Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

silvercar

PasturesNew wrote: »

What sort of strikes?
I've not been PPR'd (to date), but I have had two posts removed in the past and been sent a "warning" PM from admin.

All the usual storm in a teacup/somebody not understanding stuff... which makes it so dictatorially annoying.

Previous strikes were PPRs for a restricted time. So clearly more than a warning or post removal. Then again, the offences that led to the PPRs may have been minor enough in other people's eyes to only warrant a post removal.

SingleSue

Yorkie1 wrote: »

It really does vary according to site, doesn't it?

I'm a mod on another forum and we are very clear about what is and is not acceptable on it in the site policies. It's a family-friendly site, and we don't stand for anyone trolling or flaming etc, nor swearing.

That being said, it usually takes repeated infringements before anyone gets anywhere near a 24h suspension. We tend to simply remove posts and inform the poster why that's happened.

Very occasionally we will remove a thread where it's got very confused (in order to split some posts out into another thread) or gone wholly off track in a not-nice way, and then put it back once cleaned up. More often we'll just lock the thread with an explanation of why we've done it.

The risk of this level of active moderation is that it takes the site owner into potential responsibility for posts made, whereas MSE is very passive and reactive and thus not likely to be liable for posts.

I've run my own site for 11 years now and have many thousands of members and there are very few people perm. banned from the site.

We tend to remove/edit posts and warn and in extreme cases, give them some time out (could be a few hours or a few days). Generally though, I use humour to distract and calm and everyone is best buddies (of a sorts) again, the threat of my virtual frying pan keeps them in check! :rotfl:

Spirit_2

Sad at the exclusion of Gen, who I think has been the victim of bullying, by some saddo, who has laid a trail of poison to posts where the complainant had not the wits or communication skills to deal with it maturely. You know the type, the heartsink kid who always told teachers tales about every minor transgression.

Overdue on growing out of it.

Is there an alternative place we can all go? Not getting much from this site anymore. It was friends on this thread that hold my interest and I really do care about.

vivatifosi

I was going to ask the same Spirit.

I wondered if it was possible to have a member's only website that you need to log into as an invited guest... therefore spammers can't join, but with a bulletin board behind.

I'd be happy to pay towards its formation/upkeep. I'm sure others would too... but personally don't have the tech knowledge to get the ball rolling.l

PasturesNew

While another, private, solution might seem the solution .... the trouble is, it's "extra effort" without new blood. It wouldn't be the same.

Tough one.

In case anybody'd like to set one up, I will state clearly: I do not intend to be the person doing this.

So if anybody else wants to go ahead, that's fine by me ... it's not for me, running forums.... not for me at all

It's also not for me to go out of my way to log into another webpage.... so I'd most likely not turn up more than once a year .... I'm forgetful/lazy/fickle, call it what you like, but I'm not good at keeping on top of returning to sites as a rule.

ivyleaf

If a website was set up, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to pay to belong to it atm. I'm on a tiny pension and don't get my state pension for another 2 years.

GDB2222

Yorkie1 wrote: »

It really does vary according to site, doesn't it?

I'm a mod on another forum and we are very clear about what is and is not acceptable on it in the site policies. It's a family-friendly site, and we don't stand for anyone trolling or flaming etc, nor swearing.

That being said, it usually takes repeated infringements before anyone gets anywhere near a 24h suspension. We tend to simply remove posts and inform the poster why that's happened.

Very occasionally we will remove a thread where it's got very confused (in order to split some posts out into another thread) or gone wholly off track in a not-nice way, and then put it back once cleaned up. More often we'll just lock the thread with an explanation of why we've done it.

The risk of this level of active moderation is that it takes the site owner into potential responsibility for posts made, whereas MSE is very passive and reactive and thus not likely to be liable for posts.

What you are doing requires effort. And caring. It's a lot easier just to ban people who appear on the radar.

GDB2222

ivyleaf wrote: »

If a website was set up, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to pay to belong to it atm. I'm on a tiny pension and don't get my state pension for another 2 years.

Forums are often funded from the adverts, so no payment required.

The cost isn't in the hosting or bandwidth. It's the moderation that's expensive, unless people volunteer for the job. Or so I have heard. I've never run a forum, but Sue has practical experience.

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

Forums are often funded from the adverts, so no payment required.

The cost isn't in the hosting or bandwidth. It's the moderation that's expensive, unless people volunteer for the job. Or so I have heard. I've never run a forum, but Sue has practical experience.

As GDB says - the financial cost to do it is peanuts. Think in terms of £10-20/year MAX.

What IS a pain in the butt is all the time to do upgrades, fixes, fiddle about with layouts/designs .... then keeping the spammers at bay and sorting out any spats, etc ... and just "dealing with the people".

While it could bobble along happily for months, one morning you wake up and there've been 1000 spam attacks overnight and ISIS have hacked your front forum page redirecting all site visitors to their "Page of Doom" with viruses.... and, even though you'd planned to go to the Farmers' Market.... you know you can't leave it like that, but (right now) really have no idea where to start... but you DO know it'll chew up your weekend.



Time.... is the cost. Who has the time/motivation/dedication to check at least daily that "all's well"...

Yorkie1

GDB2222 wrote: »

What you are doing requires effort. And caring. It's a lot easier just to ban people who appear on the radar.

Indeed. And also it depends on time to consider things individually. As Sue says, we have an Admin who uses humour and her assumed character (from the username) to keep people in line without feathers (usually) being ruffled.

PasturesNew wrote: »

As GDB says - the financial cost to do it is peanuts. Think in terms of £10-20/year MAX.

What IS a pain in the butt is all the time to do upgrades, fixes, fiddle about with layouts/designs .... then keeping the spammers at bay and sorting out any spats, etc ... and just "dealing with the people".

While it could bobble along happily for months, one morning you wake up and there've been 1000 spam attacks overnight and ISIS have hacked your front forum page redirecting all site visitors to their "Page of Doom" with viruses.... and, even though you'd planned to go to the Farmers' Market.... you know you can't leave it like that, but (right now) really have no idea where to start... but you DO know it'll chew up your weekend.



Time.... is the cost. Who has the time/motivation/dedication to check at least daily that "all's well"...

I know our site owner has spent an awful lot of money keeping the site going; we're nowhere near MSE in size, of course (who is?!) but there are hundreds of live members at any one time and the site needs frequent technical tweaking, making it mobile friendly etc. at PN says.

There was also a lot of heartache at one point when one very unpleasant bully wanted the site owner to reveal the ID of a poster who had made a comment critical of that individual. Luckily we had a tame lawyer who wrote an official letter telling the individual to get a court order or bog off, and we heard nothing more.

Everyone is a volunteer and it's like a big family.

Obviously, a private discussion forum as outlined earlier is a very different beast in nature, but there are always things that are unexpected and unless you've got someone who understands the technology, and is willing to spend time resolving stuff as soon as they arise, then it's quite a big ask.

An alternative might be a closed Facebook group?