Infraction

Paul, thanks alot for the info, I wasn't really sure of the power/weight that an infraction carried on the forum.

Just that someone can see that you have been given one and it doesn't seem to go away, even after it expires is enough possible to ruin your credibility with some I would think?

That reminds me of an incident when I was about 11 playing this game with my brother where we stood about 3 or 4 meters apart and threw darts near each others feet. If you moved your feet ie. jumped out the way, you lost. We only played the game twice and of course the inevitable happens and he threw a dart that lodged in my foot. I looked down and saw my white sock rapidly turning red.

I was so shocked that the pain didn't fully register straight away and then I looked up at my bro who was staring back in amazement and concern, wondering what I was going to do. He must have seen a crazed look in my eyes because the next moment he bolted down the stairs and out the house with me in hot pursuit and I chased him up the road wielding a club-hammer Braveheart-syle, screaming obscenities at him. Ahh, those were the days.

Bernard, "For a good time, call Black Hat Cat"

I knew you weren't married Bernard!

Don't worry, Bill's been known to "Kiss and make up" with NcMedia...

...and apparently there was some leg touching.

Somebody calling me?

Paul,

Here is an example I came up with once to deal with a troll who was way out of balance on my own modest forum (not Internet-marketing related). Feel free to use it later if you wish--as, judging from the comments and the effect at the time, it worked well with my public.

A forum is often like a restaurant. If a person claiming he has a right to free speech starts banging on his plate, singing loudly, insulting and goading people at neighboring tables, using a lot of profanity, being generally obnoxious in a loud voice, etc., he spoils the environment for the others.

People usually want to get their nourishment in a friendly setting. When fighting and confusion start, they will stop and look, but they will also stop eating. If it gets really bad, they will leave. If this repeats too often, the only people who will keep coming back are those who like fights, not those who like a good meal. The folks who want to eat will go elsewhere.

So it is in the owner's interest to keep the environment more appropriate for eating and not so much for obnoxious loud-mouths. He keeps the target public he has earned that way.

Ditto for forums.

But, forum-wise, to keep the environment from becoming stifling, I have found that a degree of flexibility is a good way to go. Otherwise, the best and brightest--who get quite passionate and even lose it at times--will leave and not return.

Thus the most satisfactory principle in my view is neither free speech, nor micro-managing members, but instead balance with reasonable traffic cops. Good balance makes for a good environment. And good traffic cops make for good balance.

This seems to be what guides The Warrior forum policies. In fact, it's one of the reasons I come here to study.

On a side note, one of the creative ways I came up with to deal with good folks who have a trolling itch is to embarrass them. I made a section called "The Garbage Pile." When they start going off, I throw offending posts that have crossed the flexibility line into the Garbage Pile and there they stay with the original author's names on them.

And I restrict certain rapid fire posters--those with more contentious opinions than substance--to five posts per 24 hours. These are folks who often start by making 25-30 posts or so a day with a certain degree of snarkiness. This throws the posting levels off balance at my present traffic rates.

Within my context (philosophy), these things worked pretty well at cutting down on bad behavior without running off the sincere and/or brilliant folks. Interestingly enough, I have not had to ban hardly anyone. People who like to be bad seem to get bored and move on when they can't have center stage for someone else's audience.

I'm not sure that these measures would work here, though, since a commercial interest changes things a lot.

So I'm just sayin', not tellin'...

Michael

Tina,

He doesn't have two accounts. He asked to have the name on the one changed. Perfectly legit. And as far as only coming here to sell, I don't recall LD ever pitching anything inappropriately in the discussion forums.

I just think he's got a bad case of gunslinger syndrome. It's not a real positive state, but there are far worse things.


Paul

Yeah, I knew what you were talking about...

If you remember, since I am a "Senior Warrior Member", I should be able to remember things like that, at least until the Alzheimer's starts to kick in...

Caliban, Not how I see it.

There are lots of good reasons for behavior some might consider negative. There is no good reason for what LD Carter does in this forum. He is actively destructive.

I consider that bad, in every strict usage of the word.


Paul