Dear Geeks,
My thanks go out to everyone who provided feedback, thoughts, suggestions, critiques - even hat recommendations.
I've read. I've digested. I've cogitated.
I believe the best course of action - for the moment at least - is to follow sound medical advice and administer the minimum effective dose of what should hopefully be beneficial medicine. If the dose proves to be insufficiently effective, the dosage can be increased or the medicine can be changed.
But for the moment, let's take small steps...
Banning:
I never wanted the FPG forum to be a "banning" forum. Thankfully, I think we are all nearly in agreement that banning should be (aside from spammers and scammers) a very rare event and a last resort.
New Memberships:
New membership registrations will not be moderated. For each new registration, I receive an email. I look at each new registration and give it the smell test. If it's clearly and obviously a spammer, I ban the user immediately. Obvious spammer registrations are rare. If the registration appears to be a likely spammer, I set that user to be moderated and I see what happens.
The vast majority of new registrations look somewhere between ok and perfectly fine. I take no action on those registrations, which means that a few spammers do and will get through. We can live with that because we have an excellent Spammer Safari team in place. As soon as a post is reported as spam, I receive an email and I delete the spam and ban the user.
Rules:
I am not yet convinced that we need to write specific rules, with the exception of making it clear that multiple accounts are not permitted.
The current rules, which must be agreed to during the registration process, state:
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 FPGeeks Forum reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any content item for any reason.
The current rules cast a very wide net and I'm confident that any lack of civility within the forum can be combatted using them as they stand.
I may be wrong... but let's prove me wrong before venturing down the precarious path of rule writing.
Moderation:
From the relatively small number of abuse reports that I receive, I wonder if members are aware of the "Report Post" icon/link at the bottom of each post. It is an exclamation point enclosed in a small dark triangle.
A post can be reported for any reason, be it spam, trolling, suspected sockpuppetry, incorrect location, rudeness, personal attack or insult, etc.
When a post is reported, I receive an email and I look into the situation. I do not promise to agree with all reports. I do not promise to take immediate action. I don't even promise to take any action when I don't believe action is necessary. But I do look into each reported situation - most of which are reports of spam (which are dealt with immediately).
I am not - yet - convinced that we need moderators. I suggest we all make use of the Report Post icon/link for items that need attention. In very short order we should know whether I am overwhelmed. If I am, we'll find some helpers.
Sock Puppets:
I will change the rules presented during the registration process to make it clear that multiple accounts are forbidden.
If you suspect an account of being a sock puppet, please use the Report Post icon/link.
Trolls:
The number one, most effective tool for dealing with trolls is:
DO NOT engage them. Ever. At all. Period.
Feel free to report trollish behavior via the Report Post icon/link. I'll be happy to look at the situation. But keep in mind that trolls live off any and all types of attention, good or bad. Without attention, they wither. Ignore them.
In Conclusion:
I realize that for those advocating chemotherapy as a cure-all, the above will seem more like "take two aspirins and call me in the morning." And honestly, that's exactly what it is. I am advocating small steps rather than huge change and a "let's see what happens" outlook.
I'm willing to be proven wrong, that stronger medicine really is necessary, but for the moment I believe I'm correct. The people who participate in the FPG forum are a uniquely talented, socially adept, and amazingly witty group which, for the most part, efficiently self-moderates. I can think of no other on-line body of this size that "forums" as well and as nicely as this community.
Eric
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