Banned users...

[Destinkeys]

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but how does hiding away in this obscure little outback the names of those banned and what they are banned for?

Justice is best served in the light of day.

As one who has been banned twice so far, for things that I have seen receive NO public rebuke for, how exactly is my punishment going to help the forum? And likewise, others?

I am SURE that, if a member gets an infraction or a banning, and the POST that caused that infraction is publicly edited (maybe in red, to attract attention!) to point out that it got the infraction, and maybe why, there might be a LOT less bad behavior on the forum. As it stands at the moment, without a public notification of the infraction AT THE PLACE THAT CAUSED IT, not hidden away back here, bad behavior only engenders MORE bad behavior.

If the moderators want to reduce their workload, make their decisions in the light of day. Make them on the forum where the activity IS, not back where no-one comes.

Of course, this has a double-edged sword aspect to it... No longer can one moderator pick and choose his victims. It is going to be easy to see that bad behavior is tolerated in one member, if perhaps that member is expressing a point of view that the moderator agrees with (even if the TONE of that viewpoint is flaming or insulting) while others that the moderator disagrees with get infractions for FAR less egregious language. But that can only be a good thing, can't it?

Moderators are SUPPOSED to do just that, aren't they? Simply 'moderate' the tone of the forum, not impose their own viewpoint...

But if you want to dial down the rhetoric and flaming, insulting and bad behavior, hiding the consequences of that here, where no-one comes is not going to work. After all, it hasn't, has it?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but how does hiding away in this obscure little outback the names of those banned and what they are banned for?

Warnings and infractions are kept private because they are just that: private. They are between the moderator who issues it and the person who receives it. The rest of the forum don't need to know because it doesn't concern them.

No longer can one moderator pick and choose his victims.

This is where you are wrong. Moderators do not have victims, just people that have broken the rules and need to be brought back in line. If you believe someone has broken a rule and the moderators have missed it, don't make threads whining about how the moderators aren't do their jobs properly. Use the report post function to let the moderators know about it. Not only will the moderators be able to fix the problem, but you'll have actually done more good than if you were simply complaining about how it hasn't been done yet. To assume that moderators have "victims" implies that moderators are simply playground bullies going around and targeting the weaker kids, which they are not.

 

[Pupik]

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but how does hiding away in this obscure little outback the names of those banned and what they are banned for?

We used to make no public mention of those who were banned. Sometimes people would ask: "Why was username banned?", so we decided on a log for the names of many banned users.

Justice is best served in the light of day.

Let me remind you: This is not a democracy, it's a private website. The rules are enforced by moderators who do the work of GTPlanet's creator, Jordan. When we have trouble with a member, we do discuss it among the moderators; but this isn't about speeding offenses, code violations, or felonies...it's a website. In a nutshell, the commanding policy above all is that members must obey the house rules or we ban troublemakers from posting on our forum.

As one who has been banned twice so far, for things that I have seen receive NO public rebuke for, how exactly is my punishment going to help the forum? And likewise, others?

Start your own forum, allow 100,000 members, and sit back and enjoy reading the posts that follow. Or even easier, start your own blog and fail to moderate any comments that come in. See how many people will enjoy the mess and chaos of un-moderated posts. Now, take up all the time and energy publicly posting about each one. Each offense should be dealt with privately, or each thread would be derailed and conversation would go nowhere.

I am SURE that, if a member gets an infraction or a banning, and the POST that caused that infraction is publicly edited (maybe in red, to attract attention!) to point out that it got the infraction, and maybe why, there might be a LOT less bad behavior on the forum. As it stands at the moment, without a public notification of the infraction AT THE PLACE THAT CAUSED IT, not hidden away back here, bad behavior only engenders MORE bad behavior.

No, it does not. Occasionally, we may point out to members suggestions like grammar and spelling, but we can't waste public time with the offenses of others. Do you really want to read about every troublesome post, every spammer, scammer, wise-cracker, problem child, illiterate, and doofus...because if so, then maybe you should work harder and try to become a moderator of a website for a while and find out.

Truth is, nobody else cares about your (or any other one member's) offenses; people forget after a day or so and move on with their lives.

If the moderators want to reduce their workload, make their decisions in the light of day. Make them on the forum where the activity IS, not back where no-one comes.

Absolutely not: Then we become OpenCourtPlanet, the place where the pathetic discuss the mundane over the use of a free website. Discussions would be tedious at best. I couldn't imagine a more boring and time-consuming effort.

Of course, this has a double-edged sword aspect to it... No longer can one moderator pick and choose his victims. It is going to be easy to see that bad behavior is tolerated in one member, if perhaps that member is expressing a point of view that the moderator agrees with (even if the TONE of that viewpoint is flaming or insulting) while others that the moderator disagrees with get infractions for FAR less egregious language. But that can only be a good thing, can't it?

We discuss in private all of our warnings, infractions, and infractions together...the 20-30 of us that are active on the forums. Sometimes, although rarely, we do not agree 100%, but any issues that are in a gray area are discussed before judging unfairly.

Moderators are SUPPOSED to do just that, aren't they? Simply 'moderate' the tone of the forum, not impose their own viewpoint...

We do plenty of that behind the scenes. Not terribly sexy, but it gets the job done behind the scenes. Do I need to start a thread that says: "Hey I merged three threads into one!", or "I fixed 20 spelling errors in titles upon user requests", or "Hey, our staff reminded 32 people to stay on topic or pointed out there's a separate forum for that..."? No, it all goes on behind the scenes, with less public attention than even the dullest of threads.

But if you want to dial down the rhetoric and flaming, insulting and bad behavior, hiding the consequences of that here, where no-one comes is not going to work. After all, it hasn't, has it?

I'd say our site is doing well over these past 10 years. More members spend time actually contributing posts and helping others on our site with tips and informative posts, and aren't chiding others with a backhanded comment and dragging thread topics away from their intentions at the slightest mention of disagreement or opinion from yours.

Why not spend a just tenth of your efforts on making some quality posts instead of that many you have just complaining endlessly about the way we run our site? You spend more energy barking up trees than actually catching anything.

We aren't here to put everyone on public trial, and most members want to stick to conversations the core of our forums (which is pretty much anything within acceptable limits) for their time and energy when not playing Gran Turismo, or driving their car, doing something creative, or (gasp!) having a life. Most people contribute to our forums because they want to be appreciated in return, and having a public discussion about everyone's faults and offenses is a huge waste of time in which nobody wins.

Seriously, I get the idea you really do not want to be here, Destinkeys...so let me remind you that nobody's forcing you to stay.

 

[AMCNUT]

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but how does hiding away in this obscure little outback the names of those banned and what they are banned for?

Justice is best served in the light of day.

I think that if the mods decided to publicly flame people for their misdeeds the bitterness and resentment on the part of the receivers of that action would undoubtedly cause many crusades and outcries, bringing down the overall quality of the posts here. Public justice like you envision would embarrass people to the point of defiance, making them want to break more rules just so that they could show the rest of the forum (or at least anyone looking) that they are 'tough' or something....

In all of that, the actual problem at hand would get neglected and lost in the inevitable mods vs. [insert user] wars. When everything is private people are made aware what they did wrong, and they can quietly and shamelessly cease action and everyone can (should?) just move on with their lives without coming under the spotlight of public scrutiny.

Trust me, I love justice as much as the next person, but proportional and tactful responses are truly better than public floggings, methinks.

 

[BigMackAttack]

So... What you're saying is... You don't think you're being punished enough? Kind of... odd. Or you are blaming your bad behavior on the mods not doing this, but thats just kind of ignorant. But I don't think it is number 2.