Poll - Heavy Handed Moderators

[Marimaru 7]

I think banning CAN be effective. I have no idea what happened over the weekend, and I'm probably not sad I missed it. What Brooklyn said about IP's is true, and if she hadn't said it, I would have.

I absolutely think that something had to be done, because it's not like there were just nasty threads; there were perfectly good informational lap band related threads that got tainted by this crap and then locked, or turned into pages of fighting and then dropped off when another thread got chosen to fight in.

I was very careful to stay out of it, and have mostly tried to just answer threads in support of people, but I have largely avoided this place for the last few days as well. I would have left altogether if I didn't see threads I thought I could give helpful advice in.

[Wheetsin 714]

and I strongly question whether the banning didn't take some heat off one of the moderators who appeared to be involved in something not quite Kosher.< /div>

The answer is no.

[Wheetsin 714]

Speaking as an owner/admin of other boards, and not as a moderator of this one. All of the below is purely IMO/IME...

Banning is a sticky situation. There are ways to make it more solid than specific IPs, but you have to weigh your pros and cons carefully -- what do you get from banning a given person, versus what do you lose from potentially blocking others with the same origination. Most of the boards I run are specific to geographic locations, so this is more paramount, considering that maybe 30% of our users might have the same origination vs. 5% or fewer, or maybe more.

It could be argued that banning by username does not help, it could be argued that it does not hurt. At the very least it's "an action", and sometimes "an action" is better than "no action". At the most it's a way to block access, and it is relatively effective. I say relatively because some people know how to get around an IP or other type of ban, but IME for every one who does there are at least 8 - 10 who do not. At the least it's an effort at getting a message across, whether to the banned individual or to the membership. In that case, whether the message is heard or regarded is up to the individual.

[diane5467 0]

Just a thought, maybe instead of banning individuals, something could be set up for people to just block individual users?

[Loving-It 0]

Just a thought, maybe instead of banning individuals, something could be set up for people to just block individual users?

You can already do that. If you go into the persons profile who you want to ignore, it's at the top. :eek:

[Marimaru 7]

Just a thought, maybe instead of banning individuals, something could be set up for people to just block individual users?

You can do it, and it's mentioned frequently, but, people seem to refuse to use it. I don't ignore anyone, because it sometimes can confuse a conversation, because someone will response to their post and you wont know what they said (as happens when someone deletes a post after someone responds to it).

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

You can do it, and it's mentioned frequently, but, people seem to refuse to use it. I don't ignore anyone, because it sometimes can confuse a conversation, because someone will response to their post and you wont know what they said (as happens when someone deletes a post after someone responds to it).

Also when a heavy debate starts, members quote other members using the forums tools.

*********************************************

So if you have me; "TOM" on your ignore list and I write "shutup you #?!@#" to MS_XYZ. MS_XYZ will write

shutup you #?!@#

How dare you?

*********************************************

You will then see what TOM wrote even though TOM is on the ignore list.

[PattiCakes 0]

Thanks for clarifying TOM, I was confused as to how that worked~

:eek:

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

You're welcome.

Someone will probably use that quote to prove that I am an evil troulbe maker.:eek:

[Wheetsin 714]

Someone will probably use that quote to prove that I am an evil troulbe maker. :eek: Wheetsin will do it because she hates Tired Old Men. She probably hates Rejuvenated Young Men too. She probably hates everyone. Let's buy that girl a beer!

Now imagine the original poster had deleted their original message. You can make it look like they said -- anything you want. The same holds true for PMs, emails -- anything digital. A good rule of thumb is, "If it's online, don't trust it." People like to forward emails, PMs, etc. to other people, but if you play it smart you really, really have to take all of it with a grain of salt because altering it is no more difficult than tapping the keys on your keyboard.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

Now imagine the original poster had deleted their original message. You can make it look like they said -- anything you want. The same holds true for PMs, emails -- anything digital. A good rule of thumb is, "If it's online, don't trust it." People like to forward emails, PMs, etc. to other people, but if you play it smart you really, really have to take all of it with a grain of salt because altering it is no more difficult than tapping the keys on your keyboard.

You could have at least corrected my typo. You evil moderator, you!!

Would that have been too much troulbe?:embarassed:

You are right of course. Many PC fluent people can alter any PC document. And with the right programs (or wrong programs) time stamping and even hex editing can be done that will confound all but the most sophisticated PC detective.

[NeenBand 7]

As a mod of another board I have a three strikes and your out policy. And then I ban their ISP.

Having people fight and flame others (and it's always the same people too) or break the other rules are disruptive to a support board.

Some people love that drama, but I've seen many good people leave them, or have them go under for letting people do whatever they want.

So I vote ban them if they keep breaking the rules.

[NeenBand 7]

Is there any way to require a 24-48 hour waiting period for someone to join up? That way when someone is banned there's a period of time they have to wait to come back on and stir the pot.

These are my thoughts. There are three kinds of people:

1. Ugly, bitter, hateful ones

2. Ugly, bitter, hateful ones who deliberately masquerade as pleasant

3. Pleasant ones

Ban group #1 immediately, as soon as they show their ugly, bitter, hateful face. They're pretty transparent and you know who they are by their words.

Ban group #2 after their mask slips and they show themselves to be ugly, bitter, and hateful.

Banning groups #1 and #2 will hopefully allow group #3 to get back to the task at hand, weight loss.

Ha! Your so right!

By the way, I missed it, who was banned and why?

[DiSanders 1]

I haven't been on the board in a few months-can anyone fill me in on the controversy?

[Elisabethsew 50]

I have been a moderator on two other forums and seemed to have more "tools" at my use such as a silence mode and a 24 hour ban. It's sad that there was a need to create them let alone use them. Thankfully, things have quieted down now.