Forum Moderators: rogerd
But, they are out of control. I have 2 moderators besides myself dealing with most of the issues. The only thing still happening is swapping of copyrighted material. I tried to tell them not to do it, but they pretty much told me that is was none of my business and to stay out of it. Their reasoning is that they are not using the board to actually send the material to each other... they are just using it to swap contact information, then swapping on their own time, with their own email programs.
Help, please, any suggestions are quite welcome.
If you are getting posts of the type "send me your email address and I'll send you an MP3", then you should consider rules forbidding "email me" type posts or posts which are seeking private conversation away from the forum. You might need to disallow commercial solicitation in your TOS as well.
Their reasoning is that they are not using the board to actually send the material to each other... they are just using it to swap contact information, then swapping on their own time, with their own email programs.
Jim
In fact, if you push too far into that territory, you could end up shooting yourself in the foot as you are implicitly suggesting that you hold some kind of responsibility in that area.
Perhaps I should add that none of this amounts to anything even vaguely resembling legal advice - for that, you will need to talk to a competent lawyer. :)
"XXXX site is not liable for the actions of its members outside of the board"
"XXX site does not promote file or pattern sharing nor condones such activities".
etc etc
told me that is was none of my business and to stay out of it.
Chutzpah! That's the only word I could think of that would be appropriate here. :)
What nerve these members have! This is your forum and you're letting them tell you what is and is not your business?
Help, please, any suggestions are quite welcome.
If you do not want people discussing certain topics then you need to set the tone, lay down the law, and tell them if they don't like it to find another forum.
On my forums discussing how to violate copyrights would be considered conspiracy to commit a crime and I would not stand for it even if the transaction takes place away from the forum.
My TOS makes my stance very clear. On certain forums within the site the Charter makes my stance even more clear.
Good luck to you. Running a successful forum is tough work. Please don't make it harder on yourself by letting your members tell you how to run the place. Suggestions should be welcomed. Demands should be met with the delete account key. :)
It is usually enough trouble enforcing conduct on your own forum, but when it comes to what members do away from your site, you are probably over-reaching yourself.
"send me your email address and I'll send you an MP3"
About Napster and the like... I thought about this too. But, encyclo is right... I'm not encouraging anything and actually never thought that this would ever become an issue, it never crossed my mind when I started the board.
I like what netchicken1 said, throw a disclaimer out there and forget it. Hmm... that's one idea... maybe the best one.
This is your forum and you're letting them tell you what is and is not your business?
If you do not want people discussing certain topics then you need to set the tone, lay down the law, and tell them if they don't like it to find another forum.
My TOS makes my stance very clear.
Mine's the only forum on this topic.
The TOS for WW is a great place to start. I've used a few of the terms for my own forum, especially this one:
8. Links to adult content, pages with links to adult content, near adult content (including model and swimsuit sites), or messages describing anything against the law will be removed as soon as possible. Any discussion of those are off topic.
Don't be mean about it. But do be strict. Good luck to you. As I stated earlier running a successful forum is not an easy job.
I now tell all my clients to NOT have forums or mailing lists or any other area where members can chat (like a guestbook or chat room) unless they want to fork over mega bucks to the moderator(s) because it often results in hours of reading, editing, and deleting posts and hours of writing emails and receiving hate letters from irate idiots.
One of the most senior members got on and posted about the new "rules". She pretty much summarized everything I was afraid to blatantly tell them(my "rules" were a little more vague). I think they will all listen to her, things are looking better.
I would suggest you should have 3- 4 lady mod on your forum to get control them.
Again, suggestions are very welcome!
P.S. Hire them is not an option at this time. One of the current moderators is an employee of mine and the time he's using on the board is already stretching things.
Because I don't know anything about the subject of this forum, my mods are also a major source of technical input regarding where posts belong, and when it's time to create new subcategories- stuff like that.
I've been training them slowly and they're starting to catch on. I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll be able to trust them with the the heavy lifting.
So I posted his post profile in our private forum and asked them all to review it and tell me if he was being helpful or promotional. I could have taken action and told them about it later, but it was more instructive to walk them through it, show them the PM I sent the spammer, etc., narrating everything I was going to do so that they could follow it, discuss it, and learn from it.
They're probably still unconfident at this point, but I'm sure they're picking it up. That's why I said they'll prolly be ready by the end of the year.
I'm still learning!
Takes one to know one, MB... ;)
I haven't found any new moderators yet, but that's okay, I don't need the extras right now anymore. Everyone I asked said no! Contrary to what was mentioned in this thread, my members do not want the responsibility of being a moderator. They are too busy, don't think they could handle it, it seems like too much work, think we're doing fine without them... the "excuses" go on and on. That's okay, with all the advice I've gotten, I've bought myself some time finding new mods.
One more time, I'll say, "thanks!".
