As I stated before, this is not going to be a discussion of specific members of this forum. If you are looking for that then sorry, you will be disappointed. Why haven't you responded to this sooner? Yesterday, myself and others were on the road visiting client sites. I was personally in Wendell, Clayton three times and Smithfield twice and wasn't back in my office until close to 11pm. After eating and cleaning up this thread it was back to answering new service tickets, which has continued this morning and afternoon. Would have liked to have responded sooner but hope you will understand we had other matters to handle first. What are the rules here for posting? Let's start with the Forum Rules which everyone who has signed up here has agreed to: Although the administrators and moderators of 4042.com Forums will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of 4042.com Forums, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message. By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws. The owners of 4042.com Forums reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason. In order to register, you have to confirm that "I have read, and agree to abide by the 4042.com Forums rules." In addition, there is a forum area entitled "READ ME FIRST" where the following additional guidelines are posted: Come on in! Welcome to the 4042.com Discussion Group. This area is provided for community opinion and views..an open forum for discussion. 4042.com is not responsible for the content of any postings made here. Please use this area responsibly...it is a family oriented resource and we want to keep it that way. Thanks! Posting Guidelines for 4042.com Discussion Board You can voice just about any opinion you want here, as long as you can do it without using all those well known "cuss words" or making vulgar statements you wouldn't make in front of your mother or kids. If that's too vague, here's some guidelines: 1. Posts made here that contain "swearing" will be deleted. (We used to edit them but that is too time consuming. They will simply be removed.) That *includes* posts that contain such words spelled out with "@" or "$", etc in strategic positions. They will be deleted. Offenders may also have their accounts removed without any additional warning. 2. Express your opinion on any topic you would like to - politics, abortion, homosexuality, war, peace, the economy...you name it! But do so with some sense of civility...any topic can be discussed without dipping into the sleaze bucket. 3. Messages posted here in the 4042.com Discussion Group that are "borderline" with our guidelines are much more likely to be left on the board when they are posted with a valid e-mail address. In fact, if you feel the need to REALLY exercise your 1st Amendmant Rights and post a message here which contains swearing and vulgar, outrageous language, please sign it with a real e-mail address, your name and phone number. After all, anyone feeling the need to do that should have no problem identifying themselves to the community, right? (If not, then such postings will be considered as "graffiti" and will be removed promptly.) 4. Those that are obviously "flamers" who never add anything of particular value here, and are just name callers will probably be removed depending on how annoyed the Webmaster happens to be at the time. 5. To those who ANSWER flamers and perpetuate the inane posts...JUST SAY NO!! Don't respond to those types of messages. When you do, THEY WIN! Annoying, name calling posts of no discussion value will be removed....we have other uses for the disk space. 6. Postings concerning business "opportunities", advertisements for products or services, multi-level marketing, etc. should be posted in the 4042.com FREE Classifieds - not in the Discussion Group. http://www.4042.com/4042forums/showthread.php?t=8256 What happens when the rules/guidelines are broken? What are bans? Due to the volume of posts each day, it isn't possible for us to read each one (as stated in the original forum rules). Typically it is reviewed a couple of times a day and we also act on posts that have been reported by others as being objectionable. All reported posts are reviewed, although possibly not as quickly as some would like. If they meet the guidelines that have been spelled out, then the post will stay. If it doesn't then it will likely be deleted. That can also include other posts that quoted the offending message, or commented on it. No, we don't spend much time editing posts to bring them into compliance. A prime example of this. Even with word censors, the forum rules agreement and the guidelines statement, some will go out of their way to try to insert "cussing" or obscene references into their posts. Then someone else will quote that post and add their own comment. All related posts are removed in this case. First offenders may just have their posts removed with the belief on our part that they can figure out it was removed for obvious reasons. This actually happens a lot and most do not repeat the action. It it persists, then likely an infraction is issued to the member in the form of a warning. A warning is just that - a reminder that the posting did not meet our guidelines and please don't do it again. If it continues, then the next level is a temporary ban. Over the years on these forums, those temporary bans have ranged from 1 - 10 days. When an account is "banned" the vBulletin system (software that runs these forums) automatically removes the user from the Member List and also places "Banned" under their username on all past posts. A banned user cannot access the areas of the forums, but if they attempt to login they will show in the Current Active Users list at the bottom of the forums homepage. When the ban period is reached, the system again automatically adds the user back to the Member List and the account is fully active again. In the event that warnings/temporary bans continue to be ignored or a user escalates bad behavior, then the decision is made to delete the account. When that occurs, there is no way to login under that name, the vBulletin systems moves all the posts that are in the system to "guest" status and places the "n/a" under their post count. For all intents and purposes that account is no longer active and, in some cases, we will later go back and remove all the