Forum moderation - Page 5

Oli,I too appreciate your hard work keeping this site up.I do have a concern though in respect to what davegaston has just said in regards to a possible hacker now having been supplied this information to access everyones computor.Surely there must be some other cost effective,easier way to do this.I also check out Ed Frowleys Leerburg site and those guys never have this kind of stuff going on.Is it possible to find out what Ed is doing to prevent the nonsense on his site?I personally have had my e-mail address listed from the first day i became a member,why not implement something similar such as  you must be identifiable to post or be a member.Anyway thanks again for the job you do here and good luck for the future of this site.  Domenic

Domenic. et al, in my opinion this is a good start. As Chris Stump said above, certain ISP's such as AOL generate multiple IP addresses due to routing through different servers. The software package Anonymizer will even generate fake e-mail addresses that can be added/deleted at choice, and provide phony IP addresses and will do so at the cost of about $139.00 annually. It is a matter of how much one is willing to pay to remain anonymus. Of course the cheap way to do this is to create ten (10) or so Yahoo or AOL e-mail addresses, but eventually there will be a repeat of the IP address.

My IP address is usually generated by Comcast, but of course I have AOL and Yahoo as backup ISP's in case the Comcast service is temporarily unavailable. Personally I have nothing to hide. I do protect all of my PC's with high-end software but even I am but one (1) step ahead of hackers or scurrillous individuals.

And as far as a hacker obtaining access to your PC through your IP address; that has been possible long, long before the IP addresses were published on this website. A decent firewall programme stops a lot of this, but let's face the reality-if someone really wants access to your PC they WILL gain that access if they are willing to spend enough money and/or place enough time in the effort and you leave your PC connected and unattended for long periods of time.

I have a friend that operates a specialized high-end computer shop, and much of the money he makes he does so from repairing consumer PC's that have been hacked or bored by an internet worm. He states that in 99.999% of his cases, the user DID NOT have current virus and/or firewall protection through their own neglect. The usual reason was "I only check my e-mail and I'm only there for thrity (30) minutes a day or so."

We must all protect ourselves, and yes I do like Ed Frawley's web site because of the required identification and I am registered there as well. It does stop the BS such as occurs on this site.

Oli created this websight with personal integrity in mind, and of course there are those who do not possess that simple human trait! Me? At the moment I see this change as a good step towards the future until the next refinement.

Regards,

Bob-O

Oli: So give me ideas folks...   What should I do with the lurking trolls?

I'm glad to see that you've removed the IP addresses.  IMO, we do not need a fulltime gestapo/moderator on a daily basis. We already had a couple of moderators and self-appointed "guardians of the board" two years ago. That idea was a total disaster because these people apparently chose to use their own standards of what they thought appropriate--rather than those of Oli or of the majority of our forum members.

Geez, we already have enough "police state" boards of this ilk populated by up-tight, power-mogul moderators who consistently discipline members who dare "name" names of people/dogs (some of which may be historically significant) and take delight in banning and disciplining members for slight infractions as being "off topic".

To me,  much of the beauty of this site lies in its lack of formal moderation. As I stated previously, the only poster that I truly felt offensive was the alias "uglydog" with his outrageous racist propaganda.

As for as dealing with the majority of trolls, just don't feed them!

We all have different standards of propriety. If this board has lost members and some of its international flavor, we can probably attribute these changes to the influx of members who choose to use a public forum as a "support group" to air their "dirty linen" and life's continuing melodramas, crises, and vendettas--most of which have little to do with the GSD, training, titling, trials, breeding, genetics, diet, veterinary issues, breed shows, the breed standard, etc. 

Oli, you have done a truly spectacular job with site--making it the envy of the internet. Keep up the good work!  

Oli,

I've been using forums of various types for nearly a decade and the best way to control a forum is with assigned moderators similar to what is done at leerburg and the germanshepherds.com forums. Moderator status can be assigned to long term  trusted members who agree to regulate the forum in accordance with the current TOS (terms of service).

Both of the forums mentioned above by the way are powered by UBB.threads and can be easily integrated into your current content. There are many other benefits to using this setup. Here is the link... http://www.ubbcentral.com/

Good luck and thanks for all the hard work Oli.

Oli, If you assign moderators I sincerely hope this board is never modeled after Leerburg.  There is an agenda on that board (right way, wrong way, Leerburg way).  That's the problem with mods - look at the big deal certain people have made of pictures of tied dogs.  Opinions are just that, opinions and I don't want to see this board run by some power happy moderators  "opinion" . 

Oli, I think you do a fine job and have good judgment on what should and should not be moderated.

Please no moderators. This forum is being invaded by prudish whiners. If someone gets offended they need to just get over it and quite crying about it.

Sue, I wasn't saying that it should be modeled after leerburg but just giving examples of the standard internet model for forums. I have seen several people here who are pretty balanced in viewpoint and have been here quite some time and would most likely make acceptable moderators. A moderator just has to follow the TOS, different opinions and disagreements are completely acceptable. Due to the fairly anonymous nature of the internet moderators are a necessity.

Say for example somebody popped in here and made criminal accusations about you and revealed personal information about you? A good moderator would stop this right away. This is a matter for law enforcement and these forums are not the theatre for this type of unproven accusation.

Say someone posted personal photos of you here?

Get my drift?

Here is a link to the pedigree TOS ... http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/terms_of_service.html

It seems good points can be made for moderating and for not moderating this site. Ulitmately it's up to Oli to decide which direction he wants to go. 

GARD I sort of take offense to the suggestion that those of us who don't appreciate vulgar post are prudish whiners. I wouldn't refer to those who like them as uncouth bastards. Let's just say that we are all adults and moderation should not be necessary.

I agree. But everyone has there own perception of what is "offensive" who is to say what ans should be moderated?

If you have nude pics, porn, or pics of a face in the place of a woman's vagina, obviously that needs to be moderated.

Someone who says F-you or what most find as humourous sexual innuendo; people need to get over themselves.

The amount of moderation right now is just fine. Trolls can only live if someone feeds them.