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Underground > Policy & Help >

Non-member lockout

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16:58 / 25.09.03

I think a bot would be necessary for keeping the IRC chatroom. I'll try to link this to the IRC chatroom thread when I get a chance today.

17:30 / 25.09.03

that doesnt address the issue of 'punishing' the excluded in the way that the current lockdown does, though.

Matthew Fluxington

20:55 / 25.09.03

I'd really like to believe that this community is about more than just a few trolls whom some of us can never stop talking about.

Like Discursive Mass, I'm not a stranger to passing along threads to non-members so that they can read something of particular interest. I don't see why the general populace of the internet should be denied access to the content of the discussion on this site because of a few morons who are given entirely too much attention. Perhaps instead of hiding the incessant commentary about their antics from these people we should seriously consider a policy of keeping that discussion off-board.

To be more fair, perhaps only the Policy forum should be locked to non-members. Since trolling is not an issue in the overwhelming majority of the forums here, it seems pointless to lock everyone else out, and I'm not convinced that keeping certain people from reading the site will act as much of a punishment. Really, I can only imagine that such drastic measures only create a greater challenge for our pests, and that it eggs them on just as much if not more than anything else.

It seems to me that we give these trolls entirely too much power. In many ways, it seems like one particular troll is the one who is running the show here. If you really want them to have such a dramatic effect on how this community is run, why not just give up the fight and give them Administrator status?

(To be clear, I'm not seriously suggesting that last part...)

21:00 / 25.09.03

To be more fair, perhaps only the Policy forum should be locked to non-members.

i would vote for that.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:57 / 25.09.03

Yeah, that would work. Although members should be encouraged to read it more.

Matthew Fluxington

22:00 / 25.09.03

Why is that? For the most part, the Policy is the most boring part of the site. I imagine that unless you have a serious interest in the community, it's a total snooze.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

22:13 / 25.09.03

Yeah, point taken, but a lot of the trolling arguments seem to have been inadvertantly exacerbated by well-meaning posters who've just not known enough of the facts. Hence stuff like Ganesh's K****e FAQ.

13:45 / 27.09.03

Just bear with me and be patient. Hopefully I'll have some other stuff in place to sort out some of these issues relatively soon...

16:03 / 15.10.03

*bump* So any update on this? I want to show non-members the pretty new graphics.

12:16 / 16.10.03

I think Cal's built it in a way that makes it harder to let non-members see what's going on, otherwise I'd open it up for a while and see how it went. Cal and I have just had a big fight too, so don't hold your breath.

06:02 / 07.11.03

Okay. I hate to keep asking about this but it's a minor pain in the butt to loan out my fictionsuit to friends just so they can see various threads I link to. Any news or new considerations to let the commoners look through the pretty windows?

08:19 / 07.11.03

I'm looking into it.

15:22 / 01.12.03

Well I just joined because I wanted to find out what I was missing out on!

Seriously, my sympathies to Tom. I run a couple of message boards, one on the contentious subject of foxhunting in the UK, so appreciate the difficulties you're having Tom! It's a thankless task.

But I honestly don't think excluding non-members completely is the answer. (It gives the trolls a kick, no doubt, to think they've pushed you underground, but if they want to find out what's being said, they just join up again under a different identity.

The message board software I use (Invisionboard) has very good IP tools which HELP detect multiple identities (although far from foolproof) but also provide a system which can be set up to keep new members 'on probation' for x number of posts. While in that group, they can be restricted from posting (read only), be put on 'moderator preview (that really p****s them off!) or excluded from accessing certain forums. It can be set to automatically upgrade people to the next level after x number of posts - but of course if they cause trouble in the meantime, a moderator can suspend them indefinitely. (which stops them using the same e-mail address to re-register - AND keeps their IP on file for cross-checking.)

I don't know what this software's capabilities are, so I may be teaching Granny how to suck eggs - but hope you get it sorted!

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