MODS. Please make changes to help OUR forum

mitchgixer6

Hi mods

I know this will probably get deleted, but I really think you should be looking at changing the rules on who can buy/sell on the classifieds. There have been too many instances of people getting ripped off/spam threads being posted.

The 'Kitchens in Ipswich' thread is a fine example. The response from the mod that locked that thread was totally out of order. There was no need for that kind of reply. Maybe if you looked at the rules (and thought about updating them) then you wouldn't have felt so much anger towards genuine members for replying to a spam thread.

I saw that post just after it had been put up and I was looking to report it, but after 5 minutes of trying to figure out how to do so I gave up. Please change the rules to make the classifieds safer for those of us that are genuine, and don't blame said members for posting on spam threads when you should be doing more to stop them getting posted in the first place!

Thanks.

mitchgixer6

Hi mods

I know this will probably get deleted, but I really think you should be looking at changing the rules on who can buy/sell on the classifieds. There have been too many instances of people getting ripped off/spam threads being posted.

The 'Kitchens in Ipswich' thread is a fine example. The response from the mod that locked that thread was totally out of order. There was no need for that kind of reply. Maybe if you looked at the rules (and thought about updating them) then you wouldn't have felt so much anger towards genuine members for replying to a spam thread.

I saw that post just after it had been put up and I was looking to report it, but after 5 minutes of trying to figure out how to do so I gave up. Please change the rules to make the classifieds safer for those of us that are genuine, and don't blame said members for posting on spam threads when you should be doing more to stop them getting posted in the first place!

Thanks.

mitchgixer6

Hi mods

I know this will probably get deleted, but I really think you should be looking at changing the rules on who can buy/sell on the classifieds. There have been too many instances of people getting ripped off/spam threads being posted.

The 'Kitchens in Ipswich' thread is a fine example. The response from the mod that locked that thread was totally out of order. There was no need for that kind of reply. Maybe if you looked at the rules (and thought about updating them) then you wouldn't have felt so much anger towards genuine members for replying to a spam thread.

I saw that post just after it had been put up and I was looking to report it, but after 5 minutes of trying to figure out how to do so I gave up. Please change the rules to make the classifieds safer for those of us that are genuine, and don't blame said members for posting on spam threads when you should be doing more to stop them getting posted in the first place!

Thanks.

damodea

Hear Hear

Tricycleboy

+1

Minimum post count or 24hr wait or both, i think. Great forum- be a shame to have to stop using it becuase of spammers and scammers, as i reckon honest folks will start being put off soon.

amaferanga

mitchgixer6 wrote:

The 'Kitchens in Ipswich' thread is a fine example. The response from the mod that locked that thread was totally out of order. There was no need for that kind of reply. Maybe if you looked at the rules (and thought about updating them) then you wouldn't have felt so much anger towards genuine members for replying to a spam thread.

He had a point though. If people just report the spam without replying then it's (apparently) easy for the mods to delete it. If people start trying to be smart and reply to it then it's (apparently) much harder. How many of the smart-ass posters reported it as spam I wonder?

gaspode

wow - only just seen the mod's reply to that thread - out of order doesn't really do it justice. If someone in the thread had simply asked whether it was good etiquette to fart on a group ride I'm sure it would still be running.....

amaferanga

I'm curious though - just how many people have actually been scammed recently? I know there's the Edge 500 scammer, but how many others have there been?

Strith

I agree, but those kitchen for sale threads are popping up everywhere, not just in the for sales

MountainMonster

There is a little exclamation point in the top right of the post to flag it up to the mods.

With regards to the random posts, they do not happen very often, and they are almost always automated bots which come in and post. I would say this has nothing to do with the mods, as they will get in no matter what if they want. Things happen, it has nothing to do with the site not being safe, or people getting ripped off. I've dealt with about 30 people on BikeRadar for various purchases and sales, and so far the worst thing to happen is it took 2 weeks to get a part shipped out by someone, but he warned me of this before hand, so no problem at all.

bompington

amaferanga wrote:

He had a point though. If people just report the spam without replying then it's (apparently) easy for the mods to delete it. If people start trying to be smart and reply to it then it's (apparently) much harder. How many of the smart-ass posters reported it as spam I wonder?

