OFFLINE

Hi guys,

I need suggestions
What do you need most in the forums?
What feature is more essential?
Please let us know.
Thus we can make the Forum a better Forum software together.

Regards,

OFFLINE

Hi Alan,

Two things ...

The first is a way to see a "member list".

The second, and perhaps most important would be a "ban" button.

As a bit of background, our gang came over to the forum because MySpace deleted their groups.  And during the time that MySpace had their groups, a subculture of group "trolls" developed (they even called themselves trolls).  Collectively, these idiots would invade a group for the sole purpose of creating havoc.  They'd post **** and would report the group to MySpace who, in turn, would delete the group.

More typically, they would generate hundreds of topics that were repetitive ... they would create and post the same topic over and over hundreds of times.   As a result, a forum participant would have to scroll through pages and pages of topics to find older, real topics.   Effectively, this troll tactic would shut down a group because their antics made it impossible  to communicate with other group participants.

And this is important ... I also know firsthand that these same trolls have arrived on Facebook.  I've already seen them invade a FB group to do the same thing they did on MySpace.  And as soon as they discover your Forums, they'll invade here.  You can bet on that.

So we'd be able to manage the forums better if there were some way to keep the trolls out.

Also, a ban button would help us get rid of spammers.  For example, this past weekend, we had someone appear on our Forum who went to a lot of the topics to post an advertising link.  We found them and deleted the spam replies, but without a ban button, they can come back and do the same again.

Thanks for your consideration and thanks even more for asking ... MySpace NEVER solicited input and I guess that's why they're on their last legs.

Regards!

Scott

OFFLINE

Thanks for your reply Scott It is detailed and very explaining.
We will make a ban button soon.
Then a member list.

Regards,

OFFLINE

Whoah whoah whoah, I agree a moderator should have the power to ban someone. But first there needs to be clear cut, STRINGENT guidelines that the moderator has to follow to ban someone. And if a moderator abuses his or her "power" there needs to be a recourse for the user, somewhere to report the event or just inquire why they were banned.

I've seen the flipside of the problems Scott talks about at MySpace. Forums and Groups where similar topics, but from opposing viewpoints, or a viewpoint the mod didn't agree with, were routinely deleted by biased mods, under the guise of it being a duplicate topic. Now, I agree with the idea of the Thread Cleaner thread, but it was abused and certain mods wouldn't even read the damn thread before deleting it if it was listed there, that it became a negative thing in some places and a thread I've come to despise.

Bans would occur, but many because someone said something a moderator didn't like or argued with someone from their clique. The friend is allowed to continue posting where the person the mod didn't like was banned. There were several instances of users that didn't even know why they were banned. There should always be an explanation as to the banning as well. If a mod can take the time to ban someone, they can take the time to tell them which infraction triggered the ban.

To that end all real discussion is squandered, because those with unpopular viewpoints can and will be singled out-whether it be for the editing of their posts by mods, deleting their posts and replies, or being banned unfairly. All of these experiances have an equally negative affect as the troll problem on the amount of traffic to a forum. It's that fine line I mentioned in another thread.  People can't be afraid to post somewhere if they are to frequent it, from either trolls or "internal abuse".

OFFLINE

Originally Posted by Cari LuvThrash:
Whoah whoah whoah, I agree a moderator should have the power to ban someone. But first there needs to be clear cut, STRINGENT guidelines that the moderator has to follow to ban someone. And if a moderator abuses his or her "power" there needs to be a recourse for the user, somewhere to report the event or just inquire why they were banned.

If a moderator is childish, can't moderate their forum and acts like Napolean ... well ...  the fact is, they will neither have a popular nor a successful forum.

Will they?

Instead, they will wind up shooting themselves in the foot and will go dark.

So while I appreciate your concern, we happen to fall into the responsible category and can moderate the forum we're responsible for just fine.

OFFLINE

And Alan, I probably should've qualified the request to say that the mod should have the ability to ban someone from the forum they're responsible for ... their forum only.

