to praise a member, click on their user name on the left side of their post, a drop down list comes up, where ther is a button for praise member

and does a member ever find out if/when they are praised?

to LaL

and

to Mags too!

I don't think so.....

praise me and lets see

nooo...me...me...me

hey, I asked first

*praises both of you*

Now stop yer yappin.

thank you for the info

that's a cool feature! why isn't it publicised more? and what happens to all the praises?

I can share the love seeing as it's Marilyn

mmm, i guess i will share ....

The praises all get turned into yummy chocolate sweeties and get scoffed by the mods.

Booooooooo............

*scoffs choccy* thanks Welshie!

you dare do that in front of a pregnant woman who has been craving chocolate

erm, this was actually a serious question! -- if I go to the trouble of praising someone, will they ever know?

(Marilyn, you win dibs on my first praise )

sorry, and no I didn't get any notification or anything....

Not at this time, however I would doubt there ever would be a feature that "outs" who praised or reported another member. At this time, the admin and the mods use this tool to gage where we need to be paying a bit more attention.

Thank you for clearing that up Mags.

*runs to Marilyn's name*

This really was an interesting read .. thanks for the post !!!!

I think it would be really interesting to put "BULLY" and "TROLL" buttons by every post .. if a members BULLY or TROLL button gets clicked by X number of members within a certain allotted time period then the forum software places a temporary ban on that members IP and profile.

The reported members posts can then be reviewed by a panel of members that can either rule the post as ...

Unfounded - full posting priveledges restored unconditionally
Minor Bullying - allowed to post freely under a "probation period", any single infraction during that period results in another temporary ban which must be again reviewed by the member panel.
Founded - a permanent IP and Profile ban from utilizing the forum

The bullies will surely flame me for this one .. have fun

CB

In theory this system sounds good, but it doesn't allow for the fact that it would be abused. If someone dislikes what someone else is saying (or dislikes them, period) and wants to get them this temporary suspension, they only need to PM a few of their "friends", ask them to click "troll" or "bully" once each, and then that person gets an automatic temporary ban. There are already groups here who PM one another if they need back up in a thread, so there is a certainty that this would happen to someone they didn't like or had issues with.

I agree. It would turn it into a popularity contest. There are some people who may say the most unpopular things here, but as long as they aren't intentionally causing trouble, they shouldn't be censored. We need all voices to be heard.

I thought about this as well after my post.

The one thing about my suggestion is that it is designed to be the starting blocks of an idea to be discussed upon before implementation.

Consider that if a member abuses the "BULLY" or "TROLL" button by making false accusations and/or is conspiring to temp ban another member without justifiable evidence then the reporting members are PM'ed by the member board that is reviewing the "bully" posts to inform them that their account has been temp banned for 24 hours, also inform them that if it happens again it will be banned for 72 hours, third strike you are out.

This will surely make the members that would make false accusations reconsider before doing it again.

We really do need Bully Police .. these people are one of the main reasons that my wife doesn't post.

CB

The only thing that comes to mind is - we have a whole slew of ways to report issues on the forum. As it stands now, there are written TOS with ranges of responses should they be broken, report/praise tool (which we *do* use), PMs to mods admin, and Report button directly to Captain. Is there a need for additional tools to squelch was is perceived as bully/troll behaviour? Not questioning the request, just truly curious.

For me, knowing the 'praise' and 'report' drop down button will alert you moderators to keep an eye on certain individuals, then I think that's adequate. It would be nice to see a moderator publicly admonish a bully when they are ridiculing someone's post instead of adding anything constructive to the discussion. That would go a long way in keeping them in check, IMO. A simple, "(Name of Person), turn it down a notch," would be great.

I completely agree about the value of seeing the mods do more public admonishments. Unacceptable behavior needs to be called out and a light shown on it. This is one important way for a board to develop and institutionalize its norms of acceptable behavior.

I would like to suggest that there be a revisting of the implementation of the REPORT button. It is the most intuitively obvious "trigger" that can be availed when reading through posts and seeing a concern. To find out that it is not the most effective way to communicate those concerns, (per the mods comments here that only Captain gets those messages, not the mods) seems counterintuitive. I would like to see that button trigger a pop up text box that the member can use to type in their concern and have that text box be forwarded directly to the mods linked to the speciifc post # from where the concern originated. That will allow the mods to see the original posted text and the members annotated commentary regarding their concern, in the context of the flow of posts in that thread. This will allow the mod to determine if any action on their part is warranted.

-Samby

...so after 126 posts, if you have a problem, pm a mod!

Public admonishments are a good idea. It'll help set expectations of what the powers-that-be consider acceptable.

I'd second that.

I third it.

I am in favor of that also.

Not sure what good the "report" button is on here. I reported the same person twice for violations of the TOS and nothing happened. Nice

I "fourth" it...

As I stated earlier on in this very thread, a PM to the moderators often works quicker, simply because we are on VJ more often than the admin, Captain Ewok.

To clarify, again: Mods do not receive any notification from the report button. Please PM us a link of the offending post and we will look into it.

Thanks.

If you don't receive notification, why even have it?

Just to be clear though, Jamie - there are TWO report buttons. The one that will alert the mods is in the drop down menu when you click once over the poster's name, right below the praise button.

the mods don't have access to all the functions of the site, only Captain ewok does... and he is a busy little Ewok and doesn't always have time to get to everything....

if you have a complaint, you should PM, Lal or Mags...


but Mags said they don't receive notification of those reports.... and I think those both are one in the same....

I honestly think that with Yodrak's departure (is that permanent?), we need another moderator or two, just so that LaL and Mags can share their load of responsibility, unless they are cool with how things stand right now.

That would be a good idea.

I nominate Cassie and/or Marilyn! Two very fair and even tempered veterans of VJ!

this is getting a skosh overly micromanaged imo

Ya think? LOL!

Mags,

I think what we are seeing here is that many, many members are speaking out that they do not like that process implementation and they are requesting a change to it. There have been many good suggestions in this thread, we would like to see a proposed NEW process and have that implemented. Thus doing away with the current overlapping and sometimes confusing triggering mechansims - particualy the informal ones such as PMing. How do we get this process design change started and implemented? Do you and the other mods meet with Captain on a regular basis where this can be brought to the board admin atttention as a request from the member community?

Regards,
Samby

So, in the spirit of the majority of the posters on this topic here, I'll start.

LisaD, Your comment is not helpful.

-Samby

To the contrary, what we are seeing here is the board membership majority finally being heard and supported and feeling willing to add their public agreement to the serious issues that exist on this board.

-Samby

Why? it is what we have been told to do...and again a couple of posts up...PM a mod if you have a problem.


So this thread represents the board membership majority now?

I don't know what boards you go on, but every one I have been on has mods that you can report abuse of TOS. OK, so I guess it is a free for all. Do what you want, say what you want.

***I see he either removed his comment or someone else decided to do so.

We're cool.




The report button came before the mods.



Incorrect. You have to PM us to report a member. The drop down box is a separate entity.

Why not? I'm a member here and it's how I feel. It's not disrespectful to anyone.

Yet it's deemed 'not helpful'

Because it doesn't jive with 'the majority of posters on this thread'? Are you only interested in people who agree?

My fave cookie took the words outta my mouth! Both times here!

I nominate me for new mod. I will ban everyone and let God sort it out.

Fair enough, I remove my request.