EvilBevel

The problem with that last idea is the probable creation of "forum daddies"... "tut tut, your post was out of line"

Edit: with that last idea I meant people politely saying someone is out of line... 3 more posts since I typed this

That could probably turn into slagging matches faster than you can say "but Sir..."

Maybe worthwhile to point out that the negative comments are pretty much absent on the technical forums... they tend to be more focussed.

You only need 30 people to completely mess up a BBS with say 8000 active posters. So be careful to not make it worse.

As for the "pay" idea: I've seen a BBS go from 8500 registered users to ... 128 paying users in one day. And this was not "recreational" as for must of us this BBS is, but a BBS that was directly related to the business of 70% of the members. In short, it doesn't work (unless the aim is to only keep about 150 members of course).

Anyway, I'm not saying nothing can be done, but may I suggest ultimate care in making this a "friendly" BBS again ?

[Edited by EvilBevel - 10/16/2002 5:04:41 PM]

EvilBevel

One thing that might help, but it's a bit of work, is an ignore button ?

It would enable a "silent way" to say "off you go, you plonker" to your PC

ex-webby

Neil.. Another BINGO!

Except the concept needs to be slightly different.

There should be no status at all that shows you are a trouble maker or are "bad".. only status that shows that other people rate you highly.

So... a newbie joins.. he has a rating of zero. If someone appreciates someone, they can rate them on a small number of categories (we can think of them later, but maybe "technical knowledge", etc). So the "better" people are, the more status they get, not the worse (otherwise it becomes a game to try to get a low rating). In this system, you only have to join up to get a zero rating, so there's no glory or respect earnt by acheiving this.

The way I thought to get around the possible abuse is this..

Each rating requires a username and password of a registered member.

A reason must be given for this rating.

The rating is not applied until a moderator (* see below) agrees it. When someone has a rating, users can view the reasons next to each rating to see why they received it.

If a rating is added which got through the net and was not valid, members can simply report that to a moderator (not that I can see people being THAT sad as to give people a good rating when they didn't deserve it).

There can be guidelines that indicate what should constitute rating someone for something and these can be agreed by the community before the feature was put in place.

* Obviously the moderators would need to buy in to this idea as it would be more work for them.

Maybe for anything that need more looking in to to see if it's valid, they could go in to a holding page where members can post supporting information, etc. Either way, it will become pretty obvious if someone gets lots of "votes".

All the best

Simon

chrisp

I posted a while ago I thought we should have a newbie forum where newbies can post silly/repeated questions and wouldnt get jumped on by everyone. Newbies arent going to know about search, how to post pictures, how to create website links, how to make smilies appear etc etc etc. Almost like a probationary area . They coudl then apply for a full membership when they reach 10 or 20 or 30 posts and a moderator can authorize it. If they post rubbish they are stuck in the newbie forum. Anyone who steps out of line goes back to probationary status and can only post in the newbie forum, community service if you like .

just an idea, target painted on back of flame suit

cheers

ChrisP

Adam M

i dont see the point in discussing this at all.

this thread alone may make people act differently so I suppose it might be the diagnosis and the cure.

if you moderate you will be flamed for freedom of speech, otherwise you cant do anything about it, so you have to accept the diversity of human nature.

frisby

I think every thread posted can all to easily be spoilt in some form.

It just takes an ill thought out/juvenille/nasty response and for someone to take the bait and we end up with pages and pages of tit for tat rubbish, which keep the good threads down, lowers the tone, increases the bandwidth costs and defeats the object of the Scoobynet "community" that the webmaster and mods all strive so hard to retain.

If on the other hand everyone thinks before wading into these threads either in response to comments made directly to themselves or in support of one of their online buddies, the instigator will find there bubble burst with nobody rising to the bait and the thread keeps on track

If you notice in the for Sale section, someone selling a car has their price queried - 2 options :-

Option 1. Reply as you see fit, what right do they have to hijack your thread etc etc yo mammas so fat etc etc

Result - thread is spoilt and the seller ends up pee'd off.

Option 2. Ignore the comments and they have nothing to reply to. Thread stays on track with no bad vibe and the car sells

Everyones a winner!!!!!


laters

Stu

ex-webby

Theo

The ignore idea is another one that I thought of... the only thing I would say is that it isn't a solution, only an addition, in that it doesn't stop people who have cookies off / new people that don't have an account being able to see their posts.

