I have been having some real trouble with a few members of my forum over the last week that has taken up many, many hours of my time and raised my stress levels quite a bit. Have you ever had a forum member/s that you would have liked to strangle? What approach do you take when you have members who can't seem to abide by the rules? Do you get stressed by huge dramas on your forum or not? Make me feel better!
One word: Bann them!!!! (In my book I would rather bann an intelligent memebr than an annoying n00bieI'll bet half the members here wish they could strangle me!!!!
One of many possible approaches: Put yourself in the shoes of one or the other of those formum members. What could it be you want to achieve in that position? What else? What could be your motives to want that? Write everything coming into your mind on a sheet of paper. And then, after having returned to your own role again, do something which for them would be completely counterintuitive. Not just the opposite or the negative of what they seem to want, but something more irregular, unexpected, surprising. A useful hint to find such ideas is to do a brainstorming with your girlfriend or wife - or other people coming from a different world than you yourself. Have fun with that approach!
Sounds like a Troll, bann them. Trolls are good at manipulating admins and the community. Best to bann them.
Yes! I want to strangle my members all the time, and I sometimes I even d-I mean errrr yeah, sometimes members can reallly get on your nerves. The worst ones, in my opinion, are the ones who are not breaking the rules. Reason being, you don't know what to do with them. Think about everything from a community perspective - what's best for the community? And remember, a member doesn't necessarily have to break a rule for you to warn them...you're the admin, you can do whatever you want (in a nice, civilized manner of course ...I do not endorse the strangling of members)
I give one warning for minor rule infractions. If the member is a serious time vacuum and is causing issues with other members, I ban them. You can't put up with that crap and you can't appear to be a weak admin. My forums are small but growing and I've only banned one member so far. After I banned them I deleted all their posts and posted an announcement as to why I banned them. All my members were happy with the quick action. If you don't have the heart to ban them (if you are running vBulletin) install the "miserable user" hack and they'll probably leave on their own accord.
But then you come off looking like a jackass, and you'll be preached against. Think about it for a second. Surely there are boards you can think of, and are in deed a member of, that take unjust actions against members and ultimately suffer the consequences.
Do this: 1. Change their password and email. 2. Ban their IP address. 3. Post a public apology under HIS account. Have him apologize to you for being a trolling asswipe. 4. Sit back and enjoy the peace.
Certainly not. I'm appalled that you would even suggest such a thing here at DP! The approved DP method is multiple stabbings. Anything else is for sissies.
Well I know he's not crazy about lawyers. And, just between you and me, I think sometimes Vicious Summer really pisses him off. Did you mean to search for Let's stab and move on?
I like this talk of multiple stabbings. *Goes to sharpen knives* Thanks for your perspectives eveyone.
Who said anything about an unjust action? I don't know about you, but if a member is running rampant in my forums looking like an idiot and pissing members off but not breaking any rules (we have all seen these people)...I'm not going to let them continue in fear of hurting their feelings otherwise. I'm under the belief of doing what is best for the community at large...I would rather lose one (annoying) member over a warning than lose many valuable members because they can't stand the shenanigans of this annoying member.
You want my opinion? Look at usenet. The oldest "forums" out there. The majority (in fact all but a few) are unmoderated. My process is create a forum, recruit no mods and don't manage it. Communities manage themselves. Oh course it might be industry/theme specific. But it works in usenet having said that there is the almighty law of the isps. Who pull accounts of abusers, so (im thinking outloud here) I guess they need some management. But only on serious abuse. I hate people who play god, and do it really really bad.