Should forums stop being so ban/trigger happy?
- Thread starter Kale
- Start date
D
Deleted member 17779
If you put up rules/guidelines on your forum (and make them as clear as possible) it is up to each member to follow those rules if they want to continue participating in that specific community.
Now, I don't think that banning should be the first thing you should go to right off the bat....especially if it's someone's first offense. If you've given someone repeated chances over and over again to change their behavior and they still don't do it then I can see banning them from the community. If you don't then all your good people who care about the community will end up leaving and you'll only be left with the bad egg that ruined everything. So, I think there comes a point where you have to but how long it takes for you to get to that point depends on the admin/owner of that particular community (and how much they're willing to put up with).
Now, I don't think that banning should be the first thing you should go to right off the bat....especially if it's someone's first offense. If you've given someone repeated chances over and over again to change their behavior and they still don't do it then I can see banning them from the community. If you don't then all your good people who care about the community will end up leaving and you'll only be left with the bad egg that ruined everything. So, I think there comes a point where you have to but how long it takes for you to get to that point depends on the admin/owner of that particular community (and how much they're willing to put up with).
OPPS
D
Deleted member 60612
I'm typically a bit more laissez-faire when it comes to moderation, I think it's important to strike a balance between enforcing proper rules and order, but also giving members a bit of enjoyment and freedom on the forum - after all, forums are meant to be fun.
I prefer soft actions (restricting accounts, moderation queue etc.) over harsher sanctions such as bans and warning points. Though, I do think there's some offences that deserve some immediate stricter action.
I prefer soft actions (restricting accounts, moderation queue etc.) over harsher sanctions such as bans and warning points. Though, I do think there's some offences that deserve some immediate stricter action.
D
Deleted member 49125
I feel Rules should be followed but we also need to moderate on an individual basis & act accordingly. I don’t like to ban members but prefer to give them a chance to cool down. If they don’t & still abuse their membership, then I take some sort of disciplinary action. A warning or if that doesn’t work, banning. Nobody is more important than another so I like to take into consideration ALL my members. Will keeping this disruptive member cause more harm than good? Will it prevent others from wanting to even log onto the forum? Has this member acted this way before or is it out of character for them?
guyyanthony
Paragon
Agree!!
I will admit, I have never been ban-happy when it comes to forums and I tend to instead warn, and suspend before I ban unless of course, what they did was bannable.
I do believe that banning should be something that is only done when it is really needed especially with the decline in how forums are being used at the moment.
I do believe that banning should be something that is only done when it is really needed especially with the decline in how forums are being used at the moment.
I haven't really seen too many forums these days being ban happy. It should only be done if the member is harassing another member, or they're posting spam or illegal stuff on the forum like links to cracked software. As long as the member is following the rules, then they shouldn't be banned.
I think we banned him? LOL
I haven't really seen a forum being ban happy since the pre-2010's, and I chalk a lot of that up to the fact most forums back then were run by teenagers where emotions and knee jerk reactions are prone to running wild. I feel as the general age of people using forums got older that things cooled off both on the ban happy front and the rule breaking front.
Aside from spammers and toxic people that will only destroy your community - yes, people need to lighten up.
I think some people are on a power trip and love being able to ban people. Those are usually the worst people to run a community. That's usually communities I try to stay away from, far away from.
I hate banning people. Aside from spam, I only banned one guy, and it was because he was being a jerk to everyone over everything.
I think some people are on a power trip and love being able to ban people. Those are usually the worst people to run a community. That's usually communities I try to stay away from, far away from.
I hate banning people. Aside from spam, I only banned one guy, and it was because he was being a jerk to everyone over everything.
I do not ban many people/members. If they are fake bot accounts then they do get banned or removed. However if they are members then they go so far before a ban and end of the day when you ban them you made them a winner and you got to play there game so that it backlash into them and they end up going away and never coming back
I feel like the forum landscape has changed quite a bit from the early '00s days. Back then there were not as many resources built in the moderation arsenal as they are nowadays so banning and deleting were the go-to actions to anyone disruptive. I also remember forums were costly to maintain, the size of threads was a problem so mods were more trigger happy to lock, delete and ban.
Many forum software nowadays offer us a lot of alternatives. I believe moderation should be done as much as possible in the background without disrupting the users. A lot of stuff can be dealt so much easier now when it comes to well meaning individuals that are new to online communities and ignorant about the netiquette that has been built around communities. Double post? there are auto-mergers. Thread can be moved and leave a redirect link, posts can be split if people are being spammy or got carried away into a different topic. You can set people on probation so their threads and posts are to be approved, etc.
I think today more than ever, banning should be left as a last resort for non-bots users.
Many forum software nowadays offer us a lot of alternatives. I believe moderation should be done as much as possible in the background without disrupting the users. A lot of stuff can be dealt so much easier now when it comes to well meaning individuals that are new to online communities and ignorant about the netiquette that has been built around communities. Double post? there are auto-mergers. Thread can be moved and leave a redirect link, posts can be split if people are being spammy or got carried away into a different topic. You can set people on probation so their threads and posts are to be approved, etc.
I think today more than ever, banning should be left as a last resort for non-bots users.
Affiliates
