Forum "Rebels" - admins, you are invited to interact in this topic

[Zachery]

Originally Posted by Natch

One major hazard I have come across is the "rogue Moderator" - a member who shows promise, is promoted on merit, and then brings up with him/her their antagonisms of other members that cause friction and division ...

Initially you feel the need to stand by your moderation team in any disagreements, but in the end the Mod gets told off for abusing their powers - they begin a campaign of undermining the Admin team/site owner and get themselves banned - they then start trolling the forums with different usernames, and end up initiating attacks on the server, or attempting to extort money/property etc ...

Extreme? Nope - true story ...

Moral: choose your promotions wisely... don't assume your moderators are in the right in all situations!

Question: Zachary - can I liberally plagarise your forum rules ? Major props to the original author! :up:

I sware everyone asks me that >.> i have no anwser

[Zachery]

Originally Posted by TECK

MUTE? Is that a hack? Thanks.

could change their usergroup to a group that cannot post

[TECK]

Originally Posted by Tony G

Sometimes, people don't find a community of just nice people jumping rope on a sunny day exciting. Hell, the rebeller might even attract more people to post and even make members join. You can use them to your advantage to add some good material to your forum.

What if, by their actions, the rebels try to take over the forum and make other users leave or at least not post at all?
How we should deal with a situation like this?

[TECK]

Originally Posted by Zachery

could change their usergroup to a group that cannot post

I was wondering if we could do something temp, to automatically activate them as normal users, without hacking?

[Zachery]

Originally Posted by TECK

I was wondering if we could do something temp, to automatically activate them as normal users, without hacking?

Yes, in vB3, set up a usergroup that is marked as banned without thoughs permissions and then ban them, via the ban system for X days.

[Reeve of shinra]

Teck... if talking didnt work and flaming the hell out of them wasn't conductive enough - we might take other steps including banning them from the actual forum they are trolling in (not the whole forum just that specific one). We try not to ban people but that doesnt mean people wont get banned.

[Zachariah]

People only get away with stuff on sites with incompetent management.

It's simple for me.

I would like to convey an understanding. This site will not tolerate personal attack to anyone. This is a game related community that promotes competition, honor and fair play. Posts found that include slander on a personal level and not game related will be removed and the user warned of improper behavior. Second infraction will result in banishment to participate in this community.

You?re a lousy player ? blaw blaw (no problem)
You?re a lousy person ? blaw blaw (not allowed)

[Chris M]

A few years ago, I was an Administrator on a very controversial board - There were 4 main groups of people:

1.) Socialist / Communist Extremists - Their entire goal was to convert everyone to Socialism or Communism - They shared common beliefs, and interacted well with debates - Not much trouble as regards inter-nerd arguing, but annoying none the less...

2.) Aryan / Facist Extremists - This group was the largest, and it was the most dangerous - They were led by a few people who took a disliking to me, and the entire group made it their life's work to counter-argue every decision I made...

3.) National-Socialists - I classed these seperately, because they were the smallest - They were in the same heated discussions as the Aryans, but they never battled with anyone - These were the only group, despite their beliefs, that were not any trouble...

4.) Random assorted idiots - If they weren't Socialists/Communists, Aryan Extremists or National Socialists, they were idiots - They spammed, they flamed, they spammed, they flamed, and they spammed - In their spare time, they flamed some more, and generally took the view of anyone big enough to come out for or against something they agreed with or hated...

What did I do?

The rules of the board made life difficult - The owner didn't want restrictive rules, but we had to create some - We created a forum, called HeLL - In it, you could do what you liked - You could swear, scream, spam or start White Pride arguements (which many did :ermm: )

What rules we did introduce, seemed to work fairly well - No Flaming or Spamming in the forums, except for in HeLL - It worked fairly well, apart from the occasional heated idiotic arguement started in other places...

As an Admin who's decisions were contested at every point, it made life more difficult than it needed to be - I didn't let myself be tied down by the "freedom's" that were supposedly allowed - I "breached their rights" as they used to put it, when they got too rowdy or said a little too much too strongly - The occasional public spectacle made them back down...

My advice to others?

Never allow too many freedoms - It causes chaos, and that is never good - Restrict members to a set of rules, even when you say they can flame in a specific place, keep it to a set of rules (i.e. No Racism)

Another idea to watch?

Make sure that you break up any quick and dangerous partnerships, fast - Don't allow them to grow - If you do this, you risk other's becoming a part of it, and an open rebellion being staged - Granted, you can shut it down quicker than they can do anything about that, but it will then be seen as an oppressive action, and you will lose members who are neither pro or against you or what your board stands for...

So beware the rebels - Keep them singular, and never allow groups to establish

Satan

[Tony G]

Originally Posted by TECK

What if, by their actions, the rebels try to take over the forum and make other users leave or at least not post at all?
How we should deal with a situation like this?

Well, if the rebeller is harming your community by taking members away and trying to "destory" the community, warn them, and if they do not comply, ban them. The longer they stay there, the more posts and members you may lose.

I had read all of these posts, very interesting, but

What if the rebel or flammer is an admin on that board....Im a SMOD on this particular v board, A certain Admin has made theats, very very sexual remarks, just plain old nasty, I think he just hates anyone who is not from his country or is a female......In particular he is picking (bashing really) on a young member, I PM'd another admin and he banned this admin for indecent behaviour......Next day, another Admin reinstated the banned Admin.....Im an admin on another v bulletin board and let me say I would never, ever put up with this guys actions, however...im just a smod on this board....I hate to quit my job as smod since it was my very first forum and basically I love it and would love to save it...Please do not think I want to admin there, no flipping way.....

Question: Is there a way to report this admin for abusing TOS rules set up by v bulletin? Please reply, thank you.......