It also doesn't give people the opportunity to change their tune and get into the whole spirit of it.

All the best

Simon

Shark

Personaly I think rating would be a bad idea, would it not create a sence of eliteism (sp?)

I think you would find people chasing around trying to get better and better ratings, to be seen as better than the rest.

David

PS - how the hell would you rate the muppets

davyboy

I would make people pay a fiver to join. If you can afford an Impreza you can afford 5 quid!

That way registration takes longer, and I feel would stop people coming on just to "be a *** head". They certainly wou ld not be registering several user names.

PS. I feel some of the stuff posted in the for sale is out of order. e.g When I advertised my car a user made some unwise comments, but he meant to do it under his "alias" but forgot to change user name, and quickly edited the post - Not before I read it though. I think traders use the forum too.

...anyway 5 quid is my idea.

Jon1T

Simon - I don't think a rating system would be a good idea - I think there is already a culture on here where you post count tends to give give pll a higher 'status' - having a rating system will reinforce this.

A bbs should be status free - I also think all this scooby plus member stuff is also elitist and unecessary.......all a bit 'look at me, I'm the King of Scoobynet'

[Edited by Jon1T - 10/16/2002 5:22:18 PM]

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Ok, ill try to add my point of view
We need to use alot more of these [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] as people can get confused and not everyone is the perfect writer

I also think that as a community on line its a pretty good one but we can also do more OFF line to get a greater spirit going
We all have area meets, i know of a couple round here in the NorthWest (and im just arranging another at the moment ) but what about if we did (even if it was for charity etc) something like a go-cart comp, where each area/region put forward a team which would race at a local track etc and the top driver(s) went through to a knock out type round with a final and a cheap cup?? (would have to think about this a little more though )
I'll post more useless stuff later

Tony

Neil Smalley

I'm all up for the approval process.
However,bribes of all kinds are acceptable though

In the long run it'll make our jobs easier.

EvilBevel

Of course it wouldn't be the total solution, but it does give a pied off member a "weapon" to "zap" people that annoy him/her.

Rating... I think with respect the BBS is too big for that now. I sometimes see someone post something, think "ah, new guy" and see that he/she has about 800 posts to their name (and no, not necessarily muppet posts). In other words, this pub has become a very big dancehall.

Surely the idea is not "we should all return to our happy state 2 years ago" ? That's just not possible IMHO. 18000 registered members, would statistically probably mean you have about 100 sex-offenders here, 50 burglars etc etc...

What the individual user needs is a way to say "fvck off" without having actually to type a reply.

Ignore user/ignore thread gives the individual member a way of dealing with things that for whatever reason is bothering him/her.

Ratings, polite "tut tut" posts... assumes there is such a thing as the "ideal Scoobynet poster". Sometimes I think MarkO is an ***, sometimes I think he makes a bloody good point. Depends on his points, time of day, topic, number of beers I had ... It's impossible to rate his contributions into positive/negative as a "community", but it's possible for an individual to say "I think he is a prat" or to put him on your VIP list.

The individual member gets a tool to "manage" his communication.

And a good reason for lurkers without cookies to register/enable cookies BTW

Although this may sound "individualist", it may actually benefit the community.

STi go fast

i agree, who wouldnt pay a £5? (apart from one of muppets)

Dream Weaver

Agree with davyboy (so long as it is not backdated ), and like the "community service" idea as well.

scoobycar60

I think you will find many other Boards have the same problems there are always a few who have nothing useful to say but have an opinion about everything, the Lancer register had a terrible time recently with their for sale section, anyone trying to sell a car there had loads of daft posts comenting and arguing over prices even when not themselves interested, this is very annoying if all you are trying to do is sell something.
I think most people enjoy some banter but there is a time and a place, serious posts that attract a lot of attention should be left alone unless you have something useful to add.
Thank you for keeping up the good work, if you feel a post I make is wrong, feel free to delete it, I dont get too excited about freedom of speach, its your site Simon we all abide by your rules and should respect your considered actions where you feel it is necessary. If people object then they should do so off line or clear off IMHO no one has any right to "get nasty" on here at all!

