Infracting Members

On your forums what do you infract members for? I find that infracting them frequently brings a big FU leading to a ban eventually.

On our forum we infract them for spamming, insulting other members, insulting the staff, trolling, abuse of the rep system, abuse of anonymous posting, uploading pornography/obscene content in any posts, harrassment of members, re-opening a thread which has just been closed if for example it was heated and closed to prevent further nuisance.

We sound like right ones :devil:

 

I haven't had to infract any members yet, but we have similar guides as you WRT infracting members.

 

We tend to use them mpre as rules reminders than infractions with a 1 day time out if they are just kinda going a little crazy.

Here are our common reminders.

Band respect
Pic thread discussion
Spam
Tricking word censor
Band privacy
Cellspeak
Fan Creativity Rules
Inappropriate content
Off-topic
Rude to other member

I think we run a pretty tight ship actually.

 

On my own forum, the types of infractions I give out are for things such as:

• Spamming (human member)
• Spambot (instant ban)
• Flaming
• More than one alternate account
• Advertising via PMs
• And illegal content (aka warez or such like)

I do sometimes give zero point warnings for minor instances of misbehaviour though.

 

I've only had to infract a member once, and that was because he was insulting my moderators.

We only give out Infracts for
Spamming
Insulting
and Pornography

 

Depending on who the member is, I prefer to send a PM warning rather than use the infraction system. If I have to send several warnings (either publicly or privately) then I will resort to the infractions.

In other words -- from the member's perspective -- no infraction comes unexpectedly. I find it to be fairly unprofessional and like a slap in the face. If a respected and long-time member breaks the mightiest of rules, I still would probably send them a personal PM rather than issue an infraction.

 

Prior to vb infractions we sent pms and copied it all into a management thread, and tried to keep up by member. When vb came out with infractions, and we saw the infraction creates not only the pm to the member but also a management thread, AND keeps an admin cp record, we were thrilled. Put it into action right away.

The members do not like infractions. They are much more receptive and responsive to pm's, usually. None of them responds well to the infraction. Well at least they care.

And just found out that the d* things never go away from their user cp, even when they expire. [beat head on desk] We have members who say they no longer use their user cp as much because they don't want to see an old infraction.

So we're trying to figure out what is best to do to get the response we want from members.

We infract for name-calling, baiting and bashing. We don't moderate rudeness or debating as long as it's on topic and not personal. We tell people to expect to be offended by some of the posted opinions (religion & politics, among other things.) We have a paid and a free membership level and we infract free members who post stuff that belongs in a paid forum.

 

I don't use the infraction/warning system much.
Set those up just in case the polite notice sent via PM isn't followed.

 

Ah this is a tough one for me. See, I run a hip hop board with a vast majority being writers/mcs. And cats on HHE will admit themselves, that being a hip-hop community, there's big egos which will inevitably clash.

The problem for me is when to infract because a lot of the stuff i feel other admins can easily deal with, use hip-hop board owners can't.

Swearing/Profanity can't be an issue, otherwise members won't take the site seriously.
Flaming has to be tolerated to a degree, because being there are a lot of rappers, sadly a lot buy into the stereotype that they gotta beef, or actually, more generally, they have the ego/attitude that they "won't take s***" from anyone, or rather certain people. And though some of you may disagree and say this isn't conducive to running a happy community, I have to allow it for the site to function and be happy.
However drawing the line is the problem. We have a section (Beef & Broccoli) for members to address issues and hopefully (but generally not) settle them.
We get "exposures" where members will effectively roast another member, and while most of the time it's dealt with pretty easily, but a lot of the time things also escalate too far. To use a system such as for instance the one Shadab has posted above me, would quickly result in a lot of bans and members leaving for good because I'd effectively being a killjoy.
Racism isn't so much tolerated, as, we accept certain things in good humour, because let's be fair, running a rap site where I have to chase up members on their ethnic origin for posting a word in their lyrics wouldn't be feasible.

So yeah. It's kinda tough drawing lines on who and when to infract.
Do I take action immediately when an insult or comment may be taken in passing, or ignored, or replied to in jest, or taken serious?
It's pretty difficult to set a hard and fast room as much depends on the members involved and their history.

So yeah. I'd kinda like some thoughts from the rest of you, you seem to be on the right lines for your board, so maybe you can help with mine.

 

alter, once we got over the idea that 3 or 5 members might leave or be banned if we did hold some minimal lines, and they did/were, several other members who didn't care for the s**t started posting. The trade-off was in our favor - and the favor of the forum. No idea if that is how it would work on your site, does sound like a cast of characters ...

 

^How big was your board though?
And how core were your members?

 

Although the board is not large by internet forum standards, it is very large in the hobby community it serves, has a high profile there. We have about 1.1 million posts over 6 years, and 1,100+ members who visit every 90 days (up from 800 in the spring.) The hobby community that is the world of the forum is gossipy online and offline and they discuss doings on the board, and give their opinions. They have talked about some of the bans.

