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Mr Pink
Junior Member
United Kingdom
387 Posts |
 Posted - 12 November 2003 : 14:56:41
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Most forums have at least one. People who upset the apple cart by getting up everyones noses. The ones who complain if you remove their post or tell them off for the manner in which they post... They quote "Freedom of speech" and "The essence of democracy is lively debate" etc etc.
They will also tell you that they haven't broken any rules so you can't do anything about it!
What do other forum Admins do when faced with this kind of problem?
If you dive straight in and chop their messages, someone usually sticks up for them "in principle." If you let it ride, hoping it will die down, they end up spoiling most of the topics on the forum and it keeps your decent regulars away while putting off any new or shy people from joining.
Has anyone got a story to tell of how they sorted out a problem member good style? |
Martin
Leyland Forum Leyland Lancashire UK |
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dayve
Forum Moderator
USA
5820 Posts |
Posted - 12 November 2003 : 16:41:23
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Freedom of Speech has zero to do with people accessing a PRIVATE FORUM which is truly what you are running. However, I tread lightly on editing/deleting posts on my forum because we're a little more liberal than others. However, there are things I do not tolerate and the hammer comes down heavy with those who are there to basically argue and troll around the forum stirring up things. I have implemented mods that prevent most of these issues from happening. One mod that has really been a lifesaver is the New Member Moderatation mod. New members with less than X posts have ALL their posts moderated. This trial period helps big time. It allows the admins and moderators to feel this person out as well as the new member feeling out the how the forum and the members flow.
I think the problem is mostly with how many rules you have. I don't have too many rules except for things like trolling, racist remarks, personal attacks on one another and other similar rules. I don't care about peoples political & religious views, they can say all they want in fact I welcome them. I also don't care about swearing but it is kept under control, we like to believe we can hold intelligent conversations at times without having to use "sentence enhancers" all the time  .
Look into the new member moderation mod, I think you'll find it extremely beneficial. I have found that this mod is better than any IP ban mod as well. It stops spammers and trolls who come to the forum and show their true colors from the beginning. The members will not see a new members post until approved so it is like spitting in the wind and once they realize that, they generally leave. |
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soxc
New Member
53 Posts |
Posted - 12 November 2003 : 17:10:53
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| I have done a few quick searches and cannot find this mod. Do you have a link to it? |
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Faizan
Average Member
United Kingdom
592 Posts |
Posted - 12 November 2003 : 17:19:41
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Yup, I have experienced that loads of times. There are two girls who just love arguments. They just argue on anything. You wouldn't even know how it all started. When they do, I send them a warning, they usually stop, but if they continue, I lock their accounts. But if they register another account, I delete their second account and ban their IP Range, so they can never get near the site again. 
It's a pain if you have such members. They just spoil the whole idea of a forum, which is meant to be a community for all kind of ae groups to come in and chat about the stuff they are interested in.
After an argument finishes, the day after, I see no active topics, everyone gets scared of posting because of some people arguing, and that's when I start some new topics, and tell atleast the senior members of my forum to get back! And believe me, I have experienced this atleast 8 times. It's pathetic! I do not respect such members.
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ruirib
Snitz Forums Admin
Portugal
26364 Posts |
Posted - 12 November 2003 : 17:38:33
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| I really don't care if there are protests when someone misbehaves and doesn't like me enforcing the rules. A private space is not a space where you have complete freedom of speech. Someone cannot go into your own place and behave as he/she wishes. There are standards of behavior that need to be followed. Anyone who does not comply should know they will be brought to reason, either by editing a message, or even locking an account. Too bad if other users do not like it, they can just as well create their own forums and experience some of those users themselves. |
Snitz 3.4 Readme | Like the support? Support Snitz too |
Edited by - ruirib on 12 November 2003 17:39:10 |
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laser
Advanced Member
Australia
3859 Posts |
Posted - 12 November 2003 : 19:05:09
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We have similar rules, the biggest one is "no bashing", but we do this :
- first & second offence : PM as a reminder to read the rules, etc,...
- after that, dock their post count by 6 (1 for the bad post, and 5 as a penalty)
- after a few of those, the dock goes to 11 (same rules)
- eventually when the majority of the moderators are sick of the person, we ban them but we USUALLY allow them to register again - ONCE!
