Once in a while a bulletin board system draws the
attention of unscrupulous individuals hoping to
exploit the concentration of a large number people
for their own profit. Usually these individuals
post messages about various get-rich-quick or multi-level-marketing
(Pyramid) schemes. Often they will post the same
or similar messages multiple times on one board
("spamming the board") and/or post messages on several
boards at once ("cross-posting"). Sometimes these
individuals will be more sneaky, especially if they
realize that their IP Addresses are being logged
and can be used to ban them from access to the board.
In such cases one might see an individual posting
innocent messages frequently, but his signature
includes a questionable statement; an individual
might post messages whose entire content is a request
that readers visit his scam's site; or an individual
might post seemingly benign messages that tend to
promote or recommend a little too strongly or too
often one particular website, company, or service.
And there are other ways these individuals will
attempt to get their self-serving messages across.
A good Moderator must be on the lookout for such
posts and individuals. YaBB is not an outlet for
free advertising. It is a forum for free speech
and free expression, and, as Abraham Lincoln said,
"eternal vigilance is the price of freedom."
Occassionally tempers flare and attacks ("flaming")
occur. They can be directed against an individual
member, the Moderator, or YaBB as a whole. Attacks
can be a few angry posts (minor), spamming the board
(moderate), or spamming PM boxes and e-mail addresses
(severe). In addition to watching out for get-rich-quick,
mlm, and similar attacks, Moderators must be wary
of, and quick to put out, temper fires. Most people
will use a bulletin board responsibly. It is only
the occassional jackass who tends to ruin it for
everyone. And it's the job of the Board Moderators
and Board Staff to identify, isolate, and expunge
posts and/or individuals who do threaten the membership
general. If either type of posts do appear the Moderator
has several tools at his disposal, depending on
the severity and frequency of the problem.
The most important tool a Moderator has is his own
judgement. Use it. Often members invite others to
visit their websites. This is perfectly acceptible.
If the majority of the person's posts, however,
are advertisements for his website, then that is
not acceptible. Sometimes an otherwise good member
of the community will post something questionable.
User your best judgement. Consider the content of
all the member's posts, then decide what
course of action you wish to take: Edit the message
yourself, request the member edit his post, remove
the message entirely, request a text filter, or
request the member be banned. Use your judgement.
When in doubt, ask for advice from another Moderator
or the Board Staff. If you feel the need after speaking
with these people, ask The Administrator, who will
take final responsibility on any matter.
Here are the tools available to Moderators in dealing
with abusive posts or members, in the order they
should be considered:
- Request
Member Move The Post/Topic
- If
a member has posted a message that is "off-topic",
or not inline with the theme of the board, it
can often encourage others to post similar off-topic
messages in your board. Naturally this tends
to degrade the integrity of the board. If there
is a different board on which the post would
be on-topic, PM the author and politely request
that he remove the post from your board and
repost it on the other board. Explain the theme
of your board versus the other, and thank him
for his help. If there is not another
board suited to the post in question, either
suggest to the member that he petition the Administrator
for the creation of an appropriate board, or
that the member repost his message on a general
interest board.
- Move
The Topic
- Board
Moderators may only move topics to and from
boards they moderate. If you are not the Moderator
for Board B, you cannot move a topic from your
Board A to Board B. Neither can the Moderator
for Board B. You must be the Moderator for both
boards to move topics between them. As a function
of the security programming only Board Staff
may move topics between boards with different
moderators. If you feel you need to move a topic,
PM a request to a Board Staffer or to the Administrator.
In the request please include: The title of
topic to be moved, it's author, the board to
move from, and the board to move to. As a matter
of courtesy you may also wish to notify the
author(s) of the topic/post(s) in a reply to
the topic.
- Request
Member Edit The Post
- For
minor problems, especially with regard to angry
posts, the best course of action, and the one
least likely to further anger anyone, is to
politely request via PM that the author modify
or remove his post. Explain calmly and friendly
why you believe the post shouldn't remain active
as it is. You may also wish to suggest that
the angry member settle his differences with
the opposing member privately. YaBB provides
several facilities for private discussion.
- Edit
The Post
- In
minor cases such as an objectionable picture
being placed inside an otherwise useful message
you might wish to simply edit the picture out
of the post. The best way to do this is to replace
the picture (or other item removed) with a statement
such as "[IMAGE REMOVED]" or "[URL EDITED OUT]".