The members that were banned appeared to be very core. They had been on for years, posted alot, and were noticeable when they posted. They could change the direction of threads, people did respond to what they said pos. or neg.

What we found out is that although we were very used to their presence everywhere, they were not key to the forum at all. Although a few friends protested their removal the forum as a whole hasn't shown it is missing them. Actually the forum as a whole is doing better without them. Just because they were on all the time did not mean the forum couldn't flourish without them.

What we found out is that other 'better' core members - members that make the forum more constructively interesting - had been waiting for us to can those idiots for some time. We risked loosing them if we didn't. The better members never said so to management, but they felt the problem children detracted from the value the forum had to them. They took tolerance for the problem children as a signpost of weak or uncaring management.

Good luck! :devil:

 

alter one thing to remember is that management doesn't have only one decision, to ban or not to ban. By setting up a progression of actions to get the member's attention, and communicate the seriousness of management, it is easier to work toward an ultimate ban or to reform the member.

A progression of warnings, removal of posting privileges, suspensions for one week or one month (a few days means nothing to these people,) management can feel they have not surprised the member but have given every chance for them to wake up and do better.

One thing we've done is tell people to take a break for 3 months. After that time, if they feel they can follow the rules and want to come back, they can let us know.

alter here is something you might have to make a decision on for your forum ... Participation on my forum is agreement to abide by and respect both the rules and the mods. Is that the condition for participating on your forum?

On my forum if anyone has been suspended or lost privileges, they do not get them back unless they promise to respect both the rules and the mods. That is, it is not automatic the privileges are restored after x time, they also have to give that agreement. If they will not make that statement they are on the path to the out-door and there is no restoration of privileges. When they agree they may not include any caveats ... they can't say 'yes but ... ' and include justifications ' ... someone else did it first; if someone insults me; it's against my principals to stand by and do nothing ... ' If they include a caveat they get a reply that their statement has to be unconditional, and so does their behavior. And if privileges are restored they are told the next infraction is termination.

On my forum almost no one needs to be handled like this, only 2 or 3 of the 1,100 active members. If your forum has a much higher % of 'problem members' then I think there is some real thinking to be done ... are they that way because that's just how they are, or is it because the forum seems to them to allow that behavior? Any forum will get more of what it allows.

 

^Thanks a lot. Good read and definately helpful. Not 100% sure which path of action I will take, but your advice will be valuable for making my decision at least.
Ty

 

I run an anime forum which can also bring problem, specially when you're dealing with fanboys/girls. Like Music forums, people have their favorite Anime[on music forums they have their favorite Band/Singer] and also, not to mention the people who take sides in the generalizations on Anime, Mainstream is basically most watched, Shonnen=Naruto and so on.

Egos are bound to get up there with beyond the moon and the planets, even beyond the universe we live in, since they would think they know everything about the anime and they are stuck with that, fanboys thinking that their anime is the ultimate awesometastically shizz. =\ Regardless of that, at the moment I see an insult flying out I have to warn the member.

The main reasons of bannings/warning are:
-Spam
-Hentai link or picture
-Normal porn site
-Advertising another anime site
-Trolling
-Insulting another member excessively
-Racism
-Raid
-Linking another chat
-Posing as a staff member[only in the chat]
- and usually[not often] exceeding the signature size more than 4 times. We usually leave a note for the user in their signature line, if they fail to comply the 4 times they get that note we ban for 1-3 days.

 

Even though it's a very different topic my forum also attracts the know-all egos. I think that must be part of any focused interest. There are people who don't just have opinions, they know what is right. And are offended if anyone has the effrontery to disagree.

It has been tough at times to get members who really are very knowledgeable to accept that, first, not everyone is going to agree with them - and, second, they must accept that. Even if it's a newbie, youth or someone who in their opinion is an uninformed idiot, they can discuss the point but can't personally disparage the other member. For the purposes of the forum everything is an opinion, they have one, you have one - no matter how correct your statements are off the forum. We try hard to indoctrinate everyone that, on the forum, they can discuss points ad infinitum but no one should expect to be able to persuade, inform or instruct another member to change their opinion. There has been a learning process that allowing all opinions does not mean expecting to announce that one's own pov is the be-all end-all truth.

We have some hobbyists who really don't fit well on the forum because they won't tolerate disagreement with their statements. A few of these do expect to be treated differently by members and mods due to their stature on and off the forum (sometimes a self-perceived stature.) Some really have made significant contributions to the direction of the hobby. It isn't always pleasant to moderate someone who has been a pillar of the hobby for years. (Fortunately they usually cut back their posting on their own before that comes up.) But on Blab there is only one class of member. They can use their their experience and knowledge to back up what they say ("... I have been doing X for 20 years etc. ... ",) but beyond that they are just another voice in the conversation. If they conduct themselves wisely what they say will be given credibility and respect. Some can handle this well, and some can't.