Neil Smalley

A while ago I jokingly suggested an 'Anti VIP List'

http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/threa...threadid=72045

[Edited by Neil Smalley - 10/16/2002 5:30:10 PM]

EvilBevel

Davyboy, I used to support that idea, but having seen what happened to a very popular BBS when they decided to charge... I've seen the stats, and it didn't look good

3 weeks later, the BBS was open for all again, and the 128 paying members were just, erm... fooked for their money Although they did get a mention in a "supporters" list

And yes, before you think I'm tight, I was one of the 128 ...

jasonwrxowner

I think that a strike rule should be imposed.

Too many strikes like deleted replies/thread results in a suspension of privalages.

Too many suspensions and a ban is enforced.

I don't know how feasable this is but it's a start.

some moderation of the moderators would need to be enforced as well to ensure fairness.



I hope this helps. (Probably won't though)

banshi

Neil I really like that concept.

Not the marks out of ten bit, I'm with John IT on that. Especially as our little band of degenerates will create a new muppets votes caper, but single votes for a Scooby Prat certainly.

Wherever they contribute the can be "Sent to (virtual) Coventry". Or if starting a new topic, it's open season for those that want to play

EvilBevel

Neil, would that be where you get a "dorks" list, then click on a hated user, to see all his sh1te posts, so you can go "gnar gnar you fool" ?

davyboy

But you could still let them view, but not post. The BBS still gets the traffic and hits that avertisers like, but not the drivel that is posted.

jasonwrxowner

PS: If you want to see how bad it can get out of hand then look at the forums on THIS SITE

This site is going to be banned before too long. They have no compulsory registration before posting which has allowed it to go down the toilet.

Neil Smalley

Theo.

No, their posts would be excluded from the thread list. Like a filtered list. It would be a big drain on the server though I suspect. E.g like the thread link I posted above

Mods would need be immune from peoples Anti VIP lists though

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Any chance of being able to ban IP addresses?
That may curtail some of the "trouble makers"?

Tony

ex-webby

OK... the big difference between this idea and the post count status thing is that the individual user has no control over it, except to be useful and helpful.

There are different categories... THIS IS OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, so please don't shoot me!! but let's say...

Tech Ability
Helpfulness
Community Spirit
Trustworthy (dodgy one.. but maybe it could work)
Muppetism (OK.. this would be for the "new muppet" concept, which I am still to fully understand!! but not for people who post the original concept of a muppet thread)

This way.. ANYONE has the ability to get a good rating.

Nothing appear at all next to your name if you are not rated in one of those categories.. but once you get a "2 star" (or whatever!) rating in Helpfulness, that section appears under your name with the two stars.

This is NOT a status thing. The categories can be structured in that way. Nobody is likely to get a big "I'm the daddy" kick out of having a 5 star helpfulness rating. They'd have to work bloody hard for it in the first place, and it doesn't say anything about you apart from that you are helpful! I've never used that one as am "I'm 'ard!" statement down the pub!

Think it through, or by all means, let's discuss other ideas, but I refuse to just say "it can't be done" as this is a small problem compared to the things that are acheived every day that looked impossible.

All the best

Simon

MATTeL

The idea of rating someone's usefulness might not always indicate their true worth. There are very many people that post on Scoobynet infrequently but have a mass of knowledge and extremely helpful.

As a result of rating they may not score highly and be over looked by some people.

Post count is also not always a great indicator either. I am very aware that my count is very high and that can actually be considered negatively by some of the members as I can be viewed as a "pure muppet".

ex-webby

OK

I am STRONGLY against anything that states in ANY way that someone is BAD. It's not fair as it is easier to abuse, and in addition it give a status to that person which may become desirable. I think it is better to encourage GOOD stuff, rather than condemn / punnish bad stuff.

STi go fast

and what does a rating achive? how does it stop the anti DW stuff or the attacking of the "lets picket IM" idea today?

and wheres the category for "most excellent winder upper"

T

ex-webby

OK.. that's a valid point MATTel..

people could have an excellent technical rating, but cause havoc throughout the rest of the board.

So how do we add to the model to deal with that? Does their rating come down if people complain?