- Lock
The Topic
- If
the post or topic does not include an objectionable
URL or photo, or is simply a heated argument
that has apparently cooled, but which you do
not wish to remove, you may wish to lock the
topic so no further posts may be added. This
allows the post(s) to continue to be read, however,
so keep that in mind. If you find the topic
very objectionable but have chosen to lock it
rather than remove it, leave it locked for a
few days then remove it.
- Delete
The Post
- You
may delete individual posts simply by clicking
the "delete" button toward the top of any post.
Occassionally members posting replies hit the
"send" button too many times and multiple copies
of the message get posted. This is an honest
mistake; simply delete the extra copies. It
is always a good idea to copy (author information,
date and time, and body of the post) any post
you delete (other than duplicates), and PM or
e-mail it to the Administrator. By doing that
you will have fully informed the Administrator
in the event your judgement and action on the
matter is ever questioned.
- Delete
The Topic
- If
an offending topic contains only the opening
post, do not delete the post delete the
topic. Within the YaBB system a "topic" consists
solely of the subject, number of responses,
date and time of creation, and author, it does
not include the data on the first post, which
is stored separately.
- Request
A Text Filter
- YaBB
includes a utility accessible only to the Administrator
that allows for the automatic substitution of
text in posts at display time. The Text Filter
utility functions on the same principle as the
engine that substitutes emoticon symbol text
for emoticon graphics. For example: When one
types ":-)" into a post, those three characters
are replaced with the
image. The Text Filter functions the same way,
allowing for the replacement of "http://www.getrichquick.com"
with "(URL removed)". The substitution is done
not at post time, when a member writes a post,
but at display time, meaning everytime the page
containing the post is displayed through a web
browser the system performs the substitution.
Thus, even days after multiple messages have
been posted promoting "http://www.getrichquick.com",
a Text Filter can be added that replaces the
line in all past, present, and future
posts. Additionally the filter can be changed
from "(URL removed)" to "(Hey! Look at me! I'm
a moron!)" at any time and it will automatically
reflect in all past instances of the search
term.
The Text Filter applies to any word, phrase,
sentence, or combination of alphanumeric characters
and punctuation. It also applies inside UBBC
code (e.g. "[URL=http://www.getrichquick.com]Hey!
Click Here![/URL]" becomes "[URL=(URL removed)]Hey!
Click Here![/URL]"). The Text Filter applies
to text in any post, signature, and Private
Message; even to a topic title
(see above for instructions on changing topic
titles). Substitution also occurs within the
"Print" function of YaBB, which is a separate
process that displays a topic in a black and
white printable format. In short, once a Text
Filter is added, the search string will never
be seen by anyone.
As you can see, the Text Filter utility is very
powerful. Access to it is restricted solely
to board staff. If a Board Moderator feels
that a Text Filter is warranted, such as in
the case of an individual or group that frequently
posts an offending URL despite previous warnings
and actions, petition must be made directly
to the Administrator, who will then bear final
responsibility for the use or non-use of the
Text Filter. To request a Text Filter send a
PM to username "admin" with the following information:
The search string (what should be replaced)
enclosed in quotes, your suggested replacement
string enclosed in quotes, the board(s) and
topic titles on which the offending search string
appears, an approximate count of the search
string's appearances, and an explanation of
why you believe a Text Filter is warranted.
If the offending search string appears on multiple
boards, or has been noticed by other Moderators
or Board Staffers, please also either mention
their handles (usernames) or ask them to also
PM the Administrator with their comments and
recommendations on action. The Board Staff consider
the use of a Text Filter to be a serious action,
and the more support from Staff and Moderators
the better.
- Request
A Member Be Banned From YaBB
- It
is the firm and fervent hope of the Board Staff
that it will never be necessary to ban
anyone from accessing YaBB. YaBB was created
to be a place for enjoyment, comraderie, creativity,
and freedom of expression. Much effort has been
put forth by the Board Staff, the Board Moderators,
and the membership general to create and propogate
that spirit. Ideally we would all act
responsibly and maturely toward each other and
YaBB. Unfortunately we do have to face the realistic
possibility that that will not be possible considering
the opportunity the Internet represents to a
very active minority out to separate us from
our wallets or whose idea of fun is to ruin
the enjoyment of others.
While we still hope very much to never have
call to use it, YaBB has, since its creation,
been equipped to bar individuals from access.
The system can automatically prevent access
by any person based on his IP Address, which
is the unique number that identifies each person's
computer at the point it connects to the Internet,
or by a group of IP Addresses (all addresses
originating from an entire domain or ISP), and
by several other methods we will not discuss
in the interest of security. Banning is permanent.
