Moderators, Chad,
Can you guys please dial it up a bit with the moderation and banning. I don’t need a histogram to see that activity has fallen off a cliff in the watercooler forum and the content here just sucks anymore. I finally did the unthinkable today and got a WSO account because I’m at my limit with reading gramatically challenged troll posts. They’ve successfully made the WSO frathouse an appetizing option, so there’s that.
Well, I guess I took too long writing my post. But, three threads in a few minutes saying we need to do something about these trolls.
Come on Chad. Let’s light this candle.
Woah buddy, think of your family before you do anything crazy.
Otherwise, agree 100% with your post.
To be fair, your title was the best by far
Yes, please ban this idiot.
Come on now. Swan can be a bit volatile at times, but I wouldn’t call him an idiot.
Haha, I was talking about the person he quoted.
Holy crap, these posters are like the Sea Peoples!
I don’t think we’ve ever banned anyone for just being boring and stupid and inane. Usually there’s something more serious. Banning doesn’t seem like the right response here, at least not as a first measure.
Is it just one person… it seems like there are a bunch?
I vote no. I come here to read stupid and inane things. I am concerned that standards will rise.
I think you guys are too diplomatic in your banning. For long term posters, I can see the need to work with them and take a more measured approach. But these random users with 1 posts should be a much quicker process.
If they’re clearly advertisers, then they get the boot pronto.
If they’re just naive and/or dumb and/or childish, then we give them a little time to see if they can figure out and adapt to standards here. It’s hard to know at the start if they’re malicious or if they are just young and clueless.
We’ll often send a PM to give them a hint on where they are going wrong. If they can’t figure it out after a little bit, then one can boot them.
And remember that banning is not the only tool available. Moderators can delete posts, edit posts, delete threads, and lock threads (though I haven’t quite figured out when locking would be the best choice). I’d also like to have something closer to a time out or throttle tool, but I don’t control the technology choices and the decisions about that.
Good feedback. Thank you and the other mods for having a collective level head.
This is the second time today I’ve been called level-headed.
The world as we know it has ceased to exist.
Go talk to your wife for 5 minutes, I’m sure she’ll set the world straight again.
IP banning is not a perfect solution but it will be more of a deterrant than just banning. We will start using this feature more to prevent the whack-a-mole nature of these trolls. We will also take into account past participation and account life before taking action. Someone with a new account posting garbage may not receive any warnings about a ban. If you’ve been contributing for a long time, we will most likely contact you about the issue before banning.
Amen!
Thanks Chad.
You’re the man, Chad!
This.
If a guy shows up one day and his first post is in the Water Cooler, and it’s something like “does anybody get their ass crack waxed because i am teacher and students are always showing me their butts and i want to show them how bald crack look. Sincerely need your advices”, then you probably shouldn’t have to think too long.
Excerrent