MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Hi,
we're always keen to hear suggestions for the forum, even if they're not always immediately practical with our humble overworked team. However there is one topic in particular I'm keen to hear from you about, as it should be a nice quick job I can do in my spare time.
To help the moderators we are adding various reports and warning signals to identify suspect troublemakers. You won't get to see these, but I am prepared to take the opportunity to add a label, title, description, etc based on your suggestions, to each user's post or their profile.
For example new, experienced, off-topic, or users who only sell stuff can be made more identifiable. Or a post count for the 3/4 forums, displayed by the name. We could also hierarchically classify you from rookie to big-hitter (joke).
A feedback system is not currently on the table, beyond the current system of posting to threads. Do you have any other suggestions or comments?
Drac - Awzums
Surf-mat - Even more of teh awzummage.
Post counts and experience based labels suck big time as they are a barrier to entry. New members are the lifeblood of the forum.
A label showing how someone uses the forum would maybe allow people to identify trouble makes.
Maybe
Poo-Stirrer = Someone who only posts in chat
Bike bore = some who only posts in bike
What's ebay? = Someone who only sells things
Cheap = Someone who only wants things cheaply
Is that really what you want next to your name Drac ? and some say the mods are power crazy 😉
the seller one would be useful I think and perhaps something that identified people as new ish for the selling as it will probably make users more cautious when buying from them
other labels will probably just stroke our egos tbh
You could lose some of the sarky error messages.
I think that's a pretty dangerous road to go down, asking members of the forum to give their subjective opinion on others. A simple post count and number of days banned would probably be the best option.
Why not just go the whole hog and have Achievements?
[code]* Achievement Unlocked: you posted your first hyperbole! *[/code]
Have you asked cynic-al whether or not this is ok?
Apart from the "size of their hit" most posters info (such as are they just a seller, how many posts, how long a forum user) can be obtained from their profile - so maybe a "sticky" explaining this would solve many of the issues ?
Not having all that guff is one of the nicer things about this forum.
Countdown to a ban hammer would be hilarious though, or a traffic light signal - but am sure lots would jump it. 😀
Is this why someone got "troll" next to their name the other day?
'Slacker ratio' - Working hours in the week dived by the hours spent on STW?
I like that on SoTP you can 'rate' a thread - positive feedback without being specific to user...?
Post counts and experience based labels suck big time as they are a barrier to entry. New members are the lifeblood of the forum.A label showing how someone uses the forum would maybe allow people to identify trouble makes.
I agree. Fortunately I have extensive experience of exploratory multivariate analysis and think I can knock up some decent factors and algorithms. However I think it would be wise to identify recently registered users no matter what.
Slacker ratio
LOL. Economists would weep.
maybe not put it next to their name on each post but put it in their profile so that with one click any other user can see whether the person that they are looking at has been on here ages/only ever sells stuff etc.
almost in the style of an ebay feedback system but less descriptive.
'Slacker ratio' - Working hours in the week dived by the hours spent on STW?
Not a good idea because my colleagues and Mrs Cat look in occasionally 😯
'Schadenfreude' for those that love to take joy in other's misery
'What should I ...' for those that ask about every part of their life on here
Not being funny, but if this si for the mods eyes only, and for their use, why are you asking us?
Oh and did anyone read the title as "types of forum loser"?
BTW I will be gutted if my postscript isn't "Big Hitter" or "Epic Internet Battle Legend".
Can I have "[i]Crocodile Fighter[/i]" please, if it's not already taken?
the graduated bomber scale
Not being funny, but if this si for the mods eyes only, and for their use, why are you asking us?
What the moderators see remains undisclosed.
This is suggestions for public display, if you're interested.
Something generic maybe like: Regular, Old Hat, Young blood, Scammer, etc
What the moderators see remains undisclosed.
The associated mental scars are a burden only they can carry....
"woodpile addict", "big hitter", "insecure tyre shopper", "normal".
Should sort it.
I bid for "genius".
But will settle for "special needs"
The associated mental scars are a burden only they can carry....
The therapy helps.
"Spoon fettler"
bore
superbore
maniac
megalomaniac
troll
supertroll
pedant
lexdysic
stirrer
joker
hand wringer
onanist
narcissist
charmer
smarmer
lurker
permanent resident
t
ubert
Can I have nice but dim?