remaining posts from the system during database maintenance. But if someone is banned or their account is removed, they could just signup under a new account, right? Correct. The vBulletin system is configured so that it will NOT allow multiple accounts associated with the same e-mail address that already exists in the system. However, obtaining another registration address isn't difficult. But can't you block their IP number? This is thrown around a lot so lets cover all the angles. Let's say user "JoCo Person" uses Road Runner service or Sprint DSL. They constantly break guidelines and their account is removed. Sure, we can look at their past posts and determine the IP they are using, and also block it. Then the next time their modem is reset and they get a new IP, that block doesn't work. Let's say "JoCo Person" works for a business and they have a static IP (doesn't change). If we block that, we may also be blocking others at that business who use the very same IP. So IP blocking isn't the magic wand that some seem to believe it is. Then what can you do about somebody who has broken the posting rules, had their account removed, and then comes back under a different name? The same thing we have done in the past. We watch and wait. Either the poster changes their ways or they continue with more of the same. If they follow the guidelines with their postings and other forum members are interacting with them, then there really is no other action for us to take. If the forum community does NOT approve of the new account, then they have the option to not respond to them in the threads. That's a pretty powerful option considering anybody posting here is likely looking for conversation. Talking to yourself gets pretty old pretty quick. If, under the new account, the poster continues their old ways and is creating messages that don't meet the guidelines and attempting to cause futher issues, then the same line of warnings, temporary bans and account removal would again come into play. In the past, we've seen both scenarios occur. Some have returned and are still contributing memembers today. Others have taken offense to their posts being removed, accounts removed, etc. and have resorted to escalating the issue and directing personal attacks to the admins, which results in an immediate account shutdown. I'm sure that there are those who may have disagreement with the system, and can understand that. As with any system it has it's flaws. Considering any new member sign up as having a "clean bill of health" until they prove otherwise has been the way these forums have operated till now. I'm all ears to anyone who would like to suggest improvements. The timbre of this site and these forums isn't going to please everyone. I've said often that it's a "big web out there" and we hope that if you aren't gaining from visiting 4042.com that you will find other sites that are more to your liking. We appreciate the time you may spend here. Thanks! 8)
so, even though a member has had his account deleted, which according the above post occurs only after repeated warnings and temporary bans, that member can still just sign up for another account literally hours later and all is forgiven, the slate wiped clean, as if it never happened? that's disappointing.
4. Those that are obviously "flamers" who never add anything of particular value here, and are just name callers will probably be removed depending on how annoyed the Webmaster happens to be at the time. This is my only beef I guess. I think any personal agenda's, opinions, grievances, disagreements that the webmaster has with a member will be final decision maker of how the member account will be handled. Understanding that it is YOUR website, but I cannot agree with the inability to be fair across the board. It is nice to know however, that if we get in trouble as long as we grovel, beg or kiss arse enough we will be allowed to register under a new name. Please let it be known that a certain NEW user will be back to his OLD ways within no time. Calling people names, picking on those he considers beneath him and eventually losing his marbles again.
well when i got banned for a day, i got no previous warning and i could not get back on, even with a new name until the ban was lifted.
While I'm not "web savey" as Ken, Nevi, or webbie. I still call BS (as stated in a earlier post) about not being able to block certain users. I know we do it at work, I have even done it myself to block certain "spammers" and don't have issues. It all comes down to how diligent/leinient (read lazy)you want to be. Craig
depending on how annoyed the Webmaster happens to be at the time. I think that was put in there for humor. I agree that Clif should not be allowed back at all, he has insulted many people on this board. I also think it won't be long until his true colors are shown. A good point is to not respond to any of his posts no matter what he says. This is a very informative site and I will still come here, I am not going to let one persons rudeness stop me from coming. I will also go to the other web site and not be stopped because of someones bad behavior. They are both good sites. I have personally met Ken and think he is a very nice person as far as Clif I have no desire to meet him. This is just my opinion.
What is the "other site"? Could you please pm me if you don't want to post. Thanks! I'm not able to frequent here that often, but I appreciate the assistance from members and their opinions when I need area services and businesses.
did ya get it girl? as for this site and the other site, i have every intention of of staying on both, this site has been my friend since 2000 when i moved down here not knowing a single soul and it has helped me immensely over the years and i have met some wonderful friends here. i honestly do not believe there is a competition between the two, they are so totally different. As for Clif, yes he will again show his true colors as we have seen happen in the past and be banned again but with technology the way it is today and all, i know i am not an internet genius, but i find it hard to believe it would be possible to block someone completely.
Thanks all! With some creative decoding (and an email) I got it figured out. Thanks! I dont plan on going anywhere either, but when things are slow I like to browse around other places.