This. You've got to remember that the mods aren't paid to do the job and do it in their spare time, there are apparently a lot of posters here who have way more time to post - just not the maturity, perhaps ;-)

mitchgixer6

amaferanga wrote:

mitchgixer6 wrote:

The 'Kitchens in Ipswich' thread is a fine example. The response from the mod that locked that thread was totally out of order. There was no need for that kind of reply. Maybe if you looked at the rules (and thought about updating them) then you wouldn't have felt so much anger towards genuine members for replying to a spam thread.

He had a point though. If people just report the spam without replying then it's (apparently) easy for the mods to delete it. If people start trying to be smart and reply to it then it's (apparently) much harder. How many of the smart-ass posters reported it as spam I wonder?

Just wondering if you can clarify why it's harder to deal with spam posts if people are posting on it? Surely it's easier to spot as the thread sits nearer the top of the page?

Can you also clarify how to report a spam thread? I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Regardless of all these valid points, I think that the rules need changing anyway. It's far too easy for someone to join, post something for sale at a too good to miss price and then do a runner with the money. Any other forum that I'm on usually has a minimum post count before you can even access the classifieds.

cooldad

Careful - that little vein is twitching again.
Once again I suggest a strongly worded letter to the Daily Mail. That should sort out those nasty MODS.

amaferanga

mitchgixer6 wrote:

Just wondering if you can clarify why it's harder to deal with spam posts if people are posting on it? Surely it's easier to spot as the thread sits nearer the top of the page?

I don't know why, but I've seen mods say this several times.

mitchgixer6 wrote:

Can you also clarify how to report a spam thread? I couldn't figure out how to do it.

On every post there's a triangle with an exclamation mark in it. If you hover over it you'll see the text 'Report this post'.

mitchgixer6

To be honest I don't have anything against the MODS. They are doing the job because they want to do it, so no need to come on calling people idiots and threatening with bans. That's not really the way it should be dealt with. Why not just delete the thread instead of attacking the members? Is that what the Daily Mail would do?

Velonutter

Lads,

You did need to be fair to the mods, they do a good job and they aren't paid, so give them a bit of leeway!

I have run various forums before and it has taken me nearly 2 years to stop spammers falsely registering on one of them and still needs major time each week.

The report button has always been there (Red Exclamation mark), so use it if you see something dodgy, the mods can't be on here 24/7 so rely on peeps using the report option, I've done it loads of times and usually they are actioned within hours: -



Maybe the mod team needs increasing?

p1tse

+1

Some options taken from other forums
Minimum posts counts
Minimum days activated
Photos with user Id on paper to show item is true
Etc.

tonye_n

Minimum thread count before access to the 'classifieds' section is still the best place to start.
I can't understand why BR seems reluctant to implement this.

welshkev

mitchgixer6 wrote:

To be honest I don't have anything against the MODS. They are doing the job because they want to do it, so no need to come on calling people idiots and threatening with bans. That's not really the way it should be dealt with. Why not just delete the thread instead of attacking the members? Is that what the Daily Mail would do?

i think the daily mail would blame wiggle...

triquin

Velonutter wrote:

Lads,

You did need to be fair to the mods, they do a good job and they aren't paid, so give them a bit of leeway!

I have run various forums before and it has taken me nearly 2 years to stop spammers falsely registering on one of them and still needs major time each week.

The report button has always been there (Red Exclamation mark), so use it if you see something dodgy, the mods can't be on here 24/7 so rely on peeps using the report option, I've done it loads of times and usually they are actioned within hours: -



Maybe the mod team needs increasing?

So that's what that button is :oops: I looked to report it but didn't realise this was the button

Pete

Tom_UK

Can't believe a admins reply to the thread! Maybe if they done a better job us "idiots" wouldn't need to be threatened with a "ban", Nice job!

rolf_f

A more constructive response might be to have explained why it makes 'shedloads of extra work' for the admins when us 'idiots' respond to spam. As far as I recall from being a mod in the past, it doesn't take any longer to delete a thread with replies than one without (and lets be honest, the Mods on this forum are ludicrously quick to press the 'delete thread' button anyway). But, if I'm wrong, all it would take is a polite explanation re all the extra work and maybe the mods might actually gain some respect......

It's a great forum but I've never seen such heavy handed moderating.

cougie

I remember reading on another forum that it's easy enough to delete a thread if there's no replies - but it gets a lot trickier as soon as there is a reply.