Sweary racist who can't be particularly bothered if a link he posts gets someone sacked. *
* According to my bannings.
"Hardwood Flooring Specialist" will do, thanks.
Fortunately I have extensive experience of exploratory multivariate analysis and think I can knock up some decent factors and algorithms.
I have the weirdest boner right now.
Tom - Administrator
To help the moderators we are adding various reports and warning signals to identify suspect troublemakers.
Why?
Apart from a count of how many times a user has been banned, warned or reported (info which I'm sure the mods already have), what would be the point?
"Waitrose Addict"
AAMOI - what’s the provenance of the term ‘Big Hitter’ on this forum. When and who came up with that?
Also when’s the next selection process to become a Moderator?
Wot Rusty said though.
Why?
Really? Are the mods / site owners trying their damnest to shut this place down?
If this seems like a harsh reaction, see my previous posts re the withering of mtb-wales...
So have I got this right? The owners want us to suggest a list of tags/ratings that they can attach to our posts/profiles to help categorise and identify us based on the likelihood of us causing 'trouble' but that we cannot see?
Is that right?
Apart from a count of how many times a user has been banned, warned or reported (info which I'm sure the mods already have), what would be the point?
A quick reference makes it easy than trying to remember names and searching their history.
Fair enough, but just put the figures next to each users name when they post, but visible only to mods, obviously.
Subjective categorisation seems a bit off tbh.
So have I got this right? The owners want us to suggest a list of tags/ratings that they can attach to our posts/profiles to help categorise and identify us based on the likelihood of us causing 'trouble' but that we cannot see?Is that right?
No. We want members to suggest names tags for members that everyone can see, the titles that mods will see will be different and undisclosed.
Really? Are the mods / site owners trying their damnest to shut this place down?
No. We're trying to make it a friendly community that it once was.
is "harmless gobshite" taken yet ? 8)
agreed that most of the useful info is avilable on our profiles already, but I always liked "argues" (as in the tag SFB argues) and I loved "troll" next to whassisname yesterday 😆
so
argues
stream-of-consciousness loon
over-sensitive
deluded - Member
AAMOI - what’s the provenance of the term ‘Big Hitter’ on this forum. When and who came up with that?Also when’s the next selection process to become a Moderator?
I first brought it here I think.
If you want to be a mod, you probably shouldn't be one.
No. We're trying to make it a friendly community that it once was.
That's very laudable, and I hope achievable. But a very delicate balancing act to perform...
No. We want members to suggest names tags for members that everyone can see, the titles that mods will see will be different and undisclosed.
And what if the tag that somebody is given upsets the user? As is frequently pointed out on twitter (and you guys do read twitter, don't you?), there are plenty of posters here who are overwhelmingly negative. So what do they get called? Does a premier user get the chance to veto his or her tag?
Or will there be a list of categories?
And what if the tag that somebody is given upsets the user?
Agreed. Do what you like on the back end, but no need in here.
On the Classifieds? Well there I can see the benefit, as it might help cut down on the scammers.
Here - Just have "Member" or "Premium Member". Nothing more, thanks.
'Slacker ratio'
Hello? Anyone call?
😀
No. We want members to suggest names tags for members that everyone can see, the titles that mods will see will be different and undisclosed.
Why have 2 different sets? What's the thinking behind that then?
No. We're trying to make it a friendly community that it once was.
Oh for gods sake when will you lot wake up? The people that post on here haven't changed. Your sensibilities have altered, perhaps for commercial reasons, perhaps others or maybe everyone's just got a little older. This kind of clumsy attempt to filter people will kill this site quicker than any 'rogue' user group.
How about Stasi for the mods?
This is more a matter of opportunity than design. Let me also say I do do work to help the moderators with technical things, which on a forum such as this are probably fairly obvious, and they do a great job of identifying the trolls already. The changes behind the scenes are irrelevant. And these changes are irrelevant to any recent emphases on moderation policy.
not sure what it would add tbh. Anything subjective labelling is just likely to cause upset IMO.
Over time you generally get to work out people's nature and ignore those who argue or get abusive
Sellers can be spotted just by looking at their posting history or a quick google search
Oh for gods sake when will you lot wake up? The people that post on here haven't changed. Your sensibilities have altered, perhaps for commercial reasons, perhaps others or maybe everyone's just got a little older. This kind of clumsy attempt to filter people will kill this site quicker than any 'rogue' user group.