Scott

OFFLINE

So Scott, you say you are responsible. Good, but can you vouch for every one else that will be a moderator?

As to your follow up suggestion I agree with that 100%. A moderator should only be able to ban a user from their respective forum, and not all of the Facebook forums. That would actually nullify a good part of my concerns. At MySpace, if you are banned from one forum you are banned from all.

OFFLINE

Originally Posted by Cari LuvThrash:
So Scott, you say you are responsible. Good, but can you vouch for every one else that will be a moderator?

As to your follow up suggestion I agree with that 100%. A moderator should only be able to ban a user from their respective forum, and not all of the Facebook forums. That would actually nullify a good part of my concerns. At MySpace, if you are banned from one forum you are banned from all.

Why should I?

I don't have to vouch nor be responsible for everyone else ... in the same manner that I don't have to be responsible for you (and I'm sure you'd prefer).   I only need be responsible for the forum I maintain.

Irresponsible mods are like irresponsible people.  They take care of themselves.  

They self-destruct.

OFFLINE

Originally Posted by Cari LuvThrash:
At MySpace, if you are banned from one forum you are banned from all.

Sorry, but not so.  Same with the old MySpace groups.

OFFLINE

I hear you and I believe that both of you are right
Ban feature is useful but it should not be abused.
How about this one:
Only the forum creaters can ban the user? Moderators can tell the creator of the forum the user to be banned.
One more thing. If a forum creater bans a user, S/he will be banned only from that forum.
(There are many forums in the directory)

OFFLINE

Originally Posted by Scott Terry:

Originally Posted by Cari LuvThrash:
At MySpace, if you are banned from one forum you are banned from all.

Sorry, but not so.  Same with the old MySpace groups.

at the ms forums a ban covered them all.
most people that got banned regularly had back up alts already in place lol

OFFLINE

maybe a "report this post" button on each post?
and/or a threadcleaner thread.

OFFLINE

Originally Posted by Alan Walker:
I hear you and I believe that both of you are right
Ban feature is useful but it should not be abused.
How about this one:
Only the forum creaters can ban the user? Moderators can tell the creator of the forum the user to be banned.
One more thing. If a forum creater bans a user, S/he will be banned only from that forum.
(There are many forums in the directory)

Hi Alan,

My preference would be to allow the Moderator to ban as well.

Or perhaps you might set it up so that each Forum creator decides whether or not to empower the Moderator with such a privilege for their forum.

Thanks!

Scott

OFFLINE

Alan ... something that might help you keep forums in better health.

The reason MySpace groups died was because there were hundreds of thousands of groups and only about 1/2 of 1% of them had any activity.  So that meant a ton of server overhead.

To avoid getting into that costly kind of position, you may want to implement a rule that says "If a forum isn't active for 3 months, it will be deleted."

A forum that's inactive is useless.  And it could save you some pain down the road.

OFFLINE

Originally Posted by Scott Terry:

Originally Posted by Cari LuvThrash:
At MySpace, if you are banned from one forum you are banned from all.

Sorry, but not so.  Same with the old MySpace groups.

MySpace Groups was (and will be) one group ban at a time, only affecting entrance to one group. But the Forums have always been you get banned in one and you are banned from all. Thankfully I'd never been banned, but I've seen it enough to know people routinely got banned for no actual TOS infraction. Just a bug up a particular mods ass ( a few times, it wasn't even the mod from that board, it was one swooping in from another forum) and POOF! You can't post in any forum and that's just wrong.

I lurked almost every forum there, but only posted in a small few (frankly, it took me a couple/few years to post in any other forum than the Metal one) because I was watching that kind of **** go down in multiple forums and I wasn't about to risk a ban with my sarcastic, opinionated,  big mouth.

Don't take this personally, you may make a good and balanced mod. But without a uniform set of rules, people who are just crossing forums are going to get banned because what is okay in one forum is a bannable offense in a stricter forum. There needs to be clear cut reasons for something as severe a ban, but I guess that just my opinion.