[PennylessZ28]

Originally Posted by MPDev

Have you ever run a site where the long-time members start to feel a sense of entitlement in decisions on how you run your site? You know the types, been around a while and gotten to know the others; but never paid a dime towards hosting or spent a minute actually doing any work on the site like Moderating or Admining, quick to complain, impatient when it comes to updates or new features (one I installed an Arcade hack and was hammered for more games within hours of posting it.). Yeah, those guys (and gals).

It's seems enivitible that at some point someone (or a small group) will start demanding changes - or use the 'my way or I'm outta here' approach to address issues. As an admin of several boards I've encountered this problem many times; some of the most vocal of my members seem to get on a rage where the scorched earth approach is their solution - trash the owners, trash the moderators and, finally, trash other members. Make so much noise and then proclaim their exit in a thread titled, "I'm outta here" proclaiming their hatred for how the site is run.

I usually deal with these trouble makers with simple and polite notes which say something to the effect of, "Thank you for your time on our site, it's been a pleasure having you here, but it would seem you have outgrown our little community. I wish you the best as you persue your interests elsewhere." and wait for them to either change their tune or leave on their own before taking the step of banning them.

I'm curious how others handle people like this on their site - it has to be the least enjoyable aspect of running a forum - dealing with unappreciative members; so when you are confronted with members who feel entitled to a say in how you run your site, how do you respond?

YES! I run a local car forum, that I've been running for the past 5 years. Most of the people are friends, which makes it 5 times more annoying and frustrating.

Recently I had a fall out with 2 of our orginal founding members for the reasons above.

I've invested over $2,000 dollars in hosting expenses, vbulletin and the sorts over the past 5 years running this site. No one ever contributed a dime, and I have done all the work on it.

Every now and then when something didn't work they would demand it be fixed, and give me a hard time, saying I don't care about the group becuase I haven't fixed it yet, like a broken photo gallery, or a broken link.

Just recently I made some changes in the staff and they felt offended enough that they had to end their friendships and leave.

I was fine, becuase my site has actually grown a significant percentage since they left.

But becuase they had been around for so long, they felt they some how had a say in things. Like it was a democrary. They forgot that the site is and always will be MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE!

I have this on my forum now:

Being a member at HRFBODY is not a right. The Forum is a private enterprise and its owner has the right to establish rules of behavior for participants. The owner has the right to remove members, make changes or do whatever he wants with the site. [S]WITHOUT NOTICE[/S].

Normally I ignore it, but it does get frustrating. A few months ago I moved to a new server, one that I setup on my own and I manage. And to be honest, I'm WINGING IT and GUESSING 90% of the time. And the site has crashed a few times and I've got a few making stupid comments that really tick me off. Telling me about how LS1Tech and other sites dont' crash.

I work hard to make my site different from all the other lame boring DEFAULT VB color scheme car sites that are out there.

I posted this last time someone said something "It's my money and my server, and until otherwise, I'll crash it as much as I'd like"

Whats really annoying is one of the old members who left, he went out and got all these business cards made for the group, which I said I didn't want, I didn't like etc, anyhow he was made when I denied him being an ADMIN and felt that becuase he had bought the cards he had some how contributed and was owed......

I'm sorry I don't sell stock in my website.

Luickly most of you don't have to listen to your users whine and complain to you on the weekend at your usual hang out spots or what not.

Originally Posted by MPDev

I've found that over the years my tastes and interests have changed; sometimes I am very active in my communities, others times I am not. I've run community sites for a long time and what keeps me interested is nudging the direction of the site so that it matches my interests - as you can imagine some people are very uncomfortable with changes of any kind. They want it their way, the way they expect it to be or no way; I've found this to be particularily true on sites with a diverse range of ages - teens into adulthood.

I've seen alot of people come and go, I gave up trying to please everyone a long time ago. After all, I'm the guy paying the bills, so it seems reasonable to me that I should determine the direction of the site. I try to be receptive to ideas and suggestions, but nothing gets under my skin more than members who have a sense that they are the ones who should be determining how you run your site or spend your time.

But no matter how level-headed you play it, you can expect alot of pushback from even a few members whenever you do even the smallest of things. How we handle those people and how we keep our interest in the site strong is an important issue that faces everyone who runs their own community.

I can relate to this one too. I made some changes recently that again, upset several people.

But I want the changes, becuase they reflect back on me. See I'm a christian, and have been struggling with this for awhile, but I had to even dump two forums I had come up with just becuase the concept did not align itself with my moral belief structure.

I recently set some standards to make my site family safe and clean up the act.

I used to allow people to post freely with no censorship, but now I am censoring things.

Just trying to steer the group out of the filth and into a better enviroment.

I was tired of every post being garabge. I just didnt' want to be assoicated with that.

Cool thing is when there is a STANDARD that people can clearly see, they will either be attracted to it, or repealed by it.

Most people have accepted it and are fine with the changes.