Question for you large forum holders

[Battou]

I got to thinking about this after (likely mistakenly) literally slapping one of the package team in the face.

On Our site we have a small fleet of moderators and then a team of three administration level users. The Admins have been more playfully called the Good cop, the Bad cop and the Chief.

This became most evedent during our resent troll invasion when Stratadrake (FAC 2nd Admin, my self being third) cut loose and tore into a troll tooth and nail, I realized how rare that occures with him, not to mention before reaming the individual told her that he was FAC's good cop. I, by my very nature, stand my ground and put my foot down hard, and if the offending individuals groin is in the way Owell, wile Stratadrake gives in and plays the nice guy who is still willing and able to swing the banhammer when needed and the owner just leaves everything to Strata and I in favor of more important things.

Now, those of you who own or co-administrate large forums and/sites, Do you have such a thing amung your administration and/or moderation teams? A Clear cut Good cop/Bad cop?

I know a great many of you will prolly tell me this is a disadvantage but I want to ask as well, Does anyone else see an advantage to this?

 

[DarkRaven]

his became most evedent during our resent troll invasion when Stratadrake (FAC 2nd Admin, my self being third) cut loose and tore into a troll tooth and nail, I realized how rare that occures with him, not to mention before reaming the individual told her that he was FAC's good cop. I, by my very nature, stand my ground and put my foot down hard, and if the offending individuals groin is in the way Owell, wile Stratadrake gives in and plays the nice guy who is still willing and able to swing the banhammer when needed and the owner just leaves everything to Strata and I in favor of more important things.

What an interesting way to describe things...

No, having a Good cop/Bad Cop/Chief system is a bad idea. If an Admin has a reputation for being easy going, then inevitably users will exploit this. Carry out all the major spamming when it is just him online, etc.

I'm easy going with my members, until they break the rules. If a member has a reputation for quality posts and rarely breaks the rules, then I'll generally sort things with a PM. Regular culprits are a different story however.

 

[Fergal]

Personally I feel that a professionally run forum would manage members in a consistent manner. In other words members are treated in a pretty similar manner by all staff.

 

[Jonathan]

^this. Personalities are fine but benefits of the doubt when others would ban is not good.

 

[Battou]

his became most evedent during our resent troll invasion when Stratadrake (FAC 2nd Admin, my self being third) cut loose and tore into a troll tooth and nail, I realized how rare that occures with him, not to mention before reaming the individual told her that he was FAC's good cop. I, by my very nature, stand my ground and put my foot down hard, and if the offending individuals groin is in the way Owell, wile Stratadrake gives in and plays the nice guy who is still willing and able to swing the banhammer when needed and the owner just leaves everything to Strata and I in favor of more important things.

What an interesting way to describe things...

No, having a Good cop/Bad Cop/Chief system is a bad idea. If an Admin has a reputation for being easy going, then inevitably users will exploit this. Carry out all the major spamming when it is just him online, etc.

I'm easy going with my members, until they break the rules. If a member has a reputation for quality posts and rarely breaks the rules, then I'll generally sort things with a PM. Regular culprits are a different story however.

Don't get me wrong, Stratas not a pushover, He is notorious for issuing privledge suspensions as well as bans, but he is far more willing to work with users than I am. On top of that he is all sorts of polite when warning users or explaining to people why they got suspended or banned, me on the other hand, I am just ruthless. I could not care less what the persons excuse is, if they did it, they did it. Strata processes the bulk of the bans, I come in and deal with the particularly nasty ones that need the point pounded in to their head.

That said, I guess what I was looking more at was the element of at least one moderator/administrator/co-administrator of a large forum being a total prick to deal with total pricks paired with a...more polite one to deal with the more censable.

 

[Battou]

Personally I feel that a professionally run forum would manage members in a consistent manner. In other words members are treated in a pretty similar manner by all staff.

^this. Personalities are fine but benefits of the doubt when others would ban is not good.

Sorry, I fell asleep wile relpying to DarkRaven, other wise I would have just replied to all at once and was not sure how long an edit would take so I opted for a new post in case of further reply during typing.

No two bans are the same, I can assume we all know this. There are times when some users need to be delt with by a stiffer hand. Yeah, you have your standard offender who breaks the rules, gets banned, asks for forgiveness, gets denied and leaves, but then you get those who knowingly break the rules, get banned, beg for forgiveness, gets denied and comes back for some more with a new account, a fleet of buddies and a healthy dose of admin bashing. You simply can't just slap them on the hand the same way you do everyone else, doing so is an effort in futility (Trust me I know, I could easily excede the per post character limit listing off the banned usernames of a single troll we still have to deal with, described in this thread).

 

[DarkRaven]

I never allow members back after a ban as a general rule. That is unless they can prove that they have not committed the banworthy offence.

I have a clause in my rules:

Banning is used as the final action taken against members for whom no other disciplinary action has succeeded. Banned members will be permanently denied access to the forums.

Meaning that when you are banned, you are banned. End. Of. Story.

On top of that, if someone is publicly banned for being a troll, I generally post a thread stating why he/she has been banned. There is no being a hard ass. I never respond to their begging e-mails unless they give clear and concrete evidence that they did not commit whatever misdeed they are accused of.

And if they create an alt account:

Each member may only have one account. Creating an alternative account to avoid a suspension or ban, will result in a permanent ban on both accounts.