Bitcoin forum is terrible

[SgtSpike]

How to deal with trolls here?  If it were me, I'd give a warning for each instance of obvious trolling.  3 warnings = a ban.  They can write up a ban appeal to possibly get unbanned if they want, and the moderators would review it and vote on whether they believe the person would correct their behavior and should be given a second chance.

Thanks for pointing out that I need more information for my own forum's procedures for dealing with rule breakers.  That should definitely be specified, at least to some extent.  I imagine the procedure will end up similarly to what I just stated above.

Your approach seems very reasonable, and certainly in line with what I read after a quick search on "forum moderation best practices".  I might just have to go over to bitcoinforums.net and register (if you'll have me!)   

Sure, you're more than welcome to come on over!  Right now, I'm having an issue with getting forum activity up.  I anticipated it to be a little easier than this to start up a new forum.  Lots of people seem to register, make a good number of new posts, and then are never heard from again.  I think it's just the lack of activity, but I can only start so many new threads myself before it starts to look like a "SgtSpike is talking to himself" forum.

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[Mabsark]

two weeks ago this was a thriving community of level headed intellectual progressives, now every post is met by gangs of thugs and mental midgets severely limited in world experience.
such is the nature of human civilization. 

I thought this was a bitcoin forum, not a "progressives" forum. I'm from the UK and don't see any reason why this forum should pander to your political beliefs which I consider as offensive as the BNPs. Likewise, I don't expect it to pander to my political beliefs or anyone else's either.

[myrkul]

two weeks ago this was a thriving community of level headed intellectual progressives, now every post is met by gangs of thugs and mental midgets severely limited in world experience.
such is the nature of human civilization. 

I thought this was a bitcoin forum, not a "progressives" forum. I'm from the UK and don't see any reason why this forum should pander to your political beliefs which I consider as offensive as the BNPs. Likewise, I don't expect it to pander to my political beliefs or anyone else's either.

Don't you love how we can speak the same language and still have a language barrier? Only in English. He meant 'Forward thinkers', not what those idiots have co-opted the word to mean.

[SMTB1963]

Sure, you're more than welcome to come on over!  Right now, I'm having an issue with getting forum activity up.  I anticipated it to be a little easier than this to start up a new forum.  Lots of people seem to register, make a good number of new posts, and then are never heard from again.  I think it's just the lack of activity, but I can only start so many new threads myself before it starts to look like a "SgtSpike is talking to himself" forum.

Thanks!  And hey, seeding discussion is an entirely appropriate thing for a moderator to do at the beginning - but I see your point.

Back OT, here's a prime example of how forum.bitcoin.org is a veritable case study of how NOT to moderate.  First we have a post (emphasis mine) by theymos, an "Administrator", dated 6/9:

Off-topic replies have become a big problem. From now on, I will be deleting such replies without notice, forum-wide. If your replies disappear, this is probably why.

All replies must respond to the topic's original post in some way, even if they are replying to an on-topic reply. If your reply has nothing to do with the topic post, either add some content that is relevant or create a new topic.

Please report off-topic posts as soon as you see them.

Ten days later, hugolp (a "Global Moderator") posts this in a thread titled "The Labor Theory of Money w/ regards to Microeconomics...":

I believe that the concept of "voluntary" is quite abused by Libertarians and especially the  Austrian school in not recognizing the inherent power differentials and coercion that creep into any relationship where one is selling one's labor to another.

Austrian economics is only descriptive and with some capability of prediction, like any other science its amoral. Recognizing the morality or inmorality of some arrengement is not the task of austrian economics, the same way recognizing the morality or inmorality of an arrengement is not the task of physics or medicine. Science should describe an arrangement and predit its results. The task of saying if it is moral or inmoral belongs to morality/politics/philosophy.

So lets see...here we have a moderator replying to a somewhat off-topic comment by another poster with a completely off-topic post - in violation of another moderator's posting rule!

Somehow I resisted the temptation to click the "Report to moderator" link and report the post.   

Since I've mostly vented in this thread without really contributing anything constructive, I'd like to offer a few suggestions (if any mods/admins are reading this):

• Have one person in charge of maintaining/updating the rules (you've allowed a free-for-all for users, don't have one for the mods)
• Keep all forum posting rules in one highly visible place. (they seem to be scattered all over the forum right now)
• Inform new users that they implicitly agree to the rules upon registering their account. (I don't recall seeing this)
• Mods should post under a "non-moderator" handle if they are frequently contributing to forum discussions (to preserve the appearance of impartiality)

I guess it goes without saying that moderators who post under their "moderator" handle are subject to the rules like everyone else.

[theymos]

Ten days later, hugolp (a "Global Moderator") posts this in a thread titled "The Labor Theory of Money w/ regards to Microeconomics...":

I'm not going to delete that one, since it would have been OK if that post and his post just afterward were combined. That they're separate posts doesn't really matter. The purpose of the rule is to force all participants to constantly contribute to the discussion, which hugolp was clearly doing.

Anyway, you should report all posts that you think are wrong, regardless of whether the poster is a mod/admin. (Hugolp was not a moderator at the time of that post, however.)

[SMTB1963]

I'm not going to delete that one, since it would have been OK if that post and his post just afterward were combined. That they're separate posts doesn't really matter. The purpose of the rule is to force all participants to constantly contribute to the discussion, which hugolp was clearly doing.

Anyway, you should report all posts that you think are wrong, regardless of whether the poster is a mod/admin. (Hugolp was not a moderator at the time of that post, however.)

 

Heh, now I feel a little foolish.  If hugolp wasn't a mod at the time, my little example is pretty much invalidated.  While I don't agree with your "proximity exception" line of reasoning, I do recognize that you guys have to make judgement calls...and yours was proper in this case.  So, I stand corrected.

Thanks for your reply, and thanks for setting out the rule on off-topic posts and taking steps to enforce it.  Despite my venting here, I do realize you guys have a difficult and often thankless job, and I appreciate your service to the forum.  It should be apparent that myself and others in this thread support what you're doing - we'd just like to see more of it!

[Perof]

I agree with OP most threads on bitforum make no sense what so ever!

It's like the more sense threads try to make, the less other people can comprehend the point they try to convey.