In over 2 yrs we have had less than 5 people who pull out the old "freedom of speecg, I'll see you in court" line - one of my friends is a lawyer and a forum member, so that rubbish doesn't worry me much and the complainer usually ends up upsetting so many people that they don't come back
IP banning ? I've never liked it. There are too few ISPs in Australia, so we will just end up banning good members as well as the bad ones. |
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Mr Pink
Junior Member
United Kingdom
387 Posts |
Posted - 13 November 2003 : 14:41:16
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Some good replies here. I have already told my member what I will do to any material that I feel is not suitable and my forum policy states "The forum administrators and moderators will move, remove or modify any content that they feel is unsuitable for this forum."
I think he's taken the hint now and gone off to bother some other place. |
Martin
Leyland Forum Leyland Lancashire UK |
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Gargoyle
Junior Member
USA
280 Posts |
Posted - 13 November 2003 : 15:22:18
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Good deal Mr.Pink!
Normally I just delete them, ban them, warn them, but if they come up with anything like free speech and so on.... I lock their account.... That really pisses them off..LOL!! But thats just the way I operate. I host the forum, I pay the bills of the forum, I say what goes and what doesn't. Kinda like playing daddy sometimes... |
Here is a link to my Snitz powered Drag Racing site. |
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sr_erick
Senior Member
USA
1318 Posts |
Posted - 13 November 2003 : 19:49:45
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| Odd you bring this up. Right now at our forum we are dealing with a couple if people that just won't give it up. From day one we have had the rule, no brand bashing. We usually give them a warning the first time if it is bad, other than that we tell them to lay off. If they do it again, we lock thier accounts. If they come back, we ban thier IP. We don't like to ban a whole range and I have heard all the stories about running the site in this fashion. They email us after they are banned and wonder why and tell us how to run things, I tell them never to visit my private website again. |
Erick
Snowmobile Fanatics
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dayve
Forum Moderator
USA
5820 Posts |
Posted - 13 November 2003 : 22:12:49
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quote:
Originally posted by soxc
I have done a few quick searches and cannot find this mod. Do you have a link to it?
I consider this mod much better than any ban mod I've used in the past. It is a great mod and has prevented spam and trolling at my forum from occuring.
http://forum.snitz.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=39014 |
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sr_erick
Senior Member
USA
1318 Posts |
Posted - 14 November 2003 : 00:21:04
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| Right now we are having a serious problem with a user. I operate a snowmobile site, he is signing up with IP's from texas. Tommorow I am going to block the whole range of IP's from that texas ISP. I don't think texas people would visit a snowmobile site... |
Erick
Snowmobile Fanatics
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dayve
Forum Moderator
USA
5820 Posts |
Posted - 14 November 2003 : 00:39:25
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| that's a little extreme in my eyes. I don't use any IP ban mods and really have no problems with any users. You should really check out the moderation mod that I posted a link to, it can really help with people re-registering with a new name especially because their post will not show until they hit X amount of posts without moderation, but they'll never hit X amount of posts because you won't approve them. Kind of hard to explain but I assure you that if you use this mod, you will absolutely love it and really find an IP ban mod useless. that is how effective this mod is. |
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sr_erick
Senior Member
USA
1318 Posts |
Posted - 14 November 2003 : 03:05:39
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| dayve, the moderation mod.... This only moderates new users? I think it would still be a hastle to do. |
Erick
Snowmobile Fanatics
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Edited by - sr_erick on 14 November 2003 03:06:49 |
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dayve
Forum Moderator
USA
5820 Posts |
Posted - 14 November 2003 : 22:19:39
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quote:
Originally posted by sr_erick
dayve, the moderation mod.... This only moderates new users? I think it would still be a hastle to do.
no, again hard to explain. oh well. I give up.  |
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jfitz
Junior Member
USA
345 Posts |
Posted - 17 November 2003 : 22:49:46
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| In addition to moderating new members, I also have a variation on that mod that places selected members on probation - anyone on probation has all of their posts moderated until they come off probation. That's worked well the couple of times we've needed to do it. My moderators are also pretty aggressive about editing new users' posts during the new user moderation period, and providing feedback to the user about why they made the edits they did. Frequently, we'll put a post on hold and let all the moderators review it before accepting / changing it. |
--Jördan
It's a wasted day if you don't spend at least part of it flying upside down. |
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indianBoy
New Member
56 Posts |
Posted - 08 January 2004 : 05:01:09
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| i am having a hell of a time dealing with such scums on my forums, IP ban is useless coz he uses anonymous proxies to spam, anyways i have used 'restrict members' option AND require UNIQUE email AND email validation, so thats a pretty relief... |
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