My point exactly
It's not going to attract users to the site though is it?
The forum is a great place because of the diversity of experience and knowledge - some people just need to tune out once in a while as the genuine can get drowned out by the 'white noise' of the big hitters/ social mal-adjusts (delete as appropriate)
I think it'll just create more work for the mods.
We're after all feedback for this, if the general feedback is that's it's not wanted, make the place less unwelcome or upset folks then it may not go ahead. We wanted everyone as members and the community to have a say.
Oh for gods sake when will you lot wake up? The people that post on here haven't changed. Your sensibilities have altered, perhaps for commercial reasons, perhaps others or maybe everyone's just got a little older.
It's both but we do get emails from people saying they're leaving as they don't find it a friendly place anymore, I can't remember getting one from someone saying they were leaving as it over modded.
Tom - AdministratorI agree. Fortunately I have extensive experience of exploratory multivariate analysis and think I can knock up some decent factors and algorithms. However I think it would be wise to identify recently registered users no matter what.
Slacker ratio
LOL. Economists would weep.
Just what the hell does that mean, remember some of us are terminally thick.
cynic-al, then it's you we have to congratulate. No designs on modding just interested.
Klunk - good link. Favourite could be the 'Furious Typer' - few of those on here.
The forum is a great place because of the diversity of experience and knowledge - some people just need to tune out once in a while as the genuine can get drowned out by the 'white noise' of the big hitters/ social mal-adjusts (delete as appropriate)
Describe it well but we want to get rid of the white noise as much as possible, we've had evidence that white noise putting people off and making people leave.
If someone leaves because he or she feels it's over-modded, he or she is less likely to let you know than one who leaves because he or she gets upset easily.
I think it'll just create more work for the mods.
Surely any well run forum needs significant input from the mods anyway. In spite of the big hitters being banished there appear to be a fair few less than savoury comments slipping under the radar.
How about "new" either if under 6 months or 50 posts - that way we might be expected to be extra nice to them unless they obviously are looking for an argument
If you really care (and probably just for mods' consumption) how about some sort of "like" / "dislike" option for posts ? - less of an issue than "report this post" but might give you an idea of how valued a poster is overall (sorry to use him as an example, but TJ would prob have had plenty of likes as well as dislikes and I suppose that may be useful to you in wielding the hammer of ban)
deluded, glad you like it, it was only ever intended to bring humour.
The tags are harmless IMHO and can actually add to the community feel of a forum.
I mod (infrequently now TBH) a music forum that (guessing as I can't find the info on STW) is a fair bit bigger than this one (close to 250k members) and has a similarly diverse mix of characters. It uses only 3 or 4 tags based on post count which gives a decent idea of a member's longevity and/or contribution to the forum without prejudicing judgements on their character.
The mods/admins also 'award' personalised tags as a light-hearted way of recognising certain character traits or momentous forum occasions (mine is 'The Teach' for example) - IMHO this is cohesive rather than divisive as it creates references to shared experiences for the forum members.
slainte 😀 rob
The changes behind the scenes are irrelevant.
No they aren't if you are running a dual system of 'scoring'. Do we also get to choose how the scores are weighted and applied?
And these changes are irrelevant to any recent emphases on moderation policy.
Itchy chin 🙂 If it is in fact true then your timing is spectacularly bad
Edit: Drac - people have been flouncing off here publicly for YEARS AND YEARS. Their reason usually is because it's not like it was.
Surely any well run forum needs significant input from the mods anyway. In spite of the big hitters being banished there appear to be a fair few less than savoury comments slipping under the radar.
It does but it also needs members to report any issues, we don't read eery topic never mind post so they don't always get seen.
If someone leaves because he or she feels it's over-modded, he or she is less likely to let you know than one who leaves because he or she gets upset easily
Surely it's the same thing?
It might be quieter after the recent banfest, but I'm glad to see the back of endless slagging match threads between certain Trolls / Big Hitters. The Chat forum had become more like a prison yard than playground.
