Half and half members

[Deleted member 1609]

Have you ever had any "half and half" members (i.e. members who are good members half of the time and trolls the other half of the time)?

I'm asking this question because I see these types of members all the time on forums. I've also found dealing with these members to be extremely difficult; if you do the wrong thing, then they could stop making their good posts that actually benefit people and just continue with the trolling. Obviously, this isn't just on forums, either; it's sort of a way that people are in the real world, too. Sometimes, I'd rather just have them be jerks all the time so that there aren't any mixed feelings. :lol:

 

[Konnai]

Yup!
It's a trick so they can be trusted and then you go offline for an hour, come back and realize your forum has been spamed.

 

[Lee Lawson]

Don't quite agree with you Konnai, it can't be a trick if it happens alot and most people know what this is trick is, it all happens at some point to a forum. As the majority of members on forums would atleast like a laugh out of the stuff they say, ofcourse it can be hard dealing with these members but as long as they post it somewhere in the general section like '1 can tr0llz' and they aren't going off-topic I don't mind though it can be really annoying if spammed about major parts of the forum. I suppose everyone does that at a point as many members have done it here but they know when to stop, they know when a jokes over although if members continue to do this warn them but I have never really noticed a member who makes good posts and then goes trolling. (if you get me)

 

[Acorn]

Half and half members are actually not. They're all bad as far as I see it and if they cause trouble that severe I either ban them straight off or give them a stern warning. And I don't mean innocuous or just annoying little rulebreaks that are usually just a case of forgetfulness, I am assuming you mean trolling. Ban em. The bad always outweighs the good in these cases.

 

[VirusZero]

I don't think it's ever worth it to try and trust them. If you have to question their intents then it's too much trouble. The only way to handle them is to let them know up front that trolling isn't permitted and if they can't handle it then they can leave. (Either by choice or by a ban... It's their call depending on how they want to act.)

Though if they're forgetting the rules a bit much, then it might be time for a few reminders. I can understand forgetting something once or even twice (depending on what rule it is)... but if they're forgetting it every other day then it's not likely that they're being forgetful it's likely that they're just using it as an excuse.

 

[MissTake]

Luckily I've not encountered it yet on my forum but I did on another site, one member used to be sickly sweet sometimes then bite off your head and spit it out the next! She'd be nice as pie again in a day or two, I suspect she was hormonal? She ended up getting banned, then PM'd the mods with her conspiracy theories, she'd even been through everyone's photobucket accounts to link members together!
She showed up on a rival site not long back.....every day I sit and wait :roll:

 

[hcfwesker]

Some of my members are so unpredictable, but I guess with the competition the site is built around, kind of comes with the territory.

There are a lot of split personalities around my forum (I'm probably one of them), but I wouldn't change the atmoshpere for anything ... it helps keep things fresh and entertaining

 

[Firecracker]

I've not experienced this yet but my forum is fairly new, so maybe I have this to come!

 

[Deleted member 1609]

There are a lot of split personalities around my forum (I'm probably one of them), but I wouldn't change the atmoshpere for anything ... it helps keep things fresh and entertaining

You run a gaming forum, though, so surely you expect to have some crazies running around. :lol:

 

[SIO]

I do agree that usually the disruption these members cause outweighs any "good" they do. The banhammer should be applied judiciously applied when needed.

 

[Nebulous]

If people troll and cause trouble, then a discussion may need to take place.
It doesnt mater if they are "nice" in some of their other posts.