Not that anyone on here would know though ? I don't think it's been communicated ?

redvee

Not sure what version phpBB BikeRadar is running on but as a mod on another forum the options I have when dealing with spam is to delete individual posts or whole topics/thread.



A red cross is shown to mad/admins to enable the deletion of individual posts, the same as the poster sees until a reply is made.

paul_mck

amaferanga wrote:

mitchgixer6 wrote:

The 'Kitchens in Ipswich' thread is a fine example. The response from the mod that locked that thread was totally out of order. There was no need for that kind of reply. Maybe if you looked at the rules (and thought about updating them) then you wouldn't have felt so much anger towards genuine members for replying to a spam thread.

He had a point though. If people just report the spam without replying then it's (apparently) easy for the mods to delete it. If people start trying to be smart and reply to it then it's (apparently) much harder. How many of the smart-ass posters reported it as spam I wonder?

I mod another forum and its the same to delete a thread with 0 replies as one with 100 replies.

I replied in the kitchen unit ones, was a little fun at a clear spammer. I cant see how it makes any difference personally but maybe this forum works a little differently.

Mods do a great job of course, but the reply was a little OTT imo.

mallorcajeff

Fair point and both sides of the arguments are vaild. I think the post from the mod was over the top, its was only a bit of fun. I agree the inital post was ridiculous and just a scam but a curt reply and threaten to ban anyone for a week was just over the top and rude quite frankly. WHy not just lock it? Also was stated it creates a lot of work? what replying on a post I fail to see what extra work that caused? If that was a lot of work it seems a bit odd how the poor guy that got ripped off on the garmin deal spent days waiting for a mod to show up? I understand they dont get paid fine but it was a heavy handed curt responce.

(I guess I will see you all in a week) :roll:

flasher

amaferanga wrote:

He had a point though. If people just report the spam without replying then it's (apparently) easy for the mods to delete it. If people start trying to be smart and reply to it then it's (apparently) much harder. How many of the smart-ass posters reported it as spam I wonder?

No, it's not harder at all, you just delete the whole thread along with the OP, anyone that's posted in the thread also gets their posts deleted so their post count goes down, If you delete/ban the OP then it leaves stupid looking threads that make no sense. It ain't rocket science!

jonny_trousers

Just had a look at that thread and I'm afraid I have to agree that the mod was totally out of order. Maybe he has a valid point, but how about:

Ladies and Gents,

Please don't reply to these spam posts, as they make it a lot harder for us moderators to delete them.

Calling forum regulars who were just having a bit of fun, and almost certainly didn't know they were causing more work for anyone, "idiots" is highly disrespectful.

I know mods don't get paid, and they moderate out of the goodness of their hearts, but they also have the option not to be mods if they find the job too hard.

Velonutter

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

Just had a look at that thread and I'm afraid I have to agree that the mod was totally out of order. Maybe he has a valid point, but how about:

Ladies and Gents,

Please don't reply to these spam posts, as they make it a lot harder for us moderators to delete them.

Calling forum regulars who were just having a bit of fun, and almost certainly didn't know they were causing more work for anyone, "idiots" is highly disrespectful.

I know mods don't get paid, and they moderate out of the goodness of their hearts, but they also have the option not to be mods if they find the job too hard.

In fairness to the Mods, they repeatedly do ask people not to reply to the spam posts, but just flag them up to the moderators and they will delete the thread, it's also in the Forum Guidelines

I guess people just get tired of saying the same old thing.

jonny_trousers

Velonutter wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

Just had a look at that thread and I'm afraid I have to agree that the mod was totally out of order. Maybe he has a valid point, but how about:

Ladies and Gents,

Please don't reply to these spam posts, as they make it a lot harder for us moderators to delete them.

Calling forum regulars who were just having a bit of fun, and almost certainly didn't know they were causing more work for anyone, "idiots" is highly disrespectful.

I know mods don't get paid, and they moderate out of the goodness of their hearts, but they also have the option not to be mods if they find the job too hard.

In fairness to the Mods, they repeatedly do ask people not to reply to the spam posts, but just flag them up to the moderators and they will delete the thread, it's also in the Forum Guidelines

I guess people just get tired of saying the same old thing.

Sure, but it doesn't detract from the fact that the guy was unnecessarily rude. That said, he's probably just having a bad day. We all have them.

Velonutter

Yep we all have them Jonny 8)