Member blocked
Original post
I have just blocked a member permanently for issuing veiled threats to three members via private message.
Blocking is always the last recourse, but there is no tolerance for threatening behaviour, as noted here: http://tramper.nz/15753/forums-moderation/
The member in question expressed views that he was being victimised here, and that forum moderation was censorship based on political affiliations. I have no doubt he will take comfort in those views. Nevertheless, they were not the reason he was blocked.
Thank you everybody for your tolerance and patience. Please always report threats via private message. I don't check these messages (as they are private), but I can do so if necessary in order to follow up a complaint.
38 comments
It's really important that the on-boarding process for new members be really easy and positive. So I'm reluctant to put limits on new members like this. As you say, it kinda drives people away.
Something a bit more likely would be to explicitly flag new members as "New member".
Something that Sites like Stack Overflow do well is tracking users' reputation and assigning rewards based on reputation. Now, that's cool but it's something you need to do well or not at all.
The problem is though, @Pro-active, if it's the same person getting banned over and over then clearly they aren't learning from their previous experiences, or they are playing the victim card. Sure, if they are smart they will come back as a new person and act nice as pie to blend in. But this particular person (if it's who I suspect it is) has already been banned from here and had accounts suspended in the past, and still came back and caused problems. And I have my suspicions that he will return yet again.
a system where multiple flags demand some form of action?
i dont know how many people flag posts, but if two or three people flag a post then its an indication people are getting fed up, theres robust discussion but when theres a pattern of systematic criticising unecessarily it goes into the realm of being aggressive and its anti social behaviour..
Another common trick of professional trolls is to have multiple identities already registered. No way of identifying until the problems start. The member concerned had at least one previous identity and I think there may of been one previous to that.
Ip blocking is good for spam relays but not much else. Email blocking can work if you restrict signups to isp based emails but a lot of people keep that address for personal stuff and use a gmail etc address on forums just in case the forum turns into a spam relay
No easy answers
multiple identities, is that how you do it Geeves? have you seen a Dr? ha ha ha ha
sorry couldnt resist...
Most of the answer is simply better quality moderation which is something I'm working on. If antisocial members are moderated efficiently then it will be a quicker and cleaner process.
In this case, the member got quite a lot of leeway as the process wasn't clear. For example, a member needs fair warning that they risk being banned in most cases.
Personally I like how easy it was to join here as a new member, and I think it would be a shame to limit that ease. However I can understand why it may be necessary. It is a shame that some people will act in a manner that perhaps does not fit the forum.
To me it feels fairly relaxed and easygoing in here, and that is one of the reasons I like the forum.
Is it a rule that the perp remain unnamed? I only ask as I've been trying to send someone a thanks for some recent info they gave me and been unable to. This could explain it.
This thread was closed by matthew .
Search the forums
| Forum | This website |
|---|---|
| Started by | matthew |
| On | 13 July 2015 |
| Replies | 37 |
| Permanent link | |
Participation in the forums signifies acceptance of forum rules.
In order to manage spam, new members are limited to 1 post every 10 minutes.
Formatting your posts
The forums support MarkDown syntax. Following is a quick reference.
| Type this... | To get this... | |
|---|---|---|
| Italic | *Italic text* | *Italic text* |
| Bold | **Bold text** | **Bold text** |
| Quoted text | > Quoted text | > Quoted text |
| Emojis | :smile: :+1: :astonished: :heart: | :smile: :+1: :astonished: :heart: |
| Lists |
- item 1 - item 2 - item 3 |
- item 1 - item 2 - item 3 |
| Links | https://tramper.nz | https://tramper.nz |
| Images |  URL/of/image |
 |
| Mentions | @username | @username |