😯
(lazy will do)
What sort of labels were you thinking of adding? It treads a fine line between gentle humour and mild institutionalised bullying, particularly if people have labels foisted on them. It might just enrage folk and send them feral, even the basically friendly ones... like rabies 😕
It's both but we do get emails from people saying they're leaving as they don't find it a friendly place anymore, I can't remember getting one from someone saying they were leaving as it over modded
Well I assume you can check vists and see how many leave - what % of those who leave have given that reason? Were they all premier users?
You may just be hearing the loudest [ moaniest] voices and serving them.
Perhaps worth having some input from those who remain as to what makes this place special rather than asking why people leave ask why they stay?
Its a big forum you will not keep everyone happy no matter what you do.
FWIW in light of recent events I will be thinking hard about my renewal when it comes around so as I said you cannot please everyone but only some of us pay for all of this.
A lot of other forums have Post Count and Member Since against the members name. Don't see any harm in that.
The modding of late does seem to have made it a 'safer' place to post. To be honest the nonsense around Big Hitters was putting me off posting as it did seem to be a self proclamation of greatness.
Just keep up the good work modding. I don't see this site as over modded, but I do think it had been under modded for some time.
It's both but we do get emails from people saying they're leaving as they don't find it a friendly place anymore, I can't remember getting one from someone saying they were leaving as it over modded.
That's pretty damning - but it's worth considering you also have a very strong core of users who have been here for longer than they care to remember and generally love the place, but probably don't send you emails saying so. Me for one!
Surely it's the same thing?
Well, no, as I'm sure you realise. 😉
Wot JY said sort of clarifies my position.
[i]It's both but we do get emails from people saying they're leaving as they don't find it a friendly place anymore, I can't remember getting one from someone saying they were leaving as it over modded.[/i]
But people just stop posting rather than send an email to the mods 'asking to leave'.
Harmless
Mostly Harmless
Moderately Harmless
Slightly Harmless
Probably bad for your health
Should have a government advisory on forehead.
No more than 3 units a week
Toxic
Radioactive
Do not open the Trapdoor - Trolls within.
?
Also a date when the members joined would be a good idea next to the user name. This would be to see who the newbies are and maybe "we" would be nice to them as the are not used to some of the bell ends on here. 😀
Also take a look at the mtbr.com forum, they have number of posts listed as well as "rep power" and "rep" colour to identify if other forum people think their posts contain good advise etc.
What the moderators see remains undisclosed.
I'd be careful what you choose doing that. One wrong click from a webdev and the 'hidden' tags are accidentally shown online with [s]hilarious[/s] disastrous consequences.
It does but it also needs members to report any issues, we don't read eery topic never mind post so they don't always get seen.
Which is fair comment and one of the main reasons I stay away as I prefer not to get involved and don't see my job as a forum member as being a moderator. The forum has served me well, but some recent posts have put me off and I don't mean the obvious big hitters. If anything is to be done, it should be done properly.
This is a digression from the OP.
Junkyard - Member
FWIW in light of recent events I will be thinking hard about my renewal when it comes around.
while you're fixing stuff.....
Your card expires before next payment is due. Please edit your payment details.
....maybe the "edit payment details" button might be worth a look or I won't even have to think about it 😕
Well I assume you can check vists and see how many leave - what % of those who leave have given that reason? Were they all premier users?
I can't but admins probably can, we can't tell why people stop visiting unless they tell us so yes if we were only to get feedback from those who left because of the felt unwelcome then it could be seen as biased. But it has happened of late and with other evidence it was decided enough was enough as mentioned in Mark's sticky.
Perhaps worth having some input from those who remain as to what makes this place special rather than asking why people leave ask why they stay?
We can see what makes it's great, there is still a community spirit it lost some but it's still great. People opening up their life problems and the support given we can see this. The massive knowledge it provides on many subject proves this. It's all that which holds it together and still makes it great. The 'big hitters' pointless arguing and trolls started to take over and we needed to step in.
And true you can never please everyone all the time.
I'm sure Mark would love to hear what recent events have made you reconsider keeping up your membership, please contact him so this can be discussed.
There's far too rich a vein of piss-taking here for things like "Like" and "Dislike" buttons. Same for "rep" counts.
We can see what makes it's great, there is still a community spirit it lost some but it's still great. People opening up their life problems and the support given we can see this. The massive knowledge it provides on many subject proves this. It's all that which holds it together and still makes it great. The 'big hitters' pointless arguing and trolls started to take over and we needed to step in.
+1