Suggestion to deal with trolls?...

[Skyburning]

Hey mods, I'm not sure if it is within your power to do this but on another board I am on (it's a pit bull forum so it's prone to trolling) when you register your account is limited to an "introduction" thread where you have to tell a little about yourself and the mods have to "approve" it for you to get access to the rest of the board. Maybe something like that could work for us?

 

[fallon]

that's a pretty good idea. I'll see if something like that would be possible, thanks

 

[evilbrent]

On the other hand - you want to make it a really low entry-barrier for people to come online and get help.

Personally, if there's any more hassle to joining a new forum than checking my email inbox and clicking on the validation link... ANY more hassle... I'm not interested and I move on.

 

[Skyburning]

I understand that too evilbrent but on the other hand if someone doesnt care enough to be bothered to post an intro how useful will they be?

 

[evilbrent]

I dunno... how useful am I?

I never posted an intro.

 

[Good Wolf]

I've been a mod/admin on a couple forums and I can say without a doubt that this forum some how as a very....very low level of trolls. I assume it is because it is a parenting forum, and becoming a parent typically jolts people into maturity.

I do know that although there is a lot of traffic on the site only a small portion of the people that visit it sign up and most of those people only start one thread and then leave. I've been on here for a while and I think I've only seen a couple 'trolls' and since we have active mods it was dealt with before most of us even saw what happened.

 

[jtee]

I've been a mod/admin on a couple forums and I can say without a doubt that this forum some how as a very....very low level of trolls. I assume it is because it is a parenting forum, and becoming a parent typically jolts people into maturity.

I consider the trolls frequency to be pretty low. On a weekly basis we get people I suspect are taking on a "persona" to get parents to respond to a question/problem. Maybe they are a reporter writing an parenting article, a blogger looking for ideas for parenting blog. Who knows, but because it is harmless, I personally don't care if they want to pretend. Be a guy who wants to be a girl that wants to marry a guy, I don't care.

 

[evilbrent]

it's just, really, the LAMEST form of social jamming that there is...

 

[Ari2]

it's just, really, the LAMEST form of social jamming that there is...

I agree.

I try not to feed the trolls. If a post seems off ["Please help. My 18 year old son has fallen in love with a trained grizzly. I want to support my son and do what's best while still showing my utmost respect for bears. But I'm worried about a 'mixed marriage' - does that make me narrow-minded? My DS says yes. And then there's the problem of cub-baby grandkid hybrids, although I'm not sure if the grizzly is male or female. Not to get too personal, but does anyone know how to tell? Advice needed!"] or goes right for the weird sex angle I don't post in it. I'm also wary of first posts that lay out odd, mind-numbing personal problems, either because I wonder if it is a wind up or if the person will every post here again.

 

[Lissa]

Personally, if there's any more hassle to joining a new forum than checking my email inbox and clicking on the validation link... ANY more hassle... I'm not interested and I move on.

I'm with Brent here. If a forum is going to hassle me, I'm not going to be interested either.

 

[Mindy]

I just think that when someone who has been confirmed as a troll is banned, it should be their IP address that is banned and not their username, otherwise they just keep creating new ones.

 

[Ari2]

I just think that when someone who has been confirmed as a troll is banned, it should be their IP address that is banned and not their username, otherwise they just keep creating new ones.

Great point, Mindy. I know this is done on other boards, and it makes sense to me.

 

[sadinplaid]

I agree.

I try not to feed the trolls. If a post seems off ["Please help. My 18 year old son has fallen in love with a trained grizzly. I want to support my son and do what's best while still showing my utmost respect for bears. But I'm worried about a 'mixed marriage' - does that make me narrow-minded? My DS says yes. And then there's the problem of cub-baby grandkid hybrids, although I'm not sure if the grizzly is male or female. Not to get too personal, but does anyone know how to tell? Advice needed!"] or goes right for the weird sex angle I don't post in it. I'm also wary of first posts that lay out odd, mind-numbing personal problems, either because I wonder if it is a wind up or if the person will every post here again.

I try to stay away from these too. It kills me how so many people get involved with these rediculous posts. (I mean, isn't it obvious that any good parent would respect their child's right to mate with a grizzly?)

 

[.:Kalli Rae:.]

LOL Sadinplaid. Nice.

 

[hwnorth]

first off Im with Brent ...

second ... do you realize that this thread is exactly what the trolls want ? .. take up time on useless matters ...

Heres another question ... Who sets the mandate for what "troll" is ?

The time and effort that would be wasted on this would be better spent simply ignoring them and thinking about intelligent topics to converse

Cheers

 

[jtee]

Heres another question ... Who sets the mandate for what "troll" is ?

Very interesting question. I would like to hear what others think as it relates to this parenting forum.

 

[etceterae]

A troll is false or inflammatory statements (and in this forums, odd and obviously untrue stories like the grizzly one) meant to provoke strong, usually negative emotions and cause a conflict. =] Last year, when I was 14, I was a moderator at another forum. This is what we defined a "troll" as.

 

[hwnorth]

Ari .. first off dont make a mockery of bear back story .. fur in the foreskin is no laughing matter, although I imagine the sex noises are absolutely PRIMAL WOOO HOOO

 

[mmynedshlp]

I use to be a moderater to a forum exactly like this one ( not parenting though)
We had it set up so when the person signed up not only did it record the IP address but put in a sort of cookie. the person could not sign up with another account until writing to the moderater ( the admin and me) the reason to other account. It recorded how many times they tried to make a new account and if it was alot and there excuse was lame we banned them.

I didnt do the download so unfortunately I do not know what it was. You could ask about it in the admin forum for this set-up. Its one of the updates.

The other thing to do is make a trash place its easier to keep evidence for disputes and the moderaters just o move the post or threads to trash. They can be hidden to the public and visible to mods only ( if its not already that way

 

[Kaytee]

when someone is banned the IP is also banned