Suggestions?

[JM]

Hi all

I realize there are some people who come here to just relax and they dont wish to get into debates and argue about things

And while it makes sense then just to avoid conversations that are heading in that direction but usually that doesnt happen the people who want relaxation enter these conversations and then seem very suprised as to why they are frustrated

or they go elsewhere in another part of the forum and start a thread and the people who might seem to want an argument answer their questions but not to the liking of the person asking and well... it just seems to go around and around.

As much as I want people to have freedom to share their thoughts I also want to be sensitive to those who dont want to get into huge battles

For some they suggest banning people who want to argue but im not sure really that is the answer as sure it means you dont have to put up with the person anymore but it also means you can no longer pose questions to them that might allow them to think from a different angle. Everyone wants to share their opinion

I have heard the suggestions to have seperate areas for this and that but understand that does require some serious moderation and time as you cant prevent people from going into areas and it only leads to trying to enforce rules which tend to get peoples backs up both christian and non christian

Anyway open to some suggestions

thanks

[taffy]

Originally Posted by JM

Hi all

I realize there are some people who come here to just relax and they dont wish to get into debates and argue about things

And while it makes sense then just to avoid conversations that are heading in that direction but usually that doesnt happen the people who want relaxation enter these conversations and then seem very suprised as to why they are frustrated

or they go elsewhere in another part of the forum and start a thread and the people who might seem to want an argument answer their questions but not to the liking of the person asking and well... it just seems to go around and around.

As much as I want people to have freedom to share their thoughts I also want to be sensitive to those who dont want to get into huge battles

For some they suggest banning people who want to argue but im not sure really that is the answer as sure it means you dont have to put up with the person anymore but it also means you can no longer pose questions to them that might allow them to think from a different angle. Everyone wants to share their opinion

I have heard the suggestions to have seperate areas for this and that but understand that does require some serious moderation and time as you cant prevent people from going into areas and it only leads to trying to enforce rules which tend to get peoples backs up both christian and non christian

Anyway open to some suggestions

thanks

With a forum such as Ipog with so many conflicting opinions arguments\debates will arise without Moderation..alas its the nature of the Beast.

If you dont wish to provide various Boards where rules may vary, then a Golden Rule for all must be put in Place...One may Opt to disagree with anothers point of view but respect that its their Right to have it ..irrespective...if this violated then a warning or maybe two then a small time ban ? this covers all.

just a thought
Taffy

[JM]

Originally Posted by taffy

With a forum such as Ipog with so many conflicting opinions arguments\debates will arise without Moderation..alas its the nature of the Beast.

If you dont wish to provide various Boards where rules may vary, then a Golden Rule for all must be put in Place...One may Opt to disagree with anothers point of view but respect that its their Right to have it ..irrespective...if this violated then a warning or maybe two then a small time ban ? this covers all.

just a thought
Taffy

Well its not so much I dont wish to provide various boards where rules vary its the enforcement of those rules, it requires a lot of time moderating and im not paid to do this, on the other side it requires a lot of moderators and then we get into people saying they were unfairly dealth with.. it really is a catch 22

Sounds good taffy but not sure im following

How would you determine who to warn and who to ban?

[taffy]

Originally Posted by JM

Well its not so much I dont wish to provide various boards where rules vary its the enforcement of those rules, it requires a lot of time moderating and im not paid to do this, on the other side it requires a lot of moderators and then we get into people saying they were unfairly dealth with.. it really is a catch 22

Sounds good taffy but not sure im following

How would you determine who to warn and who to ban?

Hi Jon

Yes I agree it takes an awful amount of time ...

an Example...the board I now moderate has taken a few months to gain Mods), admin desired the Board to be covered for 24 hrs...the mods are worldwide covering the day and Night..at present there are 11 some ladies but mainly men folk, as women folk dont seem to want to moderate..a balance is strived for both genders....this means we now have at least two mods at one time on show....sharing the responsibily between us.

We have a MOD corner where we discuss any individual who is violating the guidelines and a decison is made accordingly..ALL rules are laid out and all joining are advised to read before posting....
theres more but this is just sharing with you whats done overall.

The rules LAID out are for ONE AND all..even ADMIN when posting.
which means as Long as members stay within the confines of the Rules they here NOTHING from the mods...

the Board runs relatively smoothly compared to many other forums..but at times the members need proding in the right direction...

Again I stress this has taken time and experience to come to this...

you ask ...How would you determine who to warn and who to ban?

