I have taken the advice of several of the members, and deleted the poll. I will now try and better explain the limitations of the forum that the moderators must work in.
The moderators don?t have the ability to block peoples ISP addresses. As far as I know the forum does have this capability but Chad (the forum Owner) is the only individual able to use this functionality. This would be the best solution, but Chad has been MIA for several weeks now.
The forum could become members only. This would mean that to view or make posts you would need to be a member. With the forum set up in this way, the moderators can prohibit members from entering/posting in all or parts of the forum. If members act in an unacceptable way then they could be blocked. If the open up a new account and post that account can be blocked also. The hope being that the user would eventually tire of opening new accounts.
Jail house style lock down. It is within the moderator?s power to set up the forums, in such a way that every post/reply is moderated before it is viewable by members.
How the moderators proceed is up to the members, and we are open to suggestions. If the members would like a petition could be set up, and sent to Chad asking him to block the ISP address of the rouge member.
If the offending member makes another rogue post, the forum will be going on jail style lock down.
With regards to harassing e-mails, I have learned that if some members continue to receive harassing e-mails through this forum, or through the members personal e-mail account, that criminal harassment charges will be filed with the appropriate authorities. If these legal actions proceed I will be adding my name to the plaintive list, because just the other day I received an e-mail calling me the other name for a donkey.
But no matter what the members harassing disruptive actions must end!!
I don’t read this forum very often so I don’t feel at all qualified to speak about it, but definitely anyone who is repeatedly disruptive should be banned if the moderators feel it is a good thing to do. I’m all for having a civilized discussion about only the topic of R/c model sailing and all of its possibilities, and nothing else.(On this forum)
I don’t know if this question is useful but, here goes, Is there a single forum of any kind on the entire internet that is not perpetually plagued by this problem? is it even possible to solve it without strangling the free exchange of ideas?
The moderators deserve all the support that we humble non moderators can give them for keeping the forum on topic.
I hope, however, that we do not ban people just for being repetitive. At the same time, people who are rude and nasty should be thrown overboard, especially when their rudeness was un-provoked.
dan
i agree with what you say. and we need some [power]. the mods right now. are basic peacekeepers. now being Canadain. i am use to this. but we are in a psoition where we can do some good. while doug was gone the forum did settle down. and we had a few good discussions. then doug did show up. and it all fell apart. the emails were uncalled for , and do deserve some type of response i perfer this type of forum than windpower, as i know more people here. i would like to stay and make it better. not for me lone , but also for the others , liek john above and jeff and all the other newbies out there. that are just looking for a help hand up. we tried the idea of a time out chiar. like they do in kindergarden and that worked for a bit. but then the same problems that john dowd spoke of came up. we have to have some power to police this board. and i dont meen our vioce is the only one heard.
what i poposed is that we go back to that one system where we had one mod per section. i would take the “new classes” , matt would take the mutli hull" as he has one and has an intrest in it. dan would take the gd section and wis"tech".
we could then get down to talking to each other. and then if doug or any other member contiune to break the rules. we delete each and every post untill that member gets it in his head , he is not wanted or chad banns him
cougar
long live the cup and cris dickson
A clarification please. It appers that many of us believed that Doug Lord was permanently banned from this forum. Now it seems that this might not be the case. Please update us.
Speaking only for myself, if Doug Lord has not been permanently banned from this forum (particularly after his recent "break-in and attack e-mails) I no longer would like to be a part of this community and would ask that all of my posts be deleted.
If Doug Lord has been banned, then if Chad can not be contaced and Doug blocked the moderators should be obligated to delete any post he puts up.
And I thought things were getting better. Look what this one guy can do in a single afternoon.
Mr. Lord has been sudo banned by the moderators. I.E. if he makes a post we delete it as soon as we catch it, this is how it has been for the past several weeks. We have asked Chad to do a proper job and block his ISP address, but we have yet to hear back from him.
Cougar
Back when we all became moderators, I asked Chad to make us all moderators on all the forums, for the following reason. If one of us is away or doesn?t log into the board, the others can pick up the slack. Think of it this way, you go out of town, and someone starts posting obscene messages in your section. If you are the only moderator for that section, the other mods won?t be able to go in and delete them. If we can all moderate every section, whoever catches it first can delete it. It allows us to clean up the forum faster.
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I have spent the last hour or so doing research, and learned that the forum has the capability to block individual ISP addresses, on an entire range of ISP addresses. I have also verified that the only person able to do this is Chad.
Would members be willing to sign a petition asking Chad to permanently ban Doug Lord from this forum?
Since none of the members or moderators, have been able to contact Chad through e-mail, does anyone have Chad?s home address, or telephone number so that the moderators can contact him and get this matter resolved?
The “facts” of the situation, are very clear. Doug Lord broke the rules. Doug Lord engaged in a series of personal attacks both on this board and in private e-mails. Doug Lord hijacked virtually every thread here. Doug Lord drove people off this board. In response, Doug Lord was banned from this board just like he was banned from Windpower, the other principal r/c sailing forum.
Now, through some “backdoor” he is back. In a matter of days, the useful exchange of information is gone, replaced with attacks and counter attacks. Moderators are threatening to quit, members are removing all their posts.
This has got to end, one way or the other. The choice is clear. Either:
(1) Keep the ban on Doug Lord in place, remove his posts, block his isp and allow this board to evolve along the lines it has over the last few months, or
(2) Allow Doug Lord free access. Let anyone say whatever they want about whoever they want and whatever they want. Let every discussion focus on one person’s obessions and products. Permit posts where if you disagree you are called “ignorant” and a “jackass”. Allow members to send attack e-mails to each others homes and offices. (One moderator seems to have already endorsed this concept, he has said the current board is “lame”.) Finally, the post of moderator can be eliminated because Doug Lord has made it clear that if a moderator doesn’t agree with you, it is the moderator that is the problem and can be ignored.
For me the choice is clear. I saw diversity in thougths, free exchange of ideas, respect, new areas of discussions and higher forum useage all during the time Doug Lord wasn’t allowed to post. I strongly support the moderators and know that they did the right thing after repeated attacks. I for one don’t want to be a part of this community if Doug Lord is rewarded for his misconduct and the moderators not supported. Others might disagree. But one thing is certain, one way or the other, something has to be done and done soon.