I understand what you're saying, Jemal. And really I'm not angry with you or Don personally. You are the leaders of the board and you made a decision for your company. I'm simply speaking as someone who was a moderator for another board. There are ways to intervene. There are ways to figure out where (what IP address) someone posted from. And then there's the way around all of this. Simply set forum rules that all must abide by. They don't have to be crazy specific and tyrannical. Just step in sometimes.

It's much easier than trying to find some technological way to exclude mass amounts of people. None of this will be perfect. And some will slip through the holes. But if there's public outcry, then maybe it's time to engage. All I ask is that it's considered.


I've said my piece. I'm gonna get out of here for a few weeks again. I decided that I would get on here once or twice a week, but even that has got me pissed off at some of my threads. I can be found on restorationmini or motoringunderground.

You guys need to set rules and get your children under control. This forum has zero moderation, hence the problem with unruly members running off a plethora or decent members. I'm sure business suffers as a result. The general consensus is minimania is a pain in the ass from nearly everyone I talk to. Someone mentioned the rx7 forum, I've been a member there for 15 years, though largely inactive the last 5. Recently went back to buy a car and sell some rims and I can safely say they are over moderated. I had to have my for sale ad approved before it was allowed to be posted. I'm all for divided sections of forums, like mine for example, but rx7club has so many I couldn't even find my way around. Minimania is the polar opposite. A happy medium shouldn't be difficult to achieve.

Like Mike and Steve I feel like I have been here forever.  I have always felt that this board was "too open" but I accepted that as just the way things were.  However, I believe it is perfectly reasonable for MM to collect all the information they want for a user's profile.  It doesn't all have to be made public.

On other boards, including one where I am a moderator, a much more complete profile is required.  Most of the user profile is hidden from the general users but is fully visible to moderators and administrators.  I'm not sure how they do this, but some of those boards also track the IP addresses users most frequently use.  Again, not visible to general users but easily accessible to those behind the scenes who need to tell users to knock it off.  Most of those boards will kick a user off if they set up multiple, bogus, sock-puppet accounts.

 

Just posting normal rules and acceptance works for me.  

I am glad to be here and help so many people out who need it.  

Of course if you just remember to put a magnet in the botom of your oil filter you might cure half your problems.  Ah, wifey's back, time to head out the garage.

Nothing wrong with having complete profile info before posting.  One needs to be accepted on some other boards and on one other Mini board I look too there is no nonsense in many hundreds of threads and thousands of posts.

I understand that some are too smart by half and will likely go through life unaware of being an ass.  So let's give them the boot.

Taking pages from some of the larger forums - there are usually forum Rules and regulations that any member must pass before someone can Post - Sell - and even in some cases even conversate in the forum communty. Other forums- require submission and invitation back from the forum that this is a real person and allowing them to be a member...along with this of course there is  IP Tracking and checking is this real. now if the same looser is trying to troll the community this is only a  small road block.

  Now if there are forum rules ( and I dislike rules on the internet) and i didnt get very far on the mazda rx7  forum. but rules like No posts for 30 Days with a new members... and only certain topics open for new members too = FAQ's and Hot topics - and Links to car info were required reading before a new member could jump into the pool of the community. This trys to ensure the new user has read his basic information- browsed the topics before asking assinine questions. ENRAGING Season VETERANS of the community!!!

Add that -  some forums require 45 or 60 valid posts before someone could sell in a classifides sectoin -- with also constant Moderators that scan and look for trolls / troublemakers that need the ban hammer... 

Now personally - I dont like all that babysitting and rule requirements- MM is nice cause its pretty open any topic is right there and its VERY Clean !   This MM community in reality is VERY small in the car world of things.. there are i would guess 20 active members - posting reguarlty to EVERY post that have VALID answers and problem solving intents. The rest are just lurkers and learners. I learned for probaly 3 years before my first post. 

Now I havnt done a Mini Mania new user in a LONG time-- so i dont know / remember the checks and balances that are required but i assume its pretty free and open - No Cross checking... I dont know for sure.  but the requirement of an Email address  I SAY YES =  but the option to have Public. Even Better... Default to showing email addresses- where users must on their  OWN the chose to block the visible email address. In Most cases like mentioned- Email addresss are EASLIY re created and we all ( most of us ) have MULTIPLE already. in the end the owner of the site still has email address ownership for contact to the troll if needed

So in the end- it could be worse- there could be LOTS Of controls -- but also easy to place a moderator on here with the regular good guys we have here (like myself) that would even volunteer for the job.... Give warings and police the scene. From there an issue can escalte to the forum owners for ultimate Ban Hammer Decisions.   Email address would give the Moderators the ability to require contact and say hey " this is the issue" correct yourself or goodbye.. and go from there.

My email is visible because i like to help the mini community both In the FOrum and Outside -- Ive had multiple outside contacts from people just asking direct questions just by having it there.

Trolster -- hasnt been very active today after this!!!

I had not considered the 'spambots'.... true we would not want to use a personal 'family' email address that might be picked up by the Canadian pharmacies.... in all the time my email has been visible, that seems to be the bulk of spam I get!

