Special Elite Forum Idea?

MmeduKrue wrote: Hi all! I confess it took a long time until I understood what a report button is... I asked my favorite translation program (named leo) and he spat out a lot of different meanings...  @Sherrie: Thank you for your warm welcome! @Karen: I understand these misbehaving people are a pain in the neck for you. And you are absolutely right thinking about a solution getting rid of these (insert a really dirty,bad word of your choice) people. But please don`t forget this board helps people all over the world to get information about our favorite theme "extensions" and we newbies are thankful  to get competent advice. Here in Germany we have a board where people use to discuss about hair and sometimes there is a topic about extensions,  but people are not willingly to share their know-how.And every few days appears someone who posts incredible insulting things about people wearing extensions.... It seems as if there is no mod controlling the posts. But it exists a "blacklist-button". Every user is able to supress postings from people he dislike. And if the community stick together and don`t read annoying posts it means for trolls:"No feedback, no fun!"  Imagine, I read a lot of posts at HairBoutique.com and I thought: "Whow, it is such a friendly board - compared to my favorite german board- but now I understand it is your hard work to keep the threads "clean".  I don`t know a solution for this problem, but all I know is there are few people who misbehave but a lot of people who are glad and thankful this community exists. One stinky person gives a deeper impression than ten friendly people... Hmm...Have a nice day everybody!!!

Hi MmeduKrue,

If I didn't welcome you...my apologies.  Welcome to HairTalk.

Thanks for your feedback.  I am not sure there is really a solution to misbehaving people, especially as long as they can be virtually anonymous, but I believe in offering people the opportunity to give their feedback..which is why I asked the question of the board.  I am perfectly fine with keeping things exactly the way that they are and wouldn't change anything unless the majority wanted to do so. 

I do understand that no matter how hard we try to make things work as well as possible, there are always flies that somehow land in the ointment.  :-) 

Thanks for taking the time to express your thoughts.

Karen

Hi Mocha,

It's OK to just type "troll" or "27th flagrant asshole ad"  :-)

It doesn't have to be a long description.  Whatever is easiest for everyone.  :-)

Karen

Bryan wrote: karen i have a question (and this may be a dumb one) but if i report someone exactly who sees the report?

Hi Bryan,

Only I see the report on this board since I am logged as the Mod for this forum.  The report comes to me and it is private.  No one else sees it.  It is a free form field and it allows you to paste in the post in question and then make a comment like "inappropriate sticky" or please check the IP of this person since they are attacking people or whatever you want to say.

The Reports are never ever published and no one ever knows who is reporting what...except me...and even with torture I don't tell.  Not even for chocolate.  :-)

Thank you Marie.

I appreciate your support and appreciate everyone who visits helping me to moderate the board by sending reports. 

Best wishes,

Karen

Hi Sherrie

Thanks for your post.

Unfortunately throughout our long history of HairTalk (we have been here since 1997) we have experienced all sorts of problems.  You name it...it has happened.  At any rate, we used to have mods as "volunteer" only and that really did not work very well.  Some mods would just suddenly disappear.  Others would have a heavy hand and hack and slash posts that might have been OK but the mod had a problem with someone.

Needless to say, we have been through it all.  The HairTalk boards were almost closed for good close to 2 years ago because of problems with trolls, hackers, mischief posters...etc.,  At that point in time we had an entire groups of voluntary moderators who would post on their boards.  Dave Decker who does the Long Hair Boards was part of that group and Dave does an amazing job.  However, Dave has a life and while he can check often, it is not his main job.  So he helps but the HB Mod Team also backs him up.

We also had an incident where the former moderator of 360 Waves decided to go off and start his own web site and compete with HairTalk and proceeded to try and delete ALL the posts from the HairTalk forum that we created and paid for.  That was a major disaster and that forum was permanently locked to prevent the destruction of the boards.

So while it is nice in theory to expect someone to be a moderator and volunteer their time...in practice it has never worked very well here at HairTalk.  One of our other moderators for the Short Hair Board volunteered to start the thread and then went AWOL after a few months w/out telling anyone and the board went temporarily to the trolls.

I take this business very seriously.  I am the 100% owner of HairBoutique.com having started the company in 1997 with $1,000 of my own money.  I work 7 days a week - 20 hours a day.  Even though I may not be posting all the time...and may seem MIA...I always read the boards every night before I go to bed and in the morning before I take my shower  (eeeehhhhh).

What would help the most is for people on this board to click on the Report button when they are unsure about any post or poster and I will immediately look into it if I have not already done so.

Recently when I went through a major personal crisis I still made time to read the boards at least twice a day.  Even on days that I did not go to work...I still read the boards. So I do check this board...as well as all the others...every single day.

Thanks,
Karen

AfroPuffs wrote: I don't like the idea of a special elite forum either.  It excludes people who really need advice and help. Karen, why are you so against the idea of having a moderator or two?  It's been suggested several times.  Someone who's on this board all the time can easily delete those posts minutes after their posted and stop the fury before it even starts.

I am not against having moderators.  In fact, Hairboutique.com has a group of mods that we pay to watch the boards.  There are 8 people besides myself and Jeff that constantly watch all the boards.  So I don't understand your comment about me being against moderators. 

I personally moderate this board on a constant basis...banning people when appropriate and editing posts.  If someone sends a Report...from this board...I am the one that gets it and acts on it as quickly as I receive it...unless I am asleep.

There have actually been a lot of posts that many of you have not seen because I deleted them the minute I found them.  There have also been a lot of bmails to me from members that I have worked with to remove problem posters.

I am not advocating that we do a separate forum.  I was just looking for a way to make things better.  Which is why I asked for feedback from everyone.

Karen