It really quite fundamental..once you lay down the rules then Posters take the responsibility to stay within them..failing to do so will have its effect...normally a Private warning via PM and then another if need be...then a Public warning for aLL members to see...followed by a ban...you could say"two strikes and out""

Cetain themes\actions will not be tolerated Period and an Instant Ban without warning is given , again this is all laid out in the rules.

Yes it takes time to set these rules in place but People are no longer ignorant when they step over the MARK,...theres No blaming the Mods.beacause they too have to abide accordingly....

hope this may help some in your consideration

Blessings
Taffy

[JM]

Originally Posted by taffy

Hi Jon

Yes I agree it takes an awful amount of time ...

an Example...the board I now moderate has taken a few months to gain Mods), admin desired the Board to be covered for 24 hrs...the mods are worldwide covering the day and Night..at present there are 11 some ladies but mainly men folk, as women folk dont seem to want to moderate..a balance is strived for both genders....this means we now have at least two mods at one time on show....sharing the responsibily between us.

We have a MOD corner where we discuss any individual who is violating the guidelines and a decison is made accordingly..ALL rules are laid out and all joining are advised to read before posting....
theres more but this is just sharing with you whats done overall.

The rules LAID out are for ONE AND all..even ADMIN when posting.
which means as Long as members stay within the confines of the Rules they here NOTHING from the mods...

the Board runs relatively smoothly compared to many other forums..but at times the members need proding in the right direction...

Again I stress this has taken time and experience to come to this...

you ask ...How would you determine who to warn and who to ban?

It really quite fundamental..once you lay down the rules then Posters take the responsibility to stay within them..failing to do so will have its effect...normally a Private warning via PM and then another if need be...then a Public warning for aLL members to see...followed by a ban...you could say"two strikes and out""

Cetain themes\actions will not be tolerated Period and an Instant Ban without warning is given , again this is all laid out in the rules.

Yes it takes time to set these rules in place but People are no longer ignorant when they step over the MARK,...theres No blaming the Mods.beacause they too have to abide accordingly....

hope this may help some in your consideration

Blessings
Taffy

Well thats the thing Taffy, I understand as the owner of this site I can setup rules that everyone has to abide by but again its a bit of a circular discussion

1. If I setup rules so that only christians are allowed on this board, then we accomplish making sure that are debates are only within the confines of scripture but of course there would still be disagreements. Personally I dont like the idea of it being all one sided as there is a big world out there

2. If I setup rules so that this is open to all faiths who can come and chat, then we enter a completely new territory where people are going to disagree with each on many things

Again at the end of the day whether its one sided or two sided the job of determining what is allowed and what requires banning is not easy

As it goes on here we have some rules in place that if people start swearing at each other.. they will be warned after that they are out the door as christian or no christian there are other places people can do that stuff.

As of other rules such as ones laid down by other forums. i.e some christian and catholic forums will prevent anyone from sharing their views based on their beliefs, to me this only pushes people away and it makes a forum very exclusive, nice for those that agree but not beneficial for those who dont

It would be like a church that says, We have distinct values, if you dont accept and embrace our values we will kick you out of our church.. basically it just leads to less love and more division which I think we have enough of that in the world going on...

I have been down the path on here in the very early days of having it all one sided and being honest.. it was seriously boring!

Its good to have some others who come in with different views

Again I understand where you are coming from yet it only leads us into another question

What are a good set of rules for this place that everyone thinks is fair?

Now some might say. I think a good rule is that Catholics cant share their views here

Other might say no i disagree lol

Can you see where this is heading.. .. we end up in a debate over what goes and what doesnt go.. which basically is just another smaller version of forums threads in general

I have been down the road of having at one time 6 Moderators and I have to say it was a nightmare as I thought great now I can get on and do other work on the site but then i would drop in once a week to find about 50 prvt mgs from people complaining about the heavy handiness of certain moderators

I then had to the job of going through countless threads and seeing if the moderator was abusing his or her moderator rights

In one instance one moderator was, he was warned. HE continued and his moderation was taken away.. he was fine with that for about 1 days then he started to trash talk the forum and how it wouldnt have got in that state had he not had his moderation rights taken away.. he left and trashed talked the forum on another forum.. I cleared it up on that forum and he came back and started again here. until I banned him

What happened then?

I then got 5 pms from people on here as to why I had banned this moderator who a week ago they were pming me about and complaining about

Now I had the job of doing all of the above plus trying to explain the whole story to them..

Of course some understood and some never and left

That in turn meant people asked where they had gone and the saga went on and on until some people started getting nasty and I removed them temporarily to allow them to cool off..

Good choice or bad? Well that seemed bad too as I now got flack from another side of people

As you can see the Snowball had now taken on a life of itself. and One things leads to another and another

It really is a challenge.