GOG seems to think the rep system is good for holding us accountable, but not them.

clearly this rep system is only good at letting crazies/haters lynch others they don't like, gog staff doesn't want to be lynched, no wonder they are above the common "rules"

if they really want this rep system , then at least they should start banning the exploiters with permas

Why woudl they when they're not subject to it? There's no incentive for GOG to fix it, which is why it hasn't been fixed. It's not hard, you can't even buy gift codes on GOG unless you've paid more than 10USD in the store. No reason that cannot apply to the rep system, or even the forums as a whole. Would certainly clean up the alts and stuff. The code's already there, they just need to apply it to rep or forums as a whole.

Hell, there are stores that don't even provide a forum or eventually lock it.

GOG don't have to provide a forum, but they do, and a lot of people get away with crap here that would not be tolerated in most other forums.

They are using old flawed forum software.

I guess we need to be grateful we have this much, and while I am sure GOG don't openly pay attention to everything here, picking and choosing what to respond to, I am sure they do take a lot of stuff into account, which is probably one of the reasons they do provide a general forum.

To be sure, a forum can become a toxic place at times, and it certainly has been here a time or fifty. In a way, it is like an asylum, where they let the inmates get away with stuff, until they start hurting others.

I imagine it is a thankless task at times being a MOD, and some at least appear to be volunteers, so I perfectly understand why they are above certain aspects like REP here. Good on them I say, and most of the stuff here is just opinions, often very biased and lacking in full understanding. Sure GOG could be more transparent much of the time, but that still wouldn't be enough for some.

And really, some of what goes on here could be described as bullying, and one sure method to deal with that, is to ignore, which is something GOG have clearly adopted much of the time. Some people who make complaints, will never be happy with what GOG could say in reply ... they will always find fault or make conspiracy etc assumptions.

Don't feed the bullies or conspiracy addicts, is certainly a well respected treatment.