The Board Staff consider the termination of
a member's account and the ban of that member
to be a very serious action, and it will
only be taken in the most extreme cases and
when all other options have been exhausted.
Before banning a member the Board Staff will
thoroughly examine all evidence, interview all
relevant parties, consider all circumstances,
and attempt any and all possible lesser actions,
which may include temporary suspension of account
and access.
Realistically we cannot envision a situaton
in which banning any member would be
necessary.
The following individuals are not considered
members, and will summarily and swiftly be banned:
Those whose presence on, and "membership"
to, YaBB is clearly intended solely to facilitate
engagement in:
- promotion
of a website, regardless of content;
- promotion
of a company, business, method of doing
business, investment opportunity, mlm, affiliate
program, or other commercial entity or enterprise;
- promotion
of a mailing list or newsletter;
- posting
of advertisements, whether of a graphical,
textual, or multimedia nature;
- posting
of adult-oriented material that has little
or no relevancy to YaBB, its themes, or
other subject matter posted by members;
- posting
of lists of website or email addresses or
other URLs;
- posting
of multiple messages whose content does
not significantly vary ("spamming" or "bombing
the board");
- sending
through Private Messaging multiple messages
whose content does not significantly vary
("spamming" or "mail bombing");
- sending
through Internet e-mail to addresses collected
by means of access to YaBB multiple messages
whose content does not significantly vary
("spamming" or "mail bombing");
- posting
of copyright-protected MP3 or other files
whose copyrights are not owned by the author
of the post(s);
- subscribing
to mailing lists, clubs, opt-in lists, etc.
Internet e-mail addresses collected by means
of access to YaBB ("email slamming");
- collecting
by means of access to YaBB for the future
purpose of sale, spamming, slamming, or
bombing, Internet e-mail addresses;
- collecting
by means of access to YaBB for the future
purpose of sale, spamming, slamming, bombing,
or other unsolicited contact other personal
information (names, telephone numbers, mailing
addresses, etc.);
- using
without hand-signed consent from the relevant
party or parties any VBR resources, domain
names, and/or email addresses related to
YaBB, its staff, or any of its members,
in such a way as to infer endorsement of,
connection to, affiliation with, or ownership
of any company, business, method of doing
business, investment opportunity, mlm, affiliate
program, other commercial entity or enterprise,
advertisement, website, e-mail, or other
electronic or printed matter;
- using
any VBR resources, domain names, email addresses,
trademarks, copyrighted material, etc. without
the hand-signed consent of the Administrator;
- sabotaging,
or taking action intended to sabotage, YaBB,
its systems and properties, or its web,
email, and other servers;
- sabotaging,
or taking action intended to sabotage, the
websites of members of YaBB, their systems
and properties, or their hosts' web, email,
and other servers;
- breaching
the security of, or taking action intended
to breach the security of, including logging
in and attempting to log into YaBB through
another member's account without that member's
permission for the purpose of reading the
member's Private Messages and/or impersonating
the member on public posts or Private Messaging,
YaBB, websites of members of YaBB, their
systems and properties, or their hosts'
web, email, and other servers;
If a Board Moderator feels that an individual
should be banned, such as in the case of an
individual or group that engages in one of the
activities listed above, take the following
steps:
- Cease
all communication with the offending party;
the Board Staff will take it from here.
- Do
not delete all the posts/PM's/e-mails
from the offending individual as Board Staff
will need to examine them, and will need
to retain them if the action taken is ever
challenged.
- Inform
all other relevant parties, except the offending
party, to also retain their copies (in the
case of PM or email offenses), and that
they should not communicate with the author
until the matter has been resolved.
- Send
via PM to username "admin" or via email
to the Administrator's email address the
following, please also send a copy to of
the initial complaint to another Board Staff
member (not a Board Moderator):
- The
board(s) and topic titles on which the
offending post(s) appears;
- if
the offense is not related to public
posts, such as PM or e-mail spamming,
send representative samples;
- an
approximate count of the appearances/instances
of the offending post/message;
- the
member's username and real name;
- the
handles (usernames) of all members,
Moderators, and Board Staffers who are
aware of or have been victims of the
offense; and
- an
explanation of why you believe banning
the member is warranted.
Though the entire Board Staff will be involved
in the decision, the Administrator will bear
final responsibility for the decision to ban
or not ban the member. Any appeals and protests
should be filed with the Administrator. Any
involved parties wishing to comment or make
recommendation on the matter prior to a decision
being rendered should contact the Administrator
and/or a Board Staffer.
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