There probably isn't a realistic way we can force people to say where they (really) are, and as emails are throw-away these days, as stated, no real teeth in that requirement either!   Now if we require that only Mini Mania CUSTOMERS can use the forum, there might be a way to implement that, but that would chase away many good people who are great contributors who may not even have a Mini.

Any other path we take will require more admin work on our part to do verification.  If you had to fill out a form giving your true info that we could verify BEFORE we turn you loose on the forum, we'd have some recourse if you start spewing hate!  There are many reasons to take a hands off approach and let adults self regulate.  Let's see what other suggestions and ideas might be presented!

Two questions... MM, when you say "mods" you mean us 'moderators'?  Don did finally forward me your "off air" email, but also threw up his hands about intervening.  I think all the robster versions are the same guy who keeps several devices going and can "stay logged in" easier that way, so I don't know about any spammer conspiracy.

The second, is there something you'd like to confess Airfare?

Doesn't affect me, really either. But honestly, you can make up a throw away email in 2 seconds. Doesn't keep the trolls away. And as much as I hate to sound like a broken record, sometimes the admins need to step in and be leaders. I'm not talking about policing the streets of MiniMania. I'm talking about breaking up stupidity. I really enjoy the opinions on here. And I'm just as opinionated as the next guy. But allegations of racism, or just going into someone's thread to "stir the pot" is not going to make this site a better place. It's going to become a place where no one wants to go for actual information. Having a separate section for baffoonery would be great. But sine you guys don't want to compartmentalize MM (that's your right and I respect that) then just draw the line and start warning people. Give a public warning that it won't be tolerated. and if it continues to happen, then ban people. Doesn't mean they can't create a new account later, but it will get the message across.

Do I think you should ban the original Robster? No, actually. But I think you should draw a line when accusations and libel become an issue. Give warnings to let them know it won't be tolerated. As for the accounts like roloster and rooster and whoever else is on here, yeah... ban/delete the obvious spam accounts.

But I find it funny that the spam accounts were probably intentionlly created to get the mods to move. I just wish it didn't take that. I went to the mods off channel and honestly asked for intervention and nothing came of it. Now that they have become annoying to the mods, we're considering a change.

My .02¢. It's worth what you've paid for it.

If you mean having a horrid attitude problem and giving out worthless advice, I suppose that he's "shaking things up pretty lively". (c'mon Dennis how bowt some rolleyes action already)

I used to click on this forum anytime I had a break from work. Now? Not so much. |
You might not be able to measure it, but I would think there's lost sales out there with fewer folks hanging out here.

Yes definitely Jemal. Apart from the Rooster nonesense one thing that is annoying is having someone post an item for sale or trade and you click on the user name and there is no way to contact them or even know what State or Country they live in. Make everyone fill out their profile completely it will make being here a better experience imo.

Well this would never affect me, because I would never lower myself to creating 'roloster' to troll the gurus here.  Never I say.

Well, maybe if I was real bored and working from home this month

Roloster I'd delete, but not the real original robster who we must admit is shaking things up pretty lively.

I'm for it if for no other reason than that someone might finally get around to fix the problem with the forum not letting you change or update your email address. 

I'm all for it.

("roborolorooster".... good one!)

Well gee wiz, I was just posting to a friend here how the humor was about gone. I have taken to not replying to people who do not have a complete profile. I'd at least like to know where they are located. When this type thing happened before the board lost a lot of fun and interesting people, not will to put up with it. You figure it out as I don't think there is anything we can do for him. It's a shame when people can't control themselves. Steve (CTR) 

Fine by me, but email addresses are 10 a penny so I don't see it curbing the troll's too much?

Hi Jemal,

I've been here seemingly forever using the same (real) email address.  A real guy, with a real family and have met many of the users at various Mini meets, etc.

My email is real and I am happy to have other BONIFIDE USERS  see it, but would prefer not to have the spambots find it.

I get enough spam as it is.

I will not shed a tear if you delete RoboRobster.  There are so many nice guys and gals here, he kinda sours the milk as they say.  Only takes one.

Just one Canadians opinion, FWIW :-)

Cheers and BTW, it would be nice to be able to edit my profile.  I haven't had a Land Rover in a couple years, yet it's still listed in my profile to swap or sell...... (insert rolleyes here)

 

What would everyone think of us REQUIRING a valid email address be part of your forum identity?  I favor transparency in most of my dealings, and have been contacted by several of you that I respect with complaints about Mr. robster/roloster/rodster/rooster (my favorite!).  The humor has worn thin, and having all these identities is NOT in keeping with the spirit of this forum.  Never mind that he(?) seems to purposely put up ludicrous and irrelevant rubbish (see, now and then my British half shows!) much of the time.

Less anonymity is the key to me!  If we (meaning anyone!) can click your avatar and have an email address, it would remove some of the secrecy enjoyed by all these "jokesters"... If you are not willing to be a reasonable and REAL person, there are MANY offshore sites that provide anonymous entertainment for people of all tastes... they don't even have to obey our decency laws.

Before I find the "DELETE USER" button to sentence roborolorooster, I wanted some opinions about requiring all of us on the forum to be REAL enough to provide info that points back to us!  In my view, that will really curtail anonymous users from going off half cocked!

So robster, are you willing to tell us who you are? Anonymous is for offshore porn sites!