Over the last 2 or 3 months the forum has seen an ever increasing number of anonymous posts and we have reached a situation where despite banning IPs, deletions and editing they account for what even I find an unacceptable percentage of the posts.
The common factor in the majority (not all) of anonymous posts is negativity and in my opinion many have been deliberately inflammatory inciting registered users into exchanges of posts which all too often are walking the thin line between acceptance and censorship.Whilst negative posts of themselves are not an issue the fact that so many making them want to do so from a position of relative anonymity is and so too is the goading of regular posters into what I regard an exchange of posts which are on the censorship borderline.
This is not the sort of Forum I want to run and if WUFF is to continue with me at the helm the current situation has to change.
I have said on many occasions that I do not want to run a registration only board but as a last ditch measure I am actively considering going against my beliefs and making the forum registration only.I do not believe that this would be much of a barrier to the more determined anonymous posters, who I believe are mischief makers, but hopefully it would reduce the volume.However, if I do make the board registration only and this fails to resolve the issues then a new moderator will have to be found or regretavbly the Forum will cease to exist.
-- Edited by bruno on Sunday 11th of October 2009 02:33:44 PM
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
My dear Bruno, it is with much concern that I find myself reading your posting. I've only spoke with you on a couple of occasions and you seem quite level headed. So I have assumed that your posting has been thought through. As someone that visits this forum and posts my thoughts, I have found it a fantastic way to enlighten and brighten my time during the day/night. Like anything that is successful there will be challenging times which can create negativity amongst those that try their very best to keep it running. What I would like to say is this... You are your own man and as such make your own decisions. But as someone who has joined this forum only a couple of months ago I would like to point out that without this forum I would not be as informed about the team I support and I would not have had the pleasure of meeting with others.
I understand your frustration Bruno. I haven't commented on the forum all week because of these silly tit-for-tat posts. But I've got an idea that might be too obvious to work. Why don't we ALL just agree to IGNORE any anonymous postings? The annoying moosh will hopefully just get bored and stop it.
Bruno, it would be a great shame it the forum were to be discontinued. The official website is often updated quite infrequently and the forum is often a useful point of reference for what is happening at the club. I too believe that the best way for any anonymous posts containing abuse or personal attacks to be dealt with is for them to be totally ignored by everyone.
I appreciate the support and can only say that I too believe that it would be a great shame were the Forum to be discontinued and it is the last thing I want to see but I really cannot/am not prepared to invest more of my time than I already invest in monitoring the forum. In the last month or so I have had to delete more posts, edit more posts and ban more IP's than at any time since JgFc handed the forum over to me in April 2006 and this cannot continue.
Several people have suggested ignoring the posts made I would suggest by mischief makers, but unfortunately this can be difficult to achieve in the heat of the moment. Albeit reluctantly I have come to accept that requiring registration before posting looks like the only way of tackling the problem though it will shut the door on the casual visitor expressing their opinion. I will be discussing this in the next few days and implementing thereafter. Let's hope it works.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
I've never seen a problem with registration. I have to do that on every other forum I've posted on, so this forum shouldn't be any different. It will get rid of most of the anonymous posters and will make reading posts here a more enjoyable experience for all. Of course there will always be some mentally ill individuals without the ability to reason, that will still post nonsense, but those few we can definitely IGNORE :)
Sorry to hear that the number of anonymous negative posters is taking it's toll on you, but they really aren't worth getting stressed about.
Bruno, you have to do registration, I understand it's against what you believe in, but these days, if people see a free ticket to abuse, they will. It happens everywhere mate.
I forgot to add earlier that now the Dover game is out of the way, most of this anonymous posting, and the mud slinging responses some couldn't help themselves with, should disappear now.
Well done Bruno - I think it was the only option. You can't just ignore some postings - if they are abusive to individuals, racist etc they have to be deleted. We can see that Bruno has had to do that in the past.
I have posted on this board for many years now. When I started there were only a few people who came on here, now it is really well used. I am afraid that the difficult and obnoxiuos posters are actually a compliment to the success of the board and how well Bruno has run it.
It is also interesting how we spend time working out at games who is who . There is no doubt that this message board has meant that people are talking to each other at games and they would not have done so without the board.
One possible solution, and I am not offering, are you able to have more than one moderator? Sharing the load may help.
One possible solution, and I am not offering, are you able to have more than one moderator? Sharing the load may help.
It is possible for me to appoint another moderator and it was something I considered in the early days of the forum. The only issue is that there needs to be some consistency in the moderation and any joint moderator would therefore have to be broadly of the same views as me regarding where the line is drawn.
In the normal run of things there is rarely a problem unless I happen to be away from Welling and I've always managed to cover this and provided registration gets rid of the problems the forum has experiencing things will be OK.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
How will the registration work for us already members of the forum, and when will it start?
The requirement to register before posting started yesterday. Those already registered should notice no difference but if they do they should PM me.
Unregistered users can read the threads on the forum but cannot post unless they register. This obviously impacts on the casual visitor to the forum who may want to respond to a particular post but that is the price which has to be paid as a result of the increasing number of unacceptable posts from unregistered users.
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YOUTH are the future
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"The worst thing you can do is make a committment and not meet it and I understand that." Barrie Hobbins 14 August 2010
bruno quite clearly registration is working you made the right decision keep up the good work hope band night is a hit and everyone enjoys the evening shallot
As discussed on Friday night Bruno, the amount of time that you spend on the admin side of the forum is a tribute to you. I and I'm sure. other members of this forum, applaud the good work that you do and long may it continue, especially without the futile, personal attacks on other folk on here.
