Flaming Problem (Admins, Mods, please read)
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- Posts: 732
- Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2003 11:59 pm
- Location: Raleigh, NC, USA
Mods can't ban. Only admins can. Thusly, that means Grenadiac and myself are the only ones who can ban. And both of us have very busy lives; We don't always have the time to peruse the forums searching for violations of our rules. That's why I had asked you guys [that care about the forums] to PM me with URLs to posts/threads that stand in violation of any of our rules.
From my perspective this method has been working better than expected. Alot of users, have reported violations to me, and I have taken action against the users who have violated our rules. At this point in time, I have banned about 15-20 'disruptive' users. If more of you guys would start using this method, I think we'll eventually turn this forum back around to the way that it used to be.
The account authentication dealie that I've set up was put in place to keep banned users from quickly and easily registering a new account, and also acts as a screening process. Sometimes you can tell by the username that was registered that the user is going to be a flamer/spamer (apparently they're not too intelligent, they register names like 'Elite_Spammer' & 'SpamKing'. As was said before, this authentication process will do nothing to remove existing users that flame/spam.
Just to let you guys know, newbs asking questions that have been answered a thousand times is not considered a pointless post. Granted, I wish they would search first, but its not spam. If the answer to the question is simple, just answer it and also tell them to use the search function in the future. Or you can use the search function yourself and simply link them to the thread that answers their question. If you use the latter, make sure you mention that you found that URL/Answer by searching.l
Secondly, there is only so much that admins/moderators can do. The massive userbase is the problem. If we banned every single person that makes a dumb post, there will be 20 just like him the next day. And since so many of our older users enjoy indulging themselves in flame wars, it sets a horrible example for the newer users, who obviously just follow in their [flaming] footsteps. Banning people for every little violation is not a long-term solution. The best long-term solution is for the rest of the userbase to set good examples for our new[er] users. When they make a mistake and violate a rule, for example inappropriate quoting, other users should alert the user of the violation and POLITELY correct their violation/mistake. If the majority of our userbase is setting positive examples (both by answering questions appropriately and correcting other users violations), the rest of the users will start following those examples.
If anybody else has some valid ideas that haven't been mentioned thusfar, I'm up for suggestions, post them in this thread AND ONLY THIS THREAD.
From my perspective this method has been working better than expected. Alot of users, have reported violations to me, and I have taken action against the users who have violated our rules. At this point in time, I have banned about 15-20 'disruptive' users. If more of you guys would start using this method, I think we'll eventually turn this forum back around to the way that it used to be.
The account authentication dealie that I've set up was put in place to keep banned users from quickly and easily registering a new account, and also acts as a screening process. Sometimes you can tell by the username that was registered that the user is going to be a flamer/spamer (apparently they're not too intelligent, they register names like 'Elite_Spammer' & 'SpamKing'. As was said before, this authentication process will do nothing to remove existing users that flame/spam.
Just to let you guys know, newbs asking questions that have been answered a thousand times is not considered a pointless post. Granted, I wish they would search first, but its not spam. If the answer to the question is simple, just answer it and also tell them to use the search function in the future. Or you can use the search function yourself and simply link them to the thread that answers their question. If you use the latter, make sure you mention that you found that URL/Answer by searching.l
Secondly, there is only so much that admins/moderators can do. The massive userbase is the problem. If we banned every single person that makes a dumb post, there will be 20 just like him the next day. And since so many of our older users enjoy indulging themselves in flame wars, it sets a horrible example for the newer users, who obviously just follow in their [flaming] footsteps. Banning people for every little violation is not a long-term solution. The best long-term solution is for the rest of the userbase to set good examples for our new[er] users. When they make a mistake and violate a rule, for example inappropriate quoting, other users should alert the user of the violation and POLITELY correct their violation/mistake. If the majority of our userbase is setting positive examples (both by answering questions appropriately and correcting other users violations), the rest of the users will start following those examples.
If anybody else has some valid ideas that haven't been mentioned thusfar, I'm up for suggestions, post them in this thread AND ONLY THIS THREAD.
I am still around and read through the new posts a few times a day, i do not have enough time to read every single thread looking for spams or flame, it would be extremely helpful if when you see anyone breaking the rules, to pm a moderator with the url of the thread.
Please refrain from using profanity in your sig.
Yeh, i agree with you, it is not like the admins and the mods spend all of their day looking for the kind of shit that breaks the rules...and we cannot be everywhere at once, and I like the idea of the new authentication process...hopefully that will work out....
And i used to flame ppl that asked questions that were covered a thousand times..but as the forums get bigger...+150,000 posts, it is kind of hard to sift through the thousands of posts on the key word that you have searched for...so just answering the question will be alot easier then flaming then and making a potential good modder leave the site just because they asked a simple question that would have teken the same time to write the answer to as the flame...
And i used to flame ppl that asked questions that were covered a thousand times..but as the forums get bigger...+150,000 posts, it is kind of hard to sift through the thousands of posts on the key word that you have searched for...so just answering the question will be alot easier then flaming then and making a potential good modder leave the site just because they asked a simple question that would have teken the same time to write the answer to as the flame...
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed Aug 04, 2004 3:04 pm
- Location: Delta quadrant
Im quite new here, I've been reading for ages, but only recently registered. I registered to post answers, not questions (almost all answers can be found through the search function anyway).
Just my little bit. I'm certainly no Halo n00b or mapping n00b.
And making fun of this site is certainly a misjudgement, this site was, is, and remains an AWESOME resource.
Just my little bit. I'm certainly no Halo n00b or mapping n00b.
And making fun of this site is certainly a misjudgement, this site was, is, and remains an AWESOME resource.
May I make a suggestion, kpt?
My simple suggestion to take care of n00bs who ask the same questions over and over is to incorporate some advertisement system that makes common suggestions, such as searching the forum/google, and if you still need to ask your question, to please ask it in an Q/A thread somewhere. That would decrease new topics 4 fold
My simple suggestion to take care of n00bs who ask the same questions over and over is to incorporate some advertisement system that makes common suggestions, such as searching the forum/google, and if you still need to ask your question, to please ask it in an Q/A thread somewhere. That would decrease new topics 4 fold
This post printed on 100% recycled electrons.
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- Posts: 663
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 7:07 am
- Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
As long as admins will never give us moderators the ability to ban, i only have one true solution of my own. Clean up the forums and if there are any "stupid" questions from a newbie, and someone replies in an offensive way, i delete the post. If the flaming continues, i will contact kptkommie, Grenadiac, or Aztec.