Have you got what it takes to be a moderator?

yeah, im bitter.

 

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we 'ban artists' should start our own forum called, 'survivor'

The aim being to survive a ban. No rules specified, only oberservation of who has been banned before you to guide your posting path to survival.

or some sort of X factor forum.

 

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when i get my pc fixed up, we should look into it, ToR!

seemingly random rules to those that arent moderators, and allow as many sockpuppets as you like!

 

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Must be the coffee. Try adding chicory.

 

Hm... This seems like an interesting prospect. Are people considered for becoming a mod if they express interest, or do the admins pick people and offer them the job instead?

This is for others, especially the admins, to decide. If I am, then others will think so.

I feel this is a fairly straightforward scenario. I would temporarily lock the thread in order to do some "repairs." Then I would give the two posters a warning, on the grounds that such abusiveness is detrimental to the quality of SciForums discussion.

It's off topic, but it's being used as a source for evidence of what the poster is saying? That sounds contradictory, but I'll do my best to answer.

If it's a link that is unrelated to a discussion, and the poster habitually posts the link, I would personally ask them why and kindly ask them to stop. This strikes me as advertising a site, perhaps their own; but if it's not malicious, then it's not a cause for much concern or reprimand, per se.

If they source this unscientific website constantly to back their arguments, even after the site has been refuted, I would ask them to give it up and find another site to back their argument, especially if it causes people irritation. I would remind people that it's in their best interest to try not to get irritated.

It is highly likely that this new user is the banned user trying to evade a ban. I would inform them that this is not tolerated. I would ban the new handle and lengthen the ban of the original handle and tell them if they do it again, they'll be permanently banned. And I would urge other posters to try to keep their cool in the future if anything similar happens again.

Immediate deletion of the thread, immediate ban of <fakehandle>, and immediate notifications to either the moderators of these other subforums or to supermods.

I don't quite understand why it's important their IP is in UAE but they say they're in Kuwait. But if it's apparent that they're intentionally exploiting a flaw in the forum software, I would give them a warning ban and inform them that they would be permabanned next time. If anyone is harassing anyone because of their race, I would warn them that this is unacceptable.

I would temporarily lock the thread and read it through in order to evaluate how much flaming is going on. If it seems to be a fixable problem, I would clean up as necessary. If it's a deep-rooted problem, the thread would remain locked. I would caution all guilty parties that using ad hominems is a poor way to argue with someone. If anyone gets particularly venomous, I would warn them to keep their cool.

I shouldn't abuse my mod powers to gain an advantage in an argument, of course. As long as the other posters aren't doing anything that should be reprimanded, I am simply another poster.

First, I would ask them to show me any PMs they have sent themselves to that second poster, to ensure they're not just goading the person in order to get them in trouble. Further, I would review the recent post history of the two posters to see where conflict happens and who usually is the aggressor. I would warn the aggressor that harassment is against the rules, and caution the reactor not to bite back. I'd keep an eye on both posters for a while.

 

1. If the thread has completely gone off track, and only they are arguing, i would lock it, and move it the cesspool.
2. If the topic is active and they have kept it between themselves, i would state openly in the thread for them to both either calm down, and debate in an mature manor, or go to time out (1-3 day ban)

1. If it's all anyone is talking about, and the topic has become almost pointless to read. I'd move it to the cesspool, and lock it.

2. If it's still on topic, i'd move the user to a restricted group. Disallowing him to see the thread, for a week or two. Allow him to forget it, and everyone else can continue the thread in a peaceful manor.

i'd reban him, again, and again.

Lock the thread, and remove the link. With a warning about clicking advertisements like this. Then i will drop a post in the mod section letting them know.

I'd notify Vbulleton, and notify them of the exploit. So they may or may not release some kind of fix to the problem. Afterwords i'd ban the user, and annually check to see if the exlpoit has a fix.

Lock the thread, and specify that there is better places for such actions.

You shouldn't take sides, allow your emotions to overcome your job as a mod, abuse your power out of spite.

Tell them to ignore, block any pms from the certain user. If that's all it is, then they will be satisfied. But if they are trying to get someone in trouble, they will more than likely continue, and make a major deal about.

 

Let's find out

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Whats the thread about? What is the abuse like? Is it personal, graphic? Did anyone complain? Is the diversion interesting enough to generate something more meaningful?

Since they are older members I might just PM them and tell them to clean up their act.

IOW, Not enough info to decide a course of action.

Thats for other posters to refute and the internet is full of such websites.

Again what are the flamewars like? Are they personal, graphic, meaningful, is the diversion generating discussion? blah blah.
I would pm the accusee and request them to refrain.
On the other hand this is sciforums and a degree of upset is normal in the posters.
Depending on the thread itself, I might either post a warning in the thread(s) or lock it if it is beyond salvage (I'm presupposing it is in my subforum)

Inform the supermods/admin.
If I was feeling particularly diligent, I might remove the cross posts in my subforum

Inform the supermods or admin.
Delete the link in my sub-forum and post the reason why.
Ban the IP of fakehandle.

Hmm sounds like war games. Why any special treatments? Whatever the rules about racism, sabotage etc. are the same for all. It would be hard to predict who is for real anyway.

I'd post a warning in the thread or threads concerned, if I felt it was warranted.

Lock the thread.

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Seriously, I'd look at at least the last few pages. If discussion was nonexistent, I'd lock the thread. If not, I might ask those who sent me PMs to link me to the posts they have grievances with.

Avoid expressing my point of view.

Being a troublemaker does not disqualify a poster from being harassed.
I'd check out the pms. If true, I'd pm a warning to the sender.
I'd also inform the recepient about the Ignore function.

 

Assuming there was a specific topic meant to be discussed: lock the thread and tell the two off-topic posters to take it to PM or start their own thread for discussion.

It would have been best to catch it 10 posts or so in, but if we did not catch it until 20 posts in, something has to be done. And since all thoughts are welcome on SF (granted they are intelligent thoughts), deleting the posts are not warranted.

It would take a few posts of the same behavior before some get upset and I take notice. However, regardless of other members taking notice, this forum does not exist for advertising purposes. I'd go in, delete every "signature" and send a PM warning the offender that this is not allowed. I'd give them a day from their next login to take notice of the PM. If I see the PM was read but the user keeps on doing it, I'll delete the signature again and I will ban for 1-3 days (depending on log-in frequency).

If after the ban, it still keeps happening, bans will be issued again where each ban period is longer than the last time.

Perma ban of this new user. If a new user joins again doing the same thing, perma ban.

Was the first person banned on a temp basis? If so.. I would like to check IPs and the style of the postings between these 2 members. Should they appear to be the same person, I'd talk to a supermod or an admin to recommend perma ban of the original user. Harassing the forums with repeated sock puppets is not acceptable.

I'd get creative. I would alter the SPAM message in my forum so there is no link to click, but you are aware of what it looks like. I'd then lock the thread, delete all the posts in the thread except the original post, and then reply to it saying it's bad and do not click on it.

I would do this because although I have the power to delete the thread (since it is my subforum), I have no control over the others. And while I will post in all the other affected subforums about the problem, I think it is best to have one more place that warns about the problem. I think it is more important to have, say three warnings than two warnings. Some people might not click on my forum... a few might. Some of those that come to my forum could have clicked on the link (but now they cannot because it's altered). However, they got the warning and if they move to another subforum that is affected, they know not to click it. Had they not seen my warning in my forum (because I deleted the spam), they could have not seen my warning in another subforum and become infected. (I hope I explained that right).

Simple ban and thread deletion. Next, I would send off an e-mail to those that necessary to release a patch. Next I would suggest to the administration that we lock new membership until this problem is fixed.

Finally, I would see just how far I could investigate to figure out how the forums were exploited so we may take measure to work-around it until the patch is released. (challenges are fun).

Lock the thread, move it to the cesspool, and issue a public warning. Any serious infraction ("i'll cut your throat") will be dealt with in terms of a permaban.

However, it's a shame that the example puts me in a situation that I let a thread go on that long without taking notice. Sure, most of it was just not something I want to read, but I should notice angry posting with little intelligence.

It would be very hard to moderate this thread should something "go down." Any obvious infractions should be taken care of (racism, threats, ect) but should any bit of moderation be needed that could be seen as biased and trying to shut out those that oppose, I would ask a supermod or admin to asses the situation and take care of it. My reasoning being that all though many people see me as unbiased (I can tolerate opposing opinions and play devil's advocate), users might be quick to shout out "power corrupts" and assume I take action because I think they are wrong. Any sort of instability like this in my subforum would have a lot of consequences that could disrupt the over-all well-being of the forums and harm us in the future.

Should I have to take action regardless of the member's opinions about my reasoning, I would like to make sure I do not have the final word in the thread. I'd also like to give a detailed explanation of my actions and allow members to question my reasoning in another thread (to avoid going off-topic).

First I would try to figure out when the PM was sent. After that, I would check to see if this person was even online at the time or if there was any relevant activity at that time. If not, I would ask the person claiming to be a victim to stop and any further attempts to get this person trouble will result in a temp ban.

Should I find that a PM was actually sent, I would tell the "victim" to just ignore the PMs and I would tell the person that sent them to stop. Should I see any evidence of harassment in the subforums between the two that might put some truth into the PMs being real (I have no real way of knowing as far I can tell), I would check to see if perhaps BOTH parties are harassing each other, I would consider punishment that is relevant to the situation.





As much as I tried to picture these situations, there is a lot more to consider in these examples than what is actually layed out for us.

 

That and I would have left long ago. I enjoy the freedom here.

 

i would send a pm to each user, as well as make a public pronouncement asking them to bring it back to topic. any deviation from that point on warrants an infraction (or more than one).

send a pm to the user, asking them to stop with the advertisement. from that point on, give an infraction each time the rule was broken.

lock all concerned threads, and issue infractions for each rules violation.

first, i would issue infractions for every rule violation, and bring the fellow to the attention of the other moderators. then, i would make sure everyone knew the dangers of the site involved. all concerned threads are locked, with offending posts deleted.

issue infractions for all rules violations, and bring the user to the attention of a supermod (for possible banning).

i would lock the thread, and issue infractions to everybody involved, for every violation. afterwards, the aforementioned members would get their warning about future behavior on sciforums.

*shrug* i suppose that I probably wouldnt do anything objectionable...i certainly wouldnt use my moderator status as a pedestal, if that is what you are getting at.

to the best of my knowledge, mods can read pm's....so i would find the offending pm's (if they exist), and deal with the situation on a basis of severity level. if the pm's didnt exist, i would bring it to the attention of a supermod for possible banning.


here you go, my answers to your questions.
they are based on my opinion that the rule of law should be the rule of all, above personal considerations. my opinions shouldnt matter much in a moderator position, i would use it to maintain an orderly, polite little space on the forum.

thank you for your consideration.

edit: as an aside, i would make it very obvious and clear what the rules say, through a sticky-locked post, so there could be no confusion.