Rules Enforcement & The Ban Stick
 

I know it's an internet forum and not everyone is required to be nice, but it seems like the same half dozen members (at least) seem to do nothing but look for arguments. At the very least they provide nothing but negative crap in what comes across to me as constant trolling.

As much as I love the ignore list feature, it is not very effective due to the qoute function and the time spend lurking.

I see alot more warning posts by mods lately, but it seems futile w/o any bans being handed out.

Could the following be enforced a little more to maybe get some of these members to realize that the old rule every parent teaches - "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all" - applies here?

Specifically, the bolded parts seem to directly apply to the type of crap that you mods keep passing out warnings for:

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2. Keep in mind that this is not a democracy. We have the right to refuse service to anyone. If you make yourself too big of a pain in the butt to the moderating community or otherwise are a bad influence on the forum, your access may be revoked.

4. Personal attacks against other forum members will not be tolerated, nor will any type of "trolling" for a fight. This includes political attacks, slurs, or sneering at any viewpoint or political party.

6. Be respectful. This is harder to define, but will be moderated. An example would be disrespecting RX-8 owners who chose an automatic transmission over a manual, and "sneering" at them or acting like they're idiots for the choice they made. If a moderator believes you are being purposefully disrespectful to a fellow member, you will be notified. Bashing for the sake of bashing will not be tolerated.
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(I'm not calling mods/admins out, by any means. If something here reads like I am, let me know and I'll fix it.)

Screw you! The RX-8 is slower than teh CROSSFIRE!

I've actually banned more people in the past week than I have in the past 2 months combined. Keep reporting this stuff, PLEASE- we don't see everything, we don't always know who you're referring to when you say things like "the same half dozen members" are causing problems.

You can also PM any of us if you think we're missing big stuff- I'll be the first to admit that I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I use banning as a last resort unless it's really, really obvious the person is trolling or spamming. I'd much rather close a thread and not hand out official warnings in the hopes that those involved with whatever the problem is just cool down and take the hint that they need to back off. But it doesn't always work, and I don't always realize that till wayyyyyy later.

So again, give us specifics (privately, please)- we don't see everything, and just because it may be obvious to you doesn't mean it is to us.

There's been some issues with me and Bastage. I've already sent him a PM about ending the stand off since it's degrading the forum quality. We'll see where that leads.

Bastage is on so many people's ignore list at this point that banning him would be moot.

^ saw that fun, but neither of you fit my 'dozen or so', as you both offer plenty of useful/fun or otherwise positive posts. Everyone has their . . . off days. ;)


Elara - I know you (and other mods) have been posting many more general warnings recently, which is great. And obviously I didn't name anyone intentionally, and I will make an effort to report more.

Thanks.

Like that's an insult? Teh Crossfire pwns ALL!!

uhhh, so you're saying I don't count? :(

To expand on what Elara said, There is that little triangle below everyones name. You can use that to report problems with posts. That gets sent to the Mods & Admins responsible for that topic.

I'm sure you count to someone.

:rofl:


It wouldn't be fun if it was always conflict free. And everyone needs a nemesis.

I know. And I'll admit that I am more likely to just call an idiot an idiot rather than report a post. So rather than being part of the solution . . . :o:

But that stems more from a post that isn't a clear cut attack or obvious violation. It's more about the gray areas where members consistently toe the line - which is why I bolded the parts w/in the rules.

im sorry dmc it wont happen again

I hear ya brotha! I've got a pretty good idea who three of those are.:yesnod:

That's funny, cuz there were 3 that were in mind when I wrote "a half dozen or so" . . .
we'll have to compare notes.

crackheads bumping crazy old threads excluded, of course.

ok thank you.......its been a slow day and i was feeling nostalgic

I do agree that there are a few people who cause more trouble than others. I can name a couple right now who probably won't last another week unless something serious turns around. Then these people re-register under another name and continue to cause trouble. Of course we can IP ban them but most people log in from more than one computer so it may take several tries before we get them all. This is why we really don't like it when members create alter-ego's. If no one has any issues with you, why do it?

There is one such member who actually had 5 alter egos and posted under each of them regularly. He never caused any issues at all and was apparently well liked. Then he created one and posted in the lounge specifically to start trouble and be argumentative. He also admitted he had multiple user names. Big mistake! I called him out on it, never actually telling anyone who he was. No one ever figured it out. He attacked me personally and couldn't let the issue go. I told him to just get over it but he couldn't. Instead of going back to normal, he apparently left because he was pissed at me. He has not posted under the other names in several weeks now. I didn't even ban him!

We give out warnings alot because we try to give people the benefit of the doubt. If we just ban people with no warnings, then we get threads started about us comparing us to nazi's and saying we abuse out powers. We really can't win no matter what we do. That's why we do it our way. We listen to suggestions but then decide whether or not we feel it's beneficial. Keep in mind that since each mod has slightly different standards as to what deserves a warning and what doesn't, it may seem that we're inconsistent. One mod may appear to ban more than others. I've heard complaints about inconsistency in the past. The irony is it's always by the biggest troublemakers!

We aren't perfect but we do the best we can. From time to time we do add mods and others leave. It's easy to think there's a better way to do it but in the end it's not always quite so simple. If anyone has a problem with someone, please contact us. We listen. The report feature doesn't always work. I've had people just PM me personally and I take care of it as I see it. I suggest that everyone with any issues just contact a mod personally through PM's. Just pick one of us. Send the same PM to a couple of us just to be sure. We aren't the hard asses that many think we are. We pick on people too. At least I do! We just do a job that many people don't like.

i think you guys should make me a mod......

That's it. You're banned! ;)

i was half serious actually.....

So was I! ;)

boooooo.........now you force me to find older threads again....i actually bumped the very first one posted today!

whiners should be banned too ...

And "tuff guys"... I dont like tuff guys. But I know what to do with them
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3...eviceseby1.jpg

I call dibs....






wait did I just share too much with you people?

some one has been a way a bit long huh?