Thoughts on "discouraging" users?

[pandaa]

I'm not sure about other forum platforms, but Xenforo has a unique feature called "user discouragement." Taken directly from their site: "The user discouragement feature subjects users to random errors, delays, and pages, simulating failures in the system behavior, with the ultimate aim of making them eventually leave the site."

What are your thoughts on a feature like this? Would you find it useful, or have you used it in the past?

 

[Joshua Farrell]

While I find something like that really annoying, if I were to use something like that, it would be useful to get a unwanted troll off of the forum.

 

[Ashley]

While I find something like that really annoying, if I were to use something like that, it would be useful to get a unwanted troll off of the forum.

Exactly! Or it could be useful for human troublemakers who are serving permanent bans from trying to ban evade it would eventually hit home that they really are no longer welcome on the site.

 

[Migi]

The system is interesting but I cannot imagine how it works with real life cases. If someone is doing something offensive enough to earn him a ban, a permanent ban should do the trick. If the mistake is not that big, a temporary ban or mod queue may be enough. Compared to ban or other moderation tools, this option sounds less effective.

 

[Socialize]

This seems annoying and unnecessary...

 

[Cosmic]

This seems like a pretty interesting solution to me. Usually I think moderator queue is a better solution, though.

 

[VirusZero]

These types of mods have been around for a while. (If memory serves, vBulletin was the first to have one of these types. IPB got one shortly afterwards.)
MyBB has a version bearing the same name. I'm not sure if this works for MyBB 1.8 or not (I haven't tested it).

Migi, these mods are sometimes more effective than a permanent ban. I mean if a troll is permanently banned they know they're banned. The system will give them some statement (like an error page stating they don't have permission). Then they can easily just return via proxy (using fake emails and usernames) to keep causing more problems. And it is stupidly easy to get a proxy and a fake email address. (You can change IPs pretty quickly with a proxy... Getting a new email takes a bit longer, but if they're a seasoned troll they might have a dozen or so already made just to cause problems.)

But with this they can be "banned" and forced to leave because the forum won't function properly for them. It makes it hard for them to troll and cause problems if they only have a small chance of seeing the page they actually want loaded. Plus they're likely to get frustrated or annoyed because things won't work. (And if they're frustrated then they're not going to be able to easily troll and enjoy the reactions from it. So they're more likely to just leave because of that alone.)

And since since this throws error codes to make it look like a server error then they'd be more inclined to go away thinking the server is having issues than anything. And they might not be able to test to see if they're being affected by this kind of plugin or whether the server is actually having errors.

 

[pandaa]

And it is stupidly easy to get a proxy and a fake email address.

I wish more people would realize this.

You bring up some very good points though. No one likes to use a slow/buggy site, and trolls are not immune to this fact. If you can get a troublesome user to leave on their own accord, you don't have to worry about ban evasion or, in worse cases, threats against your forum.

 

[Migi]

Thank you very much, VirusZero and pandaa! That clears up a lot of things. I'm rather stupid in technical areas so I didn't really think about proxy and things like that. It does upgrade my view of this system. I guess it can even be a form of "punishment" for troublemakers which are not banned yet to behave themselves if they want to continue using the forum.

 

[Agent_Zero]

I use this feature for anyone who is causing trouble but not yet reached ban status. I can place them in a discipline status like quarantining them to one hidden forum so they can still talk to their friends or even vent about whatever it is they are upset about but the discourage slows them down from posting too much and sometimes encourages them to take a break and come back in a couple hours or a day.

 

[Thomasss]

I love this feature. Of course it's annoying, it's the point. And I actually would prefer this solution over banning someone, simply because like Virus said, it;s easy to evade a ban. If the person thinks it's the site being stupid and slow, he won't come back. In a way it is a ban. :lol:

This is almost like, "I don't want to break up with her so I'll make her break up with me" kind of thing, only in this case it usually works.

 

[Forces of Steel]

We also use MyBB, and Miserable Users is an excellent plugin. The good thing is that we almost never have to deal with trolls or general dumbtards, so it's not really that necessary.

Besides, if they know that they've left a really bad impression on the community, they'll get the message that they're not wanted around anymore. Smart offenders can bypass their bans via VPN services and different usernames.

Once all actively supported forum software force members to provide actual identification in order to open or keep an existing account, though...

 

[Gio]

I've never tried it before, but it wouldn't take a genius to realize what you did to their account. I'd be up for it, but normally the ban hammer seems more appropriate.

 

[Sharon]

OMG this would be amazing. Does anyone know if this is something available for MyBB? I would love to use this on trolls. 🙂

 

[VirusZero]

You may be able to take the MyBB 1.6 version (linked above in my previous post) and tweak it's compatibility line by adding 18* ( in the .php file under the pluginname_info() function) to make it work. That stated... try it out on a test board first just to ensure it won't actually break everything.

I'd recommend taking a full back up of your site, including all the plugins and whatnot and putting it on your test site just so you have a better idea how it'll react. Then ban a few accounts and log into them to see what happens.

Granted this may not work... Or if it does, it may not work perfectly. But it's worth a shot if nothing else.

 

[Mozzie]

I would go with a simple banning as well rather than a drawn out process.

 

[Nebulous]

I think I'd use this on a case by case situation. With some problem members you can just ban them and they'll go away for good. Others will just make new accounts and keep it going. "Discouraging" them into thinking your site is messed up will give you a bit of break from some of the more persistent trouble makers I suppose.

 

[Sharon]

I think I'd use this on a case by case situation. With some problem members you can just ban them and they'll go away for good. Others will just make new accounts and keep it going. "Discouraging" them into thinking your site is messed up will give you a bit of break from some of the more persistent trouble makers I suppose.

I totally agree with you. We've had cases of trolls who use proxies and use fake emails to get in multiple times and it's bit tiresome keeping up with them. If we had a plugin with this concept it could discourage them from continuing.

 

[Servo]

LOl why wud they put such a feature

 

[Thomasss]

LOl why wud they put such a feature

For the reasons outlined in this entire thread. 😛

A ban might work for some, however a ban denies access to the account, however the person can easily create new accounts. You "discourage" them and they get annoyed and fed up, the same reasons people leave web hosts so often, because it's slow and choppy. It's the same principle of forcing someone to do something